As I alluded to in earlier entries, I was just in New York City for Easter long weekend. It was my 5th trip in 5 years so I really got this down pat. And yet...like every trip you'll ever take, there's always new travel lessons to be learned.
I took an extra day off work and flew down via Porter at 8am on Thursday. A few people asked me why I was on such an early flight? I couldn't really explain it either, I hate mornings and when my alarm clock went off at 5:15am I was cursing as soon as my brain could recall a swear word. I bought the tickets during a seat sale so I'm assuming I chose 8am because the 9am was already sold out.
For those not familiar, Porter is a small airline that flies out of the downtown Toronto Island Airport, it services nearby Canadian and U.S. cities. I was flying from Toronto to Newark, New Jersey, which is just across the bridge from NYC. On a regular business day, early morning flights are generally occupied by buisness execs taking same day flights out to meetings. The only sounds you hear are Blackberry keys clicking softly and the flipping of newspaper pages. However I didn't take into account that it was right before Easter weekend and found myself sitting behind 2 rows of children and another child across the aisle from me.
What I ended up having to endure was a crying child on landing and take-off (I know air pressure discomfort can't be helped but I'm still going deaf from the kid's wailing), hyperactive children shouting and chattering loudly, and parents having to speak over them to be heard. On a long haul flight most of that could be alleviated by earphones and loud music, and maybe a stroll to the washroom. Unfortunately most of the time spent on a short flight like Toronto/Newark is take-off and landing, where I'm not allowed to turn on my electronic devices. So what I really should've done was bring my earplugs, it's not like they take a lot of room to pack.
Lesson learned.
Prior to heading to the U.S. I looked into travel packs for my phone. I have multiple devices but this time I made the decision to bring my iPhone with me. I was only going for 4 days so my plan was to get data roaming only as I get very few calls and figured I could live with not texting my boyfriend for a few days. I do, however, enjoy "checking in" to places, tweeting a little, and posting photos. From what I've read, most data comsumption comes from watching videos, which I had no plans to do. I had a feeling GPS might rack up usage as well, but what's a few check-ins right? I wasn't planning to read my email so that should balance it out right? Wrong. I bought a travel pack that included 10MB of data and monitored the usage very carefully. After each login to FB and check-in it was almost 1MB gone, upload an instagram photo, another half a MB. Combine that with a few necessary google searches and map consultations, and I was struggling by the 2nd day not to hit my data limit prematurely. I averaged 2 check-ins, 2 photos, and a status update every day I was gone and I was still at 12MB when I left. Next time I'm getting the 25MB travel pack from Rogers, it's only $20 more. (It's $30 for 10MB)
Lesson learned.
Finally on my last day in NYC it was sunny, warm, and very lovely out, I'd filled my mini suitcase with my purchases and had to bust out my fold-up duffel to store the rest. When I arrived I'd walked down the 20 blocks from Grand Central (where my Newark Express Bus dropped me off) to my hotel with ease, of course that was downhill, with less luggage, in 10C weather. But clearly I didn't take that into consideration, so off I went dragging my heavy bags uphill 20 blocks in 20C+ weather. Boy did I live to regret that! I was huffing and puffing up Lexington where traffic was one-way going south, so I couldn't even change my mind and hail a cab. I made it up to Grand Central without any major calamities, and I was very glad I got to stay outside and enjoy a bit more of the day before heading back to chilly Toronto temps. Nevertheless, next time I get it in my head that I should do that again, please slap me and hail me a cab.
Lesson learned.
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