First let me say this, I am a planner, I prefer to plan, or have a plan thought out pretty much before I do anything, actually at some point I over plan.
Iam not sure if that has anything to do with the Logistician in me, or the traveler in me, but I do know this if I have time to plan, planning is what I will do.
I have to get a circumsatnce or situation that I am going to be in planned out for me as much as possible, even if it is just planning my outfits, my perfumes, my nails, or my hair, for me, those things I just mentioned are no brainers, I definitely have to have resolved prior to anything, but that may just be me, maybe one day that will not matter but OLD ZONE ALERT!!! I am 62.
So, sometime around the beginning of the year I had planned a trip that one of my bestfriends and I was going on to NYC, because I had not been back to NYC since 2017, that is 8 years ago, which had a lot to do with my work situation, but still, it had been eight years and it was time for me to go back to visit where I was raised. And my Girlfriend had never really been to NYC and she was down to go with me, sowe were going and I begin planning.
We both like to go to the Casino, so we were going to book our stay there. I planned to see go to the Sherri Show, see a broadway play (Chicago) and participate in some of the other NYC Excursions, plus the plans included driving to Woodbury Commons, The number one (1) Premiere Outlet Mall in the United States, to my knowledge, and I planned to take her to Brotherhood Winery, the oldest winery in the United States, and to date a sentimental favorite of mine, and it’s not far from Woodbury Commons, so if you are ever at one or the other, do yourself a favor and visit both, it’ll be a day out you’ll never forget, I still order by the case from Brotherhood Winery, and I share certain wines with family and friends as gifts. You know I am into exposing folks to good or better wines, why do good when you can have better.
Our trip was planned, how much the hotel, plane and rent-a-car would cost us, and what we would or could do each day, all that was needed was for both of us to be ready to book everything, and unfortunately something came up for my girlfriend, it took a minute before she just had to tell me she was not going to make it, but I felt there was a lot going in her life at the time so when it came time to book, I more or less figured she would not be going, but, because I am such a planner I still had ample enough time to make the necessary adjustments and still make the trip to NYC, even if I had to go alone.
I had to scratch those plans I had for our Girls Trip, and make new plans, I was adament about getting to NYC and during that time frame because I have more than one area of NY that I want to visit, my family is all over NY and this Summer is the perfect Summer for me to make all the trips to see as many as I can during my trips to NY this Summer. Yes! This is going to be a NY Summer for me and I am excited about it! Always staying positive! Always moving forward!
So, I called my Cousin who I was going to visit quickly if my Girlfriend was with me but now I could spend more time with her and her family, and my Cousin welcomed me with open arms and even made sure I knew I could stay at her place. Normally I prefer to stay at a hotel, but for this Cousin I felt comfortable accepting the offer, and right-a-way, began making new plans in my mind. I shortened the trip to a weekend trip, my Cousin works and since I am staying with her I am not trying to, what the old folks would call, “overstay my welcome”. I know how hard it is to entertain someone staying in your home, it could be nerve wracking depending on the guest. I am very mindful of everything when I stay in someone’s home, I commit to being the perfect guest, and so far I’ve always been welcomed back after staying at someone’s home, my mother would say, “That’s because you were raised right”.
So, now we move on to my Subject topic, “ Remember things are not what they used to be”. I planned to go visit my Cousin in NYC, Long Island to be exact, for the weekend, and as usual I plan my departure time from Atlanta to NYC (JFK) airport because its closer to my Cousins home, and it just happens to be close to the Resorts World Casino my Girlfriend and I were going to stay in had this trip not been altered because she couldnt commit. So, I booked an early flight into JFK Airport and planned to visit the casino early, and long enough till it would be a good time spent in the Casino by the time my Cousin would be getting off work, and once she had informed me that she was off and on her way to her home I would wrap things up and head that way myself via UBER. We had plans to go to City Island to eat that night, so that would be my day 1 in NYC, plus of course the spending time with my Cousin and her daughter who I never met in person and seeing her older son again, I had a lot to look forward to and I was excited.
I wake up at 3 am, perfectly on time to finish packing, clean up in my condo, water my plants, and it seems eveything is going smooth until it didnt. When I went to secure my suitcase, (because now its time to lock it up and get downstairs, withdraw some traveliing money and call the UBER to take me to the airport), then I started experiencing difficulties with the combination lock settings, so much till I managed to set the lock then scrambled the combination numbers without knowing what the numbers were for right side lock, leaving me unable to open that side, while the left side combo lock, all of a sudden would not even attach/clamp down in place, for a lot of minutes I silently pannicked, scrammbled with both combo locks, then I thought I had to go, it was now getting too late. I raced to the elevator, well, I walked as fast as I could to the elevator pulling my half locked suitcase, in hopes that once inside the UBER Ill be calm enough to open and/or adjust each lock, but that did not happen, I struggled in the UBER trying to situate the suitcase to get a look at it, it was still dark outside, it was 5:30ish am in the morning and my flight would begin boarding at 6:50 am, so inside my nerves were nerving and I was still trying to calm myself. Of course, I tell the driver and he understands but what can he do for me, he drops me off and when I get to the counter to see if I can get help from the personnel there, they do give me some solace by telling me, my luggage is within carry on size so I dont have to check it, and I just went from there. It was straight to the wheelchair assistance section and off I went through TSA and then to my gate. So, I had my raggedy suitcase with me, it was secured, secured so much, I was going to have to break it open because I did not know the combination I mistakenly set it to, but I was on my way to NYC. I thought I was going to get some rest while on the plane, but, I sat next to the nicest, kindest young lady who struck up a conversation with me, or I her, anyway, we talked all the way to NYC-JFK, I got to know about her, her family and she got to know about me and mine, we became fast friends, I loved it!! It felt like we both were Esthering in these streets!!!
She was interested in becoming a Grady Rocker, and of course I am going to link her up with who she needs to talk to so she and her group can navigate the process, that was wonderful!
So, I had all her info, and she mine and once we landed it was time for me to get to the Casino and I was ready!
The UBER situation at JFK, though well figured out, was very different than any I’ve ever been exposed to. So like all airports, or should say most airports, there is now a designated place for obtaining a RIDESHARE, which really is an inconvenience because there designated place is far away from departure doors in a segregated spot, I was being pushed so it did not hurt me to travel to the designated spot, but I did feel bad for the Wheel-chair assistant who had to push me all the way there, and I always tip good so I hoped that would suffice. JFK however, is still a big airport. Anyway, I get over to the Rideshare spot and request an UBER and how they do it is you get in one line, first come first serve, and the App provides you with a PIN number that will link the next available driver to your request, it worked like a charm, plus they had a Rideshare assistant out there to make sure that ordeal went smooth and it did. The Casino was roughly 3 miles away from the JFK Airport, and I was there ready to sit and play slots. I am taking pics and then grab my suitcase, and continue taking pics all the way inside and I get to see it is just as I suspected a really nice Casino, in fact, this place has been recognized as the “Top Slot Revenue Generator in the United States”, and it is said that in 2012, Resorts World Casino New York brought in a record of nearly 700 Million in revenue and attracted approximately 10 million visitors.
I contune walking in the facility with my suitcase, it was not obvious that it wa raggedy, but I knew it. I go up the escalator, and walk up the long corridor, I can see the entrance to the Casino where security checks your Id and I slow my walking so I can dig out my ID, and once I am one person away from the ID check podium, and I have close my purse, have my ID in hand and I look up to see the security person look me in my face and tell me, you can’t come in with your luggage.
And I say to myself, OH MY GOODNESS!!! He asks me if I am staying at the hotel, I tell him I just arrived from JFK and came there to play while I waited to go visit my Cousin who was at that time at work. There was nothing he could do for me, and clearly I understood, the current state of the world makes it impossible for anyone to be trusted, I understood why I should not have been allowed to go into a populated area, like a casino with my luggage, they did not even have a holding spot for luggage, I was told they used to but that too did not exist now.
My last resort was to go to see the hotel people who does hold luggage for their guests, in hopes that maybe they would allow me to leave my luggage with them. I walk up all the way over to the other side of the Casino to where the beautiful hotel was, only to hear what I dd not want to hear ,but deep inside knew was coming, they said, “If you are not staying at the hotel they will not hold your luggage”, and so I had to ask, “How much was the stay per night, I kind of knew because I am booked at a Resorts World later this Summer. And the lady replied, $509 a night and there was no way under these circumstances was I going to book for a few hours to play in the Casino, so there I was, surrendering to, what now? And I thought just to do the positive thing and that was get some Starbucks and create some content, and that is what I did. I notified my Cousin so she would know what was going on with me, and she said she’d manage to get off early and that was that. I thought about it briefly, what I could do to get back to the Casino after I got to my Cousins house, and then I silenced the noise, I was going to enjoy my time with my Cousin and her daugther, hang out in Long Island, get me another suitcase, and let that be that. And I had a wonderful time this weekend.
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