I was reading archived posts the other day and saw a “You Might Be Katie Leas if” where I mentioned something about not liking to fly and not liking to travel. Amazing how time goes.
This summer I traveled to Orlando, New York City, and Las Vegas for work. I find I’ve traveled enough in the last 3 years that I get huffy with slow people in the security line, I no longer feel I’m jinxing myself if I don’t sit attentively watching the security review on the plane, I don’t freak out when I see people using their cell phones during the flight, I don’t need Xanax to fly, and I kinda like airport shops (okay TRUTH, I’ve always liked the airport shops and I like night flights)
Places I’ve been thanks to work:
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- New Orleans, LA
- Seattle, WA
- Indianapolis, IN
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
- Las Vegas, NV
- Orlando, FL
- New York City, NY
Here’s a few photo highlights from my travels.
Orlando
My visit in June was a first for me. I’d never been to the city that housed Disney World. Oh man, there was a Rugrats hotel. We stayed at a nice hotel and had to drive to the conference hotel- it was a LONG few days and it ate up a weekend plus a couple work days, but it was definitely worth it. I actually really working the booth at shows. I ended up in one of the industry publications Vanna-ing our wares. (We were promoting our site SchoolBlender with margaritas…I posed and then provided a quote for the caption and we won first place)
My hotel in Orlando had lots of foliage. I didn't realize this was a normal thing but apparently it is.
We took clients to dinner the night after I'd worked the booth all day. I helped tear down and ended up going back to my hotel to change before dinner. It was a Japanese Steakhouse, aka HEAVEN.
Out of sequence, but this was Gayla's drink at the sushi bar in our hotel. We stopped there for lunch after we put up the booth. I had a headache at this point but managed to get over it. We had enough time to bathe and change before heading back over to start meetings and conference time. Pretty drink. Sake involved. I complimented the waitress on her shirt and then realized it was a uniform shirt. Felt stupid. But had food. and flowery drink
This is what we saw while waiting for our breakfast meetings. I'm really not a huge fan of palm trees.
Our give away at the exhibit hall- one was spiked and one wasn't. Our cups were hypercolor. Trust me, the give away was relevant. It was also a good way to get people to stop and talk. I'm a good little booth girl. It was pretty much non-stop talking for me.
New York City
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG *pinch* Dude, I’m in Harlem?! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG Is that Central Park? OMG OMG OMG Am I getting ripped off? All the literature says this cab ride shouldn’t cost more than $40. I hope I don’t get ripped off. OMG OMG OMG I’M IN NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I’m smooth, huh? That’s kind of how my brain was working when I landed at LaGuardia. NYC is an epic city. You have Rome, Athens, Pompeii, Constantinople, and…New York City. As you may have guessed from my sauve-ty, it was my first visit to New York City.
This was the view my hotel- there was always some sort of traffic. I stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Time Square. I'm underprivelged.
Pigeons > Seagulls. My first up close and personal with real NYC Pigeons. I was sitting outside at Starbucks being stood up for a meeting. But there was a latte and pigeons!
We stumbled past NBC studios and such on our way back to the hotel after visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral. So much walking. And Rockafeller Center was very small. I'm still not conviced that I saw the real Rockafeller Center. Treachery.
We cabbed it over to the area that allowed us to walk up to Ground Zero. It wasn't what I expected but the construction is deep. You can't see much other than lots of construction. Not sure how they are going to get it done by 2011.
A memorial near Ground Zero for firefighters. I teared up. Seeing names always does that. Names make them people. Which makes me sad.
Nope, that's not a dirty spot, that's Lady Liberty. Hey! Our cabbie was very tourguidey and drove us over to Battery Park and told us all kinds of things that I've since forgotten. I do remember that he works in IT too and he's bringing his family over from India finally.
Columns at St. Patrick's
Stained glass window at St. Patrick's. I couldn't come close with my camera phone to capturing the color.
Take my breath away. Nope, not a cheesey love scene. Amazing wowness inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.
A shot to the back of the church toward the organ. This was my favorite view. I was in awe. It was breathtaking. I may have thanked God a little that day.
Las Vegas
YAWN. I’ve done this before that whole one other time last year. I’m a pro. Well, okay, not a pro but I learned a few things about Vegas that helped me have a more enjoyable experience. No matter how short the distance looks, you should never try to walk from Planet Hollywood to Mandalay Bay. For the love of God, wear decent shoes. (I rocked my cowboy boots with a black dress.) Your room will never be 100% dark.
I had an interesting room at Bally's in Vegas. I'd never use the giant jetted tub because doubt they clean it well enough to convince me they've washed away all of the sin. The bathroom was setup funny and there were A LOT of mirrors. The room was also never fully dark and I had an obscured view of the front of the Bellagio and got to see the fountains from my room. All in all, not bad for a gal. This is the only picture I have for you. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! (lame. actually there really wasn't anything to capture. I tweeted and blogged the actual event.)
Those are just a few snippets from my travel. I feel lucky. I no longer hate to travel. I never did really hate it- I was just afraid because it was a rarity. When I was 8, they made us do tumbling in gym class and I was terrified of doing somersaults and forward rolls. (never got over skinning the cat). Once I tried it, I was a tumbling fool. I setup a mattress thing in our living room at home and would just fill my days with forward rolls. Quit while I’m ahead with the anecdote, yeah?
[...] Continued here: I’m a Travelin Band and You’re My Groupies [...]
I like this post because it feeds into the old “try it you’ll like it” adage. I think so many people underestimate themselves. They put a toe in the water and declare “I don’t like that.” When what they need to do is jump in with both feet and enjoy the water. Thanks for sharing.
Ann, thanks for the comment. I definitely have to push myself to try things sometimes, but I’m usually happy I did.