Steph here. This week’s blog post is from me, as I did a little traveling for work last week and it prompted some thoughts.
I am definitely an introvert, which makes solo travel pretty limiting. I’ve only traveled alone for work, and when I wasn’t in the office, I could be found in my hotel room, usually reading a book. I rarely go sightseeing; my knowledge of Houston, Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles pretty much started and ended with the inside of their airports.
When Gene and I travel together, I am much more adventurous. We wander the city, eat all the local food, and try new things. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy spending time by the pool or on the beach with a good book, but we spend a lot of time getting to know the place where we are vacationing.
The country mouse goes to the city
So when I spent last Monday through Wednesday in New York City for work, I wanted to try to channel traveling with Gene instead of my typical solo travel routine. Was I completely successful? No, but I was better than I was in the past. To be fair, I was helped by the fact that several coworkers were in New York at the same time, so I had people I could explore with.
I spent about a week mapping the locations of my clients and planning the best way to schedule the visits to minimize my time traipsing back and forth across the city. Luckily, half of my clients were in the Financial District and the other half were near Times Square, so I planned my days to take advantage of this.
I stayed in Times Square. I could literally see the big jumbotron’s from my hotel window. Why did I choose to stay in the busiest part of the city if I don’t like crowds? Logistics. I was visiting my Times Square area clients on the same day I was flying out, so staying in that area meant I could leave my suitcase at the hotel while I worked and pick it up on the way to the airport. A few coworkers were staying there, too, so that made connecting in our free time easier.
Experiencing the Big Apple
My first night in NYC, a coworker invited me to see a play off Broadway with her. We saw The Play That Goes Wrong and it was delightful. I got a seat in the second row (buying a single ticket opens up a lot of options!) and was right in the action. If you have never seen this play, I highly recommend it.
Sightseeing tends to be a struggle for me on solo trips. Luckily, law firms like to have high profile addresses, so my client visits took me to some very touristy areas. I saw the Wall Street bull, Trinity Church, The New York Public Library, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
I did want to see the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, and I was a block away from it when I was on my way back to the hotel, but I was hours from flying home at that point and was, quite honestly, over it. So I chose to keep walking rather than detour to see it.
My Kingdom for a public restroom
One question – how do New Yorkers deal with restroom needs while they are out? The lack of public restrooms in that city was surprising to me (although when I unpacked the logic of it, I shouldn’t have been surprised). Once I checked out of the hotel, my bathroom options went down drastically. I had to go to Barnes and Noble, buy a coffee in their Starbucks and use the code on my receipt to open the ladies room door. New Yorkers, is there an app that identifies public restrooms in the city? If not, one of you should create one.
Back to the familiar
I was only in New York for two and a half days, but by the end, I was done. I did so much walking and honestly the mental effort required to navigate that city wore on me pretty quickly. I enjoyed my client visits and connecting outside of work with my coworkers (many of us had never met in person), so I am glad I went. But no one was happier than me to get on the plane back to Kansas City. As cities go, KC feels like a small town compared to the Big Apple!
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