Today was a much better day at work. My intent was to get out of the office by 2:00. It ended up being more like 3:30, but that’s okay. I met up with Paul and left Reggie with him. My apartment is SO quiet without him here.
I’m all packed. Well, mostly. I’m going to be gone for almost a week, and packing for that is hard enough. I have an additional challenge this trip because I don’t know that Jet Blue will allow me to only check my bag as far as New York coming back. That means I have to fit a week’s worth of stuff into a bag that will fit into an overhead bin. The fact that I’m flying on a smaller plane further complicates this.
Let me back up. When I booked this trip, it was supposed to be Boston to Chicago round trip. It turned out to be Boston to Chicago and then Chicago to New York. This works out pretty well since I have a connection in New York both ways. Our travel agent suggested that I just check my bags to New York instead of Boston when I check in at O’Hare. I called Jet Blue today to find out if that was possible, and the reservation agent couldn’t tell me. This means that I have to use a bag that will fit into the overhead bin.
That’s right, a gay man is making a one week trip with a bag that has to fit into the overhead bin. Bah.
A little while ago, the answer hit me. I’m going to take the duffel that goes along with my suitcase. I can check one and carry one. If I can’t check my bags to New York, one bag will go on to Boston and wait a day for me. The other one will stay with me. The worst case scenario is that I have to go to the airport to pick up the bag that got checked to Boston. I just have to make sure that anything that goes into the bag that gets checked isn’t valuable.
Coming back to Boston, I’m taking the Acela. It’s just a lot easier than flying. And it’s so much easier getting a cab from South Station than it is from Logan. The cab drivers get really pissy if you ask them to take you anywhere in East Boston from Logan.
Today, I called our travel agent to see if she could put me in a better hotel in New York. I’m in a bit of a tourist hotel, and I was hoping she could put me at the Blakely, which is where I stayed last time I was in New York. It was really nice, but it was almost $400 a night when we checked a few weeks ago. That’s why I’m in a cheaper hotel. Today, she said she couldn’t find any rooms for less than $600 a night, thinking there must be something going on in New York next week. The Blakely will usually give us rooms even if they’re officially sold out. They weren’t even able to do that this time.
Anyway, I need to get to bed. I’m working from home in the morning and then heading to the airport about 1:00.