We did a show at Seton Hall University in New Jersey on Tuesday (October 14)and decided to stay an extra day so we could go into NYC. For all you people thinking about going on a trip to New York or anywhere else… ever, let me share some tips with you.
- Plan- We got back to our hotel at 2 o’clock on the morning of the same day that we wanted to go to New York. At no surprise to me, no one had made any plans. We didn’t know where the train station was or what time the train was.
- Carry cash- I am cash carrier. Always have been. I’m not a big fan of plastic money. When going to a city, the cheapest/best places for souvenirs only take cash. In this case, our train only took cash. If not for the petty cash we keep for tolls and such, only me and couple of friends would have gone to New York City that day.
- Take a map- Seriously? 12 people going to the busiest city in perhaps the world and I am the only one who thought it might be a good idea to bring a map? Apparently the rest of the team must have much more knowledge about NYC geography and landmarks than I do which allowed them to be free from frivolous things such as maps. Seriously?
- Wear comfortable shoes and carry a backpack not a purse- You will most likely walk a lot so fore go the flipflops or other fashion statement shoes. Secondly, it is much harder to rip a bag off your back than it is to slip a purse off your shoulder. Plus if you take a larger bag you can carry extras like bottled water, a sweatshirt, and any purchases you may make that day. My standard method is that I always put my wallet and camera on the bottom of the bag with my sweatshirt on top of it making it much harder to people to rob me without me knowing. So far, so good.
Now back to the story…
We arrived at Penn Station right next to Madison Square Gardens. Due to the aforementioned lack of maps, people immediately started asking where we needed to go. Jack and I took off like we owned the city and if not for our cameras, we could have passed for real New Yorkers. Walk fast, that’s key. Since we wanted to get on with our day, the guys and I grabbed a quick bite in the McDonalds in Times Square. We hung out there for a little bit and went to Hershey Chocolate Store.
One of the guys on our team has always wanted to go see the Late Show with David Letterman. We emailed about tickets a couple of weeks ago, but never heard anything. So the morning of the show a few people called, answered some Letterman Trivia and got everyone standby tickets. When Jack, Karl, and I were going to the Hershey store, there was a girl in a Letterman polo sitting outside offering free tickets. We stopped and talked to her, told her we were on standby, and she said if we answered 2 David Letterman Trivia questions right we would have guaranteed seats for the show that day. After telling her that Dave throws is blue cards off his desk and Alan’s (the Announcer) hair is red, we had our seats!
We still had a lot of time to kill so we continued up Broadway to Columbus Circle and over into Central Park. Talk about a completely different world! We thought we walked most of the way through the park, but we barely scratched the surface. However, Jack did find some middle school girls jumping rope and gave it a try himself…
After that adventure we had to go to the Ed Sullivan theater to pick up our tickets. After half an hour in line we had our tickets and we were released again for a couple hours. This time we headed over to Rockefeller Center. The ice skating rink opened up the weekend before we got there, but very few were using it this early in the season. We walked all around and went in 30 Rock- home of NBC Studios. Then it was back to Letterman for the actual taping.
We got in the theater at 3:45, the taping started at 4:30 and we were done by 5:30. Martin Short was on the program that day- he’s a very funny guy! I like a lot of his movies, so it was great to see him in person. He sang a song about what would happen if movie stars ran for president. It was awesome- he’s been in several Broadway shows and is amazingly talented. There was a lot of political talk the day I was there because John McCain was coming on the next day- if only I had been there a day later! Marv Albert was also on the show. He has a collection of sports bloopers coming out so we watched clips of that. Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra are amazing. They played before the show and during all of the “commercial breaks.” The show is a really fun atmosphere. Like I mentioned, it was in the Ed Sullivan theater- as in the same theater the Ed Sullivan Show used to take place in. That means greats such as Elvis and the Beatles had performed on that same stage I was looking at. That was cool.
After Letterman, a few of us headed down to Little Italy for dinner. Then we got as close as we could to Ground Zero. Honestly, it just looks like normal city construction now. If my map hadn’t said World Trade Center, you would never know. The memorial with the two lights shining into the sky has also been removed due to construction. There are however billboards on nearby buildings showing what the sight looked like pre9-11 and what it will look like after the Freedom Tower is finished. Another building has a multi-story American flag design on its windows facing Ground Zero. While in the area, we also made a brief stop at Battery Park and could see the Statue of Liberty across the Hudson. The city is beautiful at night!
After that, we took the subway back to Times Square for a few last moments of shopping before catching the 11:40 back to New Jersey. According to my count, I walked about 10 miles that day. It was a quick trip, but definitely worth it.
I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in San Marcos TX waiting for the boys to arrive. I flew into San Antonio this morning on a 6 AM flight so now I’m just napping, blogging, and taking it easy!
