Last Day in NY

Ahh this is it, my last day in NY. Being a Sunday Claire and I decided that to start things off right we should go to church. I haven't gone to church in a while but thats more because I don't like the churches in South Florida compared to the North East. What better church to go to when you're in NY than to hit up St. Patricks Cathedral. Now this is what I call a church! It's huge, its the seat of the NY Arch Diocese, and its historical. I actually did sit through an entire Mass and went and looked at all the different alters where I could light candles for loved ones. Claire and I lit two candles and went to the store to get a souvanir. The only thing that I didn't like were all the people taking pictures indoors. I don't agree with people doing that inside a church, it seems disrespectful. I'll give them that its a beautiful church but don't interfere with the Mass by taking flash photography. Well thats my gripe about St. Patricks but over all I enjoyed the experience (especially because no one held my hand like they do in the South).

One thing that we did miss out on was our planned brunch in Brooklyn. At this point we were just too tired to go anymore and we also decided we wouldn't have enough time to get there and back and also catch our plane. Instead we ended our stay in NY the way it began, by hitting up Penang for some good eats that will have to last a long time. I don't know when I'm going to be in NY again but I do know that I'm going to remember the food, the sights, and the good times with old friends and of course Claire.

One of the more memorable moments of my final day in NY was actually at the airport. Now I was using reward tickets from Delta Airlines but since I got them so early I was actually upgraded to First Class. It doesn't mean all that much on domestic but it lets you use the short security line, get all the drinks you want, have a bigger seat and more leg room.... you get the idea! I also happen to be a Gold Medallion member with Delta so that lets me use the short security line anyway but I don't normally get First Class. Anyway,Claire and I have our tickets in hand and we head on over to the short line for First Class and Gold and Platinum Medallion members. As we walk towards the line a security agent blocks our way and tries and directs us to the regular line which is decently long. We try and push through and she insists that we should go to the regular line. We proceed to tell her that we're First Class so we can go through the line and that I'm a Gold Medalliion member so even on those merits I can go through the line. She takes our boarding passes and inspects them and just waves us through, no appology or anything like that. How RUDE! I'm sure it was the way I was dressed or how old I look that threw her off. I can sort of understand that. I look young for my age and so does Claire so she wouldn't expect us to be riding around in First Class but at least check and not be rude about it.

After zipping through Security, no thanks to that dumb bitch at the First Class line we found out that our flight was delayed because of storms in other parts of the country. There were a lot of other flights canceled or delayed as well so the terminal was quite busy. I considered going to the Crown Club room but since the delay was so short we skipped it in favor of sitting with the people and getting some grub. This is where Claire and I experience our second run in with people that think we're not entitled to boarding with Zone 1 (basically First Class). When flights run late they normally try and board the plane really quick so they were calling zones pretty quick. When they called Zone 1 (the Zone I was in) I headed to the gate like everyone else and went through the Breezeway Lane. Some woman who was in the regular lane had the gall to ask the gate agent what zone they were boarding since I was walking up to show my pass. The gate agent turned to the woman and said something like this in a snotty tone "Ma'am we're seating Zone 1 and he's Zone 1". That put a smile on my face, take that! I may not look it or dress like it when I'm on vacation but I know I have status and First Class tickets and damn it I'll use it to my advantage! The rest of the trip home was pretty un-eventful. We slept a little on the plane and got some extra drinks but the ride was smooth and pretty plush. Thats the way to end a vacation. I should have taken another couple of days off, that would have been a nice little night cap to it all.