my soul's not far behind now
I'm there.
My flights passed without incident, except for the unusual wonder of uninterrupted, chemically mediated sleep. I'll be singing the praises of melatonin for some time yet; I am so used to not being able to sleep on planes that it's almost part of the standard dialogue about air travel. 9 mg at taxiing time seems to equal eight hours of a lovely, warm, crackly, almost-erotic-if-I-weren't-so-sleepy feeling and a blessed quickness to actually falling asleep. My flights were from 12:30am to 8am PST, so getting sleep was a crucial part of the plan... in future I should mess with dosage and scheduling so the "that was nice. more sleep? yes?" component doesn't persist for three hours after.
When I found baggage claim at LGA, there were my suitcase and my bike box - haven't opened it yet, but it looks unopened (my packing tape isn't cut) and not visibly damaged. SO glad that seems to have worked out okay. I wrapped wads of newspaper around every part of the frame except the chainstays, so I'll be really surprised if anything terrible happened. I'm really happy and very much relieved about this part, at least. Positive reports of airlines and bikes seem pretty rare. My third piece of luggage was NOT there, containing all my non-vital toiletries and dymaxion's and my nice outfits for our dinner plans at Aquavit, but there was a dymaxion, looking radiant in the heat.
We got a minivan cab to the apartment complex, and I figured out how to get the bike box inside a building whose main entrance is a revolving door (answer: use the delivery door; extra credit: do not attract the notice of the doorman), and I strode up to the front desk with a tired, ill girlfriend and three bags... to discover that I had no reservation.
I produced a printed confirmation document from my relo company, and stood at the front desk for close to an hour, trying on various iterations of my "polite but tenaciously displeased" face for the concierges, as they tried calling number after number but made their best "not my problem" faces right back. Was I coming from somewhere out of the country, they asked? "Seattle..." I said, dubiously, picturing the New Yorker map of a New Yorker's idea of USA geography. Seems my Relocation Sub-Sub-Contractor Type Person sent *me* a confirmation, but that information never made it to the place where they tried to set me up. I have no idea what happened, but I'm telling myself it's not inappropriate to... convey my displeasure... on Monday.
Eventually I asked to leave the bags (including the giant white box that I don't think they know contains a bicycle), dymaxion and I went to find some lunch, and I called my HR coordinator to find out if I had any options besides getting a hotel. "Get a hotel", she advised, in friendlier words, extremely friendly given that I'd called her with some urgency on her personal cell number on a Saturday. O... kay.
Decided to head back to the apartment building to fetch my laptop and begin the search for a hotel in Midtown under $500 with rooms from tonight until $later[3]; but when we arrived the concierge smiled, said he'd finally gotten in touch with someone, here are the keys, the laundry room's on the second floor. Right! Oh, and a package for me. (A package?) From cow! Upstairs - fast elevator zoooooom - apartment blank, white, sort of featureless but with a real kitchen and a soft, soft bed.
Good long E-snuggles, then, the first in many weeks. No details will be provided, especially not to angharads_house.
cow sent me a mouse puppet! She's currently sitting on the kitchen bar, adding some warmth to this chilly-looking place.
Just went out to find some groceries and sundries; found a lovely natural foods store three blocks away, not actually any more expensive than Seattle prices. There's a bowl of tomatoes and nectarines in the kitchen now, and dish soap, and I feel rested and loved and a whole lot better.
The third piece of baggage ended up on the wrong flight (...?) and was just delivered here about half an hour ago, but too late for dinner, so we canceled our reservation. Meh. I can go there anytime now, and I'm just glad to have her, and be all here.
My flights passed without incident, except for the unusual wonder of uninterrupted, chemically mediated sleep. I'll be singing the praises of melatonin for some time yet; I am so used to not being able to sleep on planes that it's almost part of the standard dialogue about air travel. 9 mg at taxiing time seems to equal eight hours of a lovely, warm, crackly, almost-erotic-if-I-weren't-so-sleepy feeling and a blessed quickness to actually falling asleep. My flights were from 12:30am to 8am PST, so getting sleep was a crucial part of the plan... in future I should mess with dosage and scheduling so the "that was nice. more sleep? yes?" component doesn't persist for three hours after.
When I found baggage claim at LGA, there were my suitcase and my bike box - haven't opened it yet, but it looks unopened (my packing tape isn't cut) and not visibly damaged. SO glad that seems to have worked out okay. I wrapped wads of newspaper around every part of the frame except the chainstays, so I'll be really surprised if anything terrible happened. I'm really happy and very much relieved about this part, at least. Positive reports of airlines and bikes seem pretty rare. My third piece of luggage was NOT there, containing all my non-vital toiletries and dymaxion's and my nice outfits for our dinner plans at Aquavit, but there was a dymaxion, looking radiant in the heat.
We got a minivan cab to the apartment complex, and I figured out how to get the bike box inside a building whose main entrance is a revolving door (answer: use the delivery door; extra credit: do not attract the notice of the doorman), and I strode up to the front desk with a tired, ill girlfriend and three bags... to discover that I had no reservation.
I produced a printed confirmation document from my relo company, and stood at the front desk for close to an hour, trying on various iterations of my "polite but tenaciously displeased" face for the concierges, as they tried calling number after number but made their best "not my problem" faces right back. Was I coming from somewhere out of the country, they asked? "Seattle..." I said, dubiously, picturing the New Yorker map of a New Yorker's idea of USA geography. Seems my Relocation Sub-Sub-Contractor Type Person sent *me* a confirmation, but that information never made it to the place where they tried to set me up. I have no idea what happened, but I'm telling myself it's not inappropriate to... convey my displeasure... on Monday.
Eventually I asked to leave the bags (including the giant white box that I don't think they know contains a bicycle), dymaxion and I went to find some lunch, and I called my HR coordinator to find out if I had any options besides getting a hotel. "Get a hotel", she advised, in friendlier words, extremely friendly given that I'd called her with some urgency on her personal cell number on a Saturday. O... kay.
Decided to head back to the apartment building to fetch my laptop and begin the search for a hotel in Midtown under $500 with rooms from tonight until $later[3]; but when we arrived the concierge smiled, said he'd finally gotten in touch with someone, here are the keys, the laundry room's on the second floor. Right! Oh, and a package for me. (A package?) From cow! Upstairs - fast elevator zoooooom - apartment blank, white, sort of featureless but with a real kitchen and a soft, soft bed.
Good long E-snuggles, then, the first in many weeks. No details will be provided, especially not to angharads_house.
cow sent me a mouse puppet! She's currently sitting on the kitchen bar, adding some warmth to this chilly-looking place.
Just went out to find some groceries and sundries; found a lovely natural foods store three blocks away, not actually any more expensive than Seattle prices. There's a bowl of tomatoes and nectarines in the kitchen now, and dish soap, and I feel rested and loved and a whole lot better.
The third piece of baggage ended up on the wrong flight (...?) and was just delivered here about half an hour ago, but too late for dinner, so we canceled our reservation. Meh. I can go there anytime now, and I'm just glad to have her, and be all here.