I need a vacation after my vacation!
So, we're back in New York as of last Tuesday. We had a lovely week on the beach in North Carolina, with lots of laughs and lots of crying (there was a 2 month old baby there, after all). I got a lovely tan even with SPF 30+ laboriously slathered on daily. And of course it's always nice to spend time with family (even with the trying-too-hard-to-fit-in new girlfriend of one of my stepbrothers).
We left NC on Friday the 15th with a ridiculous travel itinerary: early afternoon direct flight from North Carolina to LaGuardia, take a taxi to JFK, fly from JFK to Boston, take a Cessna from Boston to Nantucket. By the time we arrived at JFK to check in for our JetBlue flight, it was already delayed due to a HUGE storm that was swirling around the entire northeast. We knew that if we were delayed by a significant amount we might miss our 8PM flight out of Boston, and the last flight out of there on the Cessna is at 9:30PM. By some ridiculous luck we managed to snag the last two standby seats on an earlier flight to Boston (which was delayed over three hours), and while sitting on the runway watching our JetBlue TVs, we noticed a tornado warning for New York City. Freaking TORNADO warning. Needless to say, we were sitting on the tarmac for a good hour or so.
We finally arrived in Boston just in time for our 8PM flight, but all of the Cessna flights out of Boston were delayed. We were told our 8PM plane MIGHT leave Nantucket to get back to Boston at 9:20, but there were no guarantees. Still, we were hopeful. Until they cancelled all outgoing flights for the night and we realized we were screwed. All of the outgoing flights the next morning were full, so Darren being his scrappy self asked about flights out of the Cape. We were booked on an 8:30AM flight from Hyannis to Nantucket (which takes literally 15 minutes) and told that there was a bus that went directly from the airport to Hyannis. Which we missed by TWO MINUTES, and had to wait an additional hour for. No worries, we could use the extra time to find a hotel room. Which we did after calling nine different hotels (all fully booked)... I think we got the last hotel room on all of Cape Cod. After a two hour bus ride, we arrived in Hyannis in the pouring rain around midnight, ran for a cab which took us to the hotel through flooded streets (the water was up to the doors on the cab), and slept for roughly five hours before heading out early the next morning for our flight to Nantucket. Oh, forgot to mention that we didn't have our luggage... that would arrive a few hours after we did on the next flight out of Boston, and we didn't get to pick it up until sometime Saturday afternoon.
And what did we do on Nantucket? Oh, watched a demolition derby. Yes. On the hoity-toity, super rich island of Nantucket. I've never been to a demolition derby and I certainly didn't think I'd go to one on the island. But it was hilarious and so much fun and Darren even got a trucker hat from it all. Awesome.
We also contemplated going in on a little place with my mom and Jim, but are thinking better of it now that Darren's company is pretty much tanking. Still, prices are on their way down there and foreclosures have gone up more than 400% in the last year. Once winter comes, we may take another look at things and if there's something affordable may take a stab at it. It's so peaceful out there, and we could rent out our apartment here in DUMBO for at least what we pay in mortgage and maintenance. It would be a nice option to just go and live somewhere else for a few months each year if our careers were both flexible enough. We're getting there....
And speaking of career flexibility, Darren is getting closer and closer to selling his first script. Or at least getting in contact with people who might be interested in buying it. He now has about five or six different leads out there and all of them are promising. I'm proud of him and really excited that he may be able to make this into a full time career. Of course, that means that I'll have to become his full time editor (as that's essentially what I'm doing now), but maybe that would give me more time to pursue some artistic endeavors. Who knows what will happen...
We left NC on Friday the 15th with a ridiculous travel itinerary: early afternoon direct flight from North Carolina to LaGuardia, take a taxi to JFK, fly from JFK to Boston, take a Cessna from Boston to Nantucket. By the time we arrived at JFK to check in for our JetBlue flight, it was already delayed due to a HUGE storm that was swirling around the entire northeast. We knew that if we were delayed by a significant amount we might miss our 8PM flight out of Boston, and the last flight out of there on the Cessna is at 9:30PM. By some ridiculous luck we managed to snag the last two standby seats on an earlier flight to Boston (which was delayed over three hours), and while sitting on the runway watching our JetBlue TVs, we noticed a tornado warning for New York City. Freaking TORNADO warning. Needless to say, we were sitting on the tarmac for a good hour or so.
We finally arrived in Boston just in time for our 8PM flight, but all of the Cessna flights out of Boston were delayed. We were told our 8PM plane MIGHT leave Nantucket to get back to Boston at 9:20, but there were no guarantees. Still, we were hopeful. Until they cancelled all outgoing flights for the night and we realized we were screwed. All of the outgoing flights the next morning were full, so Darren being his scrappy self asked about flights out of the Cape. We were booked on an 8:30AM flight from Hyannis to Nantucket (which takes literally 15 minutes) and told that there was a bus that went directly from the airport to Hyannis. Which we missed by TWO MINUTES, and had to wait an additional hour for. No worries, we could use the extra time to find a hotel room. Which we did after calling nine different hotels (all fully booked)... I think we got the last hotel room on all of Cape Cod. After a two hour bus ride, we arrived in Hyannis in the pouring rain around midnight, ran for a cab which took us to the hotel through flooded streets (the water was up to the doors on the cab), and slept for roughly five hours before heading out early the next morning for our flight to Nantucket. Oh, forgot to mention that we didn't have our luggage... that would arrive a few hours after we did on the next flight out of Boston, and we didn't get to pick it up until sometime Saturday afternoon.
And what did we do on Nantucket? Oh, watched a demolition derby. Yes. On the hoity-toity, super rich island of Nantucket. I've never been to a demolition derby and I certainly didn't think I'd go to one on the island. But it was hilarious and so much fun and Darren even got a trucker hat from it all. Awesome.
We also contemplated going in on a little place with my mom and Jim, but are thinking better of it now that Darren's company is pretty much tanking. Still, prices are on their way down there and foreclosures have gone up more than 400% in the last year. Once winter comes, we may take another look at things and if there's something affordable may take a stab at it. It's so peaceful out there, and we could rent out our apartment here in DUMBO for at least what we pay in mortgage and maintenance. It would be a nice option to just go and live somewhere else for a few months each year if our careers were both flexible enough. We're getting there....
And speaking of career flexibility, Darren is getting closer and closer to selling his first script. Or at least getting in contact with people who might be interested in buying it. He now has about five or six different leads out there and all of them are promising. I'm proud of him and really excited that he may be able to make this into a full time career. Of course, that means that I'll have to become his full time editor (as that's essentially what I'm doing now), but maybe that would give me more time to pursue some artistic endeavors. Who knows what will happen...