December 6 & 7, 2017
DAY 1
I know you’re probably wondering why I combined days. Usually, I’m so long-winded, all my posts have to be separate. Well, technically our first “day” started at 9:00 pm on December 6, so there’s not much to it. I did take a few cool shots from the sky which is why I included it.
Our flight was at 6:00 pm so we headed to the airport around 4:00 pm. We made it and got through security pretty quick. As soon as we got to the plane train we got a notification that our flight was delayed until 7:30 pm. It was actually a bit of a relief because now we could head to the international terminal to get free dinner from the lounge instead of paying for some overpriced junk food while walking to our gate.
Around 7:00 pm, we headed to the gate, boarded, and were on our way. I was kind of sad that we were flying into NYC at night because we wouldn’t be able to see the city or Statue of Liberty. However, the city was beautiful all lit up from the sky. Atlanta was pretty too! It’s been a long time since I flew at night.
We arrived at EWR (Newark, NJ airport) around 9:00 pm and got an Uber to the hotel, the Hyatt Regency Jersey City. FYI if you ever stay there, the entrance does not look like an entrance. We were so confused (as was our Uber driver) when we pulled up, but then we saw the door guy and realized we were in the right place. There was a tiny Hyatt sign and then we pulled into an area that looked like an area where guests shouldn’t have been. Although, since it’s literally on the water, I guess they really couldn’t have had a normal entrance.
We checked in, put our things in our room, and then went to the hotel bar to meet up with one of Eric’s coworkers. Side note: if you recall our Vegas/Grand Canyon trip last year, you know we went for a work conference for Eric. This was that same conference, just a different location.
We weren’t at the bar for long and headed back to the room after about an hour.
DAY 2
We woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise on the Hudson.
I logged on to work from the room while Eric went to his conference. I met up with him and his coworkers for lunch at a nearby restaurant on the river and then continued to work until 5:00 pm. This was definitely easier than when I had to work from Vegas because of the time zone difference.
After Eric returned from his conference, we got ready and decided to head into New York City for dinner. We hadn’t taken the subway yet, so it was time to see if we could navigate it as well as we did on the Paris metro!
Our hotel was so convenient. Although it was in New Jersey, we were only a 55-minutetrain ride from NYC. The subway to get to the city was right outside our hotel. We went in, bought our subway cards, and went deep down underground. The subway we used to get to the city brought us under the Hudson River and spit us out at the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub (aka The Oculus).
We didn’t feel like wandering too far from the World Trade Center area, so we decided to eat at a pub called P.J. Clarke’s recommended to us by one of Eric’s coworkers. It was great but very loud. It was a Thursday, so the after-work crowd was packed in there.
After dinner, we just decided to go back to the hotel. We had an EARLY start the next day since we would be in the audience for Good Morning America!
-Bisous!
Lauryn
