#AYCJ : New York, Part 1 – Day 1

This recap is for September 18th trip to New York, part 1, because I’m heading back in a few weeks. Tired from the concert the night before I thought I’d knock out immediately, but I ended up watching a movie, The Proposal, because they gave us a free in-flight movie for buggy TVs. I have to admit, I actually enjoyed the film, and was funnier than I thought it would be.

I arrived at the JFK Airport in New York with no problems. I’ve heard many great things about the new Terminal 5, so I was pretty excited to see it. Yes, it’s as amazing as people have hyped it up to be. It’s very Internet friendly with free wi-fi, and many power sources to plug into. I was also told that the executive chefs of each of the restaurants are well known, and you can’t go wrong by eating at any of those places. Design and lighting was also very consistent to the JetBlue theme, and quite futuristic. There were also a few AYCJ’ers scheduled to be there either by stopover, or leaving NY, so we also planned some kind of meetup. There I was greeted by JetBlue’s head of social media, who also is in charge of their Twitter account, and met JetBlue’s Manager of Marketing, NY. I also got to hang out with @sawyouonjetblue, @michelle_pacheco, and @flyered. @flyered, Brendan, is known as the Terminal Man for Wired Magazine. Got some cool #AYCJ swag – T-shirt, stickers, and luggage tags. All convenient for AYCJ jetters to recognize each other. I was surprised JetBlue remembers some of my adventures via Twitter, such as the various music events I’ve been attending, helping someone move in Chicago, and meeting other AYCJers in Portland. We all exchanged stories, and it was especially good to hear Brendan’s adventures inside the airports, since part of his agreement with Wired is that he can’t check into any hotels, he can’t check in any bags, and he has to fly EVERYDAY. Crazy, right?!? Read more about it here. All this fun and I didn’t even step outside of the airport yet.

The main reason why I went to New York was to simply celebrate my friend Janet’s birthday for the night. Yes, one night, then I was off to Philly the next morning. I proceeded to take the cab to my friend’s place. Oh, how I forget how expensive it is to cab it to Manhattan. $45 to be exact! Doh! Later that night, her friends planned a surprise dinner at ‘Inoteca in Gramercy. It was a set menu, with 3 courses, about 13 dishes total. Delightful as it may sound, let’s add $65 to this NY trip. Ouch! But hey, I was in the company of 6 girls, and I was the only guy, who am I to complain? Drink festivities continued in the East Village at a spot called Los Feliz. Go figure. Yes, same type of crowd. Music was kickin though (Hip-Hop Mash-ups), and the decor reminded me of Bardot inside Avalon, Hollywood. It reminded me of how much I miss the New York nightlife, one of my favorites. We were out until 5am, but it was still 3am Pacific time for me. I’ll be back, NY, I’ll be back.