Note: The hotel didn’t offer wifi in the rooms and I didn’t want to pay the cost of having it there. Therefore these reports are being post dated. That said… here’s how my travels to New York went.
Left for the airport at 8:30. Glad I did for when I arrived, the security line was longer than I expected at that time of day. Took me a good half hour to get through the line. Once I repacked all my gear, I bounced on my way to scrounge for foodstuffs.
Found a egg salad and wheat bread sandwich from one of the “cheeper” places. Sort of wishing I hadn’t purchased it because it really wasn’t that good. I dubbed this the World’s Most Expensive Bland Egg Salad Sandwich, at $6.50 it should’ve been better.
While moving down the escalators, my eyes spied a familiar face. My brain did the dance of “is that who I think it is” and me and this friend met glances and smiled. It was, in fact, a friend! In Concourse C there is a new spa and apparently my friend Sally works there. We chatted for a bit and caught up on the current goings on before she left to work on a client and me to find my gate.
I’m a horrible traveler. I get nervous and just can’t really seem to sit still. Airports are fun and I do enjoy traveling… just would prefer to be where I want to go to, rather than sitting and waiting. As the minutes ticked on, a murmur started among the people. Apparently, due to the poor weather on the eastern coast, our flight to Chicago was delayed. Thanks to the internet, I was able to confirm this with kender (who kept the flight info from Southwest AND the FAA up during the entire day–isn’t he awesome?). Of course, this lead us to checking in on the next flight from Midway, only to discover that THAT flight was delayed even more… leaving at 11pm CST. FUUUUU…
All this made me nervous and even more jittery. I tried to use breathing exercises but they didn’t help. So what was a delayed tarot reader to do? Pull out her deck of course. I grabbed my trusty Shadowscapes tarot and started shuffling the cards. I asked them “What do I need to know about my delay?” and received The Hierophant. This calmed be a bit for it told me that I would get there when it was the right time and only the right time. I knew that breathing and relaxing techniques would be useful here so I took a few deep breaths and refocused myself and energies to knowing that I had 24 hours to go before the Readers Studio officially opened and that I was “on time.” Then I asked the cards “what do I need to know about the next leg of the trip from Midway to LaGuardia?” and received the Ace of Swords. This told me that I would be okay, even delayed, and that I would need to use my head and intellect to get to my flight when I arrived.
The flight from PDX to Midway went smoothly. I read more of Barbara Moore’s Tarot for Beginners and relaxed in-between my two companions. I even took a small nap. When we descended from the clouds, I got to see bits of the Windy City. Normally, flights through Chicago take me into the airports during night so I’ve never really gotten to see the town or Lake Michigan. My window seat neighbor pointed out various buildings and was very accommodating to my touristy side.
We landed at Midway and I called Kender who told me that I was still delayed but only for two hours, rather than the dreaded 5 or more hours. Elated, I strolled down through the airport and made it to my next gate on time. I plugged in the innoPhone and chatted with kender and other friends. Soon after, several other Mac users strolled by and we dubbed our spot the Mac Spot. One girl had a chat window open and her friend entertained us with dancing and other silly antics. This passed the time quickly and soon after I found myself boarding the final plane.
I planned on sleeping a bit more on this flight, but found I couldn’t. I sat next to an Orthodox Jewish woman and found myself in a deep and wonderful conversation about her faith, Kabalah, and the merits and flaws of being raised in and out of faith systems.
Rolled in to LaGuardia around midnight. The airport was nothing what I expected, it was small and very easy to navigate. When I left the airport, the night time air was cool and reminded me of the normal weather we experience in PDX. I searched for the Marriott bus and did not spy it. However, it appeared a few minutes later and I was on my way again. I sat with the flight crew of my flight and a small, tiny woman who reminded me of my grandma.
Check-in was a breeze and I decided that I deserved a treat. So I headed off to the bar for a celebratory glass of wine and a light snack. I stumbled into Thalassa and Corrine Kenner, and we chatted for a bit. I entered the glass doors of the bar and looked around for a place to drop my bags. Two ladies at the bar spied me and cheerly waived me over. More attendees of RS11. I listened to their lively tarot talk while I settled in and picked a glass of shiraz and decided that a slice of cake was worth it. During our discussions, I got to hold the limited edition Gaian Tarot, whose colors were so vivid that I knew I was in trouble.
About the time the bar was getting ready to close, I said my adieu and went off to find my room. The room, was a small slice of heaven after all the airplanes. The bed had no less than 10 pillows and the bathroom was so spa-like that I felt relaxed.
I called kender to chat with him a bit more, we talked about my travels, his day and the neatness of the room. I joked that I could have a sleep over with 9 other peeps and he replied with “no only one sleeps there.” It was about 3am before I laid down and attempted to sleep. I say attempted, because I was not able to sleep due to jet lag and my insomnia. I ended up listening to a sleep meditation sound track to try and help my mind shut up. Did it work? Find out in the next installment of innowen’s travels at the Readers Studio.