that ends with doing tequila shots with Oprah Winfrey!
As most of you know, the Traveling Hillbilly typically does
not post about work related travel. I use this to share my personal
adventures. However, this past week, I went to New York on business
with clients and it turned out to be quite an adventure, an adventure worth
sharing.
Getting to New York had its own drama! Given my first meeting was late Monday
afternoon, I opted to fly on Sunday, so I’d have time to get a decent night’s
sleep before the long week ahead. I like
most of you, check in online 24 hours in advance. For the first time ever, I opted to use the
mobile check in. That proved to be a poor
choice. When the taxi didn’t arrive on
schedule, I called only to discover they had the wrong address. Rather than waiting for another taxi, I opted
to just drive myself. I get to the
airport, show my boarding pass on the cell to at the base of the escalator and
head up to security. Just as I’m about
to get to the front of the line, the TSA guy, tells everyone to go down the
hall to the other security room. Given I’m next, I try to stay but they make me
move down the hall. Of course, the line is several people deep
there and I’m now at the back of the line!
I finally get to the front of the line, a second time, hand the guy my
license and cell phone, but for some reason the bar code on the mobile pass won’t
scan! After several attempts, they send me back
downstairs to get a printed pass. We
are now 45 minutes out from the flight departure time, so I can’t print a boarding
pass at one of the self-service kiosks.
I have to wait in the “check-in” line.
Luckily it is not too long. I am
informed by the American Airlines agent, that they have had some issues with
the mobile boarding passes before (good to know). She prints my pass and sends me back to
security. I have to wait in line a third
time.
Needless to say, by the time I get to the gate it is too
late to board. Luckily there is another
flight to NY in an hour so they put me on standby for the next flight. Well it turns out that every flight from LAX
to JFK is oversold. After trying to fly standby for the next three flights, I
head over to another terminal and buy a ticket on Virgin America to fly out at
9:30pm. Not the best way to spend a
lovely Sunday afternoon.
However, the week gets better! We head over to meet with some folks from
NBC. Before our meeting we are given a
quick tour of the Today Show set. I of course
have to take the opportunity to sit on the couch! As we sit in our meeting about 15 minutes
later, Matt Lauer walks in and joins the discussion. Later that afternoon, we arrive in yet
another office building for yet another meeting. As we are walking to the conference room, we
are told there is a tiger in the building.
Of course, we all want to see the tiger.
So we are taken down the hall, where walk into another conference room
and meet the tiger and his French bulldog pal!
The tiger cub is only about 4 months old, but his paws are huge! He looks quite cuddly and I can’t believe he
doesn’t just eat the bulldog, but they seem to enjoy each other’s company. One of my clients is brave enough to have a
photo taken, the fear clearly comes across.
I opt to skip having my photo taken with the tiger. A koala bear is one thing, a tiger quite
another.
We have several more meetings and spend every day running
across NY from one meeting to the next. On Thursday, our last night in NY, we have a
nice intimate dinner (about 40 guests) with none other than Oprah Winfrey herself. Unlike a lot of celebrities, she looks exactly
like she does on TV. She just radiates
optimism. She is a true gem. And who knew she liked Tequila?
Where else could you, sit in a meeting with Matt Lauer, pet
a tiger in an office building and do tequila shots with Oprah Winfrey? The answer my readers, is none other than
New York City!
