NYC Girl’s Trip 2018: Part 2

You can read the first part of our trip here! Our plans kinda shifted and changed for Monday. Originally my like biggest thing I wanted to do on the trip was go to Good Morning America for a taping. It’s something I’ve never done and just always thought it’d be fun. 

But then. I’m 34. And getting up at 5 am to stand out in the freezing cold. Didn’t sound as fun when we were actually there. 

So we decided that sleep and warmth would win and we skipped out on attending the taping. It’s still on my bucket list but will need to wait until a warmer visit 😉 

We hunted for something to do and had heard about pop-ups around town. Several were already fully sold out so we had limited options but decided to visit The Museum of Illusions. It’s not really my kinda thing…like I don’t like shirts that have too close of lines where it makes your eyes hurt and I never loved the whole “Magic Eye” trend. It just makes me feel kinda sick haha

But it was something to do and not overly priced and made for a fun outing! Some of it was neat, I think Robyn enjoyed it the most out of the three of us. I’ll stick to the Museum of Ice Cream haha

This one took us AGES to get right…so thankful we had Robyn with us to figure all these things out because Katie and I were clueless! 

Our big mission for the morning were BAGELS. I mean when you’re in NYC you HAVE to eat a bagel, right? When we got our tickets to the Museum of Illusions we had no idea where it was or anything. It turns out it was in the Meatpacking District which is an area I’ve never visited and would LOVE to go back to and take more time to check out fully. 

When we arrived we happened to pass by the Mickey Pop-Up in honor of Mickey’s 90th Birthday. We had tried for tickets to it but it was sold out. So I was excited to at least get to peak in the windows and check it out a little bit! On our way to walk to it we passed by Chelsea Market and were excited to venture inside and find a good bagel!

So. GOOD.

Out of al my outfits on our trip I got the most DMs regarding this one! 

Here’s my vest

And here’s my shirt (y’all these shirts are AWESOME. Great length and super flattering!)

Bagels cheers!

Happy Birthday Mickey! I LOVE YOU!!!

After the museum we got an Uber to head over to 30 Rock for our NBC Studio Tour! I love that they decorated a bit early for Christmas so we were able to see some of the seasons festivities!

Our original plan for the night was to get tickets for the live taping of Jimmy Fallon OR Seth Meyers. We were on waitlists for both of them and Katie signed up for tickets literally the minute they became available so it was truly shocking to us that we weren’t able to get any. We later found out that due to it being Veteran’s Day that Jimmy actually had his entire studio audience as Veteran’s which is super nice!!! Can’t be bitter about that 😉 

The NBC Studio Tour is a behind the scenes look at NBC Studios. We were all looking forward to it, especially at the chance of getting to see SNL studios and possibly some of the crew working etc. It was a little more than an hour of time and it was neat. But neat is about all I’d use to describe it. 

We watched a brief video about some history of what we’d be seeing then went behind the scenes (where no cameras were allowed) to see some of the stages and sets. We saw a newsroom and both where Jimmy Fallon tapes as well as Seth Meyers. So that was cool. A lot of it is up to chance as far as what you get to see and who you may run into and such. So I’m not saying it’s not worth doing but I am saying of everything we did on the trip we all agreed it was probably the least awesome! 

As a personal note though too…I also just have a hatred for 30 Rock as a building. It’s SO DARK and SO CLOSED IN. I just can’t fathom how these people all work there everyday! It reminds me a lot of the casinos in Vegas. Just so cramped and no natural light and it just makes me feel sad and in a bad mood haha. Spending such a large chunk of time in that building just wasn’t my fav. So I’m biased on the tour I’m sure based on that! 

We did get these super cute pins!!!

Clearly I love freebies hahaha

When we arrived at NBC Studios for the tour we were approached by someone from Seth Meyers staff asking if we wanted standby tickets for the taping of his show that night. Since we weren’t able to get tickets we had gone ahead and made other plans for that evening so we had to say no. Then we got approached by another Seth Meyers staff member who asked us if we wanted to attend the monologue practice for the show that night. The timing worked out much better for us to attend the monologue practice plus it was a guarantee to have seats (not a standby). So we took ’em!

We had originally planned to go to Serendipity for lunch but we called and their wait was AN HOUR. Yet again…it’s so crucial to travel with likeminded travelers. I see these super large friend groups on girls trips and I’m always like “HOW are they all POSSIBLY having FUN?!” Our crew of three? We were golden. We all agreed, without hesitation, that we were NOT about taking an uber to go to a restaurant to then wait an HOUR to eat. Nope. 

So we got some fresh air (praise Jesus get me out of that building) and then heading back into the dungeon of 30 Rock to scope out some lunch and shop it up in the gift shop until monologue time! 

We got some sandwiches and such for lunch (I got cookies and milk haha I just felt icky being in that building and wanted comfort food bahaha) and hit up Starbucks before going back to the gift shop to do shopping and wait for our return time!

They had this cute little set up for pics and this lady was legit sitting at the desk on her phone the whole time. Um. Get UP. Duh, I asked her (sweetly of course) to please move so we could use the spot set up for photos in order to…ya know…take photos. 

Lesson learned here: I’m never meant to be a morning show host. LOOK AT THE BAGS. Clearly this lighting from the table ain’t good for my look haha!

After the Fetch hat purchasing the night prior Katie had a lightbulb moment for us to also get hats for Seth Meyers. I mean hats are now our new thing. Like we need to go hunt down some Taylor Swift hats. And basically a hat for everything we’ve ever done together (Twilight hats have to happen FOR SURE). 

And we will still let Robyn in our hat collection club even though she refused to get the Seth Meyers hat and instead got an SNL one. 😉 Katie also had the GENIUS idea of using our down time to study up on Seth. Become his BIGGEST FANS EVER. We had a whole plan in place that she and I owned the same type of dog as Seth (his dog Frisbee is an Italian greyhound) and one of our dogs was named Seth and the other Meyers. And we learned his birthday (Dec 28) and kids names (Ashe and Axel). He also claims he’s 6 foot tall but I feel like that’s debatable. 

We WORKED our knowledge. We chatted up everyone we could about Seth and let them know we are his BIGGEST FANS EVER. We figured it couldn’t hurt and could even hook us up somehow. Plus it’s just fun to be super into something and we were ALL ABOUT IT. 

Seth Meyers BIGGEST FANS (Plus Robyn the SNL fan haha)

We were first in line to go through security which in itself was a cool experience. Just getting to truly go “behind the scenes” on this type of production is neat! Zach and I had a great time at the taping of Jimmy Kimmel and this experience was similar in many ways…def more interacting with the host (Seth) but no guests or anything. 

While in line and going through security we chatted every single staffer up that we could and busted out all of our Seth Meyers facts and let them know that this was our #lifelongdream come true as Seth Meyers’ BIGGEST fans. 😉 

Prior to entering the taping area a writer came out and talked to all of us which was a really cool experience too. He talked about the process of getting the show ready and allowed us to ask questions. It was very chill and interesting how much work goes into the talk shows each day. I can’t fathom these writers coming up with all that content so quickly!!!

When we went in to be seated we ended up not being first row even though we’d been in line first which annoyed me a bit but we got seated on the end of the audience seating and I was right by the aisle and across from me were all the writers. 

Basically the practice session is a chance for Seth and the writing staff to work through the jokes/monologue/anything else they want to practice before the taping. Our job was simply to react naturally but to also be engaged. The writer joked that Seth, like all hosts, has low self esteem and it’s our job to boost his ego 😉 Y’all know we had no issue doing that! 

I don’t watch any late night shows. I’m not really a HUGE tv watcher in general (I have my fav shows I watch and that’s it). I used to watch SNL when Seth was on Weekend Update and have always liked him but have truly never seen his late night show. I knew going in what to expect: a LOT of Trump jokes. 

I knew Zach would have HATED this experience. Some of the jokes were truly funny and easy to laugh at but some did bother me and I couldn’t fake a laugh if I tried. I think part of it was the repeating of the same joke over and over to practice it too…if the joke was too far (in my opinion) then I had to hear it multiple times it just bugged me. 

I felt a little awkward being the one closet to the writers as I knew they’d be looking at me and DUH my face cannot hide my thoughts! But I guess they got some legit feedback 😉

Seth came out and practiced his monologue, a staffer ran through her bit, and Seth sat behind the desk for awhile practicing some of that content. 

During the monologue he made SO MUCH EYE CONTACT with me (and Katie said he did the same with her). The hats were GENIUS. He was super friendly and really just adorable. Like kid brother cute, right? I for SURE don’t think he’s 6 foot tall though. No way. I totally felt the vibe that he’d interact with us somehow based on all the eye contact making! 

At the end of the rehearsal he came RIGHT UP TO ME and asked if I wanted him to sign my hat. OMG. YES I DO. We all passed our hats down (and how precious that he even brought a marker from the desk with him) and made small talk with him the whole time he was signing! I LOVE his birth story about his son being born in their apartment lobby (you can see it here) so I told him that. What I LOVED about the birth story is how he told it and how precious and proud he was and how flattering he was about his wife. He is legit just a super nice guy as when I talked to him about the birth story he focused only on his wife and said how it’s her story and how incredible she did. SO SWEET.

Katie made sure to mention Frisbee to him too…I mean we had to bust out that knowledge we’d learned so well 😉 

It was a really awesome experience! We had been bummed not to get Jimmy Fallen (def on the bucket list now!) but this was SO COOL and just so awesome to be more relaxed and to get to meet him like that!!! Now we really ARE Seth Meyers super fans 😉 

A random girl who had been seated in front of us mentioned that she snuck a picture of him. And we all got excited thinking she meant she got a picture of him talking to us and were like omg please text it to us haha but she got a picture of him behind the desk which is still cool to have! They were HARDCORE about the no picture taking so NO WAY would I have EVER risked it but I’m glad she did!

We were all on a celebrity meeting high afterwards and basically fan-girling OUT!

We had to kinda rush a bit to get back to the hotel to freshen up before our show that night so while we waited on Uber we called our husbands to tell them. 

I already knew what mine would say. I said “omg guess who we met?” His response? “If they aren’t named Zach Parker I don’t care” Hahaha And when I told him WHO it was he especially didn’t care. Hence the beauty of a girl’s trip. Truly I’d love to take a girls trip and JUST hunt for celebrities. Meeting people is so fun! I’d totally go to all the celebrity hot spots and try to meet ’em! 

It didn’t kill my joy 😉 I didn’t have anyone else to tell that would be excited bc they were with me haha 😉 Such a cool thing to experience together!!! And it cemented the hat purchasing FOR SURE. 

We just so happened to be waiting for our Uber in front of Magnolia Bakery. I didn’t even catch it, Katie did. Zach used to be obsessed with Andy Sandburg (I mean I guess he still is…our kids sing “I’m so humble” ALL THE TIME) and Lazy Sunday was our JAM. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a must watch here. 

Wishing we could get our bakers dozen 😉 

We all thought we’d be super smart and buy these huge, delicious looking cookies from the food tour and eat them during the show that night to help us all stay awake and have a snack. FAIL. They were SO BAD. 

Night view from the room!

We did the same plan as the night prior and just headed to the theater district to scout food there. We lucked OUT and got to just walk right into Shake Shack! 

It was OMG AMAZING. I just found out they have some locations in Georgia and I feel a road trip coming 😉 Legit that good! The burger was the best burger of my life. NO joke. 

The staff was also above and beyond awesome. Again, people hate on New Yorkers for being rude but we had so many nice experiences with people! They were all super friendly at Shake Shack. I do think it probably helps that we’re southerns so we are crazy friendly and chat up everyone haha 

When Katie and Robyn came over with their food I realized I was an idiot and didn’t even think to order a SHAKE. At, ya know, a place CALLED SHAKE SHACK. Oops. This guy was beyond sweet and said I couldn’t come there without getting a shake and went in the back and brought me one! You know a pic had to happen! (And you know I got those hook-up-with-free-food skills ha!)

When our original plans of seeing Jimmy Fallon fell through we went ahead and bought tickets to another broadway show. When in New York…see ALL THE SHOWS right?!?! 

I totally regret not getting tickets to see Cuba Gooding Jr in Chicago. Neither Robyn or Katie had ever seen Phantom of the Opera and I only remembered that Zach and I really enjoyed it when we saw it…back in 2009.

So we got Phantom tickets! It’s the longest running show on Broadway (30 years!). Robyn had always wanted to see it so it made my heart happy to see her so thrilled! We were all excited…until it started. Omg y’all it was SO BORING. Robyn still really enjoyed it but whew I LEGIT SLEPT. Like in my seat fell straight up asleep. All the candy and cookies in the world couldn’t keep my eyes open! 

I was SHOCKED that I gave it such a good review. But then I realized why. It was 2009. The only shows I’d seen at that point where The King and I, Les Mes, Wicked and Rent. Now Rent I was 12 (and really shouldn’t have been seeing it) so it didn’t leave a lasting impact on me. But Les Mes? The King and I? They are like original broadway style of shows…just like Phantom. So it made sense that Zach and I LOVED Phantom…because we’d had limited broadway experience and only really knew the more tradition style of shows. 

I also think broadway has just evolved and changed and Phantom just feels really outdated. I get it’s a classic and I’m not saying not to see it…but just know going in what you’re getting. I mean twice was one time too many for me so my Phantom days are done 😉 

We were chatting up the guy sitting beside me (who I’m sure got a KICK out of my sleeping) and he said he gets tickets day of the show ALL the time and just shows up at the location and buys the ticket there for SUPER cheap and got like front row seats to Mean Girls for like $50. Def a good tip to know. We got these tickets the night prior from Ticketmaster…so #nodeal. We had debating waiting and doing the tickets deal where you go to Times Square to buy them cheap day of but we just didn’t want to risk it and I do think having multiple people and wanting to sit together make buying last minute tickets tricky! 

The majestic is SO PRETTY!

During the first act I really fought the sleep as hard as I could but I was finally like “well just chalk this up to an expensive nap” and let myself fall asleep. And, yes, I can totally sleep sitting up. I can sleep just about anywhere. #skills. 

During intermission my stomach was pretty upset and the line for the bathroom was SO LONG. They had this random couch in the bathroom so I took advantage of it for a little rest 😉 Katie, and the other ladies in line, kept making me laugh too hard to get a “sleeping” picture! It was even funnier that everyone agreed it was a snooze fest haha!

I know it’s not the greatest view of this sweater but this was my favorite purchase for the trip! I LOVE it! Super cute and a nice length to wear with leggings AND it has POCKETS! 

You can also see my boots here. Again, so comfortable! 

Phantom of the Opera…putting audiences to sleep for 30 years 😉 

Bathroom Break Buddies! 

The line took so long that we missed some of the second act but the upside was that it made it go by faster 😉 

I knew Robyn was loving it so I tried not to hate on it too much. It was hard though to hold back. You know how they say you can learn while sleeping? I think sleeping during the show imbedded the songs on my brain. I swear I keep singing “Phantom of the Operaaaaa” Jokes aside, I’m truly glad Robyn was able to fulfill a dream she’s had since childhood in getting to see Phantom! She probably was wishing Matt was with her instead of us though! 

Again at the end of Phantom the cast came out and talked about their fundraising. They were selling this cd called “Carols for a Cure” that features casts from several of the current shows (all three of the ones we saw) singing Christmas Carols. Katie and I both bought a cd and it’s SO great. The kids and I have been loving it!!!

The next morning was our check out day and it was also the only day with not-great weather. Super rainy and just cold. Katie put that infinity scarf to good use 😉 

The Pod Hotel was GREAT at letting us have late check out which worked out so, so well. We were able to dress warm for the morning and had time to come back to the room and change into comfortable travel clothes. It really couldn’t have gone better!

I was totally fine with letting go of the Today Show thing…I mean thank GOODNESS I got that sleep because I really wouldn’t have made it through Phantom with getting up at 5 am bahaha. And I truly have ZERO regrets about us not going to the Today Show. But I knew if we left New York and I wasn’t able to stop by Bryant Park that I’d regret it. 

Spear’s first name is Bryant and he was named after Bryant Park (you can read the meaning behind his name here) so it was just really important to me to get a pic at Bryan Park. Maybe dumb but I just really wanted to do it! 

I’m so thankful that I can share my desires with Robyn and Katie. Honestly, I struggle with speaking up with things that I really want to do. I love seeing others have fun and tend to focus on making sure everyone else gets to do all the things they want to do to make their trip/experience etc fun that I lose sight of the things I really want to do or experience. When I really start thinking about it…I even struggling KNOWING what I really want to do FOR ME. I envy people that can say, with confidence, I WANT to do this, go there, try that. It’s just something I need to work on. Really thinking about what is important to me, for me without outside influence. I’m sure many mamas can relate…we pour into our babies and are always thinking of ways to give them the best experiences in life that it’s easy to lose sight of what WE enjoy. Take Disney for example. I don’t even know what my favorite ride is. Truly. I have no clue. All my favorites are so intertwined with what my KIDS love or what has meaning to US as a family unit that I don’t know what I like just for ME. 

Anyways…my sweet friends were happy to make my mission complete! Even in the rain. And the cold. We had our Uber do a stop just so I could hop out to snap a quick picture…and BOTH of my sweet friends got out of the car. I feel like that was a moment that will always stick with me. It was cold. It was raining. We were in a hurry. But BOTH of them got out. They didn’t just support me doing what I wanted to do, they experienced it with me. Those three minutes really spoke to my heart and will always stick with me. My friends love ME and support ME , not because they “have to” but because they want to and that’s a rare blessing and gift. 

Our Uber driver was SO AWESOME. We had originally planned to get dropped off at Bryant and picked up by another driver but he agreed to just drive us the rest of the way and he was SO great. He was cracking us UP. He has driven for Jay-Z before and told us he’s really a chill guy. He’s from Africa and it was so neat talking to him about moving to America and how it felt and he has so much pride being able to live in this country. We also had a funny moment where I tricked him and made him think I was a celebrity and he should know who I am haha it was great. It made the long, rainy ride smoother for sure! 

We learned another NYC travel fact: when it’s raining the roads are SO MUCH WORSE. Traffic took AGES due to way more people driving! 

We had an early ticket for 911 Memorial and Museum. It’s weird to say I was excited for the visit…but I was looking forward to it. Zach and I have been a couple of times. We went on our honeymoon to Ground Zero and have visited the fountains and the exterior area (prior to the museum being finished) . We both really wanted to come back once it was completed and Katie, Robyn and I all agreed visiting the museum was a must-do on our trip. 

It’s something every single American needs to experience. 

And you need to set aside SEVERAL HOURS for it. We didn’t have nearly enough time. I could have spent much, much longer there. Which is not something you typically expect to hear me say about a museum. I’m usually the first one done but in this case I was the last one and I skipped stuff at the end to just finish up. 

The museum is extremely well done…but it’s also tricky. The MAIN part of the museum is actually in the center of the building. It’s not clearly marked and we took all our time walking around the building when we should have been spending the bulk of the time inside the center area. I highly recommend going there FIRST. We were let down a bit by the main walking areas in the museum and all kinda thought “this is it?” but then we discovered the center area and all regretted not going there right away and spending our time there. 

Pictures are not allowed in the center area but are throughout the rest of the areas. It was all very, very emotional. I cried a lot harder than I had expected and was thankful they had tissues throughout the areas. Inside the center area they have audio playing, personal stories. It was a lot to digest. It’s also hard to fathom that our kids weren’t alive when it happened and that it won’t ever impact their lives the way it has all of ours. 

This wall is representing the color of the sky on Sept 11th and how everyone sees it in a different shade of blue. 

Whew. Hearing the stories, reading about the heroes. It was a lot. So many people gave up their lives helping others and to try to put yourself there in that situation, knowing it was a “doomed mission”, knowing you were going to die. I just can’t imagine giving my life like that. Truly incredible. The audio that stuck with me was this woman who got out of the building and saw a young man, probably 19 years old, in uniform heading towards the towers and she stopped him and begged him not to go inside. He said it was his job and that he had no choice, he had to go. 

The structure of the buildings and how the planes impacted them before they fell…this is a steel beam bent in half! 

When I go back I am really interested to spend more time in the area that talked about the Al-Qaeda. I was surprised myself at how interested I am in knowing the build up to the attacks. I think the museum did a beautiful job in not pointing fingers at America in any way and instead focusing on the true enemy at play…Al-Qaeda. I took a picture of this book because I’d like to watch the series on Hulu about it. Just the thought and planning that went into doing such a horrible act really interests me. I want to know the how and why behind it all. 

I will also say that hearing the audio from the airplanes was horrifying. Hearing the hijackers and reading their words praising Allah while performing this terrible act was just so awful. I haven’t seen the Flight 93 movie but now I also want to watch that. So many heroes that day. So many people who looked out for each other and our country. 

The state of New York truly did an incredibly beautiful job in honoring and remembering 9-11. The museum is above and beyond well done. Every detail was well planned and organized and thought out and it’s done in a sensitive way. Giving areas to be emotional in private and even warning signs on areas that may be hard to see/hear (each audio booth area was blocked off and there was also an area showing the people jumping that was private too). 

The outside area is so peaceful and the fountains are beautiful…even in the rain and freezing. It’s a tricky thing to say you enjoyed seeing something that is a reminder of such a horrible day in our country’s history but we all couldn’t stop talking about it the entire day. Little things we noticed, parts that’s hit us hard. I can’t say it enough: GO. Take your kids too. I for sure plan to take mine. It’s a must-visit for every single American. And again, do not rush through it. Give yourself time to truly honor the lives lost that day. 

They also have a well done gift shop. I bought my kids a book explaining 9-11 on their level. I think it’s important to always pass down the history to our children. It’s important that they understand and appreciate that day and what it meant for our country. 

The museum isn’t just about the pain and the lives lost…it’s also about hope. The good found in moments of horror. I love the cross made from two beams that was found still standing. I also love the story of the Survivor Tree and got the kids a book about it as well. 

Brooklyn Bridge on our way back!

Had to take a pic of the Star Wars sign…and random but I also really love the ad about millennials being lazy haha it is so clever to me!

Back at the room we got all packed up and ready to head out! I’m so thankful I brought a luggage scale with me…Katie and I got a solid work out in packing and unpacking our stuff to get it under 50 lbs haha

We arranged for transport with the hotel and had some time until they arrived so we left our luggage and went to get some lunch! 

We walked over to Sticky’s Finger Joint and it was awesome! Another one I gotta take Zach to! They have TONS of awesome sauces to choose from and it was delicious! Perfect last NYC meal!

Goodbye Pod Hotel! We LOVE YOU!!!

On our way the driver had a screen in the car and said I could choose any music. DUH. A Star Is Born Soundtrack happened IMMEDIATELY. I haven’t talked about this on the blog yet I don’t think but Bradley Cooper (ONLY the A Star is Born version) is everything haha. Legit Katie and I are obsessed with the soundtrack and we totally want to get Robyn to go see the movie so she can be obsessed too! 

#fangirl

Being that we are the ultimate #squadgoals group we had to play some Taylor Swift! It was HILARIOUS because we played her New York song and then the driver said “no no you must play THIS” and he played Frank Sinatra. It was adorable and was the perfect ending to our trip! Going out with all the New York JAMS! 

Zach and I (and his parents) had a nightmare travel experience leaving San Francisco.  When the texts starting coming in from Delta I was like “here we go again.” YIKES. The issue with flying into Valdosta is if you miss the last flight of the day then YOU MISS IT. Thankfully we had a decently long layover in Atlanta which gave us some wiggle room. But it wasn’t easy not being super nervous! The upside is I knew IF we missed Valdosta connection that we’d get that nice hotel room in Atlanta again 🙂 

While waiting for the flight we went ahead and got dinner. Yes. Sushi in an airport. It wasn’t so awesome but it did end up fulfilling my mission of finding MOCHI!!! After having it at The Museum of Ice Cream I’m always on the hunt for it and they had it there! It was green tea flavored which I wouldn’t choose but I did enjoy…and Katie got to try it for the first time and LOVED it too!!!

I also had to buy extra to take back to Robyn! 

She took one bite and spit it out haha it’s okay Robyn I still love you even if you don’t love Mochi…in fact I love you more because it meant I got to eat the rest haha!

So y’all know I travel decently often. I’m not jet setting all of the world every day but I travel enough to have basic travel knowledge. WHY THE HECK did I think a DUFFLE bag was a GOOD IDEA?!?! I was thinking that having both my big roller checked bag AND a small carry on roller would be too much to handle. But what I wasn’t thinking was that you CHECK THE BAG so the big bag doesn’t matter. The SMALL one does. #FAIL. 

Misery though. It loves some company. And Katie had the same thoughts I did and brought a similar, terrible for travel, duffle carry on. Y’all we STRUGGLED on arrival day and did not want to struggle trying to carry these massive duffles while also RUNNING through the Atlanta airport to catch our flight. So we took the check the carry on option 😉 If we had to stay the night in Atlanta we’d have NOTHING but we also wouldn’t have the heavy bags. So we took the gamble!

When we boarded the flight we knew we’d have 30 min to make our flight in Atlanta. That was based off the expected arrival time into Atlanta. Well. We didn’t arrive on time. So while we were getting ready to land the flight attendant came around to help everyone who had a connection. He basically sounded like we were pretty hopeless but to still try. He gave us our arrival gate and advised us to check the board for our departure flight and to ask the Delta attendant at the arrival gate to call our departure gate to let them know we were coming. 

Us being late was DELTA’S fault so I felt like maybe there was a chance they’d wait for us. 3 people on the Valdosta flight is like half the flight, right? 😉 

Robyn and I were sitting together on the flight into Atlanta (and side note but we had a really great talk about how I can’t smell and decided we need to do a series of videos with me blindfolded and trying random foods and having to see if I can tell what it is. These are the genius ideas you come up with after spending hours in an airport haha) and came up with a game plan for when we exited the flight. She’d check the board for departure gate, I’d talk to the staff member to call for us. 

When it came time to exit the plane they came over the speaker and asked everyone to sit until those needing to make their connections could exit quickly. Of course no one does this. Thankfully the lady across the row from me also had a short connection to make and she RACED down the aisle so I hauled butt and followed her and made it super close to the front of the crowd! 

While we were waiting to exit Katie was chatting up an older man and he had a short connection time as well…11 minutes. And he didn’t know his departure gate. Katie made EVERYONE laugh when she said “no hope for you buddy” I still DIE LAUGHING when I remember haha. Katie is just the person who can say stuff like that and it’s HILARIOUS and still super sweet at the same time! 

Also while waiting Robyn was doing good containing her freaking out but still freaking out and was talking about how short of time we had and how we had to hurry etc etc and this girl we were standing in front of (basically blocking her from exiting) made the comment that she also had even less time than we did to make it. I heard her but just ignored it because DESPERATE TIMES PEOPLE. It’s every traveler for themselves and I wasn’t about to let her in front of us. 

So we exited the plane and went through our plan. I went to the gate guy to have him call our departure gate. Um. Robyn went to the screen to get our departure gate info and THEN SHE BOLTED. Like totally took off and didn’t even wait on us!!! That was not part of the plan Robyn (I’m literally crying I’m laughing so hard writing this and remembering this moment). 

Oh that motivated my butt into gear. I was like “Oh HECK NO. SHE IS NOT BEATING ME” Who says I’m not competitive? Hahahaha It was a good motivator to really put my all into that dash! 

We truly, truly ran. Like ran. Ran. Like I regretted not wearing my foot support shoes after that run. Thank the LORD Katie and I checked our duffles (although Katie was a saint and carried Robyn’s jacket for her since Robyn had her carry on still to deal with). 

Of course the gates weren’t close together so we had to ride the train thing and of course the gate was way down the terminal. Of course. When we exited the AirTrain we raced up the stairs and totally cut off THE SAME GIRL from the flight. I felt so bad this poor girl kept getting cut off by us haha. 

As we ran down the departure terminal a military guy passed us going super fast and Robyn yelled if he was going to Valdosta to hold the plane and he said he was! 

When we got up to the gate he was there already and pointing towards us so I think he helped us out. Robyn did get there first but I did slow my roll once we saw the gate. The attendant was like “hurry hurry we ain’t holding this thing much longer” so thankfully Katie was right behind me! 

Of course we got on the plane and they had to refuel and it was late leaving the gate. Because of course. 

BUT WE MADE IT! 

ALL of us! Because we def knew if Robyn had gotten there she would have left our butts in Atlanta haha if anyone ever wonders how devoted teachers are to their jobs: they are devoted enough to run through an airport and leave their friends behind in order to be in that classroom teaching your babies 😉 

While not that fun in the moment of it all…it was all a super hilarious way to end the trip and gave us all a nice adrenaline boost which we totally needed at 10 pm, right? 

I cannot even express enough how amazing and incredible this trip was. It was SO FUN and we did SO MUCH and all left feeling like we got to do everything we wanted and more and it was so awesome to spend so much time with people who I love so much!

Friendships are so important to me. And getting to make memories like this together help our already strong bonds be even stronger.  The three of us really work so well together. I think 3 can be a tricky number but we all gel well and never had any issues or anything! We kept saying how much we lucked out that we all felt the same about things on the trip. We all wanted to do similar things, had similar interests, and all agreed when things weren’t worth doing! 

I’m so thankful for Katie and Robyn and that they are both such huge parts of my life and that we were able to take this adventure together. This trip was the ultimate girl’s trip and it’ll def be hard for anything to compare to it…although I’m sure we’ll try 😉

SHOP ALL MY NYC LOOKS

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Emily Parker

Hey Y'all, I'm Emily! I'm a stay at home mom and consider parenting to be my passion. Disney is my happiest place and I love making memories as a family together. I'm a big believer in transparency and share all of my real-life moments as a mother of four.

My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

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