Wow. Boston was a trip. We were so busy, so on the go. The only time we had a few hours to chill we decided to catch a movie.
Going to try and recap the events day by day as I remember them before the memories are all lost. I just didn't have time to do it as it happened.
I got off work at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. M was waiting outside; our flight was leaving at 7:20 a.m., connecting through Atlanta.
Little old XNA is a tiny airport, and there's not much going on at 6 a.m. One advantage to a small place, though: our remote parking would end up being only $25. That's going to not happen again when we get to NE.
Sleeping on planes doesn't usually work for me. I once took a redeye from LA to Miami that was WFO, so I was able to stretch across three seats and get a little sleep in. But generally, it doesn't happen. Part of the problem is being 6-4. Last Thursday, by the time I would get to sleep a few hours later, I'd been awake for about 27 hours straight. Loopy.
It also doesn't help when you're on a mini-jet. M grabbed two muffins and some OJ for the flight; the muffins were the world's worst. They broke into crumbs upon human touch. I don't know how they even stayed together long enough to be sold.
In Atlanta we had a relatively brief layover and then it was on to Boston. On the trip up we spent about the last half of the flight along the Atlantic coast. I was on the right side of the jet, M was at the window, so when we flew over NYC I didn't get to see it. Bummer, would have liked it. I saw some of what I figured must have been Long Island, because the housing was dense. A little while later I also passed right over New London, CT. Hi Rick & Eileen!
The flight into Logan Airport came straight in from East to West over the Atlantic and over the bay. And then, we were there.
I would soon learn that Boston is a challenge for drivers, and even moreso for a driver who knows almost nothing about the layout. ("Layout" ... that's a laugh.) We got a sweet Volvo S60 that would be awesome if you could ever really stomp on it. Good luck with all that.
The first driving experience was to enter a series of tunnels and ratholes that lead away from Logan, under the bay and under the city center. God help you if you take a wrong exit. Fortunately we were able to decipher the moderately thick Boston accent of Andrea at Budget enough to get us on our way to the Storrow Drive exit.
I cannot tell you if we ever actually drove on Storrow Drive. Because marking streets in Boston is apparently a random activity of indeterminate importance. Some streets were marked. Some only marked side streets. Some had four names, only one of which were marked.
Total. Nightmare.
My map app was only moderately useful. The little blue dot sometimes seemed to be floating only in the general vicinity of where I actually was. M had a better program, a voiceover GPS app, but even it was sometimes inadequate. Yesterday, we priced GPS devices. We'll probably have to have one.
Although, those won't be worth a damn in the tunnels.
In the first two hours I was there, I pulled completely illegal moves (a prohibited U-turn, a quick jag the wrong way down a one-way street, and a backup before I missed a turn) that qualify me for "Masshole" status. But apparently that's de rigueur there, so I'm already adjusting.
It was a cool, crisp, sunny day. We eventually got to the hotel, and then quickly had to get M to meet her new team face-to-face. It was a relatively easy jaunt there and back. I was struck by the historic buildings... structures older than the nation. Who had previously trod these streets?
I got back to the hotel, showered, and slept, at last. M returned three hours later and we were tired and hungry. We ordered Chinese delivery, which, in a city, you can actually do.
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