Come fly with me, let’s fly let’s fly away!
Frankly, New York City is like no other place that I have been to in this world.
Anyone who knows me knows that I like to collect stuff. New York is a place where you see stuff that you simply do not see anywhere else. I walked by a store that had the most beautiful statues, some only a few feet high, some as high as a human being, but what made them unusual is that this part of their bodies were totally missing. I have included a photo to give you an idea of what I was looking at.
I decided that I absolutely must have one and timidly walked into the store and ask how much they cost. The immediate answer was 26. I tried to analyze this and assume that perhaps they were being sold for $2,600 and I began to think of how I would finance the purchase. When I repeated the $2,600, I was advised that it meant $26,000. So much for my statue.
I also have a small collection at home of various boats. I saw one in New York, at a “going out of business, business” that was made out of jade, about three to four feet wide and extremely detailed in the carvings. Once again I asked the price thinking that a “going out of business, business” would be offering a great deal on this beautiful ship.
In fact they were. The price had been reduced to $125 except when I asked for a clarification they added three zeros making the price $125,000. I told my wife this might be worth selling the house for so that we could leave another treasure for my kids to sell at their garage sale. She disagreed.
Perhaps you will not want to do this after I tell you about my experience with one of America’s airlines. Enough said?
Returning to Miami from a short trip to New York City, I ordered a wheelchair to be waiting for me as I had recently had surgery and walking the long distances to the baggage claim area would have been virtually impossible for me. When I arrived in Miami and the completely filled plane emptied of passengers I went outside and there was no wheelchair waiting. I had the agent begin calling frantically to get me one which eventually arrived after some time only this time there was a nice little lady demanded use of the chair because she had to catch a connecting flight.
I tried to make my case for the chair but this lady was just too demanding. They tried calling someplace else to get another one without success. I happen to notice two wheelchair attendants at a booth directly opposite mine each with their own wheelchair and apparently doing nothing at the time. I begged that one of them might give me a ride to the baggage area but again I guess I am not too good at begging anymore.
What made all of this extra uncomfortable was the fact that none of the restrooms were working because of a break in the the American water line at the New York airport. We were told to remain at the gate and that we would be advised if there were any changes in our flight. We waited and waited and nothing happened.
There were no new flights marked at the gate nor was there an agent inside that we could possibly ask a question. I finally located another passenger who advised me that our flight was leaving an hour later and from a totally different gate. I can’t complain as much as I would like because I was offered a tiny bag of pretzels to assuage my hunger at that time. Wowee!
Don’t get me wrong folks as I am an experienced traveler having traveled most of my life by plane to various parts of the world and suffered through the occasional annoying delays and etc., but this one took the cake. For those of you who don’t know, I am now 82 years old and my wife is catching up rapidly. The wheelchair became a necessity.
We finally found a nice young gentleman who went way out of his way to see that I was comfortable, that my bags were where they were supposed to be, and that my ride to our parking location was waiting for us. If only Rolando was in charge of training the other service personnel I might not be writing this article.
I don’t ever remember a time at a major airport where I could not find anyone from the airline that I was using to ask for advice. They do have these telephones hanging from posts around the airport but just try getting someone to speak to on these phones. As a matter of fact try getting anyone to speak to you on any business phone without going through an intolerable menu that goes nowhere.
I guess I could have begged for another bag of pretzels but I did not want to make a pain of myself. After all, they even gave me a non-alcoholic beverage to wash down the pretzels. Now that is service!
New York is still the exciting place it always was and the traffic there makes Miami look like paradise. The horn blowers in NYC put our guys to shame. Taking a horse and buggy ride through Central Park can’t be beat and seeing Donald Trump’s name on everything made me feel (???). You fill in the blank.
“New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town.”
