I'm back in Boston. I'm going to make a tall Bailey's and butterscotch schnapps, sit in the comfy chair, and watch the Tonight Show. Then I'm going to bed and sleeping until I can't sleep no more!
My cousins were ready to call the cops and report me as missing. After the meltdown, I had to take care of the visa, hotel room, air tickets, tell my UK sister that I wouldn't be there Saturday, etc.
I planned to phone my Boston cousins when I got back to the hotel. The hotel's phones were out of order! No biggy. They would figure I went straight to bed after getting back from New York. Rude, but possible. I'd call in the morning.
Nope, phones still not working. I went to Macy's to use a payphone. They have some sit-down phones, and I was going to be a while. Good thing I went there. I tried for an hour and a half to call Boston. No go. The circuits were busy. For an hour and a half! I was thinking some major disaster was going on while I was sitting in a phone booth in Macy's. Time to get the visa.
I picked up my passport and cried when I saw the visa. Page 12 never looked lovlier! Then off to the Port Authority to catch the 4 o'clock bus home. I'd call when we made a pit stop. Two hours after we left the terminal, were were still in NY in stop-and-go traffic. We didn't stop until 7:45. The phone at Roy Rogers wasa credit card phone, and do they take Visa? Nooooo! Luckily, a kind woman let me use her phone.
When I got in, the nicest message on the answering machine was, "The only excuse for you not calling me is that you're floating face down in the East River!"
What have I learned from all this? For every a$$hole in this world, there are 2 people who will help a stranger. And your family will forgive you once they hear the details.
