Tag Archive for 'Travel'

I had a nice reminder yesterday of the power of perspective, following a horrible travel experience.  My sister, niece, and I were returning to NYC from  a nice and busy trip back to Cincy.  The flight from Cincy to NYC is really only about an hour and twenty minutes or so.  It’s a quick and painless trip if just count the flying time.  But there’s more to it than that.  Long story short, we landed at 5pm (20 minutes earlier) but had to wait on the ground, in the plane another hour or so until there was gate open for us (as if our arrival was a complete surprise at JFK).  Then, with an antsy two year old, the luggage took another 45 minutes or so to come out.  I know this is really not that bad of an experience.   I know this is really not that bad, but I just was not in the mood to deal with it yesterday.  I felt very annoyed, and there was a bit more…

I usually take the train back from JFK.  It’s pretty easy and it is a predictable 1 hour whereas a cab can take much longer than that in the right (wrong) conditions.  My sister and niece were taking a cab, so I walked all their stuff out with them, and then turned to come back to take the train.  On a lark I decided to hop on one of the many shuttles that run between JFK and Grand Central (only $15).  I figured I could just take a cab from there and still come out way ahead of taking a cab all the way.  But then I got on the bus.  Literally only one seat.  And no room for my bag.  I had to sit all the way at the back, crammed in between three visiting Italian couples.  I was further annoyed.  It was f’ing hot, and I had no room.  And then we started driving, and got stopped in traffic almost immediately outside of JFK.  Really bad traffic, as in you could walk faster.  I felt as if I had enough.  I had all of these thoughts about how life would be so much easier living somewhere else, somewhere quieter and smaller, somewhere cheaper, somewhere not so crammed and expensive. That’s the first time I think I’ve ever really felt like I’d had enough NYC.

As we inched our way towards the city, and my frustration was building, I took a breath and a moment to notice those around me.  I stopped getting sucked into my own frustrations and tried for a moment to notice what the 3 Italian couples I was crammed between were doing.  They were VERY excited.  With each mile the city’s skyline came into view the more excited and loud they got.  I watched and enjoyed their excitement build as the city approached.  I really loved hearing them laugh with joy when we pulled out of the tunnel in Manhattan for the first time and they saw the big buildings above us. And I realized something.  This very same place I was just cursing in my mind was causing so much excitement and joy for this group.  They were admiring all sorts of things that I take for granted everyday.  They were so excited and grateful to be in a place for a short time that I get to be in daily.  And suddenly things looked differently to me.  I was grateful for where I was.  I was grateful I get to be in NYC.  It’s amazing how nothing changed in the bus ride except for my perspective, and it made all the difference in the world.  I guess it makes sense that life feels much better when you notice the good instead of cursing the bad.