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Kitschy Trip to New York City - Part 1 · I Hate Talking

• 0:29
  I Hate Talking: Welcome to episode 37 of I Hate Talking.
• 0:33
  I Hate Talking: Hi everyone.
• 0:34
  I Hate Talking: So, our word or phrase comes from a word that we were using in a recent trip that we took and that word is kitschy.
• 0:45
  I Hate Talking: We used it in reference a few times and one of our kids asked, what's the, what does that mean?
• 0:52
  I Hate Talking: Like, oh, I don't.
• 0:53
  I Hate Talking: I can't describe it.
• 0:55
  I Hate Talking: So I can't wait for you to describe it.
• 0:57
  I Hate Talking: Correct.
• 0:58
  I Hate Talking: And in that moment, I said that it was something that is not very artful.
• 1:03
  I Hate Talking: It's somewhat corny, sort of.
• 1:05
  I Hate Talking: Maybe overdone or something that is done in a way that sort of is either.
• 1:12
  I Hate Talking: Makes fun of a particular art form is or something that is sort of just a.
• 1:18
  I Hate Talking: Not necessarily knock off artwork, but just something sort of in that vein of having a lot of excessive art form.
• 1:28
  I Hate Talking: So yeah, I did a very poor job of explaining it in that moment and I'm doing a very poor job of explaining it now, and that will be why we tackle this word or phrase kitschy in this episode.
• 1:39
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I think when I picture it, I think of, I mean, I think of it kind of artsy like.
• 1:45
  I Hate Talking: Off the beaten path, not sophisticated.
• 1:48
  I Hate Talking: That's what I think of.
• 1:49
  I Hate Talking: Yep, that's a good way to describe it I think.
• 1:52
  I Hate Talking: And even when I hear the word kitschy, I sort of picture like the I love New York style artwork, that kind of thing that it's sort of just overdone, overhyped, and just kitschy.
• 2:05
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, and like excessive, like you don't need it.
• 2:09
  I Hate Talking: Like, maybe you'd have a bunch of little, yeah, I heart New York bells or plushies, or maybe a bunch of little clowns on a counter just for decoration.
• 2:24
  I Hate Talking: Precisely.
• 2:26
  I Hate Talking: So from our favorite Oxford language dictionary, this word is within that dictionary, though in some dictionaries, I guess it is considered somewhat of slang but uh kitschy in terms of the adjective.
• 2:42
  I Hate Talking: So again, a descriptive term for some sort of object.
• 2:47
  I Hate Talking: Reads Of art objects or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garnishness or sentimentality but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way.
• 3:02
  I Hate Talking: And the example given here is kitschy souvenir shops.
• 3:06
  I Hate Talking: OK, there you go.
• 3:07
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, that's how we used it.
• 3:08
  I Hate Talking: And this does, as you look at the usage over time, spike in the late 1900s and continues to be used in the modern day, so a more recent word, but the reason for that is because before the word kitschy was just simply the word kitsch.
• 3:29
  I Hate Talking: OK, and kitsch means the same thing?
• 3:32
  I Hate Talking: Somewhat, it's has a more Close definition of something that is again sort of with a souvenir culture, but it actually has.
• 3:45
  I Hate Talking: More of an emphasis on the poor taste or even from the word kitsch in German that means worthless trashy art.
• 3:56
  I Hate Talking: OK.
• 3:57
  I Hate Talking: So we finally have gotten away from our French etymology and we have finally arrived at a word that comes from Germanic origin, and that actually may be apparent if you read the word because it has a SCH in the word, but that kitsch is the source of the word kitsy that has been used in the modern English but came from the German word.
• 4:26
  I Hate Talking: It has been adopted into English meaning worthless, trashy art.
• 4:31
  I Hate Talking: OK, so it's not necessarily a compliment if someone says, oh, your taste is very itchy or This gift you just gave me is so bitchy.
• 4:42
  I Hate Talking: Well, you're asking the right questions because that is the very next AI suggested question on Google that reads, I get a compliment?
• 4:51
  I Hate Talking: And the answer is Perhaps so, if that's what you're going for.
• 4:57
  I Hate Talking: So if you like ironic and that sort of thing.
• 5:02
  I Hate Talking: Like I think of um Bob Ross, artist.
• 5:06
  I Hate Talking: Like his, not necessarily his drawings, but like his inspired stuff, I would call it kitschy.
• 5:14
  I Hate Talking: But if you like him, and if you like the irony of it all, then that would be a compliment, right?
• 5:21
  I Hate Talking: Perhaps so, and I don't know if that would fall exactly within kitschy.
• 5:27
  I Hate Talking: Perhaps it does, I think.
• 5:28
  I Hate Talking: I picture more of like a.
• 5:31
  I Hate Talking: Again, overdone sort of excessive or like you said, not very subtle or.
• 5:38
  I Hate Talking: What was the word you used earlier?
• 5:40
  I Hate Talking: Unsophisticated.
• 5:43
  I Hate Talking: So that's sort of what comes to mind because I think there is in the Bob Ross, there is some sophistication and the reflection of nature and things like that because he's not just making artwork for artwork's sake, but actually trying to capture some sort of happy little trees, happy little trees.
• 6:03
  I Hate Talking: And the word kitsch if we even go back further in the etymology is that it's actually a relatively recent word.
• 6:11
  I Hate Talking: And even German and probably came to be used in the 1860s or 1870s in Munich.
• 6:20
  I Hate Talking: And there's a number of different German words that have uh perhaps been Used in sort of the generation of this word.
• 6:31
  I Hate Talking: There are some words that mean to smear or to throw, or even some very close words in German that means to cheapen or to make cheap.
• 6:42
  I Hate Talking: And that is the.
• 6:44
  I Hate Talking: Proposed and theorized source of the word kitsch in German.
• 6:50
  I Hate Talking: So the reason that this word came up was, in fact, because of one of the things that I picture when I use this word kitschy with the Iheart New York, and that is because we took a trip to New York and saw many different kitschy souvenir shops along our travels.
• 7:09
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, and I was a big advocate for our children to buy anything that was I heart New York because I was just iconic.
• 7:19
  I Hate Talking: So, OK, can something be iconic and kitsy?
• 7:23
  I Hate Talking: I think, and sometimes that even may make something one or the other.
• 7:30
  I Hate Talking: So maybe there is some sort of relationship and overlap there between iconic and kitschy.
• 7:37
  I Hate Talking: OK.
• 7:38
  I Hate Talking: I was telling him like, get a beanie, it's cold, and like, iHeart NYC is definitely something that everyone gets, and that's just a classic souvenir.
• 7:49
  I Hate Talking: Only one kid got something from it.
• 7:52
  I Hate Talking: Everyone else got something else like Legos.
• 7:55
  I Hate Talking: I will go into that in a little bit, I'm sure.
• 7:57
  I Hate Talking: And I guess I was the snowglobe was the one that was the kitschy souvenir.
• 8:01
  I Hate Talking: #NAME?
• 8:02
  I Hate Talking: -- no, um, they got a plushie, a bear, bear with the I love New York embroidered on it.
• 8:09
  I Hate Talking: And then there was a statue of Liberty figurine.
• 8:13
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, that was purchased at the Statue of Liberty appropriately.
• 8:17
  I Hate Talking: Also sort of kitschy.
• 8:19
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, and then someone else got Statue of Liberty glasses that, and you put them on, it looks like you're wearing the crown and you had sunglasses.
• 8:30
  I Hate Talking: Also, Sort of kitschy.
• 8:33
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, and then the snow globe from the Statue of Liberty.
• 8:35
  I Hate Talking: And then I bought, I don't often buy myself souvenirs.
• 8:41
  I Hate Talking: I feel like you actually are more likely to when we go away.
• 8:44
  I Hate Talking: And I got myself a really pretty mug.
• 8:48
  I Hate Talking: I watched it all 3 days we were there.
• 8:51
  I Hate Talking: I saw it in the windows, and the final day I got it.
• 8:53
  I Hate Talking: And it's just a pretty mug with all the scenery in gold, and then we got a tree ornament from New York.
• 9:01
  I Hate Talking: So probably less kitschy for those final two examples.
• 9:06
  I Hate Talking: I guess so, but they're still very kitschy.
• 9:09
  I Hate Talking: No, well, I guess, but still very like souvenir-esque.
• 9:15
  I Hate Talking: I don't have a mug from other states or cities we go to.
• 9:19
  I Hate Talking: That's true, but I think there's some utility in the mug as well as the fact that it's maybe.
• 9:27
  I Hate Talking: I think the utility thing, I think maybe has more to do with what I would consider whether it's kitschy or not because if it has utility, it's not necessarily going to be explicitly artwork as a standalone thing.
• 9:42
  I Hate Talking: So a tree ornament or a snow globe or a representation of the Statue of Liberty, those are not really gonna have much utility besides just being there and being looked at.
• 9:56
  I Hate Talking: And then therefore would fall squarely within the category of artwork and kitschy typically defines the artwork.
• 10:05
  I Hate Talking: Now that artwork could be depicted on a utilitarian, right, so if it's a bug that says I NYC, is that kitschy or is that utilitarian?
• 10:17
  I Hate Talking: It would be kitschy if it was like the logo, the iHeart New York, because it's like New York in some words and buildings with the golden and blossomed.
• 10:29
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, it's a pretty mug that I love it.
• 10:30
  I Hate Talking: It is less kitschy because it does have utility.
• 10:35
  I Hate Talking: And does not have necessarily those garish artwork type things that are on there, but that's your opinion of it.
• 10:46
  I Hate Talking: Somebody who doesn't like gold probably thinks my mug is garish.
• 10:52
  I Hate Talking: I suppose so.
• 10:54
  I Hate Talking: And then a t-shirt from New York, maybe if it is stylish, would not be kitschy, but if it again is emblazoned, am I saying that correctly?
• 11:04
  I Hate Talking: Emblossomed.
• 11:05
  I Hate Talking: Don't, I don't think so.
• 11:06
  I Hate Talking: Emblazed in.
• 11:08
  I Hate Talking: That if that shirt is stylish and not necessarily having that iconic logo or whatever the case may be that that will be more utilitarian, less kitschy, whereas something that is In this word, maybe a bonus word, garish, which means obtrusively bright and showy, that that is gonna be more within the category of kitschy, even though the t-shirt may have some utility.
• 11:34
  I Hate Talking: What about the glasses that are half sunglasses, half green crown, like the Statue of Liberty.
• 11:44
  I Hate Talking: So those in my mind would fall within the kitschy category because while they do have utility, the utility is greatly reduced by the fact that they are the shape that they are, as well as just sort of the cheap nature of the plastic, as well as the lenses.
• 12:01
  I Hate Talking: So falls within sort of that cheap artwork category that we were talking about that defines kitschy.
• 12:08
  I Hate Talking: So we definitely went and we were 100% tourists.
• 12:14
  I Hate Talking: We were walking around those sunglasses on.
• 12:16
  I Hate Talking: And all the IHeart NYC stuff, we did not blend in at all.
• 12:23
  I Hate Talking: That is true, and That was What we were there to do was to be worse, so I don't think that that was a problem, nor.
• 12:34
  I Hate Talking: I think that's really a place where.
• 12:37
  I Hate Talking: You're necessarily looked down upon as a tourist.
• 12:41
  I Hate Talking: I think that almost New York has that aspect of being a tourist place and actually embracing and encouraging some of this kitschiness.
• 12:52
  I Hate Talking: So to speak.
• 12:54
  I Hate Talking: Right.
• 12:54
  I Hate Talking: But you definitely could see people that work there or are there often compared to us because of their dress was different.
• 13:03
  I Hate Talking: Also, the way they walk.
• 13:04
  I Hate Talking: The cadence was so different.
• 13:06
  I Hate Talking: We were so slow compared to them, and especially cause we're kind of a larger family, especially in the city there.
• 13:14
  I Hate Talking: So we take up a lot of space.
• 13:16
  I Hate Talking: Everyone's like, Jaws are on the ground, like looking straight up, looking at all the buildings and stuff, where you could see somebody who is from there, how quick their stride was and how focused they were on getting to their destinations.
• 13:32
  I Hate Talking: I kept feeling bad, like, sorry, like, cause we were just taking up so much space.
• 13:36
  I Hate Talking: That is true.
• 13:38
  I Hate Talking: And we also, I think for the most part, obeyed the traffic signals, which is not always the case for a native New Yorker that may just start walking on the crosswalk upon a bright red orange hand signal to not proceed, but We, for the most part, only walked during the white walking person phase of the traffic signal.
• 14:03
  I Hate Talking: Yes, we definitely did.
• 14:05
  I Hate Talking: I was very strict about that with just the crowds and the traffic.
• 14:10
  I Hate Talking: I did not want to end up being a disaster or a really sad time.
• 14:17
  I Hate Talking: But yeah, so we definitely obeyed the laws and walked slower than most.
• 14:23
  I Hate Talking: And had all our kitschy souvenirs.
• 14:27
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, and we also carried everything with us.
• 14:30
  I Hate Talking: We did not have any checked bags.
• 14:32
  I Hate Talking: Each one of us had one small backpack, and we kept everything with us the whole time.
• 14:38
  I Hate Talking: So that took a while too.
• 14:41
  I Hate Talking: Precisely, and that was for two main reasons because this was a relatively quick trip that we took that was only, I guess 2 nights, 3 days total and Via an airline that had significant fees for any sort of checked bags, as well as the fact that we did not have a permanent hotel for those two nights, we actually changed hotels one each night and then had to transition from airports to hotel and hotel to another hotel and then back to said airport.
• 15:21
  I Hate Talking: So it would have been a lot of extra steps to have checked bags either at the hotel or at a bag check as well as the additional fees that that would have incurred.
• 15:33
  I Hate Talking: Right.
• 15:34
  I Hate Talking: We looked into bag checks and such hotels, but just having to go back and forth, we tried to be very strategic with our what we saw and how we did things.
• 15:45
  I Hate Talking: So we would have had to go way out of our way to go back to bag check.
• 15:49
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, #NAME?
• 15:51
  I Hate Talking: #NAME?
• 15:51
  I Hate Talking: And it did work out great, but it almost did not work out great among many different steps of this trip.
• 15:58
  I Hate Talking: And I think that's what we'll focus on for The next part of this episode is just all the planning that we did or attempted to do and then the ways that that almost went off track, but we were able to recover and still make our timetables for all the different things that we wanted to accomplish.
• 16:18
  I Hate Talking: Yes, we had a major theme.
• 16:21
  I Hate Talking: Again, we were only gone for 54-ish hours total, right?
• 16:25
  I Hate Talking: 5554, that's correct.
• 16:28
  I Hate Talking: Well, that's what we should have been gone for.
• 16:30
  I Hate Talking: So it wasn't a long time.
• 16:33
  I Hate Talking: It wasn't supposed to be, and we did a lot of planning, but the overarching theme that kept showing up.
• 16:40
  I Hate Talking: was us rushing and almost being late.
• 16:44
  I Hate Talking: finding out that we have a lot of waiting time.
• 16:47
  I Hate Talking: So it was like a rush, rush, and then stop and wait.
• 16:51
  I Hate Talking: Over and over every single time.
• 16:54
  I Hate Talking: That is true.
• 16:55
  I Hate Talking: And then I also think that some of our issues were exacerbated because of difficulty to find real and accurate information.
• 17:05
  I Hate Talking: And I think I blame AI a little bit for that because we were trying to find certain things and instead of just a search engine taking us to a website that would list out the details that we need to know with like schedules or where things are located.
• 17:23
  I Hate Talking: We kept arriving at these AI generated results that were either outdated and maybe like using information from like 2017 that was far outdated and no longer even close to current reality or was just completely wrong or somehow interpreted the raw results of what was actually stated on a website somewhere and just like translated it incorrectly.
• 17:45
  I Hate Talking: We even had an issue where it thought we were in Central time zone, but obviously New York is in Eastern time zone.
• 17:51
  I Hate Talking: So that created some confusion as well.
• 17:54
  I Hate Talking: Right.
• 17:54
  I Hate Talking: Well, yeah, totally jumping ahead, but when that happened, it was for our flight back, and it got delayed, and it said that it was gonna take 25 hours of travel time.
• 18:06
  I Hate Talking: And I almost cried because I was like, we, we can't do this for 25 hours.
• 18:11
  I Hate Talking: When tomorrow we have a really, you know, coming home, we had a very busy day.
• 18:17
  I Hate Talking: So we're gonna have to start calling people and getting people to take our responsibilities for us.
• 18:23
  I Hate Talking: Also, I was like, do we just rent a car at this point?
• 18:26
  I Hate Talking: We can't.
• 18:26
  I Hate Talking: Spend 25 hours in an airport.
• 18:29
  I Hate Talking: But yes, it got confused with the time zones or something happened and Precisely, yep, I checked the airline website and it had an arrival time that was delayed, so it was different than what had had originally been scheduled for and the original scheduled arrival time was before midnight, but the new arrival time because of the delayed flight on the return leg was past midnight.
• 18:59
  I Hate Talking: It interpreted that as adding an extra 25 hours instead of just one single hour.
• 19:04
  I Hate Talking: To our itinerary.
• 19:07
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, so thank goodness we did not have to rent a car and just drive home, which would have been faster than 25 hours.
• 19:13
  I Hate Talking: I suppose so.
• 19:14
  I Hate Talking: So that was at the tail end of the trip, but our delays and nearly running off track began at the start of our trip at our departure airport.
• 19:25
  I Hate Talking: Yes, well, getting to the airport, we go to this airport fairly often.
• 19:30
  I Hate Talking: We know this route very easily.
• 19:32
  I Hate Talking: We even checked traffic beforehand and something happened.
• 19:37
  I Hate Talking: On the way, I guess, accidents or whatnot, and traffic took over double what we anticipated.
• 19:44
  I Hate Talking: So that was stressful because even though we gave ourselves plenty of time, we did not think it would take twice as long to drive to the airport.
• 19:52
  I Hate Talking: Correct.
• 19:53
  I Hate Talking: And then the parking structures have since changed and we were trying to get to a particular parking lot that again would save us a few dollars and we would ride the shuttle.
• 20:04
  I Hate Talking: But for whatever reason, we got stuck in this lane that only had access to either a parking lot that had No shuttle but was walkable, though a far distance.
• 20:19
  I Hate Talking: Especially with 4 little kids in freezing temperatures or park in the very expensive parking garage, so we opted to save the dollars and walk and walk.
• 20:31
  I Hate Talking: So, yeah, and then we get to the airport, we were cutting it close between the amount of walking we had to do and the amount of hard traffic we did not anticipate.
• 20:42
  I Hate Talking: We were very lucky that Um, TSA went so smooth.
• 20:48
  I Hate Talking: Everything was good.
• 20:49
  I Hate Talking: We didn't have to wait at all there.
• 20:51
  I Hate Talking: That was good.
• 20:52
  I Hate Talking: So then we get to our 8 Correct.
• 20:56
  I Hate Talking: So we are doing all this rushing though there was an extra step and I think this.
• 21:02
  I Hate Talking: Added some delay before we knew that our flight was delayed, so spoiler alert, the flight was delayed.
• 21:09
  I Hate Talking: We were rushing in the traffic to the airport trying to find the correct parking lot, rushing through the walk to the entrance, getting through TSA, like you said, that was actually very expedient and went very well.
• 21:24
  I Hate Talking: And then we had to make a bus transfer from the main terminal to the satellite terminal.
• 21:30
  I Hate Talking: Yes, we did not expect that.
• 21:32
  I Hate Talking: We're like, oh no.
• 21:33
  I Hate Talking: So that added some extra time that we were not anticipating either.
• 21:37
  I Hate Talking: So we were luckily on the first bus did not really add necessarily any extra waiting time, but it was definitely extra transition time.
• 21:48
  I Hate Talking: And then we do arrive at our gate and our plane is delayed by at least a few hours, I think.
• 21:55
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, well, so we show up, everything's fine.
• 21:58
  I Hate Talking: We're like, oh, we can take our deep breaths, like, we have like 20 minutes before we load.
• 22:03
  I Hate Talking: Perfect.
• 22:04
  I Hate Talking: Let's fill up our water bottles and relax.
• 22:07
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, 1520 minutes, no problem.
• 22:09
  I Hate Talking: And then they tell us, you're, you're at this flight.
• 22:13
  I Hate Talking: We've changed your gate, go over here.
• 22:16
  I Hate Talking: So we load up everything again, and we all rush, a whole bunch of us over to our gate that's supposed to be boarding.
• 22:22
  I Hate Talking: Any minute.
• 22:24
  I Hate Talking: Once we get there, they announce it's delayed like an hour.
• 22:28
  I Hate Talking: Like, oh, OK, so we all kind of get situated as a whole group.
• 22:33
  I Hate Talking: And then Maybe half an hour later, we find out it's delayed more and more.
• 22:39
  I Hate Talking: I just kept delaying it every half hour, 45 minutes, they'd push it back farther.
• 22:44
  I Hate Talking: And I think the departure time did sort of stabilize at some point because there was at one point that I was worried that the flight was going to get canceled altogether and that we were going to basically probably still get to our destination but lose on our one of two nights in a hotel.
• 23:02
  I Hate Talking: Uh, but nonetheless, we were able to get on the plane at some point in time and get to our destination in Newark.
• 23:11
  I Hate Talking: And I guess part of the reason that that delay happened was because there was a flight going to Detroit that had some sort of issues, so they believe they took our equipment, our plane that we were supposed to be on and used it for that Detroit trip that was even further delayed, right?
• 23:28
  I Hate Talking: That was much more delayed than our departure to Newark.
• 23:32
  I Hate Talking: And then get us a new plane and move things around in that nature.
• 23:37
  I Hate Talking: But we did make it to Newark, which I think was hours later, hours later than expected, but we did arrive and I think the flight was relatively uneventful and I think I even slept some because I knew that I would need my rest for the late night in getting from the airport to the hotel and perhaps a less amount of sleep at said hotel because we had an appointment that we thought.
• 24:06
  I Hate Talking: Was that the right time the following morning?
• 24:08
  I Hate Talking: That's my fault.
• 24:09
  I Hate Talking: And there was even more before that.
• 24:12
  I Hate Talking: Yes, OK, so on the flight, yes, the flight was very, they did a great job.
• 24:17
  I Hate Talking: Uh, we were safe.
• 24:18
  I Hate Talking: You slept most I dozed off.
• 24:20
  I Hate Talking: One of our kids stayed up and colored for almost the whole time.
• 24:26
  I Hate Talking: So I finally woke up and I was like, you have to go to bed, bud, just go to sleep.
• 24:30
  I Hate Talking: So I had him turn off his overhead light.
• 24:32
  I Hate Talking: In seconds, I promise it was seconds later, they turn on all the overhead lights, and they're like, prepare for landing, and I was like, well, that was pointless.
• 24:44
  I Hate Talking: But we landed, and then we thought we were done.
• 24:49
  I Hate Talking: We didn't realize we had to take another shuttle to another location.
• 24:54
  I Hate Talking: And then, so we did that.
• 24:57
  I Hate Talking: We did realize we were gonna have to do this.
• 24:59
  I Hate Talking: So at the Newark Airport, we landed at a terminal.
• 25:03
  I Hate Talking: We took the little air train from the terminal to the rental car area or basically ground transportation to hotels.
• 25:12
  I Hate Talking: That was sort of that uh one little transition.
• 25:15
  I Hate Talking: And then there was supposed to be a shuttle that was running every 15 minutes to our hotel from the ground transportation stop.
• 25:24
  I Hate Talking: However, when we arrived, there were many, many people waiting and angry at the ground transportation location.
• 25:32
  I Hate Talking: Yes, I'm not quite sure what happened.
• 25:34
  I Hate Talking: They were saying they were waiting for her so long, and they kept only bringing like a 78 passenger van.
• 25:40
  I Hate Talking: So that was stressful because I'm like, well, by the time it's our turn, we'll take up the whole thing.
• 25:45
  I Hate Talking: Now, there was a nice lady there that was offering, telling people like, hey, look, we have a bunch of little kids, like, It is so late.
• 25:53
  I Hate Talking: It was, yeah, it was the next morning they let them to go, but we did not want to make that other guy more angry.
• 26:01
  I Hate Talking: So we stayed, I took the kids back in where it was warmer because it is sub-zero, like below zero, right, at that point, or at least below freezing.
• 26:11
  I Hate Talking: It was in the teens, I believe with the windshield would have been in single digits.
• 26:15
  I Hate Talking: Fahrenheit.
• 26:16
  I Hate Talking: That's right.
• 26:18
  I Hate Talking: So I took him inside, and you stood outside trying to save our spot and figure out what was going on with the shuttle.
• 26:24
  I Hate Talking: We played with ideas of like, we Uber it, do we rent a car?
• 26:27
  I Hate Talking: How can we do this?
• 26:29
  I Hate Talking: Cause we need to get some sleep.
• 26:31
  I Hate Talking: And I suspect that it was not necessarily that driver's fault because again, we weren't there for the previous interactions that perhaps these folks that were waiting had with the other shuttle driver or maybe the existing shuttle driver, but I suspect that this shuttle driver may have started his shift at this particular time.
• 26:54
  I Hate Talking: And sort of just inherited all this problems, so maybe the previous shift driver was slacking or there wasn't proper shift coverage or whatever the case may be.
• 27:05
  I Hate Talking: So I suspect that may have been the case.
• 27:08
  I Hate Talking: And part of the reason that I suspect that is because he came back the second time with a much larger vehicle and was able to, I think, pretty much take everybody on that final load that we were able to get on the shuttle as well to our destination.
• 27:24
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, everyone that was there before us and us got on.
• 27:28
  I Hate Talking: I think a few people were still kind of waiting back, but, you know, all the people that waited a really long time, I don't think it's absurd to think you have to wait 15 minutes or so for a shuttle.
• 27:37
  I Hate Talking: That's OK.
• 27:38
  I Hate Talking: And it did take longer than 15 minutes from the departure of the 7 passenger van to the arrival of the larger van, but that makes sense because you would have to go switch vehicles and everything like that.
• 27:48
  I Hate Talking: And there may have been other people waiting for other hotels.
• 27:52
  I Hate Talking: We don't necessarily know that they were going to our hotel, but that was another thing that caused at least probably another 30 to 45 minute delay.
• 28:01
  I Hate Talking: Yeah.
• 28:02
  I Hate Talking: So we did arrive at our hotel.
• 28:03
  I Hate Talking: We were able to skip the check-in process because we had the digital key process.
• 28:09
  I Hate Talking: So that was helpful because there was a lot of people that apparently didn't do that and had to wait in line to check in.
• 28:15
  I Hate Talking: So luckily we were able to go.
• 28:18
  I Hate Talking: I pass the front desk and go directly to our room.
• 28:21
  I Hate Talking: Right.
• 28:21
  I Hate Talking: And then by then our kids are like super stoked, cause they like their hotel room.
• 28:26
  I Hate Talking: We're finally here, we're on vacation.
• 28:28
  I Hate Talking: Like, it is, oh man, what, like 3 in the morning?
• 28:32
  I Hate Talking: I believe it would have been, well, we were landed, we landed at 1 a.m.
• 28:39
  I Hate Talking: probably another, it was in between the 20 a.m. and 3 a.m. hour when we arrived at the hotel.
• 28:45
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, so we were like just watch one episode of this like Holiday Decorating show, and then go to bed.
• 28:54
  I Hate Talking: So, we all pass out in the hotel, and then you have to wake up at 7 a.m.
• 29:01
  I Hate Talking: to go get our vehicle for our next day's adventure.
• 29:06
  I Hate Talking: Yes, in fact, it looks like I bought a water at the Vending machine with a credit card and again because we have all the notifications with the transactions, it appears that that happened at 3-23 a.m. Eastern.
• 29:25
  I Hate Talking: That's rough.
• 29:27
  I Hate Talking: And that was just to get our water cause we also were.
• 29:30
  I Hate Talking: Super thirsty because this airline did not provide drinks unless you paid a ton of money.
• 29:37
  I Hate Talking: So, we were so thirsty.
• 29:41
  I Hate Talking: So, yes.
• 29:42
  I Hate Talking: Oh, that's so, just thinking about it makes me so tired.
• 29:46
  I Hate Talking: We were exhausted.
• 29:47
  I Hate Talking: And then, like you said, I think we had a 7 a.m. wake-up call, or at least I did, to go retrieve our vehicle.
• 29:56
  I Hate Talking: So again, to save a few pennies, we only rented the car for a less than 24 hour period, so that we only had to pay the daily rate one day.
• 30:06
  I Hate Talking: So I then took the same shuttle from the hotel back to the ground transportation and rental car area.
• 30:15
  I Hate Talking: To retrieve the rental car, which had to be a van with booster seats because of the size of our family and the age of our children, which I wasn't really concerned too much because I think I had built in some buffer time for the shuttle trip and just other potential delays and I was actually able to get on the very first shuttle and it didn't really have any issues.
• 30:44
  I Hate Talking: Going back from the hotel back to the ground transportation.
• 30:48
  I Hate Talking: But when I did arrive at the rental car facility, they did not have any vans readily available.
• 30:55
  I Hate Talking: So the employee at the rental car center had to go retrieve the van, and then they did not have any car seats in the lockers.
• 31:03
  I Hate Talking: So they had to go to like a truck, basically, that had brand new car seats, so that was a nice bonus that they were like brand new.
• 31:12
  I Hate Talking: And never had been used before, but they had to go that extra step to retrieve those car seats.
• 31:18
  I Hate Talking: And then I was on my way.
• 31:20
  I Hate Talking: And then we did get food so that we would again be prepared for all our sightseeing tours because we were not necessarily sure of food availability and or prices amongst our travels, so.
• 31:37
  I Hate Talking: We went to Sonic, and I think that took 40 minutes.
• 31:41
  I Hate Talking: Yeah.
• 31:41
  I Hate Talking: Me and the kids stayed at the hotel, and so while you were gone, I was waking them up.
• 31:46
  I Hate Talking: They did not want to wake up.
• 31:48
  I Hate Talking: Obviously, they didn't go to bed till nearly 4 a.m.
• 31:51
  I Hate Talking: They were exhausted.
• 31:53
  I Hate Talking: So I was trying to let them sleep as long as possible.
• 31:57
  I Hate Talking: So I kept texting you like, where's your ETA?
• 32:00
  I Hate Talking: So you were bringing the car back with food and we were gonna just meet you and leave.
• 32:05
  I Hate Talking: I was shocked at how long it took you to bring the food back.
• 32:08
  I Hate Talking: So that was stressful too, cause I'm like, are we gonna have time?
• 32:11
  I Hate Talking: We are supposed to be at the Statue of Liberty security at 10 a.m. I thought.
• 32:18
  I Hate Talking: So, that was the plan we needed to get from Newark.
• 32:22
  I Hate Talking: To the Statue of Libertyer.
• 32:26
  I Hate Talking: And so that was stressful waiting for the food.
• 32:30
  I Hate Talking: We did finally get the food and I made my way in traffic.
• 32:36
  I Hate Talking: It was surprisingly a lot of traffic um for that time of day in that area, which was unexpected as well, but made it back to the hotel, picked everybody up and Thought we had some extra time, so we actually took our time handing out the food because like you said, our boat time was 10 a.m.
• 33:00
  I Hate Talking: and therefore our security arrival time -- was 10-00 a.m. Because it #NAME?
• 33:05
  I Hate Talking: In my justification, y'all, I read this thing so many times.
• 33:11
  I Hate Talking: I selected the 10 a.m.
• 33:13
  I Hate Talking: appointment because I knew that.
• 33:16
  I Hate Talking: I I spent so much time researching all this stuff, and I thought, OK, we don't want to wake up crazy early after a night of travel.
• 33:23
  I Hate Talking: 10 a.m. gives us enough time to get breakfast, and All that and do this like late morning, early afternoon.
• 33:32
  I Hate Talking: The Statue of Liberty was the number one thing we wanted to do.
• 33:36
  I Hate Talking: So it was vitally important.
• 33:38
  I Hate Talking: We did it on the first day so that way we wouldn't be too exhausted or anything like that.
• 33:44
  I Hate Talking: Everything on there says, this is the time you show up.
• 33:49
  I Hate Talking: For security, it is not the time you enter the boat.
• 33:52
  I Hate Talking: To get onto the Statue of Liberty.
• 33:55
  I Hate Talking: This time, the time on your tickets.
• 33:58
  I Hate Talking: Is the time you enter security.
• 34:01
  I Hate Talking: Right?
• 34:02
  I Hate Talking: I've never seen said wording, but that is what you really mean.
• 34:06
  I Hate Talking: You did read it to me.
• 34:08
  I Hate Talking: But if you heard what I said, it said the time on your ticket is when you enter the boat.
• 34:13
  I Hate Talking: My error is I did not look at the ticket closely.
• 34:19
  I Hate Talking: I signed up for the 10-00 a.m.
• 34:23
  I Hate Talking: boat, so I thought my ticket was 10-00 a.m.
• 34:26
  I Hate Talking: Uh, we pull up the park and I pull out my stuff and I look and it says 9 a.m.
• 34:34
  I Hate Talking: Oh no, we're an hour late.
• 34:37
  I Hate Talking: It's, at this point, it's like 9-45, about, probably, yeah, maybe around 9-42, I think is when we pulled in the parking lot.
• 34:46
  I Hate Talking: Yeah.
• 34:46
  I Hate Talking: So we thought we had a little bit of a buffer, like, OK, we have a time.
• 34:49
  I Hate Talking: We're sitting here, we can walk there, we'll get there right at 10, like we're supposed to.
• 34:54
  I Hate Talking: Perfect, beautiful.
• 34:56
  I Hate Talking: And so then I'm sweating because this is the one thing our kids want to do.
• 35:01
  I Hate Talking: The tickets are sold out.
• 35:03
  I Hate Talking: For the day, like, already.
• 35:05
  I Hate Talking: So, and I'm trying to tell you subtly what's happening without letting them know, cause I didn't want them to lose it.
• 35:14
  I Hate Talking: So in my head, I'm just praying like, God, just let, let us get through, let us get through.
• 35:18
  I Hate Talking: So we're bundling up cause it is so cold and windy, and everyone's so tired, and I'm rushing us over there.
• 35:28
  I Hate Talking: Because I'm just, I, we need to get there as fast as possible.
• 35:32
  I Hate Talking: So I'm like, get over and they're wanting to stop and look.
• 35:35
  I Hate Talking: From the road, like from the shore, they want to like take in the Statue of Liberty.
• 35:41
  I Hate Talking: Look, it's right there.
• 35:42
  I Hate Talking: That's amazing.
• 35:43
  I Hate Talking: And I do feel back.
• 35:44
  I Hate Talking: I'm like, keep walking.
• 35:45
  I Hate Talking: I'm like, pushing people as fast as possible to security.
• 35:50
  I Hate Talking: Precisely, and there was even the walk that we did not know until a later time because we followed the signs that said, park at this spot and walk to the Dock area to get on the boat and go through security, etc.
• 36:06
  I Hate Talking: etc.
• 36:06
  I Hate Talking: But the signage actually took us on a circuitous route that it would have been much faster just to walk directly along the shoreline because that is where the security station was.
• 36:19
  I Hate Talking: So we took this big loop, which added at least a few minutes and actually, if we had not made that loop, we may have made the boat, but we'll never know.
• 36:29
  I Hate Talking: And we then got through security.
• 36:34
  I Hate Talking: The boat was still there.
• 36:34
  I Hate Talking: They were still letting people on as we exited the security building.
• 36:38
  I Hate Talking: So I thought like, OK, they let us through, perfect.
• 36:41
  I Hate Talking: They scan our tickets, great.
• 36:42
  I Hate Talking: We're going through security.
• 36:44
  I Hate Talking: I'm like relaxing, and then the guy tells us, you better hurry, they're leaving in 4 minutes or you have to wait an hour.
• 36:52
  I Hate Talking: So then I'm like rushing us again.
• 36:55
  I Hate Talking: I grab your stuff, let's run.
• 36:57
  I Hate Talking: So we start running.
• 36:58
  I Hate Talking: Outside till they get to the boat.
• 37:01
  I Hate Talking: Correct?
• 37:02
  I Hate Talking: And we did not make it.
• 37:04
  I Hate Talking: We didn't.
• 37:06
  I Hate Talking: We ran so hard, everyone did.
• 37:08
  I Hate Talking: I'm proud of all of us.
• 37:09
  I Hate Talking: But right before we got there, they took off.
• 37:12
  I Hate Talking: So that is not the end of our story about our kitschy trip to New York City, but it is the end of this episode.
• 37:22
  I Hate Talking: So tune in next week to hear the conclusion of our travel story.
• 37:27
  I Hate Talking: And in the meantime, like, subscribe, and share this podcast and make sure to tell a friend about this episode from your friends at IHTalking.
• 37:36
  I Hate Talking: Until next time, remember, it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding.