12:04 AM, Friday, July 17, 2009 (Arizona Time)

By Susie Timm

            In general, I am not a fan of red-eye flights. Anyway, anyhow or anywhere. However, when Jay proposed that we jet off to NYC on Jet Blue this weekend for a culinary extravaganza that dreams are made of—it was not very hard to convince me that the 11:46 departure arriving into JFK at 7:30 AM EST would be well worth it.

After all, I have taken this flight to NYC 3 times prior and have made it thru each time.

            My husband and I went to dinner at his boss’ house tonight and I made sure to have that extra glass of wine, to assure maximum sleeping potential. I was stocked with a couple of Tylenol PM and some “natural” anti-anxiety meds. I was so ready to chug those down with some ice cold water and drift off to dreamland for 5 hours.

            We arrived at Sky Harbor at 9:45 PM. Skipping merrily, we trotted over to the check-in counter, and were greeted by some friendly Jet Blue team members clad in a very flattering shade of blue. By this time, the drive here in 108 degrees combined with that one extra glass of wine were starting to make me a wee bit thirsty. We got our boarding passes and the desk agent informed us that we were in the same row, but both have middle seats.

“WHAT?!” I ask, mildly outraged. “I set up those seats online with Jay here on conference call on June 22! I did not pick row 13 and I certainly did not pick 2 middle seats!”

“Sorry, ma’am, the flight is fully sold out. If something changes, we will be sure to let you know,” the snappy blue dresser responded.

Jay uttered a noise something akin to a balloon that a tiny bit of helium had escaped from. (I may have mentioned a time or two before, that neither of us are fans of the word “no.”)

We sighed, and headed upstairs. By this time, I was really thirsty. I thought, “Well, I can surely by a bottle of water after we go thru security.”

Not really. Not at 10:15 PM on a Thursday. In the Sonoran Desert. In Terminal 3. At Sky Harbor Airport. In the 9^th Largest Metro area in the US of A..

Ok fine, I decided to read as a way to divert my attention from my dry throat. I opened up “Julie & Julia” and settled in. Meanwhile, Jay was furiously typing away on his laptop—surely to the CEO of Jet Blue or someone else who will make the situation correct. I am sorry for whomever’s head is lopped off…

Reading was fun, but I was so tired at this point (as I typically go to bed around 8:30 PM) that I laid back and drifted off. I woke up to discover our plane was delayed till 12:40 AM. Not quite an hour delay. Now I was as thirsty as I can recall being in recent history. I got up, went to the drinking fountain feverishly lapped up Phoenix’s finest aqua, desperate for some relief..

It had a wee impact on my raging thirst.  I rested my head on my laptop bag and Jay said he would  “be right back.” I awoke for a moment to gawk at an especially attractive pilot (Is this heaven? I wondered in my thirsty and delirious state?).

Jay appeared like a mirage in the desert. Holding a bag from Paradise Bakery and a bottle of water. (I had barely complained out loud to him by the way!)

 

 

 

“How did you DO THAT?” I demanded.

“I went outside security, bought water, dumped it out and refilled it on the other side.”

“Pure freaking genius you are Mr. Pizarro. Thank you oh water Savior of mine.”
I happily slurped most of it down. Jay ate his pasta salad. We are now seated outside our gate and about to board.

 

 

 

Middle seats. Sigh. But at least, I have an ingenious business partner who cares about my dehydration problems.

 

Friday, July 17 2:27 PM

Well, this morning has been filled with a multitude of adventures big and small. We made it thru the red-eye experience. Luckily, I was seated next to a couple that weighed about 120 lbs together and the wife offered to sit in the middle seat. I managed to get 3.5 hours of sleep on the plane.

We caught a cab into the city and the W Hotel in Times Square was nice enough to let us into our rooms early. Nap time! I felt much, much better after another hour and a half of rest and so we headed out to find something for lunch.

We were stuck by a sudden and unyielding urge to consume hot dogs from a street vendor. So, dirty water dogs it was. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

I had set up a private tour of the Fox News Channel studios (don’t hate please!) It was pretty spectacular to see some of the anchors and staffers live and in person. From there, we caught a cab to Soho to mentally prepare for our very important meeting…

Not sure if Jay feels the same way about the street cart lunch, but we are now settled in at the Cupping Room Café in Soho drinking wine and waiting for our 3 PM to start.

Dinner tonight is at Daniel. French. Beautiful. We cannot wait! More later!