NYC/Boston blog - 'The purchase' and arrival in Boston

Bed count = 2

Well, after our eventful 4 days in NYC, including survival of a hurricane (!!!), we have now arrived safely in Boston! But before going into details on that, I have to share with you my excitement, as Tuesday was a historic day for me: I got the Marc Jacobs bag! :o) Before leaving NYC, we went to Bloomingdales as planned and I found a gorgeous bag! It wasn't the beautiful blue one I fell in love with when I was in NYC with Claire in February (they didn't seem to have that one, boo hoo!), but it was still love at first sight! I'll get a picture on the blog soon! ;o)

After 'the purchase' the doorman at Bloomies (get us!) hailed us a cab and we sped across the city for a lunch reservation we had made at Bar Boulud on Broadway and 64th (get me with the New Yorker lingo eh?!). This is a really trendy French place that was participating in New York Restaurant Week and was recommended to us by New-Yorker in waiting, Raj Logan :o) En-route I naturally did what any girl who just bought an amazing new bag would do, transferred the entire contents of my existing bag into this one, much to JD's amusement! Upon stepping out of the cab with my new bag I felt a million dollars, shopping at Bloomies, Marc Jacobs bag, lunch reservation at an uber trendy restaurant….this is the life! :o) The lunch was delish and after a quick turnaround back at the hotel to get our luggage (and swap the contents of my bags back again - Marc Jacobs on a Greyhound bus didn't seem the best plan somehow?!) we headed to the Port Authority bus station……

We were sad that we had to miss out our stopover in Mystic (due to the hurricane and train travel out of NYC being difficult - trains fully booked Mon and Tue), but we were relieved to find space on a Greyhound bus, express and direct to Boston….or so we thought……and also half the price of train tickets….hmmmmm, now we know why, over to JD for the full lowdown on that.....

.......I'll keep this brief as it's probably an experience best left forgotten!As Melissa mentions all transport was off from NYC with exception of the bus.At $35 each and a mere 4h 20 mins it seemed like a bargain, however as my Dad often says…'buy cheap and buy twice'…this just about summarises this!I had done a small amount of research and noticed that there was a 'Peter Pan' bus transit as well as the 'Greyhound' line….surely this would be a better experience than a skinny dog?!However rule number 1 is as follows…'never trust a mischievous boy who can fly and refuses to grow up'…this was going to be a never ending bus journey to Neverland!We got to the station early and boarded promptly, which is less than can be said for the interesting cross section of society that joined us.The bus driver was far too busy giving 'high fives' to be bothered about setting off, so we left half an hour late.Once we left we had time to acknowledge our fellow passengers and remark at the diversity!It had it all really…the token baby crying uncontrollably, an Italian man with a severe bout of the sniffles, a super-sized Nigerian momma (more on that in a bit) and half the Japanese embassy!Rule number 2…'old Japanese men should not be trusted with smart phones'!I lost count of the number of times his phone went off to be greeted by a vacant 'whhhaaa heeellloo….hello….hello…etc. x 100).He was that unsuccessful in his phone answering that he resided to having a conversation with himself towards the end of the journey…extremely funny to watch!We also experienced a 'man vs. food' scene where the Nigerian momma decided to take the 'cake challenge'.This involved eating a whole cake in under three mouthfuls…this was a challenge that she had clearly done before and the cake vanished in under two bites!Anyhow the journey was long and testing due to the horrific traffic jams on the roads.After 4h travelling to Neverland, the bus driver decided to take a 10 minute rest break. This was a welcome stop to stretch our legs and we all rushed to get back on the bus in under 10 mins…with the exception of the bus driver!He seemed quite happy chilling out in the café drinking his coffee, with total disregard to the fact that we were well behind schedule.We all kept our cool which is more than can be said for the Nigerian Momma who was clearly irate…she had run out of cake and was hungry!Just before an act of cannibalism ensued the bus driver returned….only to tell us that the power steering was broken and we needed to wait for another bus!!So we all got off and anticipated a several hour wait, however after half an hour another bus arrived which allowed the Nigerian momma ample time to knock back a few burgers, fries and plenty of mayo!Back on the road again and Boston bound, the end was in sight!However a text message came through from Hannah, notifying us that the lifts shut in their apartments at 11pm.This usually wouldn't be a problem, with the exception that they live in a 31st floor flat!I like to keep fit, but I really didn't welcome an iron man step challenge with the extra weight of that Marc Jacobs bag!In something resembling the Krypton factor challenge we managed to get out of the bus station, into a taxi (with a driver who clearly had no idea of the Boston road network) and arrived at the apartments with minutes to spare!

Back over to me (Melissa)……so after the entertaining bus-ride, Hannah and James greeted us in their apartment with yummy fajitas (with the hottest guacamole known to man!) and a big glass of red wine - bliss! You guys rock!

Today we are planning a lazy day wandering round the city, we hear from James that walking the Freedom Trail and doing the Boston Duck Tour is going to be a good start :o)

Over and out for now, thanks to all for your lovely messages on here and on Facebook too by the way :o)

Melissa and JD

xxx