Nothin’ but the Truth.

The city that never sleeps. That, my friends, is New York. Well, I don’t have any issues with the city itself since I am from Pittsburgh and traveled into the city everyday for years. I do however, have several grievances about my trip have thus far that I booked on Expedia.com. 

            My friend and I are traveling to New York for a long weekend for fashion week, tourist stuff, seeing the Today Show and most importantly sitting in the audience for possibly the greatest TV show of all time, Late Night with Conan O’Brien! I was notified about this trip only three weeks ago so I made some reservations for a hotel, flights and an airport shuttle. Turns out that traveling to NYC on a limited budget does not have you living in any type of celebrity status. The day all started with me waking up at 415am rushing around attempting to pack all my last-minute items. I looked outside, my road is iced over, and my car is almost iced shut. Good times to be traveling to the airport that is about 45 minutes from my house. My friend ended up sleeping in so when we finally started toward the airport it was 545am and our flight was at seven. Let’s just say that we hauled some serious ass to get to the flight on time. Once we got on the plane, I wasn’t able to fit my bag in the overhead storage bin. Minor, I know. However, the flight was supposed to take off at seven and we didn’t get in the air till 815. The damn plane had to be de-iced and that took so long that I read two magazines. Once we were in the air, the turbulence was so bad that I felt like I actually needed to use one of those barf bags. Turns out we were flying into the storm the entire time and when we got to JFK airport, the rain was so miserable and cold that all I wanted to do was curl up in my sweatpants and fall asleep. We took our bags to the shuttle pick-up lanes and we had no idea how to get in touch with our Super Shuttle service. I walked over to probably the nicest person in NY and he actually walked me over to a service desk and booked my shuttle. I swear that everyone working at the airport is from another country. I couldn’t understand anyone and all they did was signal when my shuttle arrived and screamed, “M’am!” about forty times. 

 Once the drive of our shuttle was in sight, he wheeled my bag and threw it into the back seat of a Bright blue van. My friend’s bag was tossed onto the ground then thrown into the passenger seat. When we got into the shuttle, there was not much space between the three foreigners who smelled like cabbage and BO or the rude gentleman sitting behind me who constantly kicked my seat and bumped my head.           

  There is a lot that goes into the next three hours of my life. For one hour, we drove around the airport (and if you’ve ever been to JFK you know that it is HUGE!). We picked up more passengers and we barely fit inside the van. The driver, uhh, he was probably the scariest person I’ve ever met. He was a foreign man and all he did was talk on one of his cell phones, turn up the radio, text message on another cell phone, honk his horn and almost kill us all about a hundred times. He even at one point got out of his car in the middle of an intersection just to scream at a driver that was attempting to parallel park. Like are you serious?! This is one of the worst experiences of my life (travel-wise). At one point, I even thought I lost my brand new cell phone. I went through all my stuff and my friend finally found it lodged in-between two seats. All I wanted to do was get out of this shuttle alive and get to my hotel.           

  After THREE hours, I was finally dropped off at the hotel. The man pulled the bags out of the van and my friend went ahead of me because her computer would get wet. By the way, the rain is blowing sideways and it is so cold and miserable that it stung my face. All I wanted to do was check into my hotel but NOOOOOOOO…. The driver decided to accuse me of not paying for my shuttle. I handed him the vouchers from Expedia that proved I was right. I paid for the shuttle service to and from the airport. This man was accusing me of being a liar and finally I flipped out and told him that he could car Expedia if he had such an issue with this. He then followed me to the hotel entrance and then demanded that I gave him a tip. “Tip the driver!” he said holding out his hand. I dug into my bag and fished out TWO DOLLARS. I gave him my money and then went inside to the hotel lobby. I was shocked to find out that I would be able to check into my room. Something going right on this trip? That’s insane. Haha!            

After checking into the room, I was still so livid about the entire situation about the shuttle that I decided to call Expedia and bitch them out! Here is a recap of that convo:          

  Me: (while the phone is still ringing) This is complete bullshit! All I wanted was to go to New York and have a pleasant weekend and I have to deal with retard drivers talking on their cell phones and almost killing me in the middle of Manhattan.     

        Operator:  Hello. Thanks for calling Expedia. How may I assist you in your trip planning?          

  Me: (PISSED OFF!) Yes, Hello, I am calling because I just experienced a horrendous drive from JFK airport to my hotel. It took 3 hours to go from JFK airport to our hotel. On your website it was stated that it would be 2hrs at the absolute max. Now, I don’t understand why I paid for a trip and this is the service I received. This is unacceptable.          

  Operator: Miss I truly do apologize. I will see what I can do for you.

** By this time, I am so angry that I just start spewing out all the terrible things this driver did. **      

      Me: M’am, this driver not only endangered me but the lives of those in their cars and pedestrians. This man blew through pedestrian crosswalks without looking. He even got out of his car to yell at another driver. Now can you tell me honestly that was a safe trip?   

         Operator: No, Miss. I am so sorry. I am going to contact my supervisor and see what I can do for you.  

          Me: I want refunded that total amount of this shuttle and I want to file a complaint with Expedia about this shitty shuttle service that you choose to promote on your website.       

     ** The operator by this time is trying to calm me down and goes to talk to her supervisor. After several minutes the woman comes back onto the phone and tells me that I have been credited the FULL amount for the shuttles and that I am receiving a 100 dollar voucher towards any trips I book with Expedia within the next year.**     

       I just couldn’t believe that I had to deal with a maniac behind the wheel when I could have easily purchased a cab. Who knew?             For the remainder of the day, we went around Times Square and saw all the cool stores. Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot nicer so we will be walking around Manhattan searching for shops and things to do. I am hoping that since I refuse to support shuttle services again that my trip can only get better. I am also excited because Monday is the day I will be on TV! Well, I am hoping I will get to be on TV! I am sitting in Conan’s audience and I am also standing outside the Today where I will be sipping on the most delicious hot cocoa in the entire world! There is a coffee shop three blocks from Rockefeller Center and I swear to you that they make the world’s greatest cup of cocoa. You gotta try it!           

 The city that never sleeps is certainly an understatement because outside my window is a never-ending cycle of horns blaring, sirens and screams of angry cab drivers. Gotta love NYC.