I Got Talked Into It And So I Just Had To Go

Have you ever been approached to do something you have never considered doing and the person presenting the plan makes it sound like such a great idea that despite the physical and monetary cost to participate, you feel obligated to join in?

That just recently happened to me.

My mother presented the plan of having me join in with her and Dad and Nani going on a cruise. I only had a few months' notice and I had to make a split-second decision if I was in or out. Time was running short to join in with this travel group Dad was using to book the trip.

Did I want to be Nani's traveling companion?

Was I willing to leave my husband for all that time and spend the required money to do so?

Could I make the decision immediately?

Would Glen go along with the plan?

Let's just say that within a 24-hour period, I had signed up to go. Glen so kindly let Nani and me use his frequent flyer miles to get us to the other side of the continent.

And then it really dawned on me what I'd done.

I'd signed up to go on a 10-day cruise. That's a long time! I've never even done that with my husband before. What was I thinking? This was crazy!

But, since I got talked into it--I just had to go. And I was going to have fun while doing it!

Newark, New Jersey--here we come!!

When Nani and I figured out New York City was just a mere few miles away from the Sheraton Hotel we were staying at in Newark, we decided to go on an adventure. We figured out we could hop right back on the free hotel shuttle back to the airport,

where we jumped on a New Jersey transit train which took us right into Manhattan. Plan successful!!

We were starving by that time and decided to stop at Times Square Food Court where we ate a salad and split some macaroni and cheese--a little comfort food for us in the middle of that bustling, big city.

We were both a little bitter that the only water available was a $2.50 water bottle. So annoying when we can't get free water in a cup!!

Here we are--just two small-town girls walking around the big city of New York.

Nani loves chocolate and it became quite evident when we went in the Hershey's store.

No need for ice cream when you can drink chocolate syrup straight from the container.

I thought of Mom and Glen when I saw this huge package of red Twizzlers.

Hyde Park was a beautiful place for people to enjoy a little greenery amid the concrete jungle of extra tall buildings.

We didn't have enough time to go to Central Park and didn't feel too safe about going there in the darkness anyway. Something for Nani to do and see next time she makes it to New York.

It was much more of a challenge for us to figure out how to get back to the station to catch our train and it was extra confusing trying to figure out which train to get on to take us back to the airport.

EWR is the abbreviation for Newark Airport and we were happy when we saw other passengers with EWR on their ticket riding the same train with us.

We had very happy faces when we got off the train and saw the lady welcoming us back to Newark International Airport.

We worked our way through the airport to the spot where we could catch our free hotel shuttle bus and soon we were safely tucked in bed at the Sheraton Hotel where our adventure began.

WHEW!! Mission completed!!