Newfoundlander in New York - Chapter One: The Planning

I'm the type of girl who likes to have company.  I don't go to movies alone.  I don't go to restaurants by myself.  Hell, I'm pushing it when I go to the bathroom without company.  So, I surprised even myself when I decided to go to New York by myself.

Don't get me wrong:  I'm independent and I like my own space.  But there are things I like to share with others.  Vacations tend to be one of them.  Thus, this was a big step for me.  However, New York made it easy.  You see, New York is an easy city in which to get immersed and lost.  I was in New York a few months ago for business and one of the best days of my life was the one I spent wandering around the Big Apple "moi-meme".  So, when I needed to escape Toronto for the Thanksgiving long weekend, New York was a no-brainer.  There are neighbourhoods to be discovered, restaurants to suit any taste, parks in the middle of Manhattan that make you think you're not, in fact, in the busiest metropolis in North America, and - of course - the THEATAH!! 

I had no idea I was a theatre buff.  Sure, as a Jazz musician, I knew I'd love New York's music scene.  However, since seeing "Wicked" on Broadway this past summer, I've been a total theatre whore.  I have Playbill.com on my internet "favourites bar", I watch the Broadway channel on YouTube, and I have begun enunciating with a nasal-based sibilance that would make Bernadette Peters proud!

Needless to say, the plans - beyond those revolving around the actual travel - had to do with .... well, BROADWAY!!!  The beautiful thing is that shows can be booked on line, so the planning should be easy, right?  Not so much.  I don't know if you're aware of this, or not, but New York is pretty busy, these days.  Thus, once my flight and hotel reservations were made, I spent a good two weeks determining which shows I would see and when I would see them.  (I was trying to juggle show times, with other concert performances.  (Having done all of this, I think there is a reality show someone in here.  Give people a time frame, a budget within which to work, a show schedule, and force them to organize a certain number of shows, combined with restaurant options and - uhm, something else that would be challenging - oh, a baby-delivery!!  Yeah, that's kind of what the planning felt like.

Well, it all came together.  Before leaving Toronto, I managed to:

- book a return flight on a seat sale

- get a "friends and family rate" for a hotel room for 2 nights

- book a third night in a hotel via credit card travel points

- purchase tickets for 1 Broadway show and 1 Off-Broadway show

- purchase tickets to see the fantastic New York Voices in concert

Let's see how it all works out .....