I have just returned from New York City, fresh from a College Media Convention. I helped administer an awards contest for college journalists. I slept in a room not much larger than a concrete block. I drank enough coffee to reclassify my genetic makeup. I ate enough black and white cookies to reclassify my genetic makeup. And along the way, I learned several practical, personal and spiritual lessons about traveling \u2014\u00a0the kind that only a city like The Big Apple can teach you. <\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0When you\u2019re in a hotel, and you\u2019ve waited A LONG TIME for an elevator, don\u2019t just assume when the doors open you\u2019re on the right floor. Take the time to look at the number BEFORE you hop off screaming, \u201cFINALLY!\u201d Because it may only be the 20th floor \u2026 and you\u2019re on the 43rd! Also, remember that when you\u2019re embarrassed, hot and now really frustrated, you\u2019re likely to repeat it all over again when it stops on the 35th floor. And at that rate, you\u2019ll never get back to your room. <\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0If you repeat the former lesson more than three times, go back to bed!<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0If a friend tells you it will only take 20 minutes and an easy subway transfer to get from Midtown to Brooklyn for dinner, know that your friend is a liar and immediately report him to authorities. He\u2019s also probably running an illegal gambling racket. \u201cOh yeah, it will take no time,\u201d he said. Only the E train wasn\u2019t running, and I had to take the D to the F, which took me to Uptown Mongolia. There I needed a special shuttle to transfer to the next subway \u2026 and nearly stepped in poop! If a friend puts you in a situation where you almost step in Uptown Mongolian dog poop, he\u2019s not a friend.
\n<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0If a former student who works at the Wall Street Journal offers to show you the newsroom and give you a tour, be professional, courteous, quiet and respectful. And even if you love journalism, don\u2019t break down in tears and start screaming, \u201cIt\u2019s just so beautiful!\u201d when she walks you by the wall of Pulitzer Prizes. Yes, it\u2019s the Holy Grail of journalism, but you don\u2019t want to hear: \u201cUh, could someone call security?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2022 If your family goes along with you and they go to see an exhibit of \u201cStar Wars\u201d costumes, characters and weapons while you\u2019re sitting in a cold conference room, don\u2019t break down into tears and start screaming, \u201cIt\u2019s just so beautiful!\u201d when they text you a picture of BB-8. It will also get security called. <\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Most of all, remember this: New York City is wonderful. Traveling is wonderful. But there is no place like home. Even if there aren\u2019t any Pulitzer\u2019s or BB-8s there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have just returned from New York City, fresh from a College Media Convention. I helped administer an awards contest for college journalists. I slept in a room not much larger than a concrete block. I drank enough coffee to reclassify my genetic makeup. I ate enough black and white cookies to reclassify my genetic makeup. And along the way, I learned several practical, personal and spiritual lessons about traveling \u2014\u00a0the kind that only a city like The Big Apple can teach you. \u2022\u00a0When you\u2019re in a hotel, and you\u2019ve waited A LONG TIME for an elevator, don\u2019t just assume when the doors open you\u2019re on the right floor. Take the time to look at the number BEFORE you hop off screaming, \u201cFINALLY!\u201d Because it may only be the 20th floor \u2026 and you\u2019re on the 43rd! Also, remember that when you\u2019re embarrassed, hot and now really frustrated, you\u2019re likely to repeat it all over again when it stops on the 35th floor. And at that rate, you\u2019ll never get back to your room. \u2022\u00a0If you repeat the former lesson more than three times, go back to bed! \u2022\u00a0If a friend tells you it will only take 20 minutes and an easy subway transfer to get from Midtown to Brooklyn for dinner, know that your friend is a liar and immediately report him to authorities. He\u2019s also probably running an illegal gambling racket. \u201cOh yeah, it will take no time,\u201d he said. Only the E train wasn\u2019t running, and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,565],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-nutshells","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1297"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1322,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions\/1322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}