New York City trip - the 3 fails (with bonus diagram!)
My trip to New York City three weeks ago could have gone better. Actually, that's an understatement (we half-jokingly call it "failtrip"). I'm all about "going with the flow" and "winging it", but a lack of planning came around to bite us this time. In fact, we ended up leaving a day early.
Specifically, there were 3 main fails:
- We drove through the night to get there (a 12 hour trip from Indianapolis) so we were exhausted from the start. It's hard to enjoy a new city when all you really want to do is take a nap.
- We didn't plan where to park. The original idea was to park in a lot in New Jersey and take the train into the city. That failed so we ended up roaming the streets of Brooklyn (tired and hungry) looking for a parking space. Driving around the city was risky and sure enough, my car was hit.
- We didn't plan where to stay. We roamed Manhattan for hours (literally, from 8am until 5pm) trying to find a place. No hostels on long island had available beds, and we finally secured a place in Brooklyn seconds before my iPhone battery died. We calculated that we walked close to 10 miles (carrying our bags) that first day. After driving all night.
The diagram below (yep, I'm a nerd) shows how my car was hit in Brooklyn as I was pulling out of a parking space. I'm using it to help explain the scene to the insurance companies.
This guy backs across the center line and into my car... clearly his fault, right? Well, I haven't had much luck with insurance companies in the past. In high school I was clearly the victim of an accident but the judge ruled in favor of the guy I hit - a volunteer fireman on his way to the station. Pro tip: if you're a high school male DO NOT let a volunteer fireman hit you. It magically becomes your fault.
I'm planning on posting the best photos from NYC soon, so subscribe if you want to make sure you see those pics.
