I Got The Power

Oh, where to begin with Day Five of BT11? I honestly am trying to forget parts of this day. Day Five's posting is brought to you by the letter "I" once again...this time, for incompetence.

When last we spoke with our Boston vacationers (i.e., myself and my gentleman friend), the hurricane had knocked out the power in the morning, and left it out all day. Well, that lovely little situation continued into the next morning...still no power. If the sun wasn't shining, we would have had no idea it was morning.

We decided to get out of dodge and hit downtown Boston for the day. Here's what I discovered on this, our last day in the lovely state of MA (I actually can't spell the state's name off the top of my head, and I can't be bothered to look it up. Deal with it.).

1. Boston traffic is terrifying.
   I know I touched on this previously, but for the love of everything that is holy, WHY do you people need to drive that fast and that close? Is the world going to end if you get there ten seconds later? Seriously??? I was never so happy to see the inside of a parking garage in all my life. I didn't even care that it was three levels underground, 800 degrees, and smelled like pee. It's all about perspective, kids.
2. Living out a childhood dream is awesome.
   As a wee lass, I was a devoted fan of the TV show Cheers. Like, borderline obsessed fan. Watched all the new episodes, taped all reruns at any time of day, and proceeded to watch those tapes over and over again. So, for me to actually stand outside the entrance to the iconic bar in Boston, was beyond exciting. You couldn't have slapped the smile off my face (although I'm sure the people working there wanted to). We went into the gift shop and picked up some stuff, and then I walked down those classic stairs and entered the bar. The actual pub isn't set up the same as the show, which I knew, so we were pretty quick in and out of there. My last requirement was a photo of Tecumseh by the door (a version of the statue from the show). The waiter dude was impressed that I knew his name. I advised him that I am no ordinary gal and am, in fact, a giant fan.
3. People in Boston are really very friendly.
   Not when they're driving, of course. But once they are outside of a vehicle and walking around, they are very helpful to two lost souls holding a map and looking confused. After experiencing several bad incidents on my other travels with rude, deceptive, thieving people, this was a welcome and refreshing change.
4. I'm pretty sure I have some kind of shellfish allergy.
   I couldn't leave New England without having chowdah. It seemed almost sacrilegious. So on our last night, I went for a yummy seafood chowder appetizer. It was thick, rich, creamy, and tasty...and a bad decision for so many reasons. I've decided that I can no longer assume that it's food poisoning when I eat chowder. I'm kind of a slow learner sometimes, but in my defense, I was able to eat seafood chowder all the time a few years ago and it never bothered me. That's the only shellfish thing I actually eat (by choice), so it's not a huge loss, but it still sucks finding out the hard way.
5. Different hotels have different definitions of "customer service".
   This was another part of the day we wanted to forget. When we returned to the hotel in the afternoon, our key cards wouldn't let us in. We went to the main lobby to find out what was happening. We were advised by the idiots at the front desk that they had to shut off the security system once they evacuated the hotel. That's right, evacuated the hotel...and didn't tell us. Seems like their corporate office made them evacuate after the power didn't come back on, yet they didn't let us know (even though they had our contact info). Then, they gave us a list of numbers for us to call to make other arrangements...all at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Turns out, the list, which was for other locations in their chain, wasn't accurate, as the "available" rooms were all taken. Nice. So we had to go with an entirely different hotel who actually treated us really well and were very accommodating. And as a bonus, our new hotel was also the temporary residence of the New England Patriots, since their stadium and regular hotel were victims of the power outage as well. Man, they are big boys!

But even the crappy hotel situation couldn't put a true damper on what was an awesome trip. Incredible sights, amazing experiences, and fantastic company...what more could you ask for?