My 9th annual New Year, New Place trip is officially a go! 2024 is the year we go to Raleigh, North Carolina!
If you’ve been following along these trips the last 9 years, especially in the beginning, you may know I have a history of bad first days. Or at least day 1s never going as planned.
I’ve been on a good streak the last couple years, but alas, all good things must come to an end.
As luck would have it, our very first snowfall of winter this year in Connecticut happened early this morning. Leaving my house, it didn’t seem too bad. Flakes were falling in cute clumps, and there wasn’t much build up. It did rain last night, however, so it was very slushy.
I got to my gate, and everything was showing still on time. People were boarding at other gates, and planes were seemingly coming and going.
As we were approaching, and passing, our boarding time, whispers around the gate started getting louder and louder.
“It says it’s on time”
“Other people are boarding”
“I think this plane at our gate has people on it already”
“We’re going to be delayed”
“It’s not even snowing anymore”
Sure enough, at the time we should’ve been leaving, an attendant announced we’d have delays because of weather. She said they’d have updates every 15 minutes, which sounded too good to be true, and was.
Finally, a plane arrived, crew got on, and we boarded! Then we taxied for a while… then had to get de-iced… so we may have left later than the time we were supposed to arrive, but better late than never right?
Plus, it is truly a NYNP Day 1 if something didn’t happen? #iykyk
Initially, my flight wasn’t supposed to be until tonight. That flight ended up getting cancelled, and I had to change to an early flight. So unfortunately, I actually ended up working most of today once I landed.
It worked out though, because my youngest sister, Izzy, is here with me too! She works overnights, so while I worked she was able to get some sleep.
Once I was done with work, we started getting ready for our first activity of this trip : House of Art.
Normally, it’s a bar/lounge. But during this time of the year it’s rebranded into St. Nicks – a nontraditional Christmas experience with themed rooms! Think selfie museum meets small lounge? It was fairly busy, but eventually we got to see and take pictures in all of the rooms. They were SO cute! They also have a seasonal drink menu, but we opted for good ‘ole Hot Chocolate 🙂
We hung out for a couple hours before eventually making it back to our hotel. We’ve both had long days and barely any sleep, so we’re hitting the hay early today. (As I’m writing this at 11:30pm)
Come back tomorrow for Day 2, it’ll be more eventful! 😉
TRAUDTSTWOCENTS 