What Was I Thinking: Moving to a Winter Wonderland?

I’m in the airport ready to travel back home to Duncan from quite an interesting last few days.  If you have been following the hash on twitter #kj-boston you already know some about the amazing trip getting there, but if not let me just give you a quick recap.  This was simply supposed to be a painless few day trip up to Boston to secure an apartment to live for the move on January 2^nd.

See What Wuz Supposed To Happen…

Originally the plan was to leave midday Saturday and apartment shop Sunday & Monday make a decision and leave on Tuesday.  Simple enough?  Well…  not exactly.

The winter blizzard that I left earlier in the week coming back from CASE V and that had blessing me with the opportunity to spend a restless night in the Charlotte airport was slowly heading east.  Round two was pretty much inevitable all week for my arrival in Boston that weekend.  Sure enough the front edge of the storm bombarded New England Friday night and pressed on through Saturday into Sunday.  What was supposed to be a quick stop in Atlanta for a plane ride up to Boston was nothing but quick or simple.

What Actually Happened…

The flight out of Greenville/Spartanburg was canceled because the plane was stuck in New York in a blizzard.  Instead I was on my way to Cincinnati!  Upon arriving mid afternoon I find out that flights to Boston have been canceled and I’m in a hotel room before 5PM to wait out the night.  A few enjoyable brews, wings, and a shot of Crown Royal at Hooters later and I’m ready to crash early for a 4:30 wake up call.

The wake up call arrives.  Quick shower, put on clothes from yesterday with the boxers turned inside out and I’m ready to go!  Stupid Kyle should have got on the internet and realized that the 7:20 flight I was hoping to take was canceled.  That bed would have been wonderful for a few more hours.  I’m rescheduled for a 1PM flight.  Two hours into a mostly uncomfortable nap in a chair and I get a call saying the 1PM flight was canceled.  It’s time for some more assistance.

I talk to an agent who informs me that a 10:45 flight is bound for Boston and I’m on the waiting list, HOORAY!  Wait a minute…  10:45 is before 1PM…  why wasn’t I asked about this option earlier this morning?  There is no sense in worrying and I’m too tired to care.  I make the flight.  Wait… are we about to fly into a blizzard?  Um…

And Then Everything Went White

If you have ever flown you know the feeling when a plane flies above the clouds and it’s a perfect sunny day with little to no clouds in the sky, because at this point they form the ground.  It’s such an amazing experience.  So imagine that then about five minutes of grey (flying through the clouds) then what looks like a dead city covered in ash that has no sun.  Me being the individual I am that #ihatesnow it was a winter frozen dead zone.  Wait… we are going to land in this?  Nuh-uh…

Rollercoaster’s are awesome, but landing a plane on what you assume is a runway, but looks just as white as anything out there tops it every time!  You really have no idea what is going to happen or if this big old machine can actually stop on ice or will just keep sliding.

It stopped safely and everyone on the plane burst out in applause.  It was amazing.  On the way off the plane I told the pilot he was the man and gave him a high five.    I really couldn’t make this stuff up.

Sunday was pretty much busted with the blizzard so the apartment hunting was out.  I made my way to my friend and former student workers apartment in Somerville to wait it out the night.  There was no way I was even touching public transit.  Cha-ching on a $50 cab ride that was worth every cent.

What the hell am I thinking?  I hate the snow, I hate the cold and I’m moving to a place that get’s blizzards like this!  “It is what it is” right?

Apartment Hunting.

Ok so there really isn’t too much excitement to talk about in apartment hunting.  Had a couple realtors take me to some apartments and at the end settling on the smallest, most expensive one I could find.  I know sounds like I’m an idiot doesn’t it?  I’m not going to get all into details on The Watermark, you can visit their site and see for yourself if you really care, but it’s pimp and even better it’s literally the building next door to work.  Yes that is my new kitchen in the thumbnail.  For a southern guy who doesn’t see as much snow as I saw in this trip in a decade it was quite an eye opener that I needed to pay a little more to make sure that I’m comfortable and can survive my first winter.  Looks like I’ll definitely be selling my car to help pay the rent…

More to Come

So that’s it.  I took Bus 88 to Red Line to Silver Line to the airport to test out this public transits, also $4 is MUCH cheaper than $50 for a cab.  Now time to get back home and begin the real challenge of packing for the move.  Just if you’re interested here are the upcoming dates.

• December 25 – Well that’s Christmas DUH!
• December 27-28 – The last weekend before the big move and most likely lots of visits to Goodwill and back.
• January 2 – Moving truck loads everything and whisks my belongings away.
• January 3 – Heather, Skip and I get up early for some vacation and a drive up to Boston spending the night in D.C.
• January 4 – Driving up to New York and staying with my friend Rachel Reuben whom if you haven’t heard rocks.
• January 5 – Arriving in Boston by mid afternoon.
• January 6-13 – Moving truck arrives hauling all my stuff.

Skip I’m coming home buddy.  I’ll see you soon, I hope my mother hasn’t driven you completely crazy with all her crazy shananagins.