As the minutes turned to hours of waiting in terminal A8 at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental airport, the class slowly came to the realization that we would not be traveling to Shanghai on time. Technical difficulties with Delta airlines de-icing machine delayed our flight for more than 3 hours, meaning our connecting flight from Detroit to Shanghai would certainly be missed. However the time spent in terminal A8 was rather productive. Although at first the class sat in disappointment, we soon started chatting with and really getting to know one another helping to solidify the group dynamic for the trip.
After a few hours of waiting, our Instructor Shelby came to speak to us with good news: we were going to New York City for the night! From what I could tell, everybody was very happy about the outcome. 2 of our classmates had family in NYC and would get to spend the night with them. As for the rest of us, we would get to spend an adventurous yet educational night in the Big Apple. Half of my family is from Buffalo, New York so I had previously been to the state countless times. However I had only been to the city once before when I was 4 0r 5. Needless to say, it was an extremely eye opening experience for me.
As we made our descent to New Yorks JFK airport the scenery out the window was sort of surreal. The Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty were all within my line of sight at once. I had only ever seen these famous monuments and architectural feats in movies and on postcards, so it’s easy to see why I was so taken aback. After a strenuous couple of hours spent waiting at JFK’s baggage claim for our shuttle bus, we made our way to our hotel in Jamaica, New York (about 20 minutes outside of the city).
After settling in the hotel, we hailed a couple of Ubers to take us into the city for the night. We then spent several hours going on a walking tour of the city with Shelby being our guide. We saw the Empire State building up close, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park, Fox News’s headquarters, and most importantly a 4 story Toys R’ Us in the middle of Times Square.
After several hours of walking in the bitter 19-degree weather we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel in several more Ubers. Although the trip to New York was technically just an extended layover, it felt more to me like an unexpected vacation. The density of New York City helped prepare me for what I was about to see in Shanghai.