I am an enormous fan of five-time Grammy-winning jazz artist Diana Krall. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, and we grooved along with her smooth contralto and whimsical keyboards on a Saturday night not too long ago in the beautiful Beacon Theatre in New York City.
The trip started and ended a comedy of errors, but, oh, that sweet spot in the middle was worth it.
My Chris is an interesting combination of lavish and frugal. He will spend $500 on a luxury hotel room in Manhattan for a special weekend getaway and then make us drive to New Orleans to save $100 on a flight. Anyway, that’s how the weekend started, and I tried to make it poetic since New Orleans is the first place we ever saw Diana.
Always early to the airport, that man of mine had us through security and seated at our gate a full 90 minutes before the flight, or so he thought. When he approached the podium to speak to the representative, she quickly looked at our boarding passes and pointed out we were not 90 minutes early. It seems we were more than 12 hours early because he had booked tickets for 8 p.m., not 8 a.m. That’s when the fun really began. The concert in NYC started at 8 p.m. Fly me to the moon, indeed. It might have been an easier trip.
Well, he and the loveliest airline representative ever sent me to sit down before I caught onto the problem, and within minutes, we were rebooked to NYC on the next flight. I think everyone at United saw all the color drain from his face and just knew it was going to be bad if they did not take pity. Some things a festive scarf just cannot fix!
The concert was out of this world amazing, as were the $20 cosmopolitans in the London Hotel bar before it started. The view of Central Park from the 39th floor made our New York City fling all the more special, and Diana did not disappoint. After a bit of shopping here and there and a chilly walk through Times Square, on Sunday we were off to the airport again.
This time the airline delayed, then canceled our flight. We stood in many long lines, ending up that night at the Ramada Plaza next to the airport. The next day we flew from New Jersey to Chicago to New Orleans and then drove home, exhausted upon arrival as the mister declared he has learned his lesson about cheap airline tickets. Time will tell.
But what I know for sure is that a quick trip to NYC, even when all does not go as planned, will always be worth it to me. And I’m ready for Diana to “Fly Me to the Moon” again, anytime.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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