The streets of Philadelphia

The firm booked me a return flight to Philadelphia for the Assurance START training which was held at The Westin Philadelphia. What I failed to realise was....New York is so close to Philadelphia, it takes a lot longer to fly there than to take a train instead. But since I don't have my corporate AMEX yet, I just left the booking as is. It took me about 4.5 hours door to door....with total flight time of 27 min! Grrr...spent a while queuing up to get my boarding pass, paid $15 to check 1 bag in, queued to go through security...then waited to board the plane. Had to go onto the tarmac cos the plane was so small. It was FREEZING! Anyway...after taxiing on the runway for about half an hour...the plane finally took off. After arriving in Philly, had troubles locating the taxi stand (despite following the signs). And no one seemed to know where it was.....Fortunately I bumped into another lady who was from PwC (it was the laptop bag...and her looking as lost as I was). We finally found the taxi stand (with the help of some airport staff member) and continued to The Westin.

Turns out she's from the NY office too! And we ended up being on the same table during training (coincidence!) Ms. Luxembourg (as Albie, the South African, called her throughout the week) is really sweet and has promised to recommend some good places to go to in NY. :D

I was supposed to call Aman to arrange to meet up on Sunday night (since his apartment was a couple of blocks away) but my retarded Virgin mobile doesn't let me dial international numbers...so I resorted to using the hotel phone. At the end of the week, I found out that the 30 second phone call cost me US$32!!!!!!! Grrrr...that's AU$50. VERY expensive phone call indeed.

Can't wait for my Blackberry STORM to arrive.

Anyway, training week was immensely fun! Met loads of nice and entertaining people...from various offices around the US, as well as secondees from around the world (South Africa, Africa, Ireland, Luxembourg, etc). We went out for dinner every night and had drinks after as well...I mean...we did have an allowance of US$35 per night for dinner. So might as well use it :)

Continental Midtown had yummy cocktails and swinging chairs (for tables of 2 only...unfortunately)...Drinkers' Bar had nice friendly bartenders...the Indian restaurant near 2nd Street was awesome...Ruby Tuesdays was pretty mediocre...Heat was good fun (the college crowd helped I guess..but not good when SA's bag got stolen :(....)...

Woke up EXTREMELY late on Wednesday though...cos we had been out for drinks and I forgot to set my alarm. Truth be told, wasn't feeling so good after the multiple shots/hard liquor...and then finishing off with a beer drinking game. The beer did me in. Got back around 1ish and slept through til 9.30 am!!!!! Good thing was I had no hangover, slept more than I had in weeks...but was sooooo late. Worse of all...Albie was also late! He sits next to me and this S. African dude just didn't know how to make a quiet entrance. He walked straight into the room and apologised to the instructors and the class (everyone told me it was hilarious). And after that, the instructors also noted that I was still MIA. And didn't seem to believe Albie when he had no clue where I was (ahem. Like no, I was not in his room). That aside, I woke up at 9.30am, contemplated for 5 seconds whether I should wash my hair...and thought...what the heck, I'm late...no point being late AND looking like I just rolled out of the rubbish dump. But hey hey...only took me half an hour! I am impressed.

And I also managed to make a quiet entrance...thanks to Aman who decided to ring me after noticing that I was MIA. Good thing everyone was sort of preparing for the case study and some were making tea etc...so not everyone noticed me come in. Haha...Albie couldn't believe how no one noticed.

But anyway, I was better prepared on Thursday night (before we went out to the club)...I set my alarm, packed most of my stuff so I could check out on Friday morning...and then went out! We were out til about 3 am (the club closed at 2 am...so we technically got kicked out at closing time)....and I did wake up late (8am....and we start at 8.30am). But I think I am getting the hang of this....I showered, dried my hair AND packed...in half an hour! Turns out there were quite a few others who turned up later than I did...and quite a few struggled through the morning. Haha...

We went back to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch - not cos of the food quality, but because it was right next to The Westin - and bid one another farewell as they left to catch their respective flights.

I was a no-show for my 4pm flight, since it would cost US$150 to change my ticket...and the train ticket to NY was only $45. So yeah, went back to Aman's and just chilled for a bit. Truth be told, we were all tired from the week (as well as the previous night's activities)...

Met Brian (who was in Sydney last year) on Saturday night and we went to a few pubs...The Standard Tap...the a diner club "Silk City" (awesome music!!)...then The Black Sheep....and finally Brian's place. It was getting late and Brian/Sarah both looked tired...so we bid them goodnight and walked back a few blocks to Aman's. Stopped in the park across his apartment and took some photos cos we would look stupid taking those shots with other people watching us. Haha...I'll post them on facebook soon.

All in all...I have yet to try the famous Philly Cheese Steak...and didn't get to watch the Eagles play the Ravens (I think? It was the Philly vs. Baltimore game)....but the Eagles are no longer in the running so I guess not. Should be heading back for St Pat's day for the pub crawl (since Brian is Irish....thought it would be good)...but I am thinking Aman should come down cos this is costing me a fair bit too...

Ok...need to be up early again...can't afford to miss the train cos it takes so frickin long to get to Purchase, NY. G'nite now!