Thursday, September 13, 2007

I'm not an extrovert. Ever.

But I'm even less of one when in a strange city.

Two weeks ago today, I was in New York City with my 8-year-old daughter. We were on our way to Kenya to visit my parents and had a 12-hour layover. She wanted to see the Museum of Natural History. So off we went in a taxi.

The museum was great (except for our heavy carry-on baggage we had with us--I didn't see the bag check on the ground floor of the museum until we were leaving.) We even stepped across the street so we could say we had been in Central Park. I even took pictures, something I generally leave to my husband. (As I've discovered, though, taking the pictures means I don't have to be in the pictures.)

Then we took a taxi back to JFK airport. By this time, the allergies I'd left home with were in full swing, my shoulders were aching from carrying my bag around, and we still had two 8-hours flights in front of us before we made it to Nairobi. Long story short, I fell asleep in the back of the taxi.

The good news is that I woke up on my own shortly before reaching JFK. I mean, I can't think of too many things more humiliating than drooling all over a cab driver who's trying to wake me up. So I woke up, pulled myself together, and that's when I discovered that my cab driver liked to talk. Poor man, he'd been stuck with me and a child for the last hour. I'm sure there were many things he would have liked to say, but he had to confine himself to the essentials as we drove into the airport.

"Do you kmow the worst part of driving a cab in New York?"

"What?" (I'm not only introverted, I'm not terribly original in conversation.)

"No public bathrooms."

So there you have it. If you're like me, you're now pondering just what might be under the drivers' seats in those yellow cabs.

3 comments:

Katydid said...

Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. Glad to know you're great. I really want to write about the books I read someday. You are my hero! (since you read some of my suggestions)

Anonymous said...

You've ruined me for taxi rides. From now on, every time the driver looks uncomfortable, I'll panic and switch cabs.

Glad you have a good trip!

Becca Fitzpatrick said...

ewwwww! That goes on my list of things I'd rather not think about! Welcome home, btw.