Boston vs. NYC, Summer '08

Not sure why I always think of this annual business trip as a big deal, but it really is. Like last year I was back in Boston for a meeting at the beatiful Seaport World Trade Center. Having done this before I was able to spend more time on planning which lead to much better quality time spend it the city.

Although Boston proper is a mere three and a half to four hour ride from Northern New Jersey, for the second year in a row I decided to take a flight up there. With gas prices so high and rising it wasn't necessarily a bad idea considering Jet Blue was such a reasonable choise. I booked a roundtrip for a mere $149 taxes included and was able to grab first-class like seats sitting in the front of the plane at seat 3A both ways. I love this about Jet Blue, you're the first one off the plane and on your way about your business.

The trip started off real well, we landed five minutes early and my chauffeur was not expecting me to come out so soon, but at least he was there. The policies of Boston Coach are a bit odd, but acceptable. The ride to the Seaport Hotel took no more than ten minutes and after leaving my luggage at the concierge desk I was on my way to the meeting.

After a long but catered event I was ready to crash for the night, and unlike the previous year I picked a very convenient and upscale hotel right next to the Seaport WTC. The Reinassance Waterfront is a newly completed highrise with some magnificent views of the Boston harbor and a modern touch. I was thoroughly impressed with the whole experience starting with checking-in to the room, the amenities in it and even the gym which I used at around midnight... it was simply amazing. I even decided to go for a walk downtown, to check out the Quincy market again and all the pubs that lead to it through the tiny streets. Its great how clean Boston is.


The flight home was again delayed. I attempted to go on stand-by but the door was literally closed in my face and I ended up waiting for my flight which was over an hour delayed once we boarded the aircraft. Luckily I had a buddy I met at the meeting to keep me company so the time went by real quick. I'm really looking forward to next year if I'm lucky enough to do it again.



I'd like to keep my posts limited to a unique experience at a time, but this addition to my Boston trip not even a week after I returned is a must. Thanks to my uncle I was able to go to my first major league baseball game and what better venue than the Bronx Bombers playing the Boston Red Sox at the legendary Yankee Stadium. This is the last year that games are played at the old stadium as the new one is nearly completed so the game was very special.


If you haven't noticed already hardly anything I do goes perfectly as planned and this game was no exception. My sister had to work that day so we left for the Bronx rather late. I was able to cruise through traffic quite easily but parking was another story. Even though we had free parking passes no parking spots were available, all official lots were closed and the unofficial private lots wanted to charge a hefty $30 for valet parking... Yeah right! I ended up dropping my sister and her friends off at the entrance to the stadium and circled around until I found a good spot to leave the Jeep on the Grand Concourse.


It was a little over an hour into the game when I walked into the stadium and found out the Yankees were playing a rather fast pased game. It was already fourth inning and they were winning. The seats we got were excellent. We were in section 19, 77, C 1 through 4... which meants we were a mere four rows up from the field just past first base. We saw all the players real close and were happy to see them win.


Not sure if I'd be making it a habit to go to any more baseball games but for my first one this was a great experience. Perhaps an obvious observation but comparing downtown Boston to downton New York City (we decided to go to Little Italy after the game for some thin crust pizza and canolies) NYC is filthy... soooo sad!


Links:

Jet Blue: www.jetblue.com

BostonCoach: www.bostoncoach.com

Boston Seaport: www.bostonseaport.com

Renaissance Boston Waterfront: Marriott Hotels

New York Yankees: yankees.mlb.com

Boston Red Sox: redsox.mlb.com