NYC (Fall 2010): Day 1, The Waldorf = Astoria

After leaving Toronto at 8:30am, driving through rush hour traffic, getting to the US border at 11:30am, grabbing two cartons of cigarettes at Duty Free, getting to the Buffalo airport at 12:30pm, and parking our car at the long-term parking lot, my mom and I barely made it for our flight to New York City. And that was only because our flight was delayed by 45 minutes. Yeah, it was a hectic morning, to say the least.

But we finally made it to New York, and checked in at The Waldorf = Astoria Hotel at 2:30pm, where we are to stay for the next three nights. The sole purpose of this trip was to visit my brother, to have a family reunion (the first time our whole family has been together as a unit since my brother's graduation from Cornell in 2007), so he booked a room at a hotel that is a) luxe, b) close to his office building, and c) free of bed bugs (!).

And, yeah. It's a pretty damn nice hotel.

And that's just the entrance. Like, not even the lobby. (I was pretty impressed. Also because there is a Starbucks the moment you enter the building, and let's face it, close proximity to coffee is pretty damn important. To be fair, there's a Starbucks on every block in New York... but now I don't even have to go outside to get to one!)

For me, the most important thing about a hotel is the quality of the bathrooms. So, yeah. I think it's going to be a good three nights.