A Trip to Hell and Back

A Trip to Hell and Back

Wtrg 3020Trevor Laehy

7/19/20

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, I love everything about it, but mostly the excitement of being able to go somewhere and experience something new. I try to travel a lot and find sneaky ways to do it cheap. One way I do this is by buying a multi-city ticket instead of a round trip. This allows me to go to places like Vegas or New York City on a ticket that takes me to California for $50-$100 more. Not that bad of a deal. I am going to tell a story of the trip that when it started seemed as though it came from hell, and eventually ended up being one of the best experiences ofin my life.

It was winter break, and I decided to fly back to California.,and However,of course I wanted to do something else, so I got a ticket to New York City for New Years[CW1]. New York City was hit with a huge snowstorm. I was in California with my parents and they kept saying “are you sure your flight leaves at 11:00am?”But my pride dictates thatand I think I am always right, soIand keep on responding, “YES!”, to the point I am getting annoyed. Yet, Well the joke was on me. I got to the airport and my flight was at 8:00am getting into Denver at 11:00am. “I told you so”, was the first thing of my parents’ tongues but that last thing I wanted to herehear. As I am inI the airport, I scramble to find an attendant so that I could mendfix this problem, as my belief is that there is always a solution if you work at it enough. I found out from the airline CSA (customer service agent)customer service agent (CSA) that the only way I could get to New York now would be to pay another $50 and fly standby on two different flights. Generally, this wouldn’t be an issue but since everyone that got stuck in-and-out of New York which made trying to get flights pretty much impossible to get on[MB2]. [CW3]Luckily, the first stop was in Denver. so I decided to take my chances and at least make it to Denver to my first destination so I didn’t have to buy a whole ticket again.

I get on my flight to Denver with out any problems, and happened to sit next to someone that I knew from school. We chatted the whole time and it was a pretty good flight. I got to Denver and had to make up my mind, do I go back to Boulder and have Nnew Yyears theretheirorOR do I take my chances and go to NYC and see some concerts and potentially stay in really nice hotels?. After my two hours of time to think, “I say fuck it I’m doing it.” I figure I already had the ticket, what was the worst that could happen.? I am sitting waiting for my flight and feel like I am gambling with this one. You sit there and watch a little TV screen with your name and a number that bounces, your fate of flying up and down[MB4]. [CW5]I watch my name go from number 17 to number 4 in a matter of 20 minutes as the plane is boarding. I got really excited. It felt like winning a bet.The prize? A tripthat I gotto go to New York. My elation was heightened by the fact thatEspecially since so many others needed to get on the flight as well. I start to walk on to the plane and realize, “SHIT!” I don’t have my carry on bag with all my clothes. I grab an attendant immediately and ask, “can you help me?!” He gives me a card with all the information for luggage retrieval. I start to panic a little because I either have to get off the plane to look for my bag or just got to New York on my standby. I say, “screw it I might not get on another flight” and I went.

I got to New York and had one of my friends from my old school pick me up at 11:00 PM.Sand since I had a concert ticket I decided I’d just go with my laptop since it was my only bag. I was supposed to meet three of my friends in the city before the show but my phone died and I couldn’t get a hold of them. In a last ditch move I ran to Penn Station and search for a plug outlet, I find one … , next to a bum[CW6]. I plug it in ignoring what this guy thinks. [CW7]I finally get enough energy to find my friends and this placethe concert location. The concert was really fun, the only thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that I came to New York without really anywhere to sleep. I got an invitation to go to Long Island and sleep at a friends place. Some how this is starting to work out, minus the fact I have no clothing or a place to sleep, I am basically a homeless person in NYC[CW8]. We all wake up the next morning and I start to think how the fuck am I going to deal with this I am here for a week and a half. I didn’t want to tell my parents since I would not hear the end of it. But in the mean time I get a call from my friend ,Brett, from USC[CW9] that I met at a concert and he tells me he is in New York since his flight to Israel got cancelled due to bad weather. So, his parents got him a suite at the Westin in Times Square, and if I want I can crash on the floor[MB10]. I was so “stoked[MB11]” for this as is saved me. I got there andit [CW12]is really nice[MB13], but the best part of this hotel is that you get police access cards for Times Square. During New Years the police shut down half the city especially times square, unless you buy tickets that are really expensive. I had a pass to get through all the police lines, opening NYC to me fully. I finally got the nerve to tell my parents what happened; luckily they sent me to Macy’s for theirre annual sale and I got a new bag and a new wardrobe.

On New Yyears, I am frantically looking for something to do:, do I buy tickets to a concert and spend a lot of money? Or just figure out New Years without any plans? I decided to buy tickets to a show called the Bloody Beet Roots that started at 5:00am thinking, well“if I have a shit night I’ll be able to have fun there at the end.”My friend, Brett, who I met up with at the Westin decide to do the same, but before that we find out that some of our mutual friends are having a penthouse party, mid town, sort of by Ttimes Ssquare so we make our way from apartment to apartment.,Oon the way, we met two Swedish guys and a guy from Paris. I invite them of course because who doesn’t love a foreigner at theretheir party, this is a lot more exotic. [CW14]I shortly find out at the penthouse, the new foreign kids I met, “dream to see the ball drop.” I say to them, “well we have to go now!” We sprint from the penthouse to the center of the city as I am dragging them behind me through the police lines, people got pissed because we could. [CW15]We get there and try to see the ball from my room; it was not a very good view though. So I decide to try something else, and I take them down to the street and walk out on a blocked street. I figured that the cops wouldn’t stop us with seconds remaining. I was right, we all look around and it was just the four of us with the cops in this street with thousands of people surrounding us. I felt like I did something good but more importantly I was in awe that my trip was turning out the way it was.
After the ball dropped I decided to go to the show at 5:00 am, I was exhausted but decided to go anyway, I was completely alone and had no idea where I was going. [CW16]But I am usually good at figuring this kind of thing out. I get to the show no idea what is happening and fairly (major-ly) intoxicated. It turns out two of the kids in front of me in line go to CU and are friends with Brett who was supposed to meet me there, but I lost him a long time ago. I ended up partying with them for a while until I decided to leave; this is when it gets a little better. I can’t get home because I have no idea where I am and its 7:00 am. Eventually, a bizarre interaction between and homeless guy and myself, leads me to meet a guy from Guatemala[CW17]. I don’t remember the man’s name but he was very interesting, from what I remember he had an interesting view on life. The main reason he is important is because I ask him how the hell I get home. Instead of telling me because at this point my comprehension skills were lacking severely. [CW18]The man showed me the whole way back, and even took me to some no name Hispanic breakfast burrito place on the way,.That was delicious It was Amazing After. After all of my excitement, life, sort of died down and I got back to the hotel where I was greeted with “What the fuck, happened to you last night?” All I could respond with is a laugh, and saying, “I don’t even know”.

I feel that despite all my tramatictraumatic experiences I learned a lot of good lessons, and met a lot of cool people along the way. Perhaps my attitude of not really caring got me into the bad situations. That attitude also got me out of those situations, and created wonderful experiences, and new contacts. I do not regret any of my previous situations because it created a great story for years to come, and new experiences to help me make better decisions down the road of life.

Trevor, I think you have a funny story in the works. You know what sort of situations are going to get a laugh, and you place them well throughout your paper. I think you have some moments that you could expand upon more to make them funnier, and I marked them in your paper (just read the comments above). You need to be careful with your grammar (a lot of “their” instead of “there”). I am also confused by your tense choice … I like that you write as if you are telling the story directly to a friend. However, the way you write in this can sometimes get confusing … and leads to fragments and run-ons. So I would be careful with that style of writing --- I marked where there are runons and frags … so you can go back and fix those if you want. Overall, good job! I think you will definitely have a great piece when you are done with a little revising.

[CW1]Add something like: “But it was just my luck that …”

[MB2]Please clarify this sentence

[CW3]I think part of your sentence is missing … this is a fragment and doesn’t make much sense to me.

[MB4]I know the feeling! It sucks

[CW5]I am confused … this sentence is vague.

[CW6]Haha! I like the set up of this … your situation keeps getting worse! Sad … but also hilarious!

[CW7]Maybe say, “despite the shifty eyes of the homeless man next to me…”

[CW8]Maybe add in a line like, “Maybe I should have just gone back to sleep in Penn Station, that homeless guy probably would have shared.” The juxtaposition between you and the homeless man could be a funny line.

[CW9]Not everyone would know what this is … spell it out instead of using acronyms.

[MB10]Run on sentence

[MB11]Try to not use slang in this essay, especially without quotes.

[CW12]Avoiding saying just, “it.” Use descriptive words to enhance your writing.

[MB13]Look at the tense of the sentence more closely in all of your sentences. This is a big grammatical issue throughout your paper.

[CW14]True, who doesn’t? haha!

[CW15]You could what?

[CW16]Run on sentence … too many ideas and parts … break it up.

[CW17]What is this bizarre interaction? You’re leaving us hanging!

[CW18]Fragment.