Loving every minute in NYC
I am havinc such a great time in New York. I was able to fly in on Saturday since I had to be here for a trade show on Tuesday morning. It was the same price if I left Monday morning, so I thought, "Why waste time when I could stay with Nathan in the West Village?" I'm glad my boss allowed this. And I am not even staying in the hotel room when the show starts on Tuesday ($319 a night at the Westin in Times Square). So I am saving the company money and everyone is happy.
Heck, I didn't even need a cab to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana since I parked at my work garage, which is 1 mile from the airport. I researched and took the shuttle that runs every 30 min from the front of the Marriott, right next to my office garage in Irvine. Door to door from my apt in Newport Beach to the airport it was 30 min. Then from Laguardia I took this express bus that was only $12 to get to Grand Central. From there I took the subway to the West Village.
It got me thinking, it's amazing how wasteful people can be in Corporate America. People opt to stay at big, fancy hotels when there are so many cheaper alternatives that would save corporations a lot of money and keep a higher profit margin. Granted, not everyone has friends who have empty guest rooms that are convenient to the subway, but you can totally stay at a million hotels in much hipper and interesting neighborhoods.
It reminds me of a time when I traveled to NYC for a tradeshow in 2001 when I was a marketing assistant at now defunct NewsEdge in Burlington, MA. I opted to stay in a hotel through some online hotel site right in Washington Square. It was only $152 a night compared to the $279 per night hotel near the site of the trade show in Times Square. I took the subway everywhere (cheaper than taxis). Bottom line: I wasn't wasting company resources. I have been at group dinners with sales executives and they would order $50 and $100 bottles of wine. They would order like 10 appetizers and the $35 steak. They would order like 4-5 alcoholic beverages each! They felt entitled to do this. I'm sitting there thinking, "Wow, we are about to have layoffs, the economy is shit and you're ordering a $35 steak and 5 drinks on company dime???"
Times are tough, but I know how to "make it work" while traveling on business. Imagine if most people took this approach. Imagine if most people weren't trying to take advantage. Companies would save millions of dollars. I could be a personal consultant and help companies strategize in their corporate travel. If a conscious effort was made a real impact could be made at organizations.
I really love NYC and totally would live here if it wasn't so cold in the winter. They should uproot NYC and place it where Los Angeles is and everyone would be happy. Today I went up to 125th Street in Harlem with my friend Jason to see at the Studio Museum. It was several videos by performance artist Kalup Linzy, who dresses in drag and performs several songs and skits. It was pretty funny. He has a lot of stuff on myspace and Youtube. Oh, and this was totally FREE. We then walked down through Central Park and saw some cool waterfalls before getting too tired (we walked 3 miles) and caught a subway back to the West Village around 77th Street.
I went with my friend Anh to Rice to Riches in SoHo and got their Rocky Road flavor. This is one of my favorite dessert places. What a unique concept. You have about 12 different flavors of rice pudding and they put it in a plastic container that is reuseable. I now have two. A small creation is $6 and worth every penny. There's a sign on the wall that says "No Skinny Bitches" so my friend Anh took a photo of me in front of it. I will post once I get that photo after she posts to Facebook.
Heck, I didn't even need a cab to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana since I parked at my work garage, which is 1 mile from the airport. I researched and took the shuttle that runs every 30 min from the front of the Marriott, right next to my office garage in Irvine. Door to door from my apt in Newport Beach to the airport it was 30 min. Then from Laguardia I took this express bus that was only $12 to get to Grand Central. From there I took the subway to the West Village.
It got me thinking, it's amazing how wasteful people can be in Corporate America. People opt to stay at big, fancy hotels when there are so many cheaper alternatives that would save corporations a lot of money and keep a higher profit margin. Granted, not everyone has friends who have empty guest rooms that are convenient to the subway, but you can totally stay at a million hotels in much hipper and interesting neighborhoods.
It reminds me of a time when I traveled to NYC for a tradeshow in 2001 when I was a marketing assistant at now defunct NewsEdge in Burlington, MA. I opted to stay in a hotel through some online hotel site right in Washington Square. It was only $152 a night compared to the $279 per night hotel near the site of the trade show in Times Square. I took the subway everywhere (cheaper than taxis). Bottom line: I wasn't wasting company resources. I have been at group dinners with sales executives and they would order $50 and $100 bottles of wine. They would order like 10 appetizers and the $35 steak. They would order like 4-5 alcoholic beverages each! They felt entitled to do this. I'm sitting there thinking, "Wow, we are about to have layoffs, the economy is shit and you're ordering a $35 steak and 5 drinks on company dime???"
Times are tough, but I know how to "make it work" while traveling on business. Imagine if most people took this approach. Imagine if most people weren't trying to take advantage. Companies would save millions of dollars. I could be a personal consultant and help companies strategize in their corporate travel. If a conscious effort was made a real impact could be made at organizations.
I really love NYC and totally would live here if it wasn't so cold in the winter. They should uproot NYC and place it where Los Angeles is and everyone would be happy. Today I went up to 125th Street in Harlem with my friend Jason to see at the Studio Museum. It was several videos by performance artist Kalup Linzy, who dresses in drag and performs several songs and skits. It was pretty funny. He has a lot of stuff on myspace and Youtube. Oh, and this was totally FREE. We then walked down through Central Park and saw some cool waterfalls before getting too tired (we walked 3 miles) and caught a subway back to the West Village around 77th Street.
I went with my friend Anh to Rice to Riches in SoHo and got their Rocky Road flavor. This is one of my favorite dessert places. What a unique concept. You have about 12 different flavors of rice pudding and they put it in a plastic container that is reuseable. I now have two. A small creation is $6 and worth every penny. There's a sign on the wall that says "No Skinny Bitches" so my friend Anh took a photo of me in front of it. I will post once I get that photo after she posts to Facebook.
Labels: Corporate America, Irvine, Javitz Center, Kalup Linzy, New York City, Rice to Riches, Studio Museum, Times Square, Westin
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