On this day in 1984

It was the fourth day of my vacation; on the 29th of June I had flown to Chicago to stay with my pen pal Di(e) and her husband Ray. Last night I had lost a contact lens (hard one; I had no spares in those days!) and today I was flying to New York, my first ever visit there. I was going to stay with another pen pal, William Tirabasso, in the East Village. Anyway, although I had had a good time with Di and Ray the previous three days, this day was a bit Planes, Trains and Automobiles... (Note to Di: I blame the cab driver, not you! xo)

2 July 1984

Die and Ray spent nearly an hour looking for the lens with me, with no luck.

We took the bus downtown. It was an ultra bitch carrying that case to the bus stop. At least downtown Ray carried it for a few blocks. [I've never been able to pack light but also we had gone thrift shopping and to Wax Trax...]

Went up to Die's office and left my bags. Then I went out shopping. Got some sox and Frango Mints at Marshall Field's. Went back to Die's office and out to lunch with her for quiche, and she took some photos of me.

I went to a few more places including Woolworth's for a luggage cart!

Went back to Die's office one last time. She suggested I get a taxi to a train station. I did, but I should have just gotten the airport bus; it was $7 or something, but I could have walked there easily with the cart and there would have been no transferring.

Die had drawn me a map which the taxi driver did not understand. He said there was no such station. He took me around in a big circle and it cost $2.00! [I drew a diagram of the taxi's path in the margin of my journal. And hey, two bucks was a lot of money back then!] I wasn't anywhere near the cross streets Die had told me to go to. (The taxi driver had insisted there was nothing there!)

I asked a cop and first he started saying I was blocks away, but then when I said I was going to O'Hare, he said I could get a train at the subway station right there.

The cart did not go up and down stairs [as the packaging had claimed] nor did it stay on the suitcase when you picked it up! [Ditto.] I should sue!!!

That was not the right station. I had to go up and down more stairs to an adjoining station which turned out to be closed.

Went back up some more stairs - by now I was going crazy... I somehow found the right station which was another full block away - and the taxi had driven right past there!!!

But even when I got on the train I was not positive it was the right one! I couldn't even sit at first; it was so crowded. When I did find a seat this nice old lady talked to me. She thought I was going to New York because I was a dancer!!

More stairs at the station where I had to get that bus (no one collected tickets or transfers!) and got to the airport just in the nick of time... to learn that.... MY FLIGHT HAD BEEN CANCELLED!!!!!!!!

I got on the next flight an hour later and in the meantime tried phoning both Ma and William [Tirabasso, my pen pal in New York City with whom I was staying] - no answer at either number. [Not many people had answerphones yet.]

Got off the plane and no William.... Went to find a phone. Spoke to his roommate. He said William had phoned and said my flight had been cancelled and he'd wait around for half an hour or so. Well, the flight I'd been on was also late, so now it was an hour and a half later.

His roommate started telling me how to take the subway - no way! [This was when the New York subway at night was a notoriously dangerous thing to an Angeleno; I did not know that there was an express line from the airport...] And there was no way I could have found my way to William's apartment had I been so daring! (I could have taken the airport bus and then a cab...) I said I'd go look by the luggage and call back in a while when I knew what I was gonna do. At the time, a nice clean motel room with a bathtub sounded so inviting!!! I didn't even care how much it cost!! I felt so grungy and exhausted.

But before I could do anything there was William down by the luggage claim. I was so relieved...

We took a bus to the subway. The subway was not fun, especially changing trains. Everything stunk of piss! But we survived.

Carrying the suitcase up six flights of stairs was another matter... after passing the junkies in the doorway...

William had to go off and edit. [He was a film student at NYU.] I was too exhausted to go along. So I watched TV, had a shower and slept. (Or tried to.... It was soooooo hot and I kept thinking about the cockroaches I'd seen in the bathroom ...)