Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Why New York City frustrates me

I ordered an adorable pair of red heels from Zappos last week. They're to match the champagne dress I will be wearing in roughly a month, as I walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid. My last time until one of my four sisters gets married. If one of my four sisters gets married.

Today, as I walked home from school, I thought about those red shoes, and decided how marvelous it would be if they arrived. Lo and behold, as I started to unlock the front door, I happened to glance down, and spot a piece of paper, lying on the floor. I nearly disregarded it. Brooklyn is not known for its cleanliness. But then, something urged me to look closer. I stooped; I picked it up. In the dim light offered by the street lights, I saw my name in the right hand corner and I could just make out the scribbled "Zappos."

Today was the first attempt of three, and then my shoes would be sent back to the store. I knew I wouldn't around for the second delivery, and chances were also slim for the third. I went to UPS.com and did some research. I spent 20 minutes of research, trying to figure out their site. Then I finally discovered that yes, I can indeed go pick my package up instead of risking the chance of missing the UPS guy again.

Only, I found that the place I need to go is in Canarsie somewhere. Canarsie is not easy to reach by public transportation, I hear. *Lame stereotypical joke that I deleted because it offended my sensibilities* I did a little bit more research through HopStop, and, as the French say, WALA! I CAN take trains to the UPS location.

In summary, see below:

TOTAL TRAVEL
4.78 miles
1 hour 40 mins

Aaaand that is why I am frustrated. I cannot help but compare it to Pennsylvania, where traveling 15 miles is something like 20 minutes or less by car, depending on who is behind the wheel. And how bad tourist traffic happens to be that day. Additionally, you're not sitting next to a complete stranger who coughs into your air space every two minutes.

These shoes better be awesome. I go Friday. Which was also supposed to be my day to drop my dress off to be hemmed, because right now the length makes me look like I'm playing dress up with my mother's clothes. I'll do that next week instead.

2 comments:

senojsitruc said...

I'd walk. The 100 minute time estimate is a best case scenario. I assume you're going to have to transfer several times, and that often takes longer than expected (adding to the 100 minutes). You can walk 5 miles in 2 hours with ease. Further, I'm guessing that the public transportation route is anything but direct - whereas walking would be pretty much a straight line.

I don't have the address of the UPS location in Canarsie, so it's a bit of a rough estimate - but Google Maps says its about a one hour walk.

Also, if there is a UPS Store that is closer to home, you can have UPS send your shoes there, and then you can swing by the store at your convenience to pick them up.

Elizabeth said...

Ah! Good suggestions, thanks! Next time ... our mutual friend very graciously offered to sign for them at her apartment. I'm getting restless to see them now.