Day 1

What an incredible day! Yesterday November 26th I submitted my availability to the Red Cross. The chapter supervisor told me that I would be on my way to New York in 24 hours and it was true. I caught a flight out of Salt Lake on the 27th at 1:30pm. I had a 2 hour layover in Pheonix where I met Tina, another Red Cross volunteer. This is her second deployment since hurricane Sandy hit the East coast. The first time she drove the Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) across country, which took 5 days. She is pretty peppy and super nice. She gave me some tips of what to do and where to go and I am even more excited to be deployed than I was before I left.

We departed from Pheonix at 4:15 and headed out to the JFK airport in New York City. I sat next to Madalyn an older lady who is a lawyer with one home in the big city and one in Pheonix. As I was explaining to her that with national deployment we are given a phone number to call to set up our flights and another phone number to call when we get to our destination she began to be a little worried. She couldn't believe that I didn't know where I was going to be located, let alone where I was going to sleep that night. She fidgeted in her seat for a few minutes and then handed me her business card and told me to call WHEN nobody came to get me. She was really concerned. I thought it was funny.

I arrived at the JFK airport at 10:45 pm and met up with Tina again as well as a guy named Cecil. We called the phone number and found out which hotel we were staying at for the night and how to get there. We picked up our luggage and then went out to the street to catch a cab. Yes. I caught a cab. It was awesome. Super expensive though. We each dished out $20 just to get to our hotel. The ride was awesome though! We drove past Bloomingdales and I caught a glimpse of time square. Cecil and I are staying at the Park Central Hotel for the night. I have my own room on the 21st floor. Pretty Awesome!!!

Tomorrow I report to the Manhatten Red Cross chapter at 8:30am to receive my assignment!

I will keep you all updated!

Peace out from New York City!