Published: November 07, 2009 10:12 pm      

It’s a ‘Jolly Holiday With Mary’

I was sitting blurry-eyed at the computer trying to book airline tickets to New York City when Mary Poppins popped into my mind. I wished I could find a flying umbrella like hers on eBay. It would make traveling so much easier. But, those are only available in Disney movies. So, I made reservations for fall break the new-fashioned way — online.

New York wasn’t my idea. I’ve been there before. But 11-year-old Ruby cashed in last year’s Christmas present — a trip without siblings — and her preferred destination was NYC. I was her designated traveling companion and MasterCard payer. We packed and bid a tearful good-bye to the family. It wasn’t the kids crying; that was Mason, who was outnumbered by the three left behind. Oh well, he’s a big boy; he can dial 9-1-1.

We boarded three planes, spending more time in airports than in the air. There are more direct ways to get to New York, but we met up with friends in New Haven, Conn., which added an extra stop. My friend, Tong, is doing post-doctoral studies at Yale this year and it’s much cheaper to rendezvous in the states than her home in China. Ruby and Tong’s 13-year-old daughter, Suge, have been pals since pre-school, although Suge spoke only Chinese back then. Our first night, we strolled through Yale, soaking up the atmosphere of the historic Ivy League campus.

The next day we took the train to New York City — just 90 miles away. We wandered around, enjoying whatever we encountered. This is the way to travel — without scheduling every waking moment. The weather was absolutely gorgeous — sunny and pleasantly cool. And there was no whining or complaining like when we travel with the entire family, given their diverse interests and attention spans.

During those vacations, we search for an event offering something SpongeBob-related for Ingrid, soccer-related for Marlowe, cell-phone-related for Ruby, music-related for Mitchell and Latin-related for Mason, plus some near cousin of Tylenol for me. That package deal is hard to find — even in New York — even for a magical British nanny like Mary Poppins.

Food, on the other hand, is plentiful in New York, but expensive. I figured we’d feast on bagels all weekend. Instead, Tong and Suge had us sipping seaweed soup, slurping slippery noodles and devouring delicious dumplings at some modestly priced restaurants.

Back on the tourist trail, we watched graceful ice skaters glide around Rockefeller Center’s rink, lit prayer candles at majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral and lucked upon a street fair that provided affordable gifts. We strolled through the cheerful chocolate center of the city — where M&M’s, Reese’s and Hershey’s cover an entire block. We admired creations at Toys R Us: the giant operating Ferris wheel inside the humongous store, plus impressive displays of famous sites constructed from Leggo blocks, including the Statue of Liberty and King Kong scaling the Empire State Building.

It was about 4 p.m. now and we shopped around for discount tickets of a Broadway show. I’d tried to book something online earlier, but couldn’t justify even the lowest rate of $125 per person. The ticket queue at Times Square snaked for miles. We’d have spent our entire vacation standing in that line. Forget that.

We ducked into an information center across the street to get a better map. There, tucked into a corner, was a Broadway ticket counter — with only three people waiting to be helped. Minutes later we had four tickets to (can you believe this) “Mary Poppins,” at just $60 apiece. That’s on par with a touring Broadway production in Kentucky. The seats were fine, the leg room not so much — even for height-challenged folks. But the performance was outstanding: Mary flying across stage holding that amazing umbrella; Bert, the chimney sweep, tap dancing upside-down, incredible sets and a live orchestra. We left humming “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Afterward, we needed a lift to our New Jersey hotel (close and considerably cheaper than the New York rate). Ruby and I kept a lookout for the Cash Cab. That’s a television game show where you can earn money, plus a free ride, if you answer the cab driver’s questions. But it wasn’t cruising our neighborhood. No problem. We walked the few blocks to the bus station.

We saw more sights the next day — Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty (the real one this time) and Chinatown. Then trains, planes and automobiles brought us back home. Not as convenient as an enchanted umbrella, but it was still a “Jolly Holiday With Mary.”