13 Dec Our Last Minute Trip to New York

Have you ever had an opportunity that you just couldn’t turn down?

When one side of your brain is shouting every reason for why you shouldn’t do something, but the other side of your brain whispers, “Go.”, which side is louder? More clear?

The two of us were faced with such a decision last week. It was Tuesday, and the day was completely normal – until I got a direct message from Tim Ferriss on Facebook.

I love reading. I’ve devoured hundreds (yes, hundreds) of books about self-improvement, finding your purpose, business practices, effective marketing, you name it. But, Tim Ferriss’s books have always had a special place in my heart.

Back at my last finance job, I would sneak a few paragraphs here and there of “The Four Hour Work Week” from my Kindle at my desk. It was during that time that I realized it was possible to start our own business. Suffice it to say, those books are meaningful to me.

So, when Tim posted on Facebook that he would choose 5 random fans to join him in New York, I was one of the first to comment. The closing bell ceremony was in celebration of his latest book, “Tools of Titans”, which had just been released that day. In fact, after preordering it weeks ago myself, the book had just arrived on my doorstep, hours before.

Hours after I threw in my name to be picked, I was at happy hour. I had almost completely forgot about it — until I got that Facebook message. I had been invited, and I had 30 minutes to confirm that I would be in New York City in less than 24 hours.

An opportunity of a lifetime was knocking.

Bryce and I scrambled to figure out how to make this insane thing work. We are not the spontaneous type: It took us four weeks to decide what kind of new couch to buy this year. On our first flip last November, we spent over an hour at the hardware store trying to decide between three different shower heads.

Not the spontaneous types. At. All.
But, we thought, “When will we ever be able to do this again?”

We don’t have children. We have internet and smart phones and laptops — we can work anywhere. There was a lull between closings. If it was ever going to happen, it had to be now. We had to get on the plane.

So, Bryce and I pushed “Confirm” on two plan tickets to New York, at 10:30 pm on Tuesday. By 12:45 am, we were on a plane to The Big Apple. 

Three and a half hours later, a sleepless flight, we landed for a long layover in Chicago. Only then were we able to book a hotel room, just blocks from Times Square. We had been freaking out a little bit (a lot) at this point — but once we knew we had a place to stay, things began to shape up.

The entire way, I was crippled with anxiety. I almost couldn’t get onto the first plane! What if this was all a hoax? A misunderstanding? But, Bryce was by my side — and we’ve learned anything is possible when we are together. So, we pressed on.

Bryce and I landed in New York around noon, local time Wednesday. We had two hours to get into the city, shower, and make it to the studio where they filmed the closing ceremony for NASDAQ. We hadn’t slept all night.

But we made it.

The closing bell! With TIM FERRISS?? We thought we were dreaming! Bryce and I, along with handful of others, went through the process of filming the live closing bell ceremony. We were broadcast on major television networks and were even blasted out to Times Square!

Afterwards, we spend some time socializing and got to know Tim (first name basis, yo!) over a glass of wine. It was a memory to last a lifetime.

We decided to stay an extra day in New York, and spent hours wandering around Central Park. Any slice of pizza or cup of hot chocolate within 400 ft was snatched up by our cold hands — we must have eaten our way through the entire city. We ate the spiciest Mongolian Beef I’ve ever had in my entire life, and we laughed and cried (spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten!) all the way through it.

Central Park was immeasurably beautiful. We were absolutely bewitched by all of the different colors, the dense foliage. I couldn’t get over the fat little squirrels! Bryce and I walked for hours, and we were never without something amazing to gaze at.

It was an incredible time, to say the absolute least, and I will never forget it.

On that day, we were “Yes!” people. We said yes to the opportunity in front of us. Grabbed on tight, and didn’t let go. I can’t help but think back to those days, miserably sitting at my desk in finance (I was such a baby about that job.), sneaking my Kindle in and reading “The Four Hour Work Week”.

I can’t help but think of that and feel like that was the moment our lives really started.

Would we have ever had a chance to drop everything and leave, the way we did? I don’t know, but I’m glad I won’t have to find out.

What would you have done?