I realize that I'm a bit tardy in this post but I honestly don't know where the time has gone! This week has FLOWN by! This work thing is really getting in the way of important things like blogging! I apologize in advanced that this post will be long!!
All of LAST week, I was on an international trip with POTUS and we never left the US or the wonderful EST time zone! We started out with a day-trip to exciting Troy, NY. I have no idea why we were there, not do I really remember much about it. We went to a community college and POTUS talked about innovation. All I remember was that we had to traipse through a body shop with a lot of extra car doors all around. There was no food and the line to the bathroom was long. I'm sure those weren't the most important things that came out of the trip but I'll be honest, I can't remember much more than that.
On Monday afternoon, we headed to NYC for my annual visit for UNGA. I have no idea how I luck out to be assigned to this trip every year but I always have to remind myself not to judge the city based on this trip. With all the world's leaders in one place, the roads are shut down, gridlock is everywhere, and it's just not that fun. We always stay right across the street from the Waldorf (although I was lucky enough to stay there two years ago), which is where POTUS and other world leaders stay, so we were in the middle of the madness. Cab drivers generally gave up on getting me to my hotel about six blocks away!
Anyway, we worked out of our bureau for most of the time which I always enjoy. Getting to see people in person that I mainly only talk to on the phone or in e-mail is a bonus!! Tuesday, I was working out of the Waldorf for part of the day because that is where POTUS and Medvedev met.
Then on Wednesday, I went over to the United Nations to hear POTUS's speech. While I've been to UNGA every year for the past four years or so, I haven't been to the actual speech since my first year. So I took the opportunity to go and get to wear those ear thingys for the interpretation. The UN building was built by Mike Brady, I'm pretty sure, and really does need some modernization. I did enjoy sitting in a lime green seat in the auditorium. Beyond the actual building, it's just a neat scene. To me, it kind of previews what heaven will look like. People from all over the world under one roof. Literally all the world's leaders in one room. Nice ones and bad ones. I was even in the same room as Ahmadinejad, Gahdafi, and Hugo Chavez! Anyway, it was really cool to be there. After POTUS's speech, Mr. Gahdafi got up to speak. I thought I would hang around just to say I listened to his speech. Well 40 minutes into it, my stomach was growling, I was having a hard time focusing, and I decided I needed to leave. I checked with the WH aide with us to make sure I wouldn't create an international incident if I left in the middle of his speech. She assured me that wouldn't be a problem so my friend Anne and I left. And boy am I glad we did! I hopped into a cab, sat in stand-still traffic for about 30 minutes and then eventually made my way to the bureau and when I walked in almost an hour later, Gahdafi was just wrapping up his speech!! It was very difficult to understand what he was saying when we were in the same room but it made even less sense that he was still talking 97 minutes later!
On Thursday, we left NYC and went to Pittsburgh for the G-20 meeting. I am sure the info is out there but I still don't know exactly why Pittsburgh but it was a lovely short visit. I had been there before since my brother-in-law is a native but traveling with POTUS is a slightly different experience! The city had basically shut down because of the summit and the fear of a ton of protesters. I never saw any locals except for some of the policemen and the people who worked at the hotel where we stayed. It was a very weird feeling because it definitely seemed like we were in another country, not just a few hours away from home!
On Friday, I was in travel pool which meant that I was in the small group of reporters that had more access to POTUS than the others and I was in the motorcade (and AF1 on the way home). The Pittsburgh convention center is humongous and we literally had to RUN all around that building to catch up with POTUS and the meetings he was holding. We sprinted to a room about a 15 minute job away to catch a glimpse of POTUS and Gordon Brown meeting. Then we sprinted back and waited for the next thing. It's always a lot of hurrying up and waiting. And then sprinting. This trip included battling with the international press. At one point, I was in the plenary session with all the G-20 leaders when I was getting pushed around by some unknown group of international press. At one point one of the guys stepped on my foot so hard that my shoe came off and I couldn't retrieve it. I had to bully him a little bit and push him around to get my shoe back. I couldn't be hobbling around for the rest of the day! I showed him who was boss!!
After the plenary session, it was time for the class photo of all the leaders. This time the international press corps behaved much more calmly and I didn't have to push anyone around. But it took quite a while for all the 30 leaders to file into the room and then to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. It was quite humorous to watch. Finally POTUS says, "I think one of those will work" and they all left.
All of LAST week, I was on an international trip with POTUS and we never left the US or the wonderful EST time zone! We started out with a day-trip to exciting Troy, NY. I have no idea why we were there, not do I really remember much about it. We went to a community college and POTUS talked about innovation. All I remember was that we had to traipse through a body shop with a lot of extra car doors all around. There was no food and the line to the bathroom was long. I'm sure those weren't the most important things that came out of the trip but I'll be honest, I can't remember much more than that.
On Monday afternoon, we headed to NYC for my annual visit for UNGA. I have no idea how I luck out to be assigned to this trip every year but I always have to remind myself not to judge the city based on this trip. With all the world's leaders in one place, the roads are shut down, gridlock is everywhere, and it's just not that fun. We always stay right across the street from the Waldorf (although I was lucky enough to stay there two years ago), which is where POTUS and other world leaders stay, so we were in the middle of the madness. Cab drivers generally gave up on getting me to my hotel about six blocks away!
Anyway, we worked out of our bureau for most of the time which I always enjoy. Getting to see people in person that I mainly only talk to on the phone or in e-mail is a bonus!! Tuesday, I was working out of the Waldorf for part of the day because that is where POTUS and Medvedev met.
Then on Wednesday, I went over to the United Nations to hear POTUS's speech. While I've been to UNGA every year for the past four years or so, I haven't been to the actual speech since my first year. So I took the opportunity to go and get to wear those ear thingys for the interpretation. The UN building was built by Mike Brady, I'm pretty sure, and really does need some modernization. I did enjoy sitting in a lime green seat in the auditorium. Beyond the actual building, it's just a neat scene. To me, it kind of previews what heaven will look like. People from all over the world under one roof. Literally all the world's leaders in one room. Nice ones and bad ones. I was even in the same room as Ahmadinejad, Gahdafi, and Hugo Chavez! Anyway, it was really cool to be there. After POTUS's speech, Mr. Gahdafi got up to speak. I thought I would hang around just to say I listened to his speech. Well 40 minutes into it, my stomach was growling, I was having a hard time focusing, and I decided I needed to leave. I checked with the WH aide with us to make sure I wouldn't create an international incident if I left in the middle of his speech. She assured me that wouldn't be a problem so my friend Anne and I left. And boy am I glad we did! I hopped into a cab, sat in stand-still traffic for about 30 minutes and then eventually made my way to the bureau and when I walked in almost an hour later, Gahdafi was just wrapping up his speech!! It was very difficult to understand what he was saying when we were in the same room but it made even less sense that he was still talking 97 minutes later!
On Thursday, we left NYC and went to Pittsburgh for the G-20 meeting. I am sure the info is out there but I still don't know exactly why Pittsburgh but it was a lovely short visit. I had been there before since my brother-in-law is a native but traveling with POTUS is a slightly different experience! The city had basically shut down because of the summit and the fear of a ton of protesters. I never saw any locals except for some of the policemen and the people who worked at the hotel where we stayed. It was a very weird feeling because it definitely seemed like we were in another country, not just a few hours away from home!On Friday, I was in travel pool which meant that I was in the small group of reporters that had more access to POTUS than the others and I was in the motorcade (and AF1 on the way home). The Pittsburgh convention center is humongous and we literally had to RUN all around that building to catch up with POTUS and the meetings he was holding. We sprinted to a room about a 15 minute job away to catch a glimpse of POTUS and Gordon Brown meeting. Then we sprinted back and waited for the next thing. It's always a lot of hurrying up and waiting. And then sprinting. This trip included battling with the international press. At one point, I was in the plenary session with all the G-20 leaders when I was getting pushed around by some unknown group of international press. At one point one of the guys stepped on my foot so hard that my shoe came off and I couldn't retrieve it. I had to bully him a little bit and push him around to get my shoe back. I couldn't be hobbling around for the rest of the day! I showed him who was boss!!
After the plenary session, it was time for the class photo of all the leaders. This time the international press corps behaved much more calmly and I didn't have to push anyone around. But it took quite a while for all the 30 leaders to file into the room and then to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. It was quite humorous to watch. Finally POTUS says, "I think one of those will work" and they all left.
After the class photo, we hurried up and waited for the meeting to be over and we then made a quick trip back to the hotel for about 30 minutes. Then we returned for a final press conference and then quickly ran back to the motorcade for some more hurrying up and waiting. I think in all I took about three power naps in the motorcade! We finally made it back to the airport and AF1 and it was a fairly uneventful flight. It felt like we had a long flight ahead of us since we had been at an international summit but the flight was only 37 minutes. For the obligatory food report, all they had on the plane was baked potatoes and my favorite lemonade. But to make up for it, I got some new presidential M&Ms with POTUS's signature on them. I can add them to my collection!! 
More important that all the fun of hanging out with world leaders for a week, I was able to go to the 'Noke to see my family for the weekend! That tops anything!!! I just love them! And once again, I know I am completely biased but my nieces are the absolute cutest kids in the world. I had soooo much fun playing with them and just being their Aunt Beck Beck. I tried to steal them and bring them home with me but Cayton wasn't in on the plan. She said her K teacher would miss her too much and that her bus driver would get lost! That kid is toooo cute!!
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