I was lucky enough to visit NYC on the hottest day of its existence last Friday when the temperature soared to 106 and the heat index was 112. But as you read below, the heat index was much worse.

The 24 hour period started ominously as DELTA wouldn’t confirm my 10AM flight before Friday. I booked the week prior and for some reason, I got the 10PM flight. When I called DELTA, they told me they could change it to 10AM but for a modest fee of $478 (I paid $224 for the ticket). Being a Platinum member, they could at NO CHARGE, change the flight 3 hours before day of the flight. So call at 7AM sharp.

At 7AM sharp, the flight was oversold. The flight went from “plenty of seats” to sold-out status. I got on the Noon flight and arrived NYC two hours later than plan.

Luckily, the taxi line was moderate and only had to wait 20 minutes. Got into the taxi and told the driver to turn up the AC. As we headed out of LaGuardia, he told me the AC wasn’t working due to the heat and hot air was blowing out of the vents. “Are you kidding me” I asked. He looked at me with his long beard, head cap and said politely, “no.” I was wearing a T-shirt which was completely drenched in short order. To make matters worse, there was an accident on the George Washington bridge and my 25 minute ride turned into an hour. I couldn’t roll the window down and there was no air. For the first time ever, I could imagine passing out. Luckily my yoga breathing saved the day, but barely.

I finally made it to the salon at 2:45PM shirt and pants drenched. I didn’t have time to stop at the hotel first. Needless to say, there was no hugging. I met with my PR firm and the salon owner. We had a great meeting making plans to open a black 15in1/Kemon Academy in NYC. The salon location is very high profile in a very high end area of NYC (Madison). It’s going to be a very exciting partnership. The best part of the meeting was the giant bottle of San Pellegrino water at the sushi restaurant. By the end of the meeting, my shirt was somewhat dry and I was ready to get to my next meeting at 5PM. I had 20 minutes to go 30 blocks downtown.

Normally 30 blocks isn’t daunting but I still had my overnight bag on my shoulder. I was 5 blocks from my hotel. Each block seemed like a mile in the oppressive heat and every cab was off duty. Can anyone tell me why cabs are off duty at the peak demand time of 4:30PM to 5:15PM? There wasn’t a cab to be seen. My shirt was drenched completely in no time. I barely made it to my hotel and checked-in. AC never felt so good but back on the street in search of a cab.

If I was dying and passed out on 7th Avenue, it wouldn’t of made a difference, there were NO cabs. Finally as the sweat was dripping off my knuckles and toes, I saw someone as desperate as me flag down a private car. Mind you, these private car owners are slick and understand the concept of supply and demand. For only $20, he would drive us 30 blocks. I would have paid a lot more. At 5:45PM, I made it to the meeting. The good news is they had a liter bottle of Evian water waiting for me, very smart of them.

At this time on a Friday night, typically everyone is gone home and started on their weekend. Not in NYC. The office was humming with web guys and girls. In all, there were 7 individuals in my meeting, no one rushing to leave and get home (another reason why so much business is done in NYC). I had a great meeting until a little past 7PM. By this time, taxis were plentiful and I got back to the hotel shortly thereafter.

Now the question was the order of priority: Ice cold Grey Goose martini or ice cold shower? The martini won. Parker Meridian is a very cool hotel (part of Starwood) with an Ice bar, burger bar and amazing breakfast joint, Norma’s (more on that later). After a quick martini, I made it up to the roof top pool and showered. I then ventured off to Nobu 57, very good sushi. It was only a few blocks away but once again, I ended up drenched. The place was packed as most good NYC restaurants are but plenty of room at the sushi bar. YUM!

The next morning after yoga, it was off to Norma’s. I opened the menu and everything was $23, no kidding. Pancakes, French Toast, omelets.  If you want to indulge and you don’t have to pay, this is the place. I have never seen such portions of food, yet the quality was what you paid for. The table next to me ordered French Toast and a Burrito. The French Toast was 3” thick and at least 6” square. And there were 2 pieces! How could anyone eat all that? The guy did and then started on his girlfriend’s burrito! I got the chicken and wild mushroom omelet with baby potatoes. I have a photo but you can visit their photo site and see everything: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php.

Afterwards, I made it into a taxi and yes, another accident on the bridge but at least the AC worked, it was only 85 in the cab. But I made it to the airport and got on the 11AM flight. Detroit never looked so good.

Happy Monday!