Household sports rivalry travels east for Vikings-Giants game

One of my favorite parts of every sports season is being able to continue our household rivalry when our teams play each other.
My wife is naturally a Minnesota sports fan, and I like New England teams, with the exception of football (go Giants).
This has led to many long nights at ball parks and at other arenas to watch Boston and Minnesota play each other.
We have seen the Wild against the Bruins, the Celtics versus the Wolves, the Frost versus the Fleet, the St. Paul Saints versus the Worcester Red Sox, and last year, we were able to catch an early season University of Rhode Island versus Gophers football game.
By far, we have attended the Red Sox versus Twins series the most.
With having a June birthday, we typically go to the entire series in Minneapolis, and we have seen a lot of great games.
After a trip back to the East Coast, we added Giants versus Vikings to the list of “rivalry” games we have attended in person.
We spent about 10 days in Rhode Island visiting my family for Christmas, and since we got our plane tickets in October, we have half-joked with some friends about flying in to see the game at the Meadowlands.
After weeks of mulling it over, we finally decided to go for tickets to the game.
I had never been to a Giants game in person, and tickets were ridiculously cheap, since both teams are having a lousy season.
Penn Station in New York City is about 3.5 hours from Providence on an Amtrak train.
When I saw the tickets for the Amtrak were only a total of $50 for the last train there, we booked the tickets, opting to go for a little more comfort versus the Peter Pan bus, which takes roughly the same amount of time.
It also made things a little bit easier to plan, as we planned to see “Wicked: For Good” that morning with my cousin, his girlfriend, my aunt, and my mom.
I had not seen the first “Wicked” movie until roughly 12 hours before we got to the theater, watching while I waited for my wife to Uber home from Boston after flying in a couple of days later than me. This was about 12 a.m. Another column for another time.
With transportation secured, the next question was where we would stay.
New York City hotels — particularly in Manhattan — are relatively expensive during non-holiday seasons, nevermind a few days before Christmas.
My wife is very indecisive so asked me to surprise her with accommodations.
I ended up deciding we could just stay in the Meadowlands, about a 20-minute bus ride from Port Authority in Manhattan to right outside the hotel, where the bus dropped us off.
We got to New York City shortly before midnight, and after asking a couple of people, we made our way onto the bus to our hotel.
I opted for a room at the Hampton Inn, and we ended up with a nice corner room, with a great view of both the city and Met Life Stadium.
I was like a little kid waiting for Santa to come as I looked out our window, staring off at the stadium knowing we would be there the next morning.
On the issue of tickets to the game, my wife once again asked to be surprised, and I ended up finding two tickets less than 20 rows up behind the end zone for roughly $150 total.
I generally end up going to one Vikings game a year with friends and don’t think we ever paid less than $100 a ticket for the nosebleeds.
The set up to get to the game was awesome.
According to many signs, it is both illegal and dangerous to walk the half-mile from the hotels to the stadium, but we found out the hotel had an option: a shuttle ride to the local bar and restaurant, and then, for $10, they take you to and from the game.
After a nice continental breakfast, part of the room fee, we got on the bus with the many Vikings fans.
When I say there were many Vikings fans staying at the hotel with us, I mean it. At breakfast, the hotel lobby was filled with purple, and some fans even hung up their own flags.
When we got to the bar parking lot, we exchanged a $20 bill for two wristbands to get on the shuttle. We were first informed we could even buy alcohol from the bar before getting on the shuttle, which was nice.
I don’t drink much these days, but it was fun to get a screwdriver before hopping on the shuttle.
It was very overwhelming taking in all the sights of Metlife Stadium, and my wife made sure I bought a winter cap right away when we got there.
I got a hat for $40. Do I know where the hat is now? Most likely left in the hotel room.
Oh, well.
My wife and I decided to go check out the seats, and she was quite happy with my seat selection.
It was a fun game and day taking in a new rivalry game together.
The Vikings won, but oh, well, I am almost over it.