Kimpton Theta NYC: Family, Theater, and a Frenchie Who Owns the Room

New York City has a way of pulling you back. Not with obligation, but with something deeper — the people, the energy, the electricity of a great performance that you simply cannot see anywhere else. This trip had all of it, and it started exactly where it was supposed to: at the Kimpton Theta.

Coming Home to the Theta

There are hotels you stay at, and then there are hotels that know you. The Kimpton Theta falls firmly in the second category. Walking through those doors with Timber by my side, I felt the same thing I always feel here — that particular exhale of arriving somewhere you belong.

Check-in was seamless and, true to Kimpton form, Timber was the real star of the moment. The team welcomed him with the kind of genuine enthusiasm that you can’t fake — this is a hotel that doesn’t merely tolerate pets, it celebrates them. Timber, for his part, accepted all attention with the dignity and authority of a seasoned traveler who has absolutely earned his place in the suite. He’s learning the ropes quickly, and the Theta is one of the best classrooms he could ask for.

The location, as always, is perfection. Midtown proximity means you’re never far from anywhere you need to be — and for this trip, that meant two shows I had been counting down to for weeks.

The Family You Choose

One of the most underrated gifts of being a regular somewhere is the people it brings into your life. This trip gave me time with the “family” I have built in this city — the faces that make New York feel less like a destination and more like a homecoming. There is something irreplaceable about sitting across the table from people who genuinely know you, laughing over stories and picking up exactly where you left off, no matter how much time has passed. New York keeps these people for me, and the Theta holds the space where I get to be with them.

Every Brilliant Thing: A Night That Stayed With Me

I will be honest with you: I flew to New York specifically for this show. When I learned that Mariska Hargitay was joining the cast of Every Brilliant Thing for a limited run, I didn’t think twice. I booked the flight, secured the ticket, and counted down the days.

She was extraordinary. There is no other word for it. Mariska brought a warmth and a lived-in humanity to the piece that absolutely destroyed me in the best possible way. Every Brilliant Thing is the kind of theater that doesn’t let you sit safely behind the fourth wall — it reaches into the audience and makes you a participant in something profoundly vulnerable and profoundly beautiful.

The show explores suicide through a list — a list of all the brilliant things worth living for. It is funny and devastating in equal measure, sometimes within the same breath. For me, it was also deeply personal. Sitting in that theater, I found myself thinking of two friends I have lost over the past fifteen years. Two people who left this world before I was ready to say goodbye. The show didn’t break me — it held me. It acknowledged the grief that lives alongside gratitude, the love that doesn’t disappear just because someone does.

If Every Brilliant Thing is playing anywhere near you, you owe it to yourself to go. Bring tissues. Bring an open heart. Let it do what it does.

Lost Boys: The Musical That Surprised Me

I walked into Lost Boys not knowing exactly what to expect. What I found surprised me on every level — starting with the stage itself.

The staging and seating configuration were unlike anything I had anticipated, and that element of discovery set the tone for everything that followed. The production has a creative boldness that announces itself immediately, and the musical itself more than delivers on that promise. The songs, the performances, the storytelling — it all came together into something genuinely beautiful. A full-hearted, surprising, moving piece of theater.

I now absolutely need to see the original film. But here’s my honest feeling: I’m not sure anything will top what this production has done with the story. A great musical adaptation doesn’t just retell — it transforms. Lost Boys transforms.

Timber’s Wine Hour Debut

Every evening at the Kimpton Theta, wine hour becomes a social event, and this trip Timber made it his personal stage. He worked the room with the confidence of someone who has been doing this for years rather than months, greeting new people with his signature combination of enthusiasm and self-importance. People were delighted by him. Of course they were. He is Timber.

Watching him charm absolute strangers with such effortless ease made me realize just how much of his personality has already crystallized. He is social, he is present, and he has absolutely inherited the Suite Life spirit. Koda would approve.

Delta: Taking Care of Us on the Way Home

Here's one of the quiet luxuries of a 2pm hotel checkout: you arrive at JFK with real time on your hands. And when the Delta One Sky Club is waiting for you, that time becomes something special.

This visit happened to fall on the club's 2-year anniversary, and the energy inside reflected it — there was something celebratory in the air, and the experience lived up to every bit of it. I started with a 20-minute chair massage from an amazing therapist, followed by a facial, and then later on into the massage auto chair to decompress properly. By the time I made my way to the spa-like shower suite, I felt like a completely different person than the one who had dragged luggage through the city a few hours earlier. This is not a lounge — this is a full wellness experience tucked inside an airport.

The cocktails are always a highlight, and the Delta One Espresso Martini did not disappoint. The wine selection is consistently impressive — thoughtfully curated and poured generously. But what truly sealed it on this visit was the sit-down restaurant. The food was exceptional. Not airport-acceptable, not surprisingly-good-for-a-lounge — genuinely, unequivocally excellent. A proper meal before a flight home is one of life's underrated pleasures, and the Delta One Sky Club has figured out how to make it feel like a destination rather than a departure.

The trip home was made all the easier by Delta’s exceptional care on our flight back. From the moment we boarded, the team went above and beyond — attentive, warm, and genuinely invested in making sure Timber and I had a smooth journey. It is the kind of service that reminds you why loyalty matters, and why, when an airline does it right, it feels like being taken care of rather than just transported.

What a treat to end a trip this way. Every element of the NYC experience — the hotel, the shows, the people, the city itself — carried through right up to the gate.

After a trip this full — this emotionally rich and theatrically extraordinary — having a flight experience that matched the quality of everything that came before it was the perfect way to close the chapter.

Why I Keep Coming Back

New York asked a lot of me on this trip. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think about grief and joy and the strange, inseparable way they coexist. Every Brilliant Thing gave me language for a kind of loss I’ve been carrying for a long time. Lost Boys reminded me that art can take something familiar and make it entirely new. And through all of it, the Kimpton Theta gave me a home base — a place where Timber was celebrated, where the staff felt like neighbors, and where the energy of the city was always right outside the door whenever I was ready for it.

This city, this hotel, these shows. That’s the Suite Life at its best.

And for those two friends I’ve been missing — I built a little list of brilliant things in my head that night. It’s longer than you’d think.