Day 1
Another day, another journey. And although this one had a turbulent start, it was a good trip all in all. This adventure took me to New Jersey & New York. My original flight to New Jersey was canceled due to air traffic control and my flight had to be re-booked. That also came with delays, as I was supposed to leave at 12:10, but didn’t board the plane until 2 p.m. By this time, I had zero sleep since the night before and as soon as I got on the plane I took a nap to recharge. 3 hours later I was above Newark and when I landed I had a 40-minute Lyft ride to Somerset, NJ to meet up with JC, Priscilla and Jonathan. I travel quite often with JC, and it's always a blast. She does some pretty awesome work as a lawyer, and was traveling for work, so I tagged along. We decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, so all of us jumped in an Uber and headed to the nearest one. While there I had a taste for some good ol buffalo wings and an assortment of egg rolls, including south west and salmon rolls. Of course I could not leave the cheesecake without having some good ol strawberry cheesecake, which is by far my favorite dessert. After filling my self to the brink with delicious food, we all headed back to the hotel for sleep, or several hours of website editing in my case.
Day 2
Was more relaxed. The first part of it I spent doing things I normally don’t do much of; sleep and t.v. “First 48” had my attention for most of the morning. Once hunger set in I decided to eat Cheese steak from Somerset Diner and I was not feeling it at all; it was mediocre at best, so I substituted that for left over cheesecake.
After more website editing I finally stepped out of the hotel with JC for a Hookah session. To get there I took an Uber and met a cool driver named Waleed who was from Egypt. We shared an interesting conversation about being Muslim and moving to America with his parents. He told stories about his struggles growing up as a foreigner, and how he is now teaching his kids to avoid his situations he had to go through. I could see the feeling in his eyes, and all in all enjoyed his inspiring words and conversation. JC picked the hookah lounge which dropped us at King Tut Golden Cafe. It looked like the owners had just turned a small house into a lounge, was a little bit cramped but the hookah was amazing. After about 2 hours we both got tired and it was time to head back to the hotel around 12 pm to continue some website editing. I got some rest………maybe around 4 am? JK Actually went to bed at 9 am.
Day 3
I Woke up at 1 pm to get ready to check out by 230 pm; and then I chilled in the lobby editing some photos for my website while I waited for JC and the gang to finish up a meeting for work.
Afterwards, JC, Priscilla and I took the Brunswick NJ transit to New York Penn Station. There, we met Anna, who was another co-worker of JC.
My new home for the next two days was going to be the Royalton, so we took the Uber there to check in. When I first walked into the hotel I was super confused because it looked like a bar inside; the check-in counters were tucked into the walls, and it was really dark. Overall it was a cool design though. Surprisingly, the elevators were tiny, fitting maybe 2-4 people in it, at the most.
JC’s best friends Theresa and Titus came to meet us at the hotel, to decide what we will eat for dinner. We ended up opting for Juniors, which is a restaurant best known for its cheesecake, and home style meals. We walked by Time Square on the way to Juniors, and it was a small area compared to how gigantic it looks on tv. It was still a sight to see though, with all the bright lights and people walking by. New York is not as crowded on the streets as I thought it would be; it’s similar to a walk on 6th street in Austin on the weekend. Once at Juniors I ordered up some fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and “The one and only” strawberry shake with a whole slice of strawberry cheesecake on top.
We had good food and lots of talks and laughs whilst simultaneously celebrating JC and Priscilla’s birthdays as well. The plan afterward was to go back to our rooms to change clothes and head back out on the town, but everyone ended going to bed instead.
Day 4
When I woke up on day 4 I got ready to head to Queens to meet Theresa for photo shoot day. We headed to Green Acres Mall for bathing suits and then to Rockaway Beach for the photo shoot. The Beach was absolutely beautiful and very cold at the time. There were still patches of snow on the street. After snapping 100's of pictures of JC and Theresa, we decided to do a tour of New York.
First we headed back to Theresa's place, with a pit stop at Rallys. Settling this right now, Rallys has the best fast food french fries ever, point blank period! After some grub we decided to go ahead and venture out. Our plan was to take the substation, which is interesting all together. There are street musicians playing live music, which I love. We took the D train to go to Washington Square Park to see the Washington Square Arch. Followed by an Uber ride to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. While at Battery Park I saw my very first New York rat, and they really are big as hell. After walking around a bit more we were all tired and decided to head back to the hotel.
On the train ride back to 53rd street, we said our goodbyes to Titus and Theresa who had earlier stops than us. Once we reached our destination, we decided to walk the 20 minutes back to 44th street to view more of New York City, as we made our way back to the hotel to crash and end our NYC adventure. We stopped to try 99c Pizza before reaching the hotel. There, we had free glasses of wine and headed up stairs for bed.
Let’s see what journey calls me next. I’m ready.
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