Born in the USA!
On Friday November 22nd hubby and I boarded a plane to America for the first time in nearly 6 years! It was touch and go if we were going to make it as he was having problems with his visa up to just a short time before we departed. It caused a lot of anxiety in the autumn but thankfully all is well that ends well and now we have his visa for another decade. We had cashed in our air miles to fly Business Class which was just as good as we had remembered from the last time we cashed in our points. This time we were flying during the day though so we got to enjoy it even more! We landed a few hours late to New York but have never gone through US customs so fast before. We stayed at a lovely AirBnB very close to the airport in Queens and slept hard that evening. Saturday we made our way into Manhattan to catch our train to Delaware. The new Amtrack terminal is stunning! I picked us up bagels and coffee and had my first experience of sticker shock of the trip. Damn our Swedish kroner is lame. A few hours later we were reunited with my godparents, brother and wife. We had just seen my godparents at Midsummer after 5 years but it was our first time seeing my brother and SIL in over 2 years. They had flown up from Austin to spend time with us. We even got to meet their dog! Over the next two days the 6 of us had a lovely time catching up over good food, drinks and chats. J&K left Monday and we had another 4 glorious nights with my godparents. We did a bit of tax free shopping, made them lots of food and even made it out for a few runs at a National Park near their house. Thanksgiving could not have been more low key with the 4 of us staying in our PJ's all day. A truly lovely week. Much to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving Friday Gramski came to pick us up! We were spending the weekend with her. Since we last had visited, her and her family in PA, had a new house and dog to show off. Both were wonderful! That evening the 4 of us had drinks and a charcuterie plate. We had not seen her husband in nearly 6 years. They surprised us that night to tell us they had booked a babysitter for the next day and we were going to have a late afternoon double date downtown! We had the best time on Saturday! We started off with a fabulous dinner at a restaurant specializing in pasta. We had 1 of everything on the menu please and thank you. Later we got cocktails at a lovely bar nearby and finished with more drinks at the tallest sky bar in Philly. A perfect double date in every way. Sunday we took the family to a diner for breakfast before heading to the mall to pick up hubby's beloved jeans. That evening Milz made us a wonderful dinner.
Monday December 2nd we hopped on the train back to NYC for the week. We had not been back there for a decade which is mental! A friend had very generously lent us their flat at the top end of the Upper West Side which saved us a couple of thousand dollars! It was so nice to have our place for the week. That evening we went to a bar near the flat to have a few drinks and then picked up a pepperoni pizza, Vietnamese dumplings and craft beer to have back at the flat. We watched Home Alone 2. It was one of my favourite nights of the trip! The next day the weather was stunning and we got some amazing photos of the Freedom Tower which was still being built when we last visited 10 years before. We spent the afternoon at the 9/11 Museum. It is incredibly well done and well worth a visit. That evening we were reunited with the Cole Twins and Katie I Wear Awesome Earrings! The latter I had not seen in over 10 years and ended up seeing 3 times that week. We had really great Greek food. We finished with Carvel ice cream cake at Queen Parks Ben other place. The next day we took a very expensive Uber a bit Upstate to meet Laura Li's baby and see her new house! Gramski had driven from PA too. It was a really low key afternoon and I loved meeting her son. Unfortunately that evening hubby came down with something so was not able to make it out to meet Feebs. She had flown all the way from Chicago to spend 1 night with us!! Our friends really are above and beyond. Her and I had a wonderful dinner in SoHo before going to try and see the tree. It was chaos and just managed to catch a glimpse of it! We finished with some cocktails nearby. Thursday hubby spent the day at Natural History Museum and I spent the day walking across Central Park and making my way down Madison Avenue catching up with both old friends and concierge colleagues. That evening I made my way out to Queens to get great Mexican food with my AU Loves. We finished with drinks at a nearby bar. Friday I had a really hard run in Central Park but I could not miss the opportunity being only half a block from the park taking a run there! Our dear Geva came down from Upstate that morning to spend the day with us. We had really good bagels at the flat and then walked across the park to catch the East Side Ferry. It was a superb way to travel! We went up the Freedom Tower which was perfectly fine but ultimately not worth the money. Later Geva and I had some drinks at one of my favourite dive bars before putting her on the bus back Upstate. That evening the Twins and Katie came over for one last pizza pie! Saturday I met some of my all time favourite hotel guests for brunch before heading out to the airport. It really warms my heart that even after all the time that has gone by over the years that I still have such wonderful friends in NYC.
It felt very strange to be back in America after so long. I honestly felt like a fish out of water at times. I went in knowing it was expensive but it was more so than I expected! The mass consumerism really enraged me. But we still had the most wonderful time and I am very lucky to have such a strong connection to a place I have not lived in for nearly 2 decades.
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