I get by with a little help from my friends

Ok, ok. I know I’ve been back for 2 full days, I haven’t posted anything about my trip and you’re all anxiously awaiting the details, right? Well, that’s a silly question really, because I know that you are! I’m going to split these posts up into each day because so much happened I couldn’t write it all at once. So, here is day 1:

After sleeping for about 4 hours Wednesday night, I was dropped off at the airport at 730 am for my 830 flight to Charlotte, NC, where I would catch my connecting flight to Newark. Heaven forbid my flight would actually begin on time though. They overbooked the flight and asked for three volunteers for which they were giving the standard free round trip ticket to anywhere in the lower 48. Amazingly enough, only one person volunteered however. I have been tempted to do this on more than one occasion, but there was no way in hell I was going to do it this time because I needed to get the hell outta Houston ASAP! So after upping the ante and offering a free RT ticket AND a one-way ticket as well, they got their three and we departed 45 minutes behind schedule at 915. Needless to say, at this point, I’m a little worried that I wouldn’t make my connection because it was due to leave at 1240 and now I would be arriving around 1220. In addition, I’ve had a couple of run-ins at the Charlotte airport where I arrived at terminal C on time, but had to run as fast as I could clear across the airport to terminal A to board my connection within minutes of departing. Fortunately, when we arrived at gate C9, I had only 500 feet to walk in 20 minutes to gate C14 – I figured I had enough time to crawl, but I’d look like an idiot, so I didn’t.

My flight from Charlotte to Newark was hands-down, the best flight I’ve ever been on. We were in a 737, the type of plane that has 3 seats on each side of the aisle. I was originally seated in row 24, 3 rows from the back. The flight attendant came to let us know the flight was nowhere near full and we could move up if we’d like. Long story short, I had my own row – all six seats.

I arrived in Newark right on time and when I got through security, Brian was there to greet me which was a serious relief (this comes back to haunt me later on). As we left the gate, we stopped so I could put my fleece on for going outside. While standing there, Brian noted that I had packed light, since I only had my backpack with me. It then struck me that I had to get my bag! Could you imagine leaving the airport without your luggage? We collected my bag and looked for something quick to eat in the airport since I hadn’t eaten but a couple of the bags of airplane peanuts. $2.00 for a cheeseburger at BK later, we left to catch the Airtrain, which would then take us to the train into Penn Station.

Brian and I had a great conversation catching up on things on the train to Penn Station and then we caught the subway back to his apartment. He lives Astoria, Queens, in a great little place, which is relatively new, with a great view off the roof. It is also close to the subway stop, which was great since my bag was getting heavy. We were scheduled to leave a few minutes after arriving at his place because we were having dinner with his girlfriend whom I had yet to meet, but heard great things about. So, we boarded the subway again, minus all the luggage and headed back into Manhattan.

We got to the restaurant and sat down at the bar for a couple of drinks while we awaited the E’s (Brian’s girlfriend) arrival. I was ready for a beer, but Brian had a basketball game later, so he stuck to Coke. E arrived just as we were being called for our table and she is even cuter in person than in the pictures I’ve seen. There is little to tell about dinner, other than we had great drinks, food and conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know E and watching her and Brian interact. I can tell how much they care for one another. She told me the story of how they met, which she tells very well, because Brian’s version was short, to the point and I wanted to know what she thought of him and how this all came to be. I think we all had a great time at dinner and around 815, we parted ways with E for Brian’s game over at Chelsea Piers.

On the team is another friend who we would be spending most of the weekend with as well, J.K. I’m guessing there are only a few people who are interested in the details of the game, so, I’m skipping past it. They lost by 9, I’ll leave it at that.

It’s now about 1015 after the game and you’re reading this thinking, Josh, you’ve had a long day, this is probably where the night ended, right? Not so fast. This is where the night begins!

While we were waiting for a cab, our other friend, Nap, called. He wants us to meet him back in Astoria at the Café Bar, which is a few blocks from their respective apartments (Nap lives a couple blocks from Brian). We arrived around 1045, headed for the bar and asked what they had on tap. They have no beer on tap, only bottles. Ok, what do you have? The list goes on until we hear the sweet sound of our favorite beer, Duvel. If you don’t know about Duvel, the name means, “The Devil’s Brew”. It is a great Belgian beer and the alcohol content is around 9% (most beers are 4 - 4.5%), so drinking one is like drinking two regular beers (for those of you who couldn’t do the math). Brian and I have a serious history with Duvel, which I guess I’m going to have to explain at a later time. We begin to drink slowly, as is suggested clearly on the bottle, when Nap arrives. We say our hellos and he heads to the bar to order. He comes back over and waits for his drink to arrive. The waitress, who comes into play later, comes over with his bottle of, you guessed it, Duvel, and 3 shots of Tequila. We toast to a fantastic weekend with fantastic friends and do our shots. Stay with me, this is only the beginning.

Ok, so Café Bar is this great little place that played amazing music through a computer jukebox that had a lot of everything you’d want in a cozy little place like this. There are chairs and couches situated around coffee tables, bar tables, booths and stools at the bar as well. They have all sorts of games, checkers, backgammon, cards & poker chips, Boggle, Yahtzee, Monopoly and probably more that we didn’t see. It has minimal lighting and maximum atmosphere. It was the perfect bar to end a long day at with great friends. Oh, and our waitress, Tanya, was cute as a button.

As is expected, Brian, Nap and I had our typical amazing conversations ranging from politics to religion to sports to Naps’ ex-girlfriend, to love, sex and probably more that I cannot remember. I do remember that Nap and I played a game of backgammon and that we were there a long time and drinking a lot. How much is a lot, you ask? Before I answer this, I will let you know that I don’t drink very often, or very much, so for me, this night equals a lot. 4 bottles of Duvel, the aforementioned shot of Tequila and a shot of Jack Daniel’s that we basically finished the night off with around 130 am. Also, around 1230, we called Dave, who was joining us on Friday night, because we figured he needed to know what he was missing out on.

Before leaving, of course we settled up, but I’m not quite sure who paid or how much. However, Tanya slipped Brian her number to give to Nap. Even as drunk as we were, we could tell she was flirting with him most of the night and as I said, she was really cute.

Whew! What a day! Oh wait, it doesn’t end there!

We needed to go over Nap’s apartment to pick up some blankets. On the drunken walk over there, we see a mannequin of some kind lying in the trash and Brian proceeds to kick its head off. We then threw it around like a football for a couple of minutes and then we decided we’re going to try to scare Dave, on Friday night. So we took it with us. We grabbed the blankets, stumbled back to Brian’s.

When we got out of the elevator and stepped into the hallway. It smelled like smoke, which Brian noted and then he tried to unlock the door. After a few seconds of unsuccessfully unlocking it, he looks up and says, “Why are we on the third floor? We’re on the wrong floor!” This is why it smelled like smoke. We get back in the elevator and head up again, this time arriving at and unlocking the correct door.

The last thing I remember this evening, now at 215 am, is Brian blowing up the air mattress, giving me the blankets and me climbing into bed, still in my clothes.

Day 1 – mission accomplished

NYC
Air Travel
Friends
Stupidity