Sleepless in New York

I pulled into Lot B. There was just an hour before my plane was scheduled to take off. It was definitely a bad idea to leave that late on a Friday before a long weekend. Running through the sea of cars, jumping onto the shuttle bus and standing through the rigorous LAX security line was just the beginning of a sleepless, eventful, yet an enjoyable long weekend.

The four hour flight to Atlanta was grueling. My inability to sleep while traveling combined with the two year old Asian kid’s tantrums one row behind made me understand the term “Red Eye”. The short trip to Philly from Atlanta was a little more relaxing. I got a whole half an hour’s sleep. It was raining heavily in the Northeast, thanks to Ernesto. To top the miseries, my friend was denied a car at the airport rental as HE wasn’t traveling in a plane. That meant that I had to rent and DRIVE the car. Grrr…, I wonder why my parents gave me that name. They must have had a jolt from Nostradamus himself.

After a ninety minute drive through the heavy downpour, we reached my friend’s den in a small town in New Jersey. My anxiety to see my friends and New York city overcame the physical stresses that my body was going through. Shortly after a speedy clean-up routine and a quick tea & Vada Paav (an Indian version of the Burger) at ‘Hot Breads’, we decided to hit the road towards New York City. New York was busy, rainy and fun. Despite the raging clouds and thunderstorms, we decided to take the “topless” bus tour. As it was meant to mean, the bus had no “top”. It was once in a lifetime experience to see (or at least trying to see) the high-rise buildings with huge raindrops falling straight into the (red) eyes. The rain forced us to cut short our bus ride at Times Square. Then we decided to take on Madame Tussaud to escape the wrath of the rain gods. Three hours flew by as pictures were taken with every known celebrity, from Homer Simpson to Jessica Simpson, from Presidents to CEOs, from Larry King to England’s Queen, from Madonna to Mahatma.

It was still showering when we emerged out of the house of wax. Dinner at a pizza joint was soothing. Times Square at night was dazzling. It was almost midnight by the time we reached NJ. The rest of the night was spent in watching “Crash”, drinking and making fun of each other. By the time I hit the sack, it was 4 am. Five hours later, we took to the road, returned the SUV at PHL owing to lack of space for six, had tea and Paav Baaji at Hot Breads and hit the road to New York again by noon. Day 2 was pleasant – 70 degrees and sunny, a picture-perfect day for a New York visit. A short ride on the bus again through downtown, a quick look at the Empire State building, followed by a 75 minute city cruise on the Hudson River that included great views of the Manhattan Skyline and the Statue of Liberty, a 5pm lunch at a Turkish eatery in Manhattan, a photo-session outside the Ed Sullivan theater and a night-time bus ride through downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn made the rest of the evening. All the coffee and soda I had all day long made me run from Times Square to the Grand Central Station to take a well-deserved long bathroom break. I felt liberated in the city to which the word meant a whole lot more.

A short ride back to NJ, a quick bite at Taco Bell and a night trip to Atlantic City meant only one thing - INSOMNIA! The Trump Taj Mahal was no way like the Agra Taj Mahal I am used to seeing on pictures. Before that night, I had not known that the Caesar’s Palace casino and hotel were named after “Caesar Augustus” and not “Julius Caesar”. A walk on the breezy Atlantic boardwalk seemed to temporarily quench the sleep I was craving for. The sun was ready to jump out of the Atlantic when we were ready to hit the road back to Lawrenceville. By 8:00am, we were a bunch of sandbags. Four hours later, after yet another brunch at Hot Breads (this time a Vada Paav AND a Bombay Sandwich - yes! we were a wild bunch) followed by a quick photo-shoot at the Princeton University (with a camera that belonged to none of us), we headed back for a long flight back home. It was 2am by the time I had my back on my precious bed. It was wonderful - this time I am not referring to sleep.