NY Day 6: "Do We Have to?"

Taking advantage of this step in my professional writing career by jet-setting on a lavish vacation I certainly cannot afford. Stay tuned for every inevitable fumble, wrong turn, and overpriced meal as LAUREN TAKES NEW YORK!

(When laziness becomes an art)

We think Tito's playing games. One night Kerra's practically engaged and ready to join Uncle Solomon in running their New York Pizzeria, and the next, we've not even a text back! Their love saga is like one of the better versus of a Katy Perry song. I mean, we are taking into consideration the fact that, having only recently moved to the states from Egypt, there is a bit of a language gap between Tito and ourselves, but won't let that be an excuse for a player to play.

The morning was a whirlwind of self-pity, each of us still delirious and not yet dry from last night's down pour. In spite of our incessant wiggling of fingers and thumbs, Kerra told me she wasn't convinced we'd escaped frostbite. I couldn't disagree, and over coffee we rehashed the night's events, content with complaining. We agreed on one thing, we deserved to skip the subway for a day. Letting our inner California native's spread their wings and fly, we decided to split an Uber.

By happy circumstance, a friend of ours who we hadn't seen since high school, is also staying in town. She told us she was in Brooklyn, but would happily meet us somewhere closer to Manhattan. Considering we'd spent half of the morning drowning in Brooklyn woes, we agreed that'd be best. This was also the perfect opportunity to do what we'd wanted all of the day before-- get Puerto Rican food. After intense research and a phone call to prove the restaurant was indeed open, we called to Uber to meet friend at El Nuevo Caribeño on Lexington Ave.

Delicious. The food was so good that I'm pretty sure neither Kerra or I spoke the entire time we were eating. Luckily our friend, who'd traveled from California to Hawaii to Barcelona to Portland and ended up in NY on a whim, had a lot to stay. She told us stories about love found at festivals and spontaneous adventures where she'd taken nothing but the bag in her lap. Considering we'd planned this trip months in advance and taken two backpacks each for a week's stay in New York, we marveled at the feat. I mentioned that she should start a blog, but her life seemed so exciting I wondered if she'd ever find the time. If she does, I know I'd absolutely be reading about her jet-setting from the comfort of my bed at home.

Still enjoying our time together, and having long finished our Carne Guisada, we headed to a coffee shop called Dear Mama Coffee. By a wonderful turn of fate, it was happy hour and the place served mimosas at 6 pm. We had an incredible conversation about the universe, the sort you can only have with someone you haven't seen in a while, and probably won't see again for some time. We discussed the time Kerra was catfished, Brenna's experience's as an Airbnb host, and each's perspective on faith and reality. It was only when they started realigning chairs that we felt properly kicked out and realized we should head home. With promises to reconnect the next day, we hugged and gave our goodbyes. Kerra and I headed back to the Airbnb, full of food and drink, chatty about the thousands of possibilities life had to offer.

Later on our friend texted us, explaining that she wouldn't be available within the next week like she'd thought. Apparently she'd been invited on a spontaneous trip to Israel, and she anticipated being preoccupied until further notice.

Vaya Con Dios, girl! I wish you many more adventures like the ones we you told us about today. Also, it would be a real treat if you decided to write about them, so I could know all about the wiles of the world while lying in bed.

#travelblog #travelseries #travelpost #nyday6