Two Backpacks One Couple

After a 10.5 hour red eye flight Nick and I arrived at JFK airport bright and early. I wouldn’t say it was a smooth process exiting but we made it. Once out of the airport the journey was stress free. As we lived in NYC for 4 years back at the start of our relationship, we have taken the airport train and metro countless times. What a change of pace to go from traveling all these places where we didn’t know anything to somewhere we felt confident moving around. Our friend Nick, who was hosting us, mixed up our arrival time so we ended up waiting in his apartment lobby for about an hour. It was a pretty funny misunderstanding, but I was relieved when it was resolved.

After the best nap of my life the three of us went and got lunch at Two Boots pizza down the street. It was so good. Nothing like New York pizza. Nick and his wife Maddie live across the street from my favorite Brooklyn-based ice cream shop called Van Leeuwen. They had some new speciality flavors so we tried the fudge brownie espresso and a classic brown sugar cookie dough brownie. We ended up going there about 7 times over the course of the weekend. Visiting NYC tends to be food and friend focused since we’ve done most of the touristy highlights when we lived there. It makes our visits pretty relaxing. It is also helpful for the budget since we’ve been unemployed for a while doing our trip.

Dinner was another Kajsa and Nick favorite: Laut. Our friends Sophie and Alex also joined us. It’s a running joke that it isn’t a matter of if we will go to Laut but when, whenever I’m in town. It’s a tradition that nobody complains about since it’s so good. After dinner we went to a comedy show at The Stand. There were some really funny comedians and a few that had mixed reactions. One of the guys from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle showed up to try out some new material, too.

New York actually had snow that weekend, which was nice. Even when we lived there it was not common for the snow to stick around for very long. We were not super prepared for the weather, but luckily we could borrow clothes from our friends. After a nice sleep in, (much needed after our red eye), Nick, Nick and I walked around Central Park with Nick’s dog Cleo. There were many snowmen. Our walk took us (not by coincidence) to Absolute Bagels which was our favorite bagel shop. We used to live on 103rd street so it was awesome to walk past our old place and head back to our neighborhood spot. Apparently they had new ownership and we could tell when we stepped inside. It was so fancy. We thought the bagels weren’t as good, though.

In the evening we met up with more friends Matt, Elliot, and Daylene at Charlie Bird where we shared several dishes. Sharing is not typically my style but that place has such yummy dishes it’s the best way to try many things. After dinner and another ice cream stop we hung out at Matt’s until 3:00am. As people who like to be in bed by 9:00pm I hope our friends know how much we missed them the last year.

On our last full day in NYC we tried to squeeze in as much as possible. Nick and Nick went to the Natural History Museum and the Met. I met up with some friends and old coworkers for coffee and then more old coworkers for lunch. I walked home along Central Park and stopped for more ice cream. For dinner Maddie had returned from her travels so she joined us for sushi at Sushi Damo. Nick, Nick, Sophie, Maddie and I had our last meal together in the city. It was hard saying goodbye, but was so great getting to see everyone again.