And We Are Off!

View from Brian's Apartment
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The big day has finally arrived and we set out on our journey to Bangkok. The cat, who is smart enough to know that more baggage means more time that we are going to be gone, did not seem happy to see us go. I think it was all an act though. She pouted all morning and wouldn't leave her bed, but after we left, Jeff forgot something and when he went back to get it, she was happily hanging out in the living room and seem quite shocked to see him.

We flew USAirways from Pittsburgh to New York's Laguardia Airport. It was evening rush hour in the New York skies so we were delayed leaving Pittsburgh as our plane couldn't get clearance from New York. We boarded, and then sat on the ground for about 30 minutes before finally being allowed to leave. The actually offered us beverages in First Class while we were waiting though, which is a rare event these days.

We arrived at Brian's very neat apartment on Roosevelt Island, where he was kindly letting us stay the night. A quick tram ride later, we arrived at a yummy Mexican restaurant on the East Side. After we walked around a little to help us digest our huge meal, we headed to a neat bar called Stir. It wasn't that crowded or smoky (thanks to the new no smoking laws) and we enjoyed some drinks with Brian and one of his coworkers. On the way back to his place, he took us to an amazing little bakery called Hot and Crusty. This place is open 24 hours a day and does all their baking on site. The selection of pies, cakes, and other pastries was amazing. After decided that one of everything that they had wasn't the best plan, we managed to pick out three very yummy deserts and head back for a little sleep before our flight the next day.