'MURICA!

My STAs seem to have taken a backseat for wonderful sibling bonding trips instead. And I'm not complaining! 😊

This post is going to be super long and unlike Japan's post, this one's actually co-written by both Harshita and I. It's long overdue! I was back home in July, but never had the motivation to bring my laptop home from work to actually write until today.

This is from Harshita's daywise + citywise journal followed by mine (she stopped notetaking in Houston) and of course with plenty tiny photos :)

Day 1


Arrived LA airport after a long 12 hour flight on Cathay Pacific from HKG. Food and service on the flight was crap, but what more can you expect in economy.

It was a long wait at customs. Got my bags out and one of my wine bottles broke. Met Kamna,  got a shuttle bus to Hertz, hired a Nissan Illinois plated red vehicle there and drove to Westfield mall to get a SIM.

Drove to Calabasas down the I-405 and had Thai takeaway dinner with the family. Had a nice time chatting with Nikki, Shaina and Manu. Manu's our cousin. They live in a beautiful gated community in Calabasas.

Day 2

We woke up at 12pm and had a shower. Nikki made us delicious paninis then Shaina came home around 2. We went to the Shrine of Self Realization and walked around the beautiful lake, saw some cute turtles. Ventured up some stairs that we weren't supposed to go up and got into trouble.

Then we went to get Poke to go and ate the poke at a beach somewhere in between Santa Monica and Venice beach. Then we learned how to skate board at the beach and found motorized scooters by a company called Lime. We downloaded the app and hopped on to the scooters.

Then we made our way back to the car and drove to Buffalo thrift shop. Kamna bought a top and Shaina bought a skirt and jacket. We then walked to Santa Monica pier and rode the Ferris wheel and drove back home listening to "simp" music like "My Dil Goes Mmmmm" lol

Day 3

We started our day early. Woke up at 7:15 am and got dressed for the gym. Spent sometime chatting with Nikki before she dropped us off at the Oaks of Calabasas - a gym for all the members of the gated community. We worked on our upper body with free weights and used some machines to work the lower body.

Then we drove to Rite Aid to pick up a few things. The area was full of fancy little shops and we walked into a bakery - La Pain Quotain and sat outside listening to some Frank Sinatra,  eating a breakfast sandwich and sipping a berry almond milk smoothie.

Then we headed back to the house and got dressed. Shaina drove us to Millennium Dance Company in Studio City and the three of us checked out the place. It's a very popular professional dance company and we enjoyed watching the talented dancers of LA strutting their stuff.

Starving, we went to Joan's on Third for some yummy salad and sandwiches. We loved the place! So LA, and so "Instagram." Then we walked up to a Tattoo place called Maldoro and Harshita got a tattoo! Of a small smiling sun emoji by the side of her stomach on her right rib.

Then we drove up to Griffith observatory. The view from up there was spectacular. You could see the entire city's skyline and the Hollywood sign too! We watched the beautiful sunset there, walked around in the observatory and then left.

We joined Nikki and Manu at Kabuki restaurant, a place known for their sushi. It was great catching up with the family over dinner and we cleaned off plates of yummy sushi with different flavours while enjoying hot Sake.

We ended the night relaxing with cups of green tea and home baked choco-chip cookies before crashing to sleep.


Day 4

We woke up around 9 am and got our bags packed and got dressed for our road trip to San Diego. It was sad saying goodbye to the family, especially little Samy - their 8 year old Maltese doggo.

Before leaving LA, we took a detour to check out Beverly Hills. We parked near the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons hotel. We walked around Rodeo Drive and all the high end fashion stores. We also tried some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory.

Then we drove to San Diego. Our first stop was La Jolla Cove, a beautiful stretch of cliffs, coves and beaches. We saw seals at a beach and even a baby seal with its mother swimming up to shore.


Then we drove to Urbn Leaf, a weed shop in San Diego! It was so upscale with two attended counters in the front where they enter all your identification details and 2 armed security guards. We lined up for recreational marijuana and had to wait for about 15 minutes before we got in. Inside there were so many varieties of weed and edibles too! We bought 4 pre rolled joints and a small bag of sour candy infused with weed.

Then we headed to the CSers house which was only 10 minutes away. The house party was already on. They had a BBQ going and music inside the house. We had some of our urbn leaf goods and Kamna did some karaoke later. We went to bed around 4am.

Day 5

Sunday morning we woke up around 12pm. We hit the road to drive to Flagstaff which was an 8 hour drive. We first stopped at Ocean Beach and had breakfast at OB Surf Lodge. Kamna got an eggs benedict with pulled pork and potato squares and I had avo on toast with a peanut butter banana protein smoothie.

Then we stopped at Yuma for a quick break at a Subway. We reached Flagstaff at 11pm and stayed at Mark the Couch Surfer's house.

Day 6

We woke up around 8 am and went to breakfast at a local cafe called Macy's. We passed the famous Route 66 and simply had to stop and walk back for this photo:

Then we drove to Horse Shoe Bend which was about 2 hours away. The view was out of this world. It was about 40 degrees at that time.


Then we drove to the southern rim entrance which was about 3 hrs away. We stopped at desert view watch tower. Again the view was just breathtaking. The grand canyon is so neverendingly vast. We were around 2000m above sea level. The watch tower was beautiful too with lots of viewing windows and Indian artwork.

We then drove to Grandview point which was 2200m elevation. Then we drove to a car park near the rim trail and walked down the trail to find a good sunset spot. We watched the sun set at the canyon and then watched a 40 minute presentation at an amphitheatre along the trail. The presentation was about Kolb brothers,  Emery and Ellsworth Kolb who started a photography business at the canyon in the early 1900s.

By the time we left the canyon it was 9.30pm and we were rushing to get back to the CSer. We stopped at McDonald's drive through for a quick dinner on the way.

Day 7

We woke up at 8am, said goodbye to Mark and went to Late for the Train in Flagstaff for breakfast. It was a cool cafe with breakfast burritos and merchandise. I had a classic burrito with ice cold drip coffee and Kamna had a farmer's market burrito with a mocha.

Then we drove to Hoover damn at the Arizona-Nevada state border. We walked across the memorial bridge built in 2010 for a bird's eye view of the dam. We walked over the dam later in the scorching summer heat.


We got back into the coolness of our car and drove to Las Vegas. There we checked in at the Bellagio Hotel. We spent some time by the pool side and jacuzzi and had a couple of cocktails.


Then we got dressed and went to dinner at Noodle restaurant in the hotel after which we went to the casino and tried our luck at roulette but didn't win anything. But we did get free entry and two free drinks at Hyde night club at the hotel! The club had an open porch area overlooking the fountain pond, Eiffel tower and hotels across the road. But the fountain wasn't flowing. It only ran from 3pm to 8pm on weekdays and we missed it! Anyway, we danced at the club until 3am then walked down the Las Vegas Strip,  saw the Flamingo hotel, Caesars Palace then we walked back to Bellagio and crashed into our comfortable hotel bed.

Day 8

The window blinds were so dark that when I woke up at 10 am it felt like it was still night. We slept very comfortably. We checked out of the Bellagio and wandered around the rest of the hotel. We went to the beautiful fountain and garden in the hotel and saw the world's biggest chocolate fountain.

Then we walked down to Las Vegas Strip again and got food at Chipotle in a mall. I got a burrito and Kamna got a bowl. Very good morning-after food. We walked into Sephora too and tried Rihanna's Fenty beauty makeup. I loved the blue glitter lip gloss and Kamna loved the Stila micro eye liner.

We drove to the famous welcome to Las Vegas sign about 10 minutes away and took a quick photo there. There were two Elvis lookalikes there. There was a line up to get a front view photo with the sign but we just took a photo from the side.


Then we drove to the Venetian hotel and walked down the beautiful canal mall. There were Gondolas and guides singing beautifully taking the tourists down the canal. There was a fake cloudy sky which looked beautiful.

After the Venetian we drove to the airport and flew to Houston,  TX.

We arrived Houston at 11.50pm and met Chandan uncle and Pranik for the first time in 5 years, and 13 years for Kamna! Pranik, now 16 was driving and so grown up. We briefly caught up on the drive home then got home and slept in the room downstairs.

Day 9

The next morning we ended up sleeping in pretty late - till about 12. We caught up with Chandan uncle's dad while we waited for Chandan uncle to get off work. Then we drove to Pranik's University where he was doing a part time job to pick him up. We were starving so we went to a nice Farmer's Market and gorged on yummy organic salads and other food.

Then we went to the Houston museum of fine arts. It was huge and quite interesting. It was great catching up with family friends. Then we went to an amazing chocolate dessert place called The Chocoloate Bar. We loved the place. There was lovely jazz music playing and people dancing there too. We got some yummy desserts and then decided to go get sliders and beer at Hopdoddy, a burger bar. Right opposite the place we planned to go to, we spotted a long queue for hot dogs. It looked like a really happening place and we just couldn't resist. After stuffing our faces with some pretty yummy hot dogs, we headed to the burger place. We weren't too hungry but had some beer anyway with some sliders.

We went home and watched some Rick and Morty on Netflix and then crashed into our bed in the guest bedroom.

Day 10

The next morning we woke up around 9 and left around 12 pm for our road trip to New Orleans. We stopped at a popular gas station named Buc-ee's to load up the car with snacks for the road. I got some diced watermelon in a cup and a salad to-go and Harshita grabbed some beef jerky.

Both father and son have a fantastic taste in 50s-80s American jazz and pop and the road trip was musical, and full of fun anecdotes.

The highlight of the road trip was driving through the amazing Louisiana wetlands. It was simply unfathomable how they were able to erect such highways on top of the wetlands in such long stretches. We made two more stops on the way - Menchie's for some frozen yogurt and a kebab place for dinner before checking in late at Embassy Suites by The Hilton.

We still had some time before we wanted to call it night so we drove through the gorgeous streets of the French Quarter area and stopped at Cafe Beignet for their world-famous beignets (pronounced ben-yays). It's basically like a powdered doughnut which is nice and warmed up and served best with coffee.

Day 11

We started our day early, hitting the breakfast buffet spread the hotel before checking out. We drove through French Quarters again to experience the fascinating architecture and to get a nice vibe of the jazz bands playing through the morning in old cafes.

We grabbed some Starbucks before driving out to Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours to spend the afternoon with some mean looking but sweet hearted gators. The swamp was pretty big, about 650 square kilometers and pretty humid even though we were in a fast moving boat. Our guide was very entertaining and we enjoyed learning about the natural history of the swamp while snapping hundreds of photos of the hungry alligators.

The best part was that the guide was feeding them marshmallows! There were baby gators too and when they'd leap up to catch a marshmallow, their entire bodies could be seen for just that split second. We also saw a bunch of raccoons (my first time!) and egrets and a few snakes. We also spotted some tiny lounging turtles on some fallen trees in the swamp.

Most interesting were the people lining the swamp. They were sitting at what looked like fishing outposts / outhouses mainly with lawn chairs and some of these groups had small boats, and some had dogs too! It was an authentic insight into swamp life.

For lunch we headed back to the kebab place from the night before and gorged on some delicious hummus and chicken platters before hitting the road back to Houston. We stopped at a lovely cafe called Highland Coffees in the city of Baton Rouge on the way. Baton Rouge seemed like a quiet university town, and the cafe was crowded with loner students sitting with a mac likely getting their coursework done.

We reached Chandan uncle's home late that night, exhausted from our short trip.

Day 12

We took it really easy on our last day in Houston. We started the day late, and visited the Farmer's market again to watch a live band performance and enjoy some salmon burgers. Then we walked through the actual market. Being a huge lover of fruits, I added all the exotic looking stuff I wanted to try to little plastic bags. There was a lot of interesting fruit I never tried before - kiwano from New Zealand (like Kiwis but weird looking), mango+papaya (yes! a combination), and some exotic looking peaches and pears.

We were all feeling like some dessert so we headed to Cacao and Cardamom, our second chocolate obsessed store in Houston for the trip. It was a lovely experience seeing all the artisan chocolate. I enjoyed their chili chocolate pyramid, Harshita grabbed a piece of chocolate that looked spray painted, and were both tempted to try some of their chocolate lipsticks.

Then we met up with Divya aunty, Pranik's mom, who took us to the cinema to watch Sanju, the new Sanjay Dutt movie. It was lovely catching up with Aunty after so many years and the movie itself was very emotional and entertaining. We went home and I cut up all the new fruit and then we spent some family time with Pranik, watching him play his grand piano in his amazing music room full of all kinds of instruments.

We said our goodbyes to the family and then called it an early night.

Day 13

We had a super early start to our day - Divya Aunty was sweet enough to drop us to the airport at 4 am for our flight to Newark. We flew Spirit Airlines for the second time and had a nice experience. No delays, comfortable, clean seats and great in-flight customer service. We landed in Newark around 9 am and hailed the Newark Express bus straight to Manhattan. We had to lug our bags to a souvenir store where we had booked locker space. Thereafter we relaxed at a Starbucks and then walked to the New York Public Library.

We loved the place. It was so big and so charming - like out of a book. And all about books! We first sat down for a free screening of the history of the library as well as an overview of the all the archives. If we had more time, we would have probably stayed there longer and gone through all the serious rooms. We went to the Maps room, and a room about children's books where we saw the original Winnie the Pooh teddy bear. The halls were so wonderful - like out of a 1900s ballroom with the most enchanting painted ceilings and windows.

Later, we decided to walk through Central Park to get to Gray's Papaya. We were really starving but decided to walk down anyway because the place was supposed to have New York's best hot dogs. The hot dogs were great, but we were famished so we couldn't be sure if they were the best we ever had. We also tried their papaya juice which was too sweet for our liking. Walking through New York City was lively and full of shiny distractions and even though we were tired, hungry and hot, we enjoyed our day. We also stopped to see the lovely St. Patrick's Cathedral on the way.

The highlight of our day was catching up with one of our closest and oldest school friends, Tushar. The last time I saw him was when I bunked with him in his flat in London in 2013, but Harshita saw him after 10 years! We found a nice shady spot in Central Park, got some wine and cheetos and just reminisced about the good old days and shared our life updates.

After a long day, we made our way from Central Park back to the luggage, and then to Grand Central Terminal to board the train to Stamford. We reached the station at about 10 pm and were met and picked up by our Pikumama (maternal uncle). We drove to a South Indian restaurant and met all our other family members - including our mom! It was lovely to see our mom hanging out with her family gang - the wedding troupe seemed to be having the time of their lives. We enjoyed some authentic dosas and idlis after our long day. Our sisters holiday had ended, and our family holiday had began, and we were excited for the wedding fun that was to follow.

It was well past midnight by the time we drove to our Mama's house in Fairfield, showered, chatted with family (met up with cousins after 13 years!), and got into brand new matching pyjamas I bought for myself, Harshita and mom, before slumbering off into our lovely bedrooms downstairs.

Day 14

We were prepared to have one quiet day before the wedding festivities began, and slept in comfortably before heading out with our cousin sisters Muskan and Sanjna to gobble some chicken wings. It was very nice to talk to the girls and see how they'd grown up. I'd last seen them when they were 3 and 1 respectively, and Harshita was seeing them after 5 years. Later, Mami drove us ladies to an Indian lady's house to get our eyebrows threaded. Then we came home and were relaxing in their comfortable home. Harshita developed a backache from all the driving stress she'd undergone in the days before and decided to take it easy. Meanwhile, Mama, mom and I went back to Stamford to spend the evening with my other Mami and Mama.

The family was totally excited for the wedding, and as we sat in the living room, I watched the couples and groups take their turns rehearsing for their dance performances. My mom decided to stay back with her wedding pals for the night and Mama and I drove back to Fairfield.

Day 15

The next morning began slow and sleepy for Harshita, while I woke up bright and early for an online training session with my PT. She really needed a nice massage, so our sweet Mami drove us to the mall where Harshita checked in for her massage, and we did some shopping. I got my heart's wish when I found the Stila micro liner, and my Mami picked out a cute mini dress for herself for our trip to Leesburg the next day.

Harshita was still a bit stiff after her massage, so we got some takeaway and some meds from the mall and drove home. She took a nap and started feeling better soon after. Then we all started getting dressed for the Mehendi at the bride's home that evening. It was fun getting prettied up in our Indian wear and posing for some candid boomerangs and photos with the girls.

It was quite a drive away and when we finally made it to the venue, it was nice meeting up with the bride and groom (our cousin Vishal). We took turns getting our mehndi done, whilst singing, eating, talking and dancing with the cousins and new friends from the bride's family. We were happy to be spending quality time with our cousins, and the car ride back home we sang Bohemian Rhapsody as loud as humanly possible with all our heart.

We got home to find our Mama and his close friend sipping some whiskey on the rocks by the fire and listening to some Bollywood music. We joined him for a bit, and then I decided to try out the trampoline in the backyard. Harshita was pretty tired, so she packed up and fell asleep in her room downstairs. But I had all that unspent testosterone from my early morning workout! After, I made myself a yummy hot chocolate using their coffee machine, watched an episode or two of The Office and then packed up for our trip the next morning and went to sleep myself.

Day 16

The next morning we all woke up pretty early and got dressed up and packed up the car for our long road trip to Virginia. We decided enroute to take a detour to visit the Hershey park in Hershey, Pennsylvania and of course to try some Philly cheesesteaks. Harshita really wanted to go because back home in Australia, all her friends call her "Harshi" which sounds like Hershey. Hehe!

It was fun! Another road trip with family, and no trip was complete without Starbucks! Harshita and I grabbed our trip fave - a Java Chip with no sugar and decaf. We loved Hershey before even got into town. It was so scenic - green meadows with grazing cows and lush fenced properties; just the perfect kind of utopian American town. We just had to go into the Hershey park and grab matching t-shirts and of course some chocolates to take back home. But first, we gorged on some amazing Philly cheesesteak sandwiches at The Chocolate Avenue grill in downtown Hershey. We even got some to go for our brothers Vishal and Amit.

We finally checked in to our hotel for the fine evening - the Courtyard by Marriott around 7 pm. Now we really felt the wedding fever with both families, groom's and bride's bustling through the hotel lobby. We (the groom's side) decided to head to the closest Cheesecake Factory for a jumbo family dinner and it was a lot of fun catching up with Vishal, the groom, and all cousins. We also made friends with Queenie, Vishal's cousin from Jamaica who just flew in for the wedding festivities.

It was a fun day, and we were happy to dive into our comfy hotel beds for the night and prepare ourselves for the next few days.

Day 17

That morning, it was my turn to be slow and sleepy while Harshita had a bright and early start hitting the hotel gym with Queenie, our new friend. Everyone was in a hot rush to get dressed up quickly and to check out from the hotel to check into Landsdowne Resort & Spa, the wedding venue for the next 2 days. We assumed our wedding duties as cousins and helped load up and unload the vans and cars with all the wedding gifts and party luggage. The resort was massive and on a very well maintained plush property. By the time we got into our rooms, it was time to begin getting ready for the pooja and then the Sangeet party after.

Indian weddings are a lot about great family time, a lot of music, and a lot of great food and alcohol. The Sangeet party was a ball. Harshita and I had a 10-song performance especially rehearsed for the bride and groom and we were so excited to sing for them and everyone else. The party was by poolside and the weather was perfect - nice and cool. We kept them gin and tonics comin' and the night flew by with us having a fun time on the dancefloor. Being an old lady in her twenties, I went up to bed pretty early on while Harshita kept the party alive with the cousins.

Day 18


Wedding day! Woke up and got dressed up for the wedding ceremony. We had an elaborate baraat with the groom on the horse and a lot of dancing before we reached the mandap: a divine outdoor setup with flowers and neat little chairs leading up to the mandap-stage. We took to our name-matched seats and what I found really meaningful was that each seat was given a sheet of paper describing exactly what was to take place on the mandap and what each of the rituals meant and their significance in defining the bond of marriage.  It was hands down the most beautiful wedding ceremony I ever attended. Peaceful, sweet, and such a nice sunny day.


During the ceremony, wedding duty called for us sisters to assemble a bunch of flowers on the groom's car. It was like a fun time-bound math puzzle; working backwards from how many flowers we had and calculating what would go on which side of the car. Pleased with our effort, we rejoined the ceremony. Later, we shot a whole bunch of family photos and selfies, and then went to enjoy the lunch buffet.

The wedding reception wasn't until much later that evening. So, finding time on our hands, a group of us girls leapt at the opportunity to chill by the pool with some cocktails and fries. It was a lovely sunny day and I decided then and there that I needed to go for an early morning swim the next morning before we checked out.



The evening was a blur between getting our hair done, eating fries, and redoing our eyeliner before we were all set to welcome the new couple at the final event. The new couple, Vishal and Aditi looked stunning and like they were made for each other as they did their first dance as a married couple for the guests. Just like all events so far, the reception was grand, very well organised, and with a great food & drinks setup. I crept away to the comfort of my bed with my mom once again before the regular adults began the afterparty.

Day 19

As decided, I woke up bright and early for some alone time relaxing by the pool. I managed a run of 15 laps before snoozing in the sunkissed jacuzzi. Worth the tan? Hells yeah! After a quick breakfast, we got all our bags down. Our last day checking out at the resort was almost as chaotic as the check-in, but there was a tired smile on everyone's face for a wedding weekend well executed as planned.

We huddled up in a car with Vishal, Neha (another of Vishal's cousins) and Queenie and set the road trip playlist to "shuffle." Our plan was to make a pitstop with the rest of the groom's party at Washington DC before heading back into Connecticut.

We reached DC around 2 pm and checked into Starbucks for our good old cup of Java chip cold coffee. We walked together, one jingbang family headed towards the White House, led by Vishal and Amit. The White House was just like in the movies, heavily guarded, very elegant and distant, even though we were pretty close. It was hilarious: there was a man dressed up like Trump right in front of the White House making money off impressions and stuff.

Since we were at the White House, even though we were off track on our planned time in getting home, we still walked up and checked out the Capitol and spent some time having ice lollies at Lincoln Memorial. The brothers were kind enough to help us aunties by bringing the cars around. Queenie had plans to continue on from DC with her friends, so we said our goodbyes and set off for our trip back home to Stamford.  We stopped on the way at Five Guys, for their popular burgers and fries combo which was really good, perfect after our night of drinking and walking around in the day.

It was great bonding with Vishal and Neha in the car on the way back, and I remember feeling really sad about the trip coming to an end and watching the sunset while listening to John Mayer. We finally reached home around midnight and collectively collapsed after quick hot showers.

Day 20

With the wedding over, it really felt like the trip was over, and since we just had 1 day left, we decided to spend the day with our mom, Mama and Mami in New York City and take home as many memories as we could. It was a day for goodbyes. Vishal was leaving to head back to the city where he lived and then Pikumama and Mami came over with all our stuff. It was sad that we didn't get a chance to say our goodbyes to the girls, but we spoke to them over the phone, and Muskan even sent us friendship bands she made for us herself. It was very sweet and thoughtful.

On our last trips in '04 and '05, we'd seen all the cool points of interest like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, so this time we planned to do things like a local would instead. We began our day in the city by heading over to the Brooklyn bridge. Somewhere close by, we found parking and left the car there. Harshita rented a bike and biked over the length and back on the bridge while I walked with the family. The skyline was quite a view from the bridge, and being a Monday, it wasn't too crowded besides the tourists.


After the Brooklyn bridge we walked to the 9/11 Memorial where we paid our respects to the lives that were lost in the tragedy. Thereafter, we headed to a mall food court and grabbed some mexican food and dessert. Then, we booked an Uber to visit Chelsea market. Before we went to the market, we took a quick detour to do the High Line. It's a very nice elevated walkway where a lot of artsy stuff happens, and where one can sit on a bench and take their midday meals. Chelsea market was a wonder market - a lot of little stalls underground selling different kinds of artisan food and things. We loved the vibe of the place and were so glad we could tick it off our list. It was nice to imagine what life would be like if one lived in the city. Central park on the weekends, biking on the bridge in the mornings, and visiting the little farmer's markets scouring the best produce whenever one felt like it.

We had to say goodbye to our Pikumama and Janu Mami which was sad, and then we got another Uber to visit Tushar one last time before leaving. We went to his flat that he shares with his partner Patrick, and it was lovely catching up again, talking about our lives and making plans to meet again soon. We called for some authentic aloo rolls for dinner and drank a fair bit of white wine before hailing yet another Uber to take us home in Stamford.

Both of us packed all our stuff and called it an early night for we had to wake up super early the next morning for Harshita's flight.

Day 21

Our morning began before the light broke, with both sisters showering, eating cereal, and very sad and tearful goodbyes with mom, Shalu Mami and Raju Mama. It was sadder still for us sisters, and sleepy, sitting in the Uber that was taking us to JFK, knowing that we would only see each other again in Jan next year.

I dropped her off at the airport, checked in my luggage in the airport locker facility, and caught the AirTrain to Penn station. My flight was that afternoon, so I decided to make the most of my time by doing some last minute shopping for folks back home as well as have a New York City experience of my own. I saw the city by foot, the best way to do it really, and my first pitstop was Bed, Bath and Beyond. Having enjoyed my IKEA experience in Australia, I was pretty excited about this. But I was disappointed as it wasn't really a huge outlet, and had only basic shelved inventory, where I was imagining full-blown living room setups. I really had to pee then, so I found the closest toilet in a mall nearby.

Later, I walked up to the closest Trader Joe's. God damn I fell in love with that place! I wish we had one in India, I would only ever shop there. I went a little crazy shopping for office people and even got myself some treats for the plane. By the time I was finished I was pretty hungry and I planned then and there to grab a chicken and rice combo from the nearby foodstalls like a local would. I wanted to sit in a park so I found the nearest one, Greeley Square Park and got myself a nice diet coke for my last proper cheat meal before home and reality.

The heavy duty meal of rice and chicken was perfectly appetizing and made me so sleepy. I walked myself back to Penn station and found myself at JFK, snoozing away at my gate 2 hours before departure. And that, guys, is how my 21 day American trip came to an end.

Wow, I think this has to be my longest post yet. I started writing from the Houston day till now, and it's been 4 hours! A Saturday evening well spent? I think so.