[Divya Sharan]

What land is foreign? None. I'm foreign, the traveler!

*Synopsis.*
An opportunity presented itself at quite short a notice for me to visit NYC and I grabbed it with all my limbs.


*Prominent characters in the story.*
@drivebyfire, aka Sid who was the co-conspirator in this trip (Two buddies, one Mustang and a road-trip to the best driving roads in the USA), sorry for the shameless plug.
And yours truly, DS!


*Setting of the story arc.*
What could one expect during the first 20 days of March across North-Eastern US? What would the weather patterns be?

Let us ask Google.





Modern systems are so accurate with predictions and patterns nowadays and Google largely gets things right, except for when it doesn't, because the weather in reality (to our delight) was like this.




*Plot.*

Mahatma Gandhi once said, I first learned the concept of nonviolence in my marriage.

DS gets the man's point now, having been married a year. Sid is married too, hence this trip brought out emotions and discussions the two had never had before and added another dotted tile to the mosaic floor, they call friendship.

Barely after a week of planning and reservations (short notice you see), DS landed in the US.

Naah, not so quick! Frankfurt first.

DS chose to fly into NYC via Frankfurt, Germany. The city is located around the river Main, and is such a beauty to look at, from up above (the world so high, like a diamond in the..... err.... sorry).





But once landed, DS had to switch from one giant metal tube into another and boy was that a giant pain in the gluteus maximus!
Thanks to COVID and innumerably closely spaced departing flights, the entire airport was swarmed with a beeline of people. DS joined the line and moved barely 5 feet in 30-35 odd minutes. His next boarding was to close in the next 25 min and he couldn't be a mere spectator. He decided to push against people and managed reaching at the front where he was greeted by an extremely rude shiny headed gent. He proceeded to push DS to the back, but DS was adamant and shoved his boarding pass across the gent's face. Nothing was said and DS was let through to security checking counters.

Never has gymming felt so beneficial. Security check plus running with luggage from terminal Z13 to Z69 and yet managing to reach within 4-5 minutes of boarding gates closing without having a heart attack was the most blissful experience in Germany.

What followed was peaceful sleep.
Big thanks to the firm for booking business class tickets throughout, the difference is easily felt in terms of comfort.

Less than 10 hours later, DS landed in NYC and immigrations at the POE were a breeze.

Each time DS and Sid have traveled together, some kela (sh!t happens moment) always followed!
Would this trip be any different, for a change?

Time to book a cab from JFK to World Trade Centre, beside which was the pre-booked hotel.

Uber appeared to be extremely costly at 300+ USD for the trip while Lyft was substantially cheaper.

Let's try adding the company card for starters and if not, I shall use my own credit card for expenses. What can go wrong, especially after landing at JFK, trying to book a cab?





I tried adding my own credit card thereafter, which immediately got blocked for 1 day because it was deemed as a potential fraudulent transaction, due to the change of geographies.

If anything can go wrong, it will! - Murphy uncle.

DS then attempted availing a NY taxi, after waiting in queue for quite long. He managed getting into a sexy black Suburban driven by a Bengali gent.

Look at the ODO on the car! :o





1 hour and an eye-watering 250 USD later, one could find DS waiting at the lift to his 41st floor accommodation, situated merely 100 meters away from the spot where WTC towers used to be!

41st floor near the WTC you say?

Views from DS' room.

WTC observatory from one window.



Financial District skyline from another (window).

[Divya Sharan]

Now that jet lag hit DS properly and he couldn't sleep at nights, he started strolling around the streets at midnights or extremely early mornings. This phenomenon continued for a couple of weeks and just as he managed to settle down with the US clock, it was time to return back!

DS was accumulating nearly 20,000 steps everyday and boy was it fun! It simply made the 100k steps a week seem rather tame in comparison!

So, where did DS roam and what pics did he take? Here are a few!

A rough depiction of areas spent walking around.

















One of the many beauties seen in NYC.



A couple shots taken from office.

Overlooking New Jersey.



Overlooking Manhattan.



DS was set to meet Sid in Boston a day later when it suddenly snowed a little in NYC. Until then, temperatures hovered between the usual 3 degrees to 10 degrees centigrade!

Could it mean he was in for some sheer bit of luck?

News.

[Divya Sharan]

Boston was a FlixBus away and soon DS and Sid were reunited after 3 years.

The plan for the weekend was simple - drive to an ass numbing cold place and buy an eye watering phone for the missus!

Sid opined that DS had indeed visited around the right weekend, because March otherwise isn't so bite-y.

The plan was to visit Laconia and beyond (New Hampshire) but because of the sheer depth of snow in the region already, both nuts limited their adventures within bounds - another up/down side of marriage.

Travel to Boston was slow and took ~7 hours instead of the usual 5!

Sid picked DS from the bus stop and both drove home to a sumptuous dinner, lovingly prepared by A, Sid's better 90%! How refreshing was the food, after a week of sandwiches and pasta. Even a non food craver like DS couldn't resist over-indulging at the dinner table.
All 3 chit chatted for a while and decided to call it a day! The temperature outside was nearing zero on the scale and was already sub-zero in the feels.



It was going to be a restless sleep for DS, who was only wondering how thick of a snow blanket was he going to witness in just a few hours.

Being an early riser, DS waited a couple of hours for Sid to wake up and get ready, meanwhile ogling at pictures of New Hampshire region in the snow.

Who says prayers aren't answered?



It was raining already early morning in Boston.





Sid and DS head straight into the snow and decided to drive until it was no longer safe to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC8ZrWj9WdU

They drove till Laconia (New Hampshire) before the sheet of ice got too thick and DS started shivering beyond measure.

Not to bore you further, please treat your eyes with icy captures.

At a supermarket of sorts, where we stopped for a loo break en-route Laconia.



Soon, it started snowing and needless to say, DS was loving every single moment of the drive.

Remember Mator, from Cars movie?



DS and Sid had a follower for quite a while in the snowscapes.



How the roads looked, for the most part.













DS and Sid then entered a secluded parking lot in the area and then started frolicking around like children.

The vegetation was white.





Parked cars were white.



DS then came up with an idea, without looking up the internet/cheating from saved photos - try and recreate, by memory; the photos from 2019 where they drove a rented Mustang to Grayson Highlands Park, Virginia and this is what happened!





The originals, for reference.





This felt so realistic to DS, for he works in Retail Commerce.





Soon, they scooted off to the interior belts of the region and parked around a lovely bridge on one side and white jungle on the other.





Sid, enjoying the hoodie.



Underclad DS, regretting his choices of warm covering.

[Divya Sharan]

Views around were beautiful, snow-plowers out in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rAcEki_WZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfnwAUlege4

A few shots of the water body across the bridge, mentioned in the previous post. This place gave both nuts to take a few pictures.









Fooling around for a couple of hours in the glute numbing cold, it was decided to head back home and head towards the Genuis Shop to buy an eye watering phone.

Leaving the snow clad town.





As DS and Sid drove out of Laconia towards Boston, snow gave way to rain.



Always nice to see cars we recognize instantly!



Boston skyline, in the dark. This would be revisited the next morning, before DS left back for NYC.



View outside Sid's home, at night. Snow snow everywhere!



Next morning, Sid and A decided to take DS to Winthrop, after getting a swift car wash. It was dirty after the previous day's outing.

DS had never before experienced an automated car wash and this was nothing short of magical for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUX_hKYDcqo

Washing done, it was time to Winthrop.

En-route.





This area is very posh and cold due to gusts of winds blowing by the water body almost all the time. Boston Airport is visible and so is the skyline.

Boston skyline as seen from Winthrop.



Selfie time, with A in tow! And yeah, DS replaced his stupid scarf with Sid's spare cap.



This is how close planes flew over (landing in Boston).





A couple of mobile zoom shots (taken by Sid).





Planes were so close to the ground that one almost hit Sid.



Soon, they left for brunch as DS' time had come, err, hey heeyyy - time to head back to work at NYC had come.

Some shots from uptown Boston, where they had food at a desi establishment.







Soon, DS was on his FlixBus, back to New York. There are no pictures of the last hour because as always, there was sadness in the air but many many more positive memories to carry forward. Until the next time buddy!

[Divya Sharan]

Few of the vehicles seen, during the trip (NYC + Boston). Can you identify them all?
P.S : few images are repeated from previous posts.

































DS landed back in Bangalore after Holi, yet he didn't forget the celebrations with one of his dear ones!



*End Credits*
Massive thanks to Sid and A for welcoming me at their home and especially to Sid for being an awesome friend.
Cheers to the friendship and sorry for the 2 months delay in posting the vlog.

<DS out>

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Amrik Singh]

Reading the narrative and viewing the pics, you seem to have missed our presence all the time. Looks like we were a part of the trip. Beautifully presented.

[Divya Sharan]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the swift approval mod saab!

Originally Posted by Amrik Singh

Reading the narrative and viewing the pics, you seem to have missed our presence all the time. Looks like we were a part of the trip. Beautifully presented.

Thanks. I did my best in the time I could spare for the log. There were so many things in mind when I started the log (around April 1st week) but then work caught up like crazy.

Glad to know that you could relate with; and enjoy the severely time-limited version as well.

[ksakotai]

Brings back memories. 15 years in Derry, NH and I still remember the 3 feet of snow in our driveway I often had to navigate in order to get to work in Financial District in Boston.

[Divya Sharan]

Originally Posted by ksakotai

Brings back memories. 15 years in Derry, NH and I still remember the 3 feet of snow in our driveway I often had to navigate in order to get to work in Financial District in Boston.

Glad you could relate and always fun to reminisce on such beautiful memories.