Adventures of a Former New Yorker Visiting New York - Part 1

I moved away from NY 12 years ago. You perspective can change over that time and I can tell you - it has!

When you live somewhere and are immersed in that environment it's difficult to notice what it unique about it. I never noticed these things about NY until I moved away for a while.

Now they smack me in the face!

The Journey Begins

The plan was to go up to NY for a few weeks and spend time with family and all the good friends I have that are still living there.

However, I made a pit stop on the way to see another good NY friend that relocated as well.

Charleston? I thought this was about New York!

Charleston, SC was my first stop. Quick plane ride from FLL to CHS and I landed at about 7pm on a Thursday expecting to grab some dinner with my friend and his wife. A nice chill night where we could catch up and gear up for a wild Friday night.

Err, nope! After picking me up, my buddy and I went straight to the bar to meet his wife and co-worker at happy hour...Ugh, here we freaking go!

Some craft beer and then some more craft beer it was!

Here is Mike, his wife and me taking a moment for a pic while waiting for the waitress to bring another round. Bad influences, I tell ya! :-)

A Glimpse Into Married Life

Given we had plans for Friday evening, we headed back to the house at a decent hour. Mike and I stopped to pick up dinner and his wife went straight home to feed the dog.

We decided to stop at a Chinese place for something quick and easy. Mike called his wife to see what she wanted. We ordered and when the guy at the counter gave us the total I paid him. They had picked up the drinks so it was the least I could do.

The cost of the food was on the low side though!

I wasn't sure what he had ordered so just assumed the place had good deals.

Well, when we arrived home I quickly found out why the price was good. They didn't include his wife's order!

Two meals, three people. No Bueno!

His wife was none to happy and I wish I could have got a picture of the look on her face. Of course Mike got ribbed about it the rest of the evening. It was hilarious for me, at least!

Let Day Two Commence

Mike left his car for me and had the wife drop him at work, so that was cool. I chilled out with their dog Bailey while working on the final edit of my book (thank god that is finally done and published).

I'm allergic to a lot of dogs but tend to do better with the short haired ones. He was a boxer so even though there was hair EVERYWHERE it didn't smoke me to bad.

Here is a pic of their dog (cause I know everyone always wants a pic of the freaking dog..lol)

Quitting Time

Five o'clock came fast and I headed to pick up Mike and meet up with his friends at happy hour. I know most of these guys already. We had hung out for my buddy's bachelor party cruise and the wedding. It was cool catching up with them.

They also have come to expect comments from me as such:

• "Hell, I need to move to Charleston! All you schleps have pretty wives and girlfriends, what the hell?!"

It made for some good comeback jokes and of course all the ladies didn't mind the complement.

Anyway, happy hour turned into Friday night and we ended up at a pub called - Madra Rua Irish Pub.

It was at this pub I saw his friends order a drink I had never seen before. It consisted of two beers I enjoy!

Half Guiness Half Blue Moon = Mind Blown!

The hell if I remember what they called it, but it was delicious despite me thinking it would be a horrible combo. I probably didn't need to drink a second one.

Shortly after we all finally headed home.....

That is when I thought to myself. I need to be on a plane at 9am tomorrow in order to reach NY in time for a big family BBQ. A BBQ that I usually rest up for because it can turn into a bit of a sh*t show!

And here I am coming into it beat up already....this is gonna be interesting!

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Part Two will finally bring us to New York and the adventures that laid waiting there......see ya soon!

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Regards,
Mitchell J
Pics in this post were taking by me or my friends (but more likely my friends)