Flight #19 - The Yuppie Spaniard

On my flight from London Heathrow to New York on the 15th of March the flight was full - unfortunately. Luckily I got an aisle seat as I was out early but I did get someone sitting directly next to me.

The person sitting next to me was a young man in the 35 year age who was from Spain. He had sat in the wrong seat to start out with so moved next to me just as the last passenger entered. He had left his magazines at his previous seat so he had to stretch across the aisle to get them as well and it was quite a mix of magazines. From Stuff, to Politics to Economist to Comics.

He was a nice considerate flight buddy though. While he accidently turned on the light because the light was in the seperator, that was the length with which he annoyed me which isn't bad for an almost 8 hour flight.

Raul as I will call him was dressed very properly, I think he was a consultant or a banker. Probably based in Europe but going over to work in New York. He didn't have that US loudness so that's why I think he still lived in Europe. Clearly he didn't travel all that often because he sat in the wrong seat to start out with.

Other than that, it was a bit strange because nobody seemed to be sitting in their seats , they decided to sit in others. Someone wanted a window seat, somebody wanted to sit next to their partner, there were a bunch of couples that said they were going to get married and had been seperated. Crazy huh.

US Pictures

So as promised, here are some pics from my time in the US last week. I was in Austin and New York.

The US is one special place. At our company event they had snacks on the tables and the snacks were....

Pretzels filled with peanut butter? Really??? How healthy is that? And what kind of a combination is that. And were we guinea pigs to test on?

No wonder the country is full of people like this that I pictured at the airport when I arrived.

The US is really a world of extremes. Nothing depicts that as this picture does. An obese woman next to one that clearly takes care of themselves. Probably have completely different financial situations. But she can still afford some pretty hot shoes. :-)

And on the other hand, there are environmentalists all around...

Like this on the back of the lid to my youghurt. "when I saw a river catch on fire from a chemical spill." How many people see that? That's crazy.

So after a good time in Austin where I shopped till I dropped... literally --- I headed to New York to visit my sister Antonia (aka Antonio :-p). Here's a pic of her.

We went to have breakfast at a place near her home in Greenwich village. The place was called Miss Lily's and is on W. Houston street. I'd definitely recommend the Jerk Pork Belly Hash... mmm mmm.. a bit spicy but real good.

This is how it made me feel. :-)

Earlier that weekend I met up with a good friend of mine, Krille, a Swede living in London who I met when I lived in Vienna. What a guy. Always makes me feel fantastic.

I also met up with my friend Pratap for lunch on Monday at a great place called Gobo Restaurant on the Upper East Side. It is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and had some great food. I'd recommend the bubble tea as well if you get the chance. Pratap let me know that the Smoothies there were really good.

So all in all, a great weekend in New York and Austin.