I’m on my way to New York right now, on the Quiet Car of the Acela. It’s kind of nice. I have my earbuds in, listening to music, but at least there’s nobody near me yakking on their cell phone. Those are the rules. It is a “library-like” atmosphere.

What am I doing going to NewYork? Well it’s time for some much-deserved time off. For the first time since 2008 I’m financially solvent enough to go on a comfortable vacation. 

Let me define “comfortable”: 
Not taking the cheapest, and therefore most cramped, mode of transportation
Not staying in a hostel and having to share a communal bathroom down the hall
Not having to stock my room with groceries (typically apples, bagels and single-serve cheeses) in order to avoid pricey restaurants

So I’m rolling into NYC on the Acela, not one of Amtrak’s regionals. It costs a little more, but it’s new, less crowded (due to ticket pricing, no doubt) and there’s a man that brings a cart around do you don’t have to go to the Cafe Car. I purchased a Heineken, btdubs, for $6.25.

I’m staying at Paramount in midtown. It’s an average of about $250 a night. But I have my own bathroom in a bedroom that I don’t have to flip the mattress over to check for bedbugs. I’m on the 18th floor with a fab south-facing view. 

Now, if the Internet existed in 1990 I could link to an entirely different post involving Paramount, New Year’s Eve, a broken heart, a determination to not let New York defeat me and a one Mr. Jason Nunan. 

But that was then. This is