It's amazing how wonderfully short a direct flight to the East Coast is: 7.5 hours! That's it. I mean, I landed in New York and it was still a normal time to be awake, moving around and eating according to my bio. clock. It wasn't until I'd gotten all the way to Williamstown (after subway connections to Penn Station and Amtrack to Albany) that I started to feel the effects of my trip. Such a difference compared to flying from Spain to California--half the distance.
I was feeling like quite the savvy traveler, yesterday when I finally made it here to Willamstown. I still find such pleasure and pride in making my way successfully to my destination, especially when I'm "all by myself". I guess it's sort of a leftover from when my mom or a travel agent or teacher made trip arrangements, and although I've traveled quite a lot on my own it still makes me feel good when I can navigate the NY subway system and arrive with time to spare to catch the train I booked to Albany (online in Spain).
I opted to celebrate my independence and superb navigational skills with a smoothie in Penn Station. I haven't had a smoothie for over a year...except for one or two I've made at home. They're not something easy to come by in Spain. So I decided it was a good welcome to the US treat. Once at the counter to order, I remembered how crazy this country is: the "small" was bigger than I actually wanted! People wonder about obesity problems here? It's not that everyone eats McDonald's or Burger Kind (though that helps), it's that even if you go "healthly" and order a smoothie, you're drinking more calories than you should or need to! I can't believe I used to suck down a large...
This is the girl who went from grande lattes at Starbucks to shot glass cafe con leche. But perhaps that answers a question many people have asked since I moved to Spain: how have you lost so much weight?? I've classically blamed it on the health benefits of olive oil, but really it's probably got more to do with a cut back in portion size.
So many more impressions and comments now that I'm on the outside looking in, but we're getting ready to head out for breakfast. I'm starting to get hungry...it is past lunch time in Spain at the moment.
love you
Welcome back to the good ol' USA! Mom's looking forward to seeing you next week "special Mother, Daughter, best friend" Time.
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Dad
I went to Burgerville yesterday for dinner, and I had the same problem! I wanted to get kid size fries, but the regular were actually cheaper, and she didn't want to give me kid size since I paid for more. I far prefer going out to eat with someone else so that we can split things like fries, shakes, etc. I'm working on scaling back my portion size (mostly to lose some weight), and it is difficult.
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