The Adventure Begins!

The adventure begins...  That's not really true.  I think that life is -or can be?- an adventure, no matter where you are, and I certainly don't feel that my adventure is just beginning, but I'm at the airport, on my way to India and then Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia...  who knows where... and so this seems like a better example of the traditional form of "adventure."  We packed up our NYC apartment, dropped everything in our parents' basements (and had a wonderful week with them), said a very tearful goodbye to the puppy, and headed back to NY with one backpack each to catch our flight to Delhi.  On the way I remembered that there was a vegan restaurant (Horizons) in Philly that I had always wanted to try, so we detoured - our first detour of the trip! - and had a really amazing dinner.  Definitely check it out if you are in (or near) Philly.  The food was imaginative and delicious, beautiful presentation and hearty portions.  The atmosphere was a bit cold, as was most of the staff, but our waiter was quite nice and helpful.  Quite possibly one of the best meals I have ever had, and we didn't even try any of their signature dishes.
We had two nights in NY before we left, the first we optimistically decided to spend in our empty apartment.  The only things left in the apartment were the various recycling items and some cleaning supplies, so I cut open an empty cardboard box and set it out on the floor as a pad, then made a sort of mattress out of plastic bags (it was almost big enough for my torso), layered the three shirts and three pairs of pants, small Shamwow and yoga towel I had packed for the trip.  It made a pretty good bed or the first three minutes, and after that it was just better than the floor.  The radiator had been off for about a week, so it was also freezing, but the next night a dear friend gave us a warm bed to sleep in and now we are off!

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