Union, New Jersey: Day 1 and 2

I finally get to Union, New Jersey and wait at the AVE Housing Complex. It is almost hotel like. Actually it is Hotel like. It is abut 5 PM. My friend Roberto (Tito: nickname) is coming in at around 7:30 PM so in the meantime I go into the guest/lobby area and lounge about, watch TV, blog and stare at the swimming pool outside.

Tito is from Bolivia. I met him through our mutual friend Srikanth from Roanoke, Virginia and when I went to Barcelona, Spain he gave me great tips which I benefited from. So it was great to see him again and thank him in person. He is currently staying in New Jersey temporarily on a project, otherwise he would be residing in Roanoke, Virginia.

We visit his favorite restaurant Tiff's Burger and Ale House a few blocks away.

Oh yeah, we went dressed in our football teams jerseys. His team Spain is out of the World Cup. My team is still in - and if you are wondering, it is and has always been Brazil since I was 8 years old. I do root for America almost as passionately as Brazil - however they are my second team.

Tito and I order some food and beer and catch up from where we left off. Later the owner of the bar Shaun gives us a free round of beers and thanks Tito for being a loyal customer.

We head back to the apartment and go to his balcony, and the view of the pool is amazing.

Night time

Day time

It is getting late, and Tito has to get up early. I am so grateful for not only his advice of things to do in Barcelona, but him willing to put me up for a night or two and buying me dinner. Plus it is great when you have a apartment complex that gives you complimentary breakfast. Thanks Tito. It was amazing!

The next day he gets up and heads out early to work at 6:30 ish AM. I get up when I feel like and after I get ready I head over to the lobby/guest area for some delicious complimentary continental breakfast. It is FREE so I'm definitely happy to indulge.

I stock up a pile of 'continental breakfast' get back to his room and then out to the balcony to enjoy the warm weather and get some blogging done and buy a airline ticket using my points from Seattle to New Orleans and back.

I meet Marwan the lifeguard who like me is an immigrant. He is from Egypt and came to the US when he was 8 years old and now is a citizen. As we share stories of our journey to the US I discover that he wants to also travel the US on a road trip and I tell him about the blog post I read to travel the contiguous US in 113 hours.

And HE MIGHT ACTUALLY DO IT with his friends. Looking forward to hearing from him if it happens in a month or two.

I get back to blogging and notice that the internet speed is really really really slow. This is a good time to get out and visit my friend Joga in Verona, New Jersey. So after a few texts with Joga I head on out.

Expenses: $5.00
Airline ticket taxes: $5.00