New York
Missed Sam and his better half in the morning as I ended up in a 45 minute line at Russ and Daughters. Their bagels are worth it, but still... oops. Next stop was to catch up with Sam and Parveen. Had what Parveen said was the best meal of the trip at Tonchin-- casual, contemporary Japanese. Make your own hand rolls and some pleasantly rich ramen with beautiful char siu. The booths are comfortable for smaller parties, while they have a bar and several longer tables for others.
Said farewell to the Chos after lunch. Was great to see them after almost two years (if only we could get COVID-19 under control, *sigh*)... not sure when we'll do this again, but hopefully it won't take two moree years.
The Newark Airport Express bus is efficient as always, and it's nice to be dropped off directly at the terminal, even if it is still subject to getting stuck in traffic. Food inside the United Club remains awful, with no sign of the hot dogs other travelers have reported, but I guess that worked out by saving me from calories I didn't need to be eating. Finally, the return flight ended up in PremiumPlus (rather than Polaris) as my upgrade didn't go through, but at least the meals still come on real plates and silverware? And the Thai chicken noodle they serve is still surprisingly edible despite looking like barf-- and having not eaten since lunch, this worked out.