"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us."
--John Steinbeck
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- To escape the "lackluster" day-long rainy Saturday (May 13) in the Big Apple, my friend Demetrio and I spent a fruitful day at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
"The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow whole day. We need to relax once in a while," volunteered Demetrio, a salesman, while we were killing time and watching a chess match in the Queen's Elmhurst Park Friday (May 12) afternoon.
It's not about the trip's "pleasure" why this article was made. It's the accidental journey, the abrupt decision to hit the bus early in the morning and come back in a dreary metropolis at 7:30 in the evening.
More importantly, it's about the lesson and how fruitful was the journey that helped snap the otherwise jaded and stressful week leading to the unplanned state-to-state trip.
"Saturday with Demetrio" was a subtle crash course about healthy living, life after retirement age, how to economize, how to live a simple life, how to deal with man's freakish behaviors, what to eat and what food to avoid in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, why journalists are non-combatants and why they should be spared from violence, why we should regularly take a laboratory test, how to fight gambling addiction, why we should have a regular exercise, and about family.
ROUND-TRIP
We paid $13 each for the round-trip in a Chinese-run bus that left Elmhurst Park at 9:17 o'clock Saturday morning.
Two hours later, we arrived in one of the largest and most modern hotel-casinos in the United States, with 364,000 square feet (33,800 square meters) of gambling space located on 240 acres (97 ha) along the banks of the Thames River.
As we disembarked from the bus, hotel staff gave us three certificates each--one for a free buffet meal worth $20 and two for the casino table games worth $25 each. Not bad for a $13 round-trip fare.
We had a meeting of the minds. Our purpose was not to gamble but to "ransack" the salubrious buffet area. We went straight to where the action was: the tsibugan galore.
It's a world-class Seasons Buffet featuring nearly 800 seats for the ultimate dining experience.
There were live action cooking stations with an endless array of scrumptious selections featuring fare from around the world like BBQ St. Louis Ribs, Baked Mini Rigatoni Bolognaise and Stir fried Baby Bok Choy.
FAVORITES
Some of the traditional Seasons favorites were Rotisserie Turkey Breast and a new sweet treat Peach Raspberry Trifle.
Demetrio and I immediately "went into action" and availed the buffet room's comfortable and stylish digs.
We had a choice of 106 flavored beverages from the first Coca-Cola Freestyle soda system. Again, not bad for a $13 round-trip fare.
We feasted on Japanese Sushi, suimono soup, wagashi, veggies, fruits, pizzas, Vanilla ice cream with strawberry. We ordered hot tea--black for Demetrio and green for me.
A $5 tip was enough "to make the waitress happy," hissed Demetrio.
When we arrived back in the Big Apple it was around 7:30 in the evening and we parted ways.
Rain hadn't stop until midnight. It was a priceless trip. Worth remembering.
Thank God for the "Saturday with Demetrio." APV.
