What started out as a comfortable walk from Times Square to the Guggenheim Museum ended up as being a sweaty, knee-jarring, and crowd-jostling hell of a trek.

Instead of the expected 3 miles, I must have walked for about 4 miles. The GPS on my iPhone was fine, but it took time for it to realign with NESW cardinal points, resulting in my either taking the wrong block around or wrong turn through Central Park.

Compounding the discomfort was the load that my cargo pants was carrying: 1 liter bottle of water, 428 gm Mophie Powerstation battery, iPhone, bag of Cheetos, 5 Ricola cough drops, house/car keys, receipts, tickets to Broadway shows and a pound of soaked-up sweat.

Thus, pulling up my pants became such as a struggle as I hurried from shade to shade. I had to use both hands inside pockets to hold them up. Why I didn’t bring a belt with me was not what I needed to hear from my alter ego or anyone at that moment.

I finally made it to the museum. Being famished, I went straight to the Café and had a chicken salad sandwich and NYC beer for $33.50!

I waved to the tourists on open-top buses as I snarfed up my expensive sandwich and drank what amounted to be $2-gulp-each of my beer.

I then leisurely enjoyed the museum’s awesome Frank Lloyd Wright’s design and its collections/exhibitions.

As I exited the museum that I had wanted to see all these years, I took a deep breath, dreading the walk back.

Tracing my steps back to Times Square was not as bad at first.

The load on my cargo pants lightened up since I emptied out the 1-liter bottle of water, ignoring the fact that the load got replaced by what I just ingested.

Had to hang on to the empty bottle for an extended period, wondering why there were no trash cans anywhere in Central Park.

After what seemed to be an endless walk, I decided to take a bus.

Being unfamiliar with NYC’s bus system, I waved down the first bus that came along. I tried to make sense of what the bus driver told me and walked back two streets per his instructions.

Because of the long wait and continued unfamiliarity with the bus system, I decided to continue walking instead.

Unfortunately, there weren’t too many comforting shades to rush to and the beating of the noonday sun just made the trek back even more taxing.

Adding to the discomfort was following a guy who was loudly carrying on a conversation with someone on his smart phone.

It would have been entertaining had he spoken in English, but it sounded like he was either speaking in Portuguese or some Middle-Eastern dialect. Walking past him or crossing the street to avoid him was not the added effort to take at that moment.

Fortunately he went to a different direction after following him for several streets.

I turned on Josh Grobin’s “Stages” on my iPhone to while away my agonizing trek back. Singing with him somewhat helped in mentally ignoring the struggle.

After several endless streets, I stopped to locate the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts on my GPS. Showing what appeared to be locations very far from where I was, I ceased my hankering for the treats.

But, as I gazed up to continue with my walk, I noticed that to my immediate right was a Dunkin’ Donuts! How my GPS failed to single out that branch was beyond me. Although my stupidity could not be avoided from the equation.

Having gotten what I wanted, I found a nearby outdoor chair and table to enjoy my two (2) donuts and hot chocolate.

With a smile on my face, I watched people, cars/buses, etc., passing by me. As the nice cool breeze in the shade eased up the discomfort from the walk, I felt so lucky and blessed to be alive. “How many billions of people would want to be in my place right now? Enjoy the moment, Romeo”, I told myself.

Having enjoyed my brief reverie, I stood up, threw my trash into a nearby trash can and offered my seat and table to a friendly Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour seller who initially wanted the accommodation, but gave it to me instead. He politely refused the offer as we smiled at each other.

Feeling more comfortable now, I continued with my walk. The sight of Times Square ahead of me was such a relief and the full belly continued to be successful in holding up my cargo pants.

I made it back to my hotel room, feeling victorious in completing the adventure that I set out for the day.

As I disrobed to take a cleansing, cooling and refreshing shower, I was faced with the fact that I had to do something with my favorite cargo pants to keep them up.

Measures to address the issue rushed through my mind as I was taking a shower.

Right after toweling off and talc-powdering, a bright idea came to mind. What about creating a belt out of plastic bags?

Excited about the idea, I pulled out Walgreen’s bags that I saved and fashioned a belt out of them. Having one fully made, I tested it out and was happy that it was to my liking.

Buying a belt would have been the easiest and instinctive recourse, but not for moi.

First of all, being a cheapskate, getting a new belt without my 30% off Kohl’s coupon was definitely a no-no!

Secondly, I have always been driven by my creative impulses and there was nothing comparable to making-do with what was available at that moment in time.

Besides, there would not have been a funny anecdote to write home about.

So, there!