New York

[Pubey]

Sounds good Yogi, looking forward to reading it.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

For most on SZ the simple choice for going to New York is deciding from which London airport you will depart for us , leaving from Toulouse was a little more complicated. In the end we opted for a BA fight Toulouse - Heathrow -New York, which seemed, at the time, quite a reasonable price of just over 900 euros for two. Can't remember exactly how we finally decided on a hotel, that must have taken many tortuous hours with advice from such diverse sources as SZ to Trip Advisor. We finally booked into what is politely called a 'boutique' hotel called the Chandler, which was situated in midtown Manhatten on East 31st Street. Perhaps it was the central position that won us over or the fact that it was just around the corner from the Empire State Building. Eight nights cost us 1200 euros, which I suppose is a little on the high side....it was our first time in NY and in spite of what everyone says about just having a place to put your head down, we didn't want our experience sullied by poor accomodation.
The weeks before departure much time was spent on line with preparation regarding things to do, transportation and where to eat well but at a reasonable price. In many cases this proved time well spent, especially for eating.......some of our less spectacular meals were generally when it was left to our own devices to find something. Some will say that this restricts the spontaneity.........that may be true but it also helps you avoid tourist traps and unpleasant surprises.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Well, Toulouse to Heathrow went without incident it was transfering to the long haul that we found out that my wife's visa for the USA was not valid. Think it may have been that she applied in her maiden name, which is quite normal in France. For this BA were very helpful and twenty minutes at their desk was sufficient to rectify the problem, luckily we weren't rushed to make our connection.
Many years of low cost flights between England and France had made us forget the pleasures of in-flight catering. In the old days it used to be Air France and the ability to down a second small bottle of wine, to accompany the meal, before our descent for Toulouse. Thus, on the flight to JFK it was a pleasure to renew my acquaintance with this gastronomique delight. I have to say that BA did me proud and I felt privileged to be offered a salad with supplement.......
........the supplement being an active black beetle. I feel a bit guilty about that really. Up to the moment he appeared under my eyes, in that plastic container, I think he had been quite enjoying the flight. He was apologetically and summarily taken away at arms length by a rather disgusted looking hostess..........I hope the insect had the good sense to bring his parachute with him. As for me I wasn't offered another salad, perhaps in fear of what else I would find. Or, perhaps the rest of the passengers ate their supplement without complaint. Luckily for everyone, I haven't mastered the art of puting my photos on SZ, otherwise you could have benifited from a snap of my little flight companion.
I had a certain innocent fascination for the in-flight screen, especially the one tracking our flight over the Atlantic. In order not to get bored with endless views of blue sea, I watched Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, which I enjoyed, in spite of the extremely poor sound quality. I wondered whether the sound in Business or First Class was , well, first class......or the same?
Have to say that I was impressed with the in-flight kit. I can't remember whether I used the rug or the toothpaste on the outward flight. However, the socks were a nice surprise and the eye shades were very useful, not because I slept at all but that it permitted me to while away quite a bit of time trying to remember the panel game I watched as a kid, on black and white TV, where at some point in the show the panel were required to don a similar apparel. Was it 'What's My Line'?..............Cricko should be able to help me there.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

JFK OR NEWARK?
We arrived in at JFK at about 6.30p.m., there were no snarling dogs to greet us but there was a long queue, the wait of about 3/4 of an hour, which was tempered a little at the end by a TV screen showing a USBL match. I found the guy from Homeland Security to be friendly and welcoming.....don't know whether that's always the case?
We had debated the trip from JFK to Manhatten for a while and had decided that taxi was a bit too expensive and metro in the early evening, a bit too daunting for the uninitiated, so we chose a shared cab or rather minibus (with about ten fellow passengers).......it was an interesting experience! The driver flew (literally) through Queens and Brooklyn, seemingly at full speed and it should be pointed out that the roads, especially junctions, are not very flat, my wife's head met with the roof of the cab on more than one occasion........and she's not very tall! We must have entered Manhatten via the Brooklyn Bridge and it was then that we started to realise, having a hotel in midtown, that we hadn't chosen the best means of transport. The driver started dropping people off downtown first of all and we were not helped by the fact that he seemed to have problems with his GPS. Thus we did a very convoluted tour, passing and re-passing the same places on a number of occasions. Eventually we arrived at our hotel at about 8.45, with just a couple of fellow passengers left in the cab. If (when) we make our next visit to NY, I would take the Air Train to Howard Beach and then purchase a metrocard, certainly the cheapest and not necessarily the longest in time.
Eight days later we left Manhatten from Pennsylvania Station en route to Newark. I couldn't see any advantages over JFK and IIRC the train was quite expensive and it was SO dreary as you head out that way, particularly as it was raining that day. So, for me personally, I would only use JFK next time and I would also try and arrive in a bit earlier.....perhaps mid-afternoon. However, that, for me, is one of the problems of living in Saint Gaudens. On a trip to New York, with all the transport and connections, it took not very short of twenty-four hours travelling!.......quite tiring for us oldies!!!

 

[MK Shrimper]

Reminds me: I hired a limo to take us from Newark to the hotel as it was our honeymoon.

1) My credit card got cloned and was tried to be used in Florida.
2) The agreed price suddenly rose by $40 when we pulled up at the hotel in the middle of the night.