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mitchy at 12:36pm on 03/05/2009 under new york trip may 09
mitchy at 12:36pm on 03/05/2009 under new york trip may 09I usually take an early morning flight out of Heathrow, to avoid the usual rush hour traffic, but given I was flying out on a Sunday of a bank holiday weekend, I felt I'd be ok leaving at 8am for an 11.50am flight. It also meant driving was pretty much the only option as the bus (my preferred option normally) didn't run early enough, it being a Sunday, and the trains were also a bit iffy. Plus I do like the luxery of coming back and just hopping into my car. Particularly as I'd managed to pack for a week with just carry-on luggage, so a quick exit out of the airport would be assured. The carry on luggage thing would turn out to be a godsend on the return trip.
The drive down was smooth, I found the long stay car park no bother, despite what I'm convinced was some fairly major road remodelling around Heathrow, presumably because of the opening of Terminal 5. I'm fairly sure the way I went was not the way I used to go, even though I followed the same signs. Ah well, I got to the right place so all was well. I took the precaution of parking as close to a bus stop as possible, in the hope it would make it easier to remember where I left my car. I didn't have long to wait for a shuttle bus and was soon queuing up at the AA counter to check in.
They're really cracking down on checked baggage now; everyone in the queue was being made to weigh checked bags before reaching the counter. I noticed there was at least one couple who were doing the desperate re-packing and shifting of stuff thing from case to case, so I'm guessing they'd fallen foul of the weight limit. Why, yes, I may have smirked a tiny bit as I sailed past the scales with my two carry on bags :D
Duly checked in, I went to TGIF for breakfast and then meandered to the gate in good time. The flight was pretty full, but happily I had an aisle seat and the seat next to me was empty. Heh. I did my usual thing of snoring peacefully for most of the flight. When I did surface, I didn't fancy any of the entertainment options so gleefully reached for my shiny, shiny iPod. This was the first long trip I'd had the chance to use the iPod on and I was looking forward to settling back and listening to all the stuff I'd spent 4 hours the previous night adding to my library. Except I couldn't, because when I turned the iPod on, I discovered to my horror that I'd done something very dim during the last synch and had deleted everything except for two songs. TWO SONGS!! Oooh! There followed the most profane silence in history because I couldn't even swear out loud to relieve my feelings. There may have been sulking :p
We landed 30 minutes late, around 3.30pm, partly due to a 20 minute late take off but also partly due to traffic at JFK being so bad that we were in a holding pattern for half an hour, so the time we'd made up on the crossing went for a burton. Ah well :) I had plenty of time to get my train anyway, so all the delay did was lessen the time I had to spend kicking my heels at Jamaica Station. Reasons why I love JFK No.1 - from the time the plane landed until a scampering Mitchy got to the Air Train? 20 minutes. Seriously. Granted I got lucky at immigration control because the vast majority of the passengers were US natives and only a few of us were visitors, but even so, I was very impressed.
I love the Air Train at JFK, I'd say Heathrow needs one but they'd only f*** that up too so prolly best not. It's basically a free train that circulates all NINE of the terminals at JFK, there's one about every 10 minutes. However, if you want to switch the railway proper, then there's a $5 charge for the Air Train. This I did at Jamaica Station, which is the main hub for the Long Island RailRoad (LIRR). And the best thing of the system is you don't have to faff around giving someone $5 and then going and buying the ticket you need for the LIRR, you just buy your LIRR ticket and add the $5 cost when prompted and use the newly purchased ticket at the Air Train barrier. Took me all of two mins :)
I had a hour's wait at Jamaica which was cold, wet, windy and 'orrible, so I waited in the Air Train terminal which was nice and warm :) I love the LIRR, I never get over the joy of riding on a two decker train, big kid that I am :D This time I rode on the top floor so I had a better view of everything. There may have been happy squeaking. In 30 minutes I was at Locust Valley, where a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jenni411works, and being met by a beaming Jenni who, bless her, had an umbrella so we didn't get soaked walking to the car. Apparently I'd brought the UK weather with me :P We were both thrilled.
We went to Browns, a restaurant I'm very, very fond of, not least because it serves Woodpecker cider :D And we yakked and plotted and scoffed food and yakked some more. Jenni showed me her new toy, her shiny, shiny iPhone. I think she may have regretted that later because all week, the iPhone kept mysteriously disappearing and re-appearing in my grubby paws. Odd that :P
We waddled out after far too much food and headed to Jenni's, where I reaquainted herself with her mom and the small, hyperactive pooch, Pepper the Poodle. There was tea, hurrah, and more yakking until we all agreed it was time for bed. I was in bed by 10.30 and I was out like a light! Well I'd had a long day *g* and we had to get up early for on the morrow, we were embarking on a road trip to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The drive down was smooth, I found the long stay car park no bother, despite what I'm convinced was some fairly major road remodelling around Heathrow, presumably because of the opening of Terminal 5. I'm fairly sure the way I went was not the way I used to go, even though I followed the same signs. Ah well, I got to the right place so all was well. I took the precaution of parking as close to a bus stop as possible, in the hope it would make it easier to remember where I left my car. I didn't have long to wait for a shuttle bus and was soon queuing up at the AA counter to check in.
They're really cracking down on checked baggage now; everyone in the queue was being made to weigh checked bags before reaching the counter. I noticed there was at least one couple who were doing the desperate re-packing and shifting of stuff thing from case to case, so I'm guessing they'd fallen foul of the weight limit. Why, yes, I may have smirked a tiny bit as I sailed past the scales with my two carry on bags :D
Duly checked in, I went to TGIF for breakfast and then meandered to the gate in good time. The flight was pretty full, but happily I had an aisle seat and the seat next to me was empty. Heh. I did my usual thing of snoring peacefully for most of the flight. When I did surface, I didn't fancy any of the entertainment options so gleefully reached for my shiny, shiny iPod. This was the first long trip I'd had the chance to use the iPod on and I was looking forward to settling back and listening to all the stuff I'd spent 4 hours the previous night adding to my library. Except I couldn't, because when I turned the iPod on, I discovered to my horror that I'd done something very dim during the last synch and had deleted everything except for two songs. TWO SONGS!! Oooh! There followed the most profane silence in history because I couldn't even swear out loud to relieve my feelings. There may have been sulking :p
We landed 30 minutes late, around 3.30pm, partly due to a 20 minute late take off but also partly due to traffic at JFK being so bad that we were in a holding pattern for half an hour, so the time we'd made up on the crossing went for a burton. Ah well :) I had plenty of time to get my train anyway, so all the delay did was lessen the time I had to spend kicking my heels at Jamaica Station. Reasons why I love JFK No.1 - from the time the plane landed until a scampering Mitchy got to the Air Train? 20 minutes. Seriously. Granted I got lucky at immigration control because the vast majority of the passengers were US natives and only a few of us were visitors, but even so, I was very impressed.
I love the Air Train at JFK, I'd say Heathrow needs one but they'd only f*** that up too so prolly best not. It's basically a free train that circulates all NINE of the terminals at JFK, there's one about every 10 minutes. However, if you want to switch the railway proper, then there's a $5 charge for the Air Train. This I did at Jamaica Station, which is the main hub for the Long Island RailRoad (LIRR). And the best thing of the system is you don't have to faff around giving someone $5 and then going and buying the ticket you need for the LIRR, you just buy your LIRR ticket and add the $5 cost when prompted and use the newly purchased ticket at the Air Train barrier. Took me all of two mins :)
I had a hour's wait at Jamaica which was cold, wet, windy and 'orrible, so I waited in the Air Train terminal which was nice and warm :) I love the LIRR, I never get over the joy of riding on a two decker train, big kid that I am :D This time I rode on the top floor so I had a better view of everything. There may have been happy squeaking. In 30 minutes I was at Locust Valley, where a
jenni411works, and being met by a beaming Jenni who, bless her, had an umbrella so we didn't get soaked walking to the car. Apparently I'd brought the UK weather with me :P We were both thrilled. We went to Browns, a restaurant I'm very, very fond of, not least because it serves Woodpecker cider :D And we yakked and plotted and scoffed food and yakked some more. Jenni showed me her new toy, her shiny, shiny iPhone. I think she may have regretted that later because all week, the iPhone kept mysteriously disappearing and re-appearing in my grubby paws. Odd that :P
We waddled out after far too much food and headed to Jenni's, where I reaquainted herself with her mom and the small, hyperactive pooch, Pepper the Poodle. There was tea, hurrah, and more yakking until we all agreed it was time for bed. I was in bed by 10.30 and I was out like a light! Well I'd had a long day *g* and we had to get up early for on the morrow, we were embarking on a road trip to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
cheerful