I had been wanting to cover the last of the 3 line to Harlem 148 St, but when it was pointed out to me it was in The Bronx, I certainly quickly backed down from that idea! Still, the announcement at Kingston Avenue will stay in mind for ages "There is a Manhattan bound express 3 train to Harlem 148 Street approaching the station, please stand away from the platform edge", not to mention on the other lines when you could hear it "Stand clear of the closing doors please!" followed by the bing bong, we heard both so many times it brought a smile to our faces whenever we heard it!
Oh, and I found what Fine Fare was, it was a supermarket where we got some big bottles of pop and a bottle of milk. Can't believe I forgot that!
10/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 4
So at 0003, 3 minutes late with quite a crowd boarding, we depart the terminal aboard winning ferry
Sen. John J. Marchi to Staten Island. A 21 minute journey there gets us tons of views and some of them are simply amazing. Sadly, some of them just don't come out well, and we could have gone straight back, but James' SD card was full so we took advantage of 30 minutes to sit down and go through what he could delete. The way back scores us another winning ferry [not that James is a transport enthusiast at all! - Ed] with
John A. Noble on the 0100 departure back to South Ferry. Some of the photos we try again, but no luck sadly. Once back off the ferry, we head back to line R, but once there we notice no trains are running, no notices and nothing on the one screen on the platforms. So we go back outside, examine a map and see Bowling Green on line 4 is an option. We see some MTA guys in a truck and ask them. They tell us what to do, although if we'd blindly followed the advice of changing somewhere we'd have got lost!
New York's Manhatten skyline, viewed from the Staten Island Ferry at night, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
[Ah that's better, for some reason my tablet just refused to copy-paste the entire code! Today has reminded me why I detest tablets, I would never buy another one! - Ed]
Another Statue of Liberty view at night, from the Staten Island Ferry, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Manhatten skyline and Statue of Liberty at night, viewed from the Staten Island Ferry, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Oh, go on then, more night view from the ferry!
The expanded view of the skyline across Manhatten and Brooklyn, viewed from the Staten Island Ferry, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Anyway, we go down and join line 4 at
Bowling Green with winners
1206+7107 straight through to Kingston Avenue, as line 3 doesn't run after midnight, so beyond Borough Hall the 4 takes the stops of line 3 instead of running fast along Eastern Parkway. We get back in after a really slow journey as far as Borough Hall (before picking up speed again at last!) at 0214, and I must admit to falling asleep on bits of the journey back!
9 hours later, after a decent bit of sleep, we're back out again! 1515+1341 are duds from the other days [aha, so I did indeed miss some trailers on that one move! - Ed] and we go to Times Square 42nd Street again. James' sister's birthday was on Monday 7th March and we were looking for a present for her today. I found a couple more bits to buy, but he didn't yet. Eventually, by sheer chance, we find somewhere to get something after lunch, excellent! It's now more walking [we'd already done a fair bit today! - Ed] to a main event of today, Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum. No way could we turn down such a museum on board a retired aircraft carrier, more so when we could get up close to NASA's Enterprise space shuttle!
Intrepid Air Sea and Space Mueseum, New York, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
I do have several photos from Intrepid, but this is one of my favourites. For some reason tonight, it reminds me of Thunderbirds!
Control tower of Intrepid, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
I doubt there's many places in the world you'll see one these things, capable of over 1,500mph!
Blackbird jet on the flight deck of Intrepid, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
This, however, is what we came here for, NASA's Enterprise space shuttle:
NASA's Enterprise space shuttle, Intrepid, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Although this was a nice bonus, G-BOAD (a Concorde) was on display. Sadly the tour around it wasn't available by the time we got there:
G-BOAD (retired BA Concorde), Intrepid, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
The other side of Intrepid, which looks more scary and meaning business in my mind!
Intrepid aircraft carrier from the south side, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
So that was two of the attractions on our New York City Go Explore Pass, which gives you tons of choices and you can pick 3, 4, 5 or more to include in your pass which saves on queuing time and money. Again, these came out of James' pocket as it was the last of the money he owes me (well, £21 by my last count but I'm quite happy to wipe that as he wiped off the £50 or so I overspent by in Sweden in 2014!) which we agreed to at the time of booking everything. We only had one left on our pass, but to be honest if we could have afforded to put more on there we'd have happily gone for the tour buses [especially now we've seen how much they cover! - Ed], the Water Taxis, the Helicopter tours and more. There really is a ton of choices with these passes, but I do urge people to shop around significantly. Having just checked my emails, it was GoCityCard (smartdestinations.com) and we had no issues with these people whatsoever. Easy to choose, easy to book and easy to print. I had intended to get onto my phone to save printing, but I didn't find that option but I would investigate it on another visit.
Anyway, now I've plugged that enough [I didn't mean to go on about it, honestly! - Ed] we had only place left to do. Our print-offs advised we may have to visit in advance of our chosen day or time to get a time slot, so with this in mind we walked to Rockefeller Center. We came across a couple of streets we didn't like the look of much, but we just kept marching on anyway. We were now both rather hungry mind, it being around 1700 and we had walked a LOT since lunchtime. On one corner somewhere [West 46th and 9th Avenue, yes I did look it up - Ed] we come across Galaxy Restaurant, and we decide to give it a go. I get the turkey half-pound burger, which was rather nice and a good amount of fries too. Beer is an option, and I pick Victoria, which I discover is Mexican. Definitely this is not something you can pick up anywhere in the UK [OK, so somewhere specialist in London probably sells it, for a small fortune, but not the usual shops! - Ed] and it went down very well. The staff were very good too, and we both agreed this place needs recommending. So in Kristofferson-style, I recommend it with Tech's Seal Of Approval, and a link to the place on TripAdvisor is here. I will eventually get to adding a review myself, I am nearly a year behind my TripAdvisor reviews:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Resta...iews-Galaxy_Diner-New_York_City_New_York.html
After the good food, we continue the long walk and eventually reach the Rockefeller Center. This is home of several TV shows in the USA, as well as the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree in the winter, as well as Top of the Rock, the third and final place on our visitor pass. For those unaware, you can go inside and go to the top for 3 floors of observatory decks, granted each are smaller than the one below but each offer great views, and these are often rated the best views of New York anywhere in the city. Don't believe me either? Let's get some photographic evidence on the case!
View from Top of the Rock, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Looking north east from Top of the Rock, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
A view of how high we were, from Top of the Rock, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And just for good measure, an experiment with the black and white feature on my phone's camera:
Black and white version of the view of Empire State Building and more, looking north from Top of the Rock, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Again, plenty more images on my Flickr. We were both incredibly impressed, and begrudingly we leave after quite some time, more because we both needed a cold soft drink more than anything. We did make sure we took a few minutes to soak up the views, and we both agreed that these views are simply incredible. I 100% stamp Top of the Rock with Tech's Seal of Approval [yes, if I haven't made this a thing before, I am now! - Ed], quite a few things so far have that seal. For reference, let's go through the list deserving of TSoA this week, in no order:
Empire State Building
Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum
Top of the Rock
Galaxy Restaurant, Manhattan
Kennedy Fried Chicken, Kingston Avenue, Brooklyn
Once back at ground level, we find a Subway restaurant and get each a 40 fluid ounces cup of pop [1,182ml according to the calculator, if 20 fl oz is 591ml - Ed], well worth every penny of $2.72! Outside we see Radio City, worth a photo for sure:
Radio City, New York, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
It's time for a walk, and we head towards the Subway [as in the mass transportation system this time! - Ed] and go in where we thought the E train went from. Turns out this is one of the few stations,
50th Street, that has different entrances for different directions, and we didn't see it on the sign. The MTA guy in the booth here was not impressed with us when we queried why our Metrocards wouldn't work, so we go back upstairs for 6 more minutes and people watch, well and grumble like mad. We're still British after all!
Back down we go, and join winners for everything
9247+9213 through to
World Trade Center on line E, as we fancied seeing the 9/11 Memorial site at night, and it's certainly quite different after the sun goes down. Of course, I have to take a photo of the Occulus too at night, which looks very different too, although I seem to have got a bad angle of it:
Occulus (part of the new station) at World Trade Center, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Of course, on the way back to the Subway, we have to get a shot of One World Trade Center by night:
One World Trade Center at night, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After that, we head down to Park Place via the now familiar long walk from the Chambers Street entrance, joining winners
1321+1400 for the trip back to Kingston Avenue. Nope, before you ask, these R62s are not growing on me and never did! Once back, we visited Kennedy Fried Chicken, and I get a popcorn chicken, fries and Dr Pepper for $3.50, it having been 5 hours since we had last eaten and after all the walking we did once again we were hungry! After eating our meals, we bump into some locals who were off to a pub, who stopped to have a natter with us for a while. They told us they were off to The Crown Inn, Franklin Avenue, and after we changed we decided to go out too. Sadly, by the time we got there, they appeared to have left, which was a shame as we'd enjoyed their company. Even so, I order a pint of Almanac Beer Co's IPA for me and a pint of lager for James. I even got ID'd going in! What annoyed me though was paying $14 for two pints which turned out to be beyond rancid, if this is what America likes they can keep it, I'll stick to my branded and well known brews from the USA next time! It was a long 5 block trek back to the apartment, that's for sure, at silly o'clock at night. Yeah, that was a bright idea, not going to try that again!
So it was another late one back in, but even with the rancid beer [James didn't like his lager at all, and I couldn't manage much of it either without feeling sick! - Ed] the day was still a good one. Stats time:
General expenditure: $30.22
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hmm, well, you know how you can get Red Pen Fever? I've got that but for typing up my trip report now. I knew this sort of thing would happen eventually, especially as I didn't get out of bed until gone 1100 (but before 1125) this morning! No matter, let's keep the Nightcore going!
I'd share the list of the ones I've had on, but that would also spoil the surprise for some of this year's hashtags! Well, OK, here's one, Nightcore II: Pretty Rave Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blle9tmP7p4
11/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 5
Crikey, how did we get to Day 5 of this, indeed Day 4 of waking up in New York, so quickly? By some miracle, neither of us are awake before 0830 or so this time, which is still early by my reckoning. Still, we are in New York, we still have stuff to do, and we both wanted to make the most of it. I must say I was surprised how much we did in 3 days, and if we had been going home today we'd have done the best of New York. With one major exception, that is Central Park. Eventually we're up and about, leaving Kingston Avenue at 1139 on what appears to be winners
1441+1320 [I'm starting to lose track, I must admit, as I haven't done the notes into my notebook yet - Ed] to
Chambers Street, a required shack. We have a break here as the trip is a long way to Central Park North, and we're both hungry too as we've yet to eat today since last night's takeaway. By random chance, we find The Mysterious Bookshop, and it would be rude not to have a look. I've never seen a place like it, and James is struggling not to be too much of a nerd here! After he gets two books he wants, we go in search of a drink over food, then we see a sign for Subway [again, the restaurant - Ed] which we visit as we know we can get a decent size drink for reasonable money.
We decide to surrender to the stomachs though, and I get my usual sub and a large drink for $10.07, more expensive than my usual Subway in the UK, but then the drink is far bigger and my usual sub is not in the meal deal here as it is at home. Still, money exceptionally well spent on my first sub in many months. It's another gorgeous and hot day too, so sitting outside for lunch was mandatory. Soon enough, we head back to line 3 and join winners
1551+1540 for the long trek to Central Park North. Eventually we get there, and thankfully the weather hasn't changed. Only when you see it on the map do you realise how long you need to visit here, 2.5 hours is recommended if you don't want to rush it.
The lake at Central Park North, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Rocks and the stream through Central Park North, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And one of my favourite photos of the trip, a panorama of the reservoir in the middle of the park:
Panorama of Central Park's reservatory and skyline, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Central Park South, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After a most pleasant walk through one of New York's finer attractions [I can't imagine it's that nice on a miserable day mind! - Ed], we eventually end up on line E again, after finding our way to it. We walked past some very expensive shops, and a very busy 5th Avenue, I dread to think how much these shops cost to run, places like a large Cartier store and a big Armani shop for just two examples must be very expensive indeed! After telling someone where to find the Museum of Modern Art [MoMA for short, just in case you ever need to know! - Ed] having only just seen where it was myself, and feeling like an expert as a result, we head inside and James gets a Subway to keep going until our favourite takeaway. I had seen a sign for Dunkin Donuts, and I had been banging on all day since we arrived at Central Park North (110th Street) about trying it. After all, we were in the USA and Dunkin Donuts just screamed "Try me!" at me. I just had to try an American doughnut, so I get a Boston creme and a glazed chocolate ring doughnut and a small coffee for $4.32. We decide to find a bench on the platform to devour our food and drink, but we have to stand on a very busy platform [it was just gone 1700 on a weekday, yeah perhaps we chose badly! - Ed] and after silencing the stomachs again, the chocolate doughnut I had was amazing but the Boston Creme one I was less of a fan of, but would still eat it if needs be, I had a paper bag covered in Subway car numbers.
It was just as well we didn't jump on the first E trains that turned up, as they were rammed solid! Eventually we join one, formed of winners
9697+9527 for the trip to World Trade Center again. 19 minutes later, I also score the other platform which was a welcome bonus. So why are we here again? Well by the time we surfaced onto street level again, a decision was made. James really wanted to do the 9/11 Museum, whereas I really fancied doing One World Observatory. We were unaware of it until this trip too, so for the rest of you like us, this is at the top of One World Trade Center and reportedly offers amazing views across New York. I simply had to do it, I'm sorry but I'm not a museum guy! So we agreed to split company here, and I paid my $32 to go up one of the most famous buildings in the world. After passing through security etc, I was soon in a short queue for an up lift. In said lifts, you get treated to a video. It's certainly worth watching and not very long:
Video in the entrance lift, One World Observatory, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
I'll not lie to you, I felt my ears pop a tiny bit on this lift ride! Here's some of the views you get treated to:
Exchange Square, New Jersey, viewed from One World Observatory just as the sun went down, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
View from One World Observatory, looking north, including the Empire State Building, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
More of New York at night, viewed from One World Observatory, looking east, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Once again, more photos available on Flickr. During my wander around, I find a circle of screens, called The Pulse. I soon enough discover there's a show about to start on these, so I wait and see. The guy doing them, Mike was his name, is born and bred in Brooklyn, and he was incredibly knowledgeable, the show he put on on the screens was certainly both entertaining and educational. He was a very pleasant guy, and he got a good round of applause from almost all of the crowd! I asked him a couple of questions afterwards, which he was quite happy to answer. An absolute legend of a bloke, could have spent ages talking to him about New York but I had a queue of people behind me wanting to know where his favourite pizza place was. I should have hung about and found out! I left here after a PNB most satisifed with my $32 expenditure, I give One World Observatory a soon-to-be-famous TSoA [Tech's Seal of Approval - Ed]
And the down lift video, also well worth watching:
One World Observatory video in the exit elevatory, 11th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Eventually James gets back from the museum, and we tell each other about the experiences on the way back to the Subway. Winners
1371+1590 take us back to Kingston Place, the last time we'll arrive here. Soon it will all be just memories...One final visit to our favourite takeaway is had, and by now I'm starving with James not far behind me, so we order a large pizza and bottle of Coke for S12 again. Once again, it goes down beautifully! We say our farewells to the friendly guy running it, I reckon if we'd walked through on Saturday too he'd have got us a pizza ready to go! After we devour this lot, 4 large pieces each [seriously, I won't be able to eat British pizza again for a long time! - Ed], we get to the portion of the evening we'd been dreading for ages, the part where we have to start packing. It's a rather sobering experience, knowing we're going home tomorrow, crikey hasn't it come around quickly! Let's fire out some stats:
General expenditure: $34.39
12/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 6
With an average of 1 hour typing at the moment, I'm happy to carry on here for a bit longer! This morning I've been disturbed by traffic around 0630, which I really didn't want on a really long day. James gets disturbed by me I think an hour later, and I leave him veg out for a bit while I devour some more coffee and Google some stuff. Eventually we're both all prepared and ready to leave the apartment, armed with cases all day. I won't lie to you, we found that to be friggin' awkward! Eventually we enter Kingston Avenue for the last time, with duds 1441+1320 taking us to 34th Street Penn Station at 1031. I continue what I started yesterday, spotting as many Subway cars as possible, probably a bit late now really! The goal here was to try and see a proper American train, however after a while we realise there was less than 1% chance of getting anywhere near the trains without a ticket, so we give up on that idea. We couldn't believe how busy this station was, although it's also worth pointing out this was a Saturday too.
Somewhere else we weren't going to get to see propertly was Madison Square Garden, but the outside of the building will do:
Madison Square Garden building, New York, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
When we go back in, we at least find the Amtrak concourse, and I have to admit I was very close to nerding out! Neither of us have eaten in more than 13 hours, so when James points out Kabooz's restaurant behind us, we examine the menu. Yep, I'm happy to try it, and settle with a half-pound sirloin steak burger with Pepper Jack cheese and home made onion rings. The guy here at least was not flustered by my not wanting all the salad and other nonsense people insist on filling burgers and plates with, and I've got to say it looks amazing. I'd not come across the bottomless coffee principle before, so when I was initially offered a refill on my coffee I turned it down. James gave me the quick heads-up, but to be fair my cup wasn't empty so I was refusing until I finished it. Now I know what the score is, I'll bury it into memory! The food truely was amazing in taste too, see for yourselves in this photo:
The amazing sirloin steak burger lunch from Kaboozs, Penn Station, New York, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
If that doesn't look good to you, especially the onion rings, there's something not quite right with you! I'll never want onion rings anywhere else again, unless I get them from this place of course. $15.95 for the burger and onion rings, around $2.50 for the coffee and I was that pleased with the waiters and speed of service I was happy to bang my share of the meal up to $25. Kabooz's gets the almost-famous TSoA, and I intend to rate this place highly on TripAdvisor too. Since the trip report is nearly finished, I'll soon have time to start catching up! Have a look at it for yourselves on their website:
http://www.kaboozs.com/
A photo of the Amtrak concourse of course had to be taken:
New York's Penn Station, Amtrak concourse, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
I should by now mention it was yet another gorgeous day, so we tried to decide what to do. Coney Island again? Staten Island Ferry by day? We go with the latter when James suggested it, an excellent idea indeed for some day versus night views. I wanted to use line 1 for the track coverage, but due to works ongoing here to rebuild the station and the new concourse for South Ferry, it was all shuttle buses today. So we trek to 34th Street Herald Square, and it wasn't obvious where it was, but eventually we're down and join dud 5484 [from the other day - Ed] with winner
5810 [well, it probably was also dud, but I didn't ID it the other day so still counting it! - Ed] to Whitehall Street South Ferry again down line R. Winner ferry
Andrew J. Barberi is on the 1400 sailing to Staten Island, and here is a selection of photos from the daytime views:
New York skyline, viewed from Staten Island Ferry, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Statue of Liberty, viewed from Staten Island Ferry, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Statue of Liberty and New York skyline, view from the Staten Island Ferry, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
We choose not to go straight back on the 1430 sailing, working on the assumption it would be the same boat anyway. So we go for a wander and get a cold drink in. So back in for the 1500 sailing, and time really is slipping away from us on the final day in New York, and we're back on Andrew J. Barberi for the trip back. No matter, and when we get back we do a quick bit of gift shopping from a nearby on-street guy. Well, James does and I have a look. On the way in on the ferry, James had spotted a Tall Ship, and it was one of the things we said we'd do if we had time. For reference at this point, the only two things we listed to do if time prevailed that we didn't do were the Aerial Tramway and The High Line. I wanted to see this Tall Ship too, so we trek down to Pier 16 and marvel at it for some time.
Peking from Hamburg at Pier 16, New York, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Peking from Hamburg Tall Ship, viewed from Pier 16, New York, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
It's a shame she wasn't in full sail, but hey ho. I think I saw a poster advertising cruises down the river, I bet they're chingy but also good fun. We also walked past the heliport for the helicopter tours, oh if only I'd had the money to do it! By now it's gone 1630, and we were needing to be at JFK Airport by no later than 1900 ideally. I know there was still tons of time, but it was getting tense. It was an enormous shame to leave New York behind, we've had such a great time! Fulton Street was the nearest Subway station, and it's on line A, perfect. Umm no, as we use the lift down to the entrance I notice the dreaded poster advising of weekend changes. I check with the guy in the booth who tells us what to do, so we join line J with double winners for everything
8269+8229 to Delancy Street Essex Street. These double names for stations is just confusing, as was the massively long route to line F where line A trains were being diverted over to Jay Street MetroTech, due to work in the Cranberry Tunnels [according to the posters - Ed]. A most desperate PNB is had in the rancid restroom I've ever seen, it really was desperate! Having just missed an A train, due to poor information being given [no announcements, really MTA?! Disappointed wasn't the word - Ed] and no screens, we eventually join double winners for everything
5900+6152 on a very busy A train as far as Howard Beach JFK Airport.
The lack of PIS on board or even a route diagram was disappointing, especially on a line which serves an international airport, which is bound to produce plenty of budgeting tourists like us. Eventually we get there, and as we enter Queens I can't help feeling nervous, it's not like this borough has a good reputation! We were more than glad to finally be off the Subway, the final two trains being less than a pleasant finale to our use of it. I noted during a fresh air break [the Subway is very stuffy isn't it? Oh, and I don't like the A trains any more than the 3 trains! - Ed] that only ONE train turned up in the 13 minutes we explored the immediate vicinity for. I thought that was just awful too, the lack of information here was just beyond ridiculous. I would highly recommend against using the Subway for the trip into town from JFK Airport, based on this experience. We need to use the AirTrain now, and as expected the Metrocards didn't work. The guy at the booth tells us what to do, and unlike everywhere online, he tells us he can add the $5 needed for the AirTrain to our existing Metrocards. That is most welcome to know!
On we go and only just making the next AirTrain, and I never noted the front unit but our one on the rear was winner [shocked? - Ed]
207 for the short but very pleasant trip to Terminal 1. If the Subway was even half as nice as this, it wouldn't be so grim. Next time someone moans to me about the London Underground, I'll be telling them exactly how bad it can be in New York! Eventually we reach our terminal and after a quick look around a nice and modern looking airport, our first complaint is there's no signs for the restroom, which by now we both needed. An explore soon found them, but for those of us doing a long journey from the city centre would certainly welcome them being made more obvious! PNB had, we figure we might as well see if our check in is open yet, it being 4 hours until take-off is due. Sure enough it is, and we're all done within 10 minutes much to my surprise. It goes to show how much difference can be found if you avoid the main tourist season! After more of a look around, we find a spot outside where several Delta MD-88s are parked up at the gates in Terminal 2. Sadly, only one can be noted and is winner for sight [unsurprisingly! - Ed] N955DL, and is seen from this poor photo:
Delta N955 DL (MD88) at New York JFK Airport, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
It's time for food now, it having been something like 7.5 hours since lunch or any other food, and we settle with PZA Pizza, where a most delicious piece of pepperoni pizza is devoured for $5.72. I get James and I a coffee from Starbucks to keep us both going until the flight, still 2 and a bit hours to go until take-off yet. We go and see if any other Delta planes can be spotted, and during our time outside I note down several AirTrain numbers and we have a natter about our trip, not to mention starting the plan of our next trip. Yes, we are becoming far, far more organised this time, wherever it is we go. I have a feeling it'll be a long time until we can do anything, but I sure have the international travel bug again and can't wait to go somewhere else. One last thing we take advantage of was the sound of planes taking off. It's an amazing sound during the day, but during the darkness hours it's even more impressive. If you've not been inflicted with this bug, you won't get it I'm afraid, but I would recommend getting as close as you can legally and opening those ears, especially when the big craft take off. The closest I can think of on the railway is an HST screaming away on departure from a station, but on a bigger scale. I know the aviation guys and girls are screaming at me with that analogy, but that's the closest I can think of that people will know.
Soon enough it's time to go through security, which is done in just 15 minutes, which I say was pretty good. The TSA guys and girls aren't half as scary as TV and movies make them out to be, but I am disappointed by the airside facilities, there's no proper food available much to my surprise. I still need a coffee as we wait at the gates with an hour until our boarding time is due. James meanwhile gets his iPod Nano out, and I get Tech's Mobile Disco on for the first time in days. Eventually 2130 comes and go, nope no movement at the gate but an enormous crowd has built up. Meanwhile I see an AirFrance Boeing 777 waiting at gate 1, I simply have to go and take a photo and attempt to ID it. Victory, a decent enough photo of F-GSPV:
Air France F-GSPV (Boeing 777) at New York JFK Airport, 12th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Eventually our gate opens at 2155, 25 minutes late and after Premium is loaded up, it's basically a free-for-all instead of the organised loading experienced at Gatwick. We finally get on, and the hostess we first see at the end of the bridge on the plane asks us for seat numbers. 24A and 24B we both confirm, and she points to the seats in front of us. Only for us to be turfed out a few minutes later, as we'd been directed to 9A and 9B instead. Immediately I'm less than impressed with this crew, they should all be familiar with their craft. I will mention at this point in the trip report that I complained to Norwegian about our homeward flight. On Android Open Office, I got well into 3 pages! I'll try not to go into that detail here, but anyone who wants the full low-down, please PM me and I'll happily share it from the file on my tablet. I'm currently awaiting a response, 2 days after I sent it, and I'm very keenly awaiting their response! I should add that they were all valid points and worth complaining about.
Our seats are some of the god-awful basic Economy seats, not the extra legroom ones we chose at the time of booking [September 2015 - Ed] which is more than gutting. I wish I'd taken a photo of our selections on the seat selection page now, but didn't feel the need for it. These seats are ridiculously cramped, the window alignment is awful too. The crew on our side finally prepare the plane for takeoff, and 2230 comes and goes. Eventually at 2240, 10 minutes late, we get pushback and it's quite some time before we actually take off. This time we get 'treated' to a manual safety demonstration, unlike the hi-tech one on the IFE [In Flight Entertainment - Ed] screens that we had on our outward flight. I say 'treated' as even though we're both fairly tall, we couldn't really see over the tops of the seats in front to understand the demonstration properly. If I'd been on a familiar Boeing 737-800 I'd have not minded so much, as I know the emergency instructions well enough to get by without the demonstration. Again, not amused, and the crew finally rush a bit now so they can go back to chatting. This was noticed throughout the flight, customer service was the bottom of their priority list. The way they've done things so far would make even Ryanair in their free-for-all boarding days shake their heads in disgust!
Food service eventually arrives, and I'm asked if I want chicken or beef. Chicken was good on Monday, it's reasonable to assume then it's still good. Umm, yeah, no. I wish I'd done what James did and went for beef, that looked far better. I had slices of chicken, then an enormous piece of broccoli [one of the world's most hated veg and you fill a third of the hot food tray with it?! - Ed] was accompanied by some little white round things. I have no idea what they were, and the crew didn't bother finding out for me whatsoever. You don't get the Nice&Tasty Menu to choose from before you get food service, you pre-order it during booking or any point after before the day of flight. So you're basically hoping for the best! James fared no better than I did in the end, as the passenger in front of him went for full recline [not that these seats recline much - Ed] and sent James' table into major shake and the food onto the floor. If the crew had been decent, we'd have approached them, but they were terrible. Pudding was a tiny key lime cheesecake, which turned out to be OK for me but James has a citrus allergy so can't have it. My Heineken can was the only thing worth having in my mind in the meal!
By now James' legs have been jammed against the seat in front of us for ages and he's in pain. Again, did the crew ask him if he was OK? No chance! We both try hard to get sleep, but this was virtually impossible and we both only got minor cat naps of no more than 30 minutes on a couple of occasions. The second food service came in the morning of 13th March, so let's end the 12th of March with some stats:
General expenditure: $46.57
Air fares: £209.15
Total: £209.15 plus $46.57
13/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 7
So as I was saying, the second food service arrived. This was food I could eat, a thinly filled turkey slice and cheese mini sub, with an orange juice and a slice of cake. Now the packaging for this is ambiguous, it reading "Org. Cranberry", which could mean various things. Considering James' allergy, I take it off him, and he couldn't have his juice either. No option to swap it either! We would have complained to the crew, but didn't want to raise hostility. We finally land and dock at Gatwick at 1024, 24 minutes late. Doors eventually open, and we only have one door to unload a full 787? What nonsense! Eventually we get off the plane and through passport control and baggage claim, then outside the terminal for the first fresh air of any description felt for many hours. That's one thing I like about Ryanair, you have to climb steps on most of their flights but you get that last burst of fresh air before your flight which is nice. By now it's around 1100, we weren't rushing to make the 1109 out of here. We were finally back on British soil and after that flight, we were glad of it too!
Oh, and as per HMS Ark Royal's tweet, I had managed to get confirmation it was EI-LNI home, the same 787-9 we had on the outward!
After a while, I go and get a Costa coffee, while we both get some cold drinks from WHSmith. The 1209 to Reading produces dud 166214, and we both do some sorting of bags on this move. I count my dollars I've brought back with me, and I think this turned out to be a daft move. Why? Well while I'm pleased I've brought back $200 [I can now give some family members the extra they gave me in case I needed it some money back - Ed], I realise the day after I can't find the money. Did I leave it on the train? Did it fall out somewhere else? Did it fall out on the Hereford train, or indeed in the station at Oxford? I've still not found it at home, so I'm beyond gutted and properly angry at myself for not checking it was actually in the money belt. I do attribute some blame to the extreme tiredness mind, but I just wish I could trigger the memory to recall what I actually did with the money wallet after counting it!
A 4 minute late arrival into Reading is had, and I get back in touch with plenty of people on the trip from Gatwick, and I see no signs for the rail replacement buses. After a wander around, James revisits WHSmith here as his two small bottles of Coke Life are already gone! It was a gorgeous day here, for the record, and we ask where they are. All the way back through the barriers, over the bridge and to the road bit in front of the north entrance. Clear signage at the eastern bay platforms would have been nice, but hey ho, good thing our connection was good. We have a rather nice coach from tippins take us to Oxford on the 1415, and we arrive nice and early into Oxford, so we take a lunch break at West Cornwall Pasty Company. A chicken and bacon pasty and large coffee for £6.25 does wonders, and after another PNB we go to platform 3 to join winner
166201 on the 1556 to Hereford. Yeehaa, a winner 166, nice! 5 to go now! We leave a couple of minutes late, and I colour in my MTA Subway map, and I count 25 different shacks being visited on our visit to New York, not bad!
I fall asleep between Honeybourne and Worcester Shrub Hill, woken up for the first grip of the day. Eventually we arrive into Hereford at 1753, bang on time, and I get a lift home, with James' Mum picking him up. So that was the end of an amazing trip, bar the losing of $200. This is why I say I wish I'd spent the money now, quite I could have done that helicopter tour! So some stats to end this:
General expenditure: £11.75
Air mileage: 6,928 (total)
Total cost of the trip: £600.73 plus $202.89 (£142.14 as of right now according to Google), so a grand total of £742.87. Not half as bad as I expected to be perfectly honest! If I count the loss of $200 as well, that would come to £140.13, so a full total would be £843.00, still less than I was expecting, so there must be a few bits I've missed off somewhere. Still, that's good enough for me!
I hope you enjoyed the read, and the photos. Don't forget there are more photos on my Flickr, other than what I've shared on here. I certainly went all guns blazing into finishing this didn't I?
I still have posts to make on Your New Sights 2016, Red Pen 2016, Shack Attacks 2016 and of course Aviation Discussion yet. I've got reality landing in a matter of hours now, I'm dreading going back I really am, but it'll be nice to see some people again. Anyway, I look forward to reading your comments tonight!
)
