Yep, I'm just parked at a gate inside JFK Airport in New York, as I will be for the next 5 hours, or a bit less by the time I finish writing this directly into my iPhone, which is slow and arduous given my texting WPM.
Though there are certainly direct flights from Chicago to London, my initial European destination on this trip, because I a) am traveling on American Airlines frequent flyer miles, b) booked my flights just a month ago and c) wanted to avoid any British Airways flights as their taxes are exorbitant, my routing isn't quite ideal, even if rather fortuitous given the preceding.
With my mom kindly picking me up at 4:50am Chicago time to get me to O'Hare, I took a 7:20am AA flight into New York's LaGuardia airport, which arrived at about 10:20 with the time change.
My flight to London, also on AA, leaves JFK airport at 6:10pm.
With a $13 shuttle ride, I got here at about 11:30am, checked my suitcase and cleared security almost immediately and enjoyed a gourmet lunch. No, not a $50 steak at Bobby Van's Steakhouse outpost in Terminal 8, but rather a large bagel dog from Auntie Annie's.
Then I set out to find a Starbucks. Not because I wanted coffee, as I don't drink it. But at O'Hare I had noticed that Starbucks had outlets at every seat for people to charge/power phones, laptops, etc.
No such luck, though there are outlet poles at some gates; I'm sitting near one right now as my backup battery is charging.
Maintaining iPhone battery power is one of my main concerns at the moment, as my notes, books, music and blogging & internet capabilities are all contained within, but I likely won't have an overnight charging opportunity until Thursday night in London. That's 5 more hours at JFK, 6 hours on the plane and perhaps 17 hours in London that I need to get through, ideally with the ability to read, write, listen and look things up.
How did Mark Twain ever do it?
Anyway, I absolutely love New York and have visited 15 times, a dozen this century. So I theoretically would have leapt at the chance to meander around Manhattan even if just for a few hours.
But I've opted for prudency. Without incurring $100 or more in round trip taxi fares, getting to Manhattan from JFK--I had to come here first to check my baggage--via public transit takes roughly an hour.
So at best, I could have gotten to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, let's say, for a couple hours. But admission is $25 and I've been there, MOMA and most other major Manhattan attractions before. And though Central Park is free and wonderful, it also didn't seem worth the effort.
And what if I got hit by a taxi, or the subway had a stoppage? My bag is already checked through, so not only might I be incapacitated, but the plane to London couldn't depart with my suitcase and not me.
So here I rot while the Big Apple begs to be bitten on a beautiful day.
But now it's 1:30pm; only 4 hours until boarding.
Catch you on the flip side, from across the pond.
Oh, and while top-notch photos will have to wait until I return home, I have figured out a good way to share some on the fly.
Check here for new pics as I shoot them (several old ones are already there), including a nice one of the airport food court:
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It's now about an hour later. I had meant to mention that I had seen the Freedom Tower from the plane, which was pretty cool, as well as the Empire State and Chysler buildings.
And I am now eating a hamentachen, as pictures on the Flickr link.
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