In the city that never sleeps it's now 8:50pm and The Wife is snoring next to me in our luxurious extra comfortable Queen bed. I'm not far behind, it has been a he'll of a day.
But we made it. The Mazin's are in NYC.
It all started at 7am when our friendly reliable cabbie Steve picked us up to Heathrow. FF 90 minutes we arrive at Terminal 3, and at check-in The Dilemma was offered.
'We have an over-booked flight, if you don't mind taking the later flight to NY at 5pm we will give you 2 free return tickets to anywhere in the world, to be used in the next 18 months.'
So naturally when put on the spot we turned them down. You may think we were mad, but having spent a further 2 hours at Terminal 3, the thought of spending an extra 6 hours there was not worth any free flight. Its not called Terminal for nothing you know. It's where Unicorns go to die.
So we got a free upgraded seat with extra legroom and danced merrily through to the departure gate, which is just a herding pen for humans. But I discovered that I have the magic Staff of Ultimate Power... Well my white stick, which so far has proved exceptionally useful when getting ahead of able bodied norms, particularly when I use this with my rather excellent Joey impression and do some convincing shoulder munching. It's amazing what you can get when people think you're a 'Special'.
The flight was smooth and very enjoyable, despite being over 7 hours. For travellers used to flying via FlyLo it was a new experience for us not to be spat on or rudely shoved into a space no human should really fit. I enjoyed the food, there's something about airline food. Maybe it's just the way you have to unwrap it from tinfoil, but it's just so lovely eating your lunch 3 miles in the air the novelty is yet to wear off.
In-flight entertainment although brilliant, I managed to watch 30 minutes of 2 dire films - step forward Morning Glory and Hereafter. Instead I watched 2 episodes of the rather brilliant The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. I was snorting with laughter. Marvellous.
Security at JFK was horrific, until an angel from security spotted my SoUP and dragged me and The Wife to the front of the queue. Sorry norms- who's Special now eh? Oh still me.
Then after a quick luggage pick-up and more security (I think it's time we told those Yanks that there's no point trying to close that stable door when those horses bolted 10 years ago) we got in a cab and met our driver. Or rather The World's Grumpiest Yellow Cab Driver (TM). Just what you need after hours and hours of travelling is another painful journey with a grumpy bugger, but by this point I just didn't care anymore.
After driving for more than 45 minutes through what looked like the North Circular with US road signs, we went through a tunnel and arrived in Manhattan.
Even though it was sleeting it still looked fantastic. We arrived at our hotel, and I got called Sir 3 times in the first 5 minutes with no air of sarcasm whatsoever. After a quick trip out to the Westway Diner for some dinner we tredged through the now settled snow and ice back to our hotel, for a well deserved night of sleep whilst everyone else can stay up in this snowstorm!
To be continued......
P.s due to an unknown technical hitch photos are not appearing in this blog so will be posted direct on FB
But we made it. The Mazin's are in NYC.
It all started at 7am when our friendly reliable cabbie Steve picked us up to Heathrow. FF 90 minutes we arrive at Terminal 3, and at check-in The Dilemma was offered.
'We have an over-booked flight, if you don't mind taking the later flight to NY at 5pm we will give you 2 free return tickets to anywhere in the world, to be used in the next 18 months.'
So naturally when put on the spot we turned them down. You may think we were mad, but having spent a further 2 hours at Terminal 3, the thought of spending an extra 6 hours there was not worth any free flight. Its not called Terminal for nothing you know. It's where Unicorns go to die.
So we got a free upgraded seat with extra legroom and danced merrily through to the departure gate, which is just a herding pen for humans. But I discovered that I have the magic Staff of Ultimate Power... Well my white stick, which so far has proved exceptionally useful when getting ahead of able bodied norms, particularly when I use this with my rather excellent Joey impression and do some convincing shoulder munching. It's amazing what you can get when people think you're a 'Special'.
The flight was smooth and very enjoyable, despite being over 7 hours. For travellers used to flying via FlyLo it was a new experience for us not to be spat on or rudely shoved into a space no human should really fit. I enjoyed the food, there's something about airline food. Maybe it's just the way you have to unwrap it from tinfoil, but it's just so lovely eating your lunch 3 miles in the air the novelty is yet to wear off.
In-flight entertainment although brilliant, I managed to watch 30 minutes of 2 dire films - step forward Morning Glory and Hereafter. Instead I watched 2 episodes of the rather brilliant The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. I was snorting with laughter. Marvellous.
Security at JFK was horrific, until an angel from security spotted my SoUP and dragged me and The Wife to the front of the queue. Sorry norms- who's Special now eh? Oh still me.
Then after a quick luggage pick-up and more security (I think it's time we told those Yanks that there's no point trying to close that stable door when those horses bolted 10 years ago) we got in a cab and met our driver. Or rather The World's Grumpiest Yellow Cab Driver (TM). Just what you need after hours and hours of travelling is another painful journey with a grumpy bugger, but by this point I just didn't care anymore.
After driving for more than 45 minutes through what looked like the North Circular with US road signs, we went through a tunnel and arrived in Manhattan.
Even though it was sleeting it still looked fantastic. We arrived at our hotel, and I got called Sir 3 times in the first 5 minutes with no air of sarcasm whatsoever. After a quick trip out to the Westway Diner for some dinner we tredged through the now settled snow and ice back to our hotel, for a well deserved night of sleep whilst everyone else can stay up in this snowstorm!
To be continued......
P.s due to an unknown technical hitch photos are not appearing in this blog so will be posted direct on FB
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