The journey begins - to the airport

So the journey began this morning  (06/08/11) with my brother, David, giving us a lift to the airport.


He had arranged to give us a ring at 4.00 a.m. BST (11.00 p.m. EST) so we knew he was on his way. Duly at 3.57 the phone rang and we got up and had breakfast before the journey.

 

Our Route to Heathrow

My brother lives in Llangennech and so his journey was 52 minutes before getting to us. So at 5.50, we left the house and had a clear run through to Heathrow - thanks Dave.

We arrived at the airport by 7.03 and had dropped our bags, we checked in on Drew's iPad yesterday, and were in the ServisAir Lounge by 7.25. We'd pre-booked he lounge and enjoyed the free wi-fi. free nibbles and free drinks (non-alcoholic - as I'll explain in a future post). I posted the earlier posts for the blog there.

The Virgin Atlantic flight to JFK boarded on time, and left the gate 10 minutes before the due departure time.

Though I'm frugal (some would say mean!) in most aspects of my life, holidays are the one exception - so we had booked ourselves into Premium Economy . It always seems worth it for the extra comfort, the ease of boarding, the quality experience with only 38 people travelling in the same part of the plane, and of course the advantage of two loos between 38, compared to 4 between 100s further back. Not that I'm loo focused, but the loo was still fresh at the end of the flight, again a privilege not always true in economy. Being in Premium Economy proved its value again today as we both relaxed on the flight, and arrived in New York relaxed and ready for the rest of the day.

The food on the plane was lovely, it started with a Salad of feta, red onion, and sub blushed tomatoes and was followed for me by the chicken breast in a parsley sauce with leek and potato gratin and baby carrots and broccoli - I had that, it was delightful, the chicken was soft and tender, amazing for airline food, which sometimes isn't of that quality. Drew had ravioli of woodland mushrooms in ariabta sauce which he said was really pleasant. Certainly, like me, he left an empty plate. Drew than had a Passion Fruit Posset (well two as he had mine too) and I had two lots of red Leicester on some Jacobs cracked black pepper crackers.

Later we had a choice of egg or tuna sandwiches and some cookies, of which  Drew again had two. I had some fruit.


It was interesting to note on the seven hour flight, that the last two and a half hours started with landfall in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2.5 hours to do in the air what we will be doing for a week or so in a car.


Astoundingly the plane arrived almost an hour before its due time, though 40 minutes queuing in passport control lost us most of that time. A simple friendly process, not like some years ago, and we were in the States.


The car was there to pick us up, booked through the hotel, and we across the Midtown tunnel and in Manhatten in 30 minutes.


We were welcomed to the Hotel Bedford and given a room upgrade, out the window is a direct view of the Empire State Building.

A busy but fun day so far, pop back tomorrow to hear more.