Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Smoky mountains - Williamsburg - Washington DC - New York) Day 18

[janey2000]

Day 18 - Monday 17th April 2017

I had hoped for a lie in today knowing that we wouldn't sleep on the plane tonight, but 7am was the best we could get with the train noise. We relaxed a bit watching some tv and had a leisurely breakfast and finished squeezing everything into the cases. We checked out at 1030 and made our way into the city where today I had told Jack he was in charge of all the plans. He chose to go to Macys just so he could say he had been there. Everything seemed really expensive so we only 'window' shopped. They had a Au Bon Pain inside so you can guess what we did here
We then made our way to JC Penny where we knew the prices were more reasonable. Georgia conned me into buying her a top (which you will see on the later photo!). I had commented that I was disappointed we had only had the 1 Chick-fil-a which wasn't even the full experience as it was at the airport, so Jack surprised me with lunch here.

We popped into 'Jacks' after which was a dollar style store to get some sweets to take back to work and Georgia wanted an ice cream so we got some little $1 tubs.

We made our way back to the hotel for 4 and had a coffee and checked in for the flight online. It was then an easy ride to the JFK airtrain using up some of the funds still on the subway card.
At the airport after check in I had planned to get a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee as this was also something I had missed on during the trip, but unfortunately the Dunkin Donuts was only a stand and only a couple of drink choices. So I went with a McDonalds one instead. We boarded the flight on time but it spent a long time on the runway waiting for a slot. The flight experience was really poor, so much so that I made a complaint on our return. I didn't sleep but that was to be expected, but being so tired I couldn't get into a film either. Georgia woke after 3 hours sleep feeling sick but thankfully it didn't materialise into anything We arrived home at lunchtime and went to bed for a couple of hours. My friend had dropped in some milk, soy milk, yoghurt, strawberries, apples, bananas, bread, soup and chocolate brownies which was a life saver as I didn't feel up to shopping.

So that's the end of the trip! We always do our 'peaks and pits' at the end of trip, I'm just trying to remember them...

Peaks
Spending time with our friends, we thoroughly enjoy their company and the kids always get on so well together, even after so long of being apart.

The cabin was amazing! I had thought I would feel just like being at home instead of away but it wasn't like that at all. the bed was the most comfortable I have ever slept tin, the hot tub was fun for the girls, I liked the freedom of the odd bit of easy cooking indoors etc.

Losing our upside roller-coaster virginity, I'm never doing it again though )

Biking DC was fun!

Going to the crown with Georgia was fantastic, a real bucket list moment. I hope its something she remembers forever. Walking the Brooklyn bridge was one of her peaks.

Pits
I didn't feel NYC lived up to my expectations. It was so busy. I've been to London in my own with Georgia and not felt like I did here. I couldn't let go of her hand as she would of got swept away in the crowds. There were so many homeless people here which really upset her. We discovered here that we are more mountain explorers than city people.

The prices were so much higher than our Florida trip in 2014. The poor exchange rate didn't help but even supermarket food was pricier than I remember. Because we went for such a long trip this effected things by the time we got to NYC and I wanted to reign in the spending. We didn't make it to Ellen's stardust diner as although G would have enjoyed it, the $20 minimum spend, on what I had read was poor quality food, put me off!

[CrispyA]

What a fab trip, thanks so much for sharing

[WileyCoyote]

It's been great, I hope NY will grow on you when you look back, it looks like you had a great time but it was so busy. The time in the mountains was brilliant.

Thank you for sharing a brilliant trip. I have enjoyed it very much.

[disney owl]

many thanks for sharing your fab trip with us, really enjoyed reading your reports