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Old 29 Oct 19, 11:23 AM  
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Jessika
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Mobile NYC 20 Years Later - Day 1 Travel Day

Friday October 25th 2019

The usual early start of 6am was still painful however I would not be heading to work after dropping Ramona at school as today I was on TOIL.

Our flights were not until 4pm and we are departing from Heathrow which is a 10 minute drive for us. I booked these flights in January as a twenty years later trip. I first visited New York in November 1999 with Alex and our then 3 year old and 6 month old kiddo’s and we had the time of our lives! Our big babies are not travelling with us today due to the fact they are adults and have their own lives!

Alex was also off work and so we treated ourselves to breakfast and popped out to grab a couple of last minute bits before collecting Ramona a little earlier than usual for a dental appointment. I got all of the school wear she’d worn today into the washing machine with a plan that we’d leave once the wash was complete!





We arrived at terminal 3 at 1.30pm and Ramona had our bags tagged and checked through the self bag check in no time. It’s been a while since we’ve flown from 3 and it’s not a great terminal. Security was fairly quick. We went looking for lunch and as usual with us we could not make a mutual decision on where to eat. The terminal was packed. Ramona wanted Yo Sushi. I’m put off as the last time I ate there I had crippling stomach pains afterwards! We ended up in Spuntino a burger for Alex, fish and chips for me and nothing for Mone!





Poor Ramona wasn’t feeling it today, there were some frenemy issues going on at school and on her phone as we sat waiting to order coupled with our choice of dining.

The food wasn’t great and neither was the service. We stopped at Boots for plane drinks and Eat for Mona’s lunch and plane food and then noticed that the plane was boarding. We hadn’t even had a chance to look in any of the shops.

We walked to the gate stopping for a toilet break then lined up trying to arrange our bits and bobs we would need in the flight.


We are boarding!

We pretty much walked straight on to the plane right to the back where I had reserved a middle row of 3 seats. We haven’t flown with Virgin since 2014. The plane was shabby (in economy) and in need of a refurb. It was also kept at arctic temperatures throughout the flight. Everyone in economy was blanketed up. On reflection I do think this was preferable to being too hot. We have become accustomed to BA and United this year who were superb and comfortable.The row of 3 however was a good configuration for us as the row in front was a 4 and so the middle seat had a double foot well good for Alex who is 6ft 2 and usually spreads his feet into our space!


On board.

A crew member came around with menus before we watched the safety briefing. We pushed back at just gone 4pm but took a while to get going. Drinks and pretzels were served before lunch. Mona and myself went for paneer curry which was actually nice. I wasn’t hungry having eaten breakfast and lunch. I usually skip breakfast!


Lunch


Plane snacks.

I watched Toy Story 4 and a comedy tv show with Danny Devito set in Philadelphia. I cat napped and ate my eat sandwich along with a scone served in the afternoon tea box. None of us ate the sandwich that this contained and so I’m not sure what it was! Ramona ate nothing as slept for the last hour or so. I finished up by watching 2 episodes of Derry Girls - I love this show!

We landed at just gone 7pm and went through the returning esta kiosks. We then along with everyone else had to line up to see an agent. The wait was painfully long and I noticed that the passengers travelling on new estas were through a lot quicker. The gentleman before us was lead off by the agent (scary!) who then took an age to return (possible bathroom break). Alex was huffing and puffing and going on about the lack of staff and ridiculousness of the whole situation, he was embarrassing Mone so needed to be told to chill! By the time we got to the luggage carousel our bags had been taken off and a completely different flights were now on the belt!

Once through customs after a bathroom break we booked an Uber and stopped to buy 3 drinks from Dunkin Donuts.


Waiting for our ride!



We were travelling into the city with Imran by 9pm.



We are staying at the Homewood Suites by Hilton midtown South. This is my 9th (maybe 10th it’s early!) trip to New York since my first visit 20 years ago. This is a new hotel for us booked with travel republic earlier this year. It’s a studio suite with snacks. First impressions are good. The room is very clean but smaller than anywhere we’ve stayed before in the city.









We unpacked, showered and made up Ramona’s sofa bed. We ate popcorn with Goosebumps on the TV in the back ground and crashed at midnight.
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Old 29 Oct 19, 09:58 PM  
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Noodle500
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Having a 2 night stopover next year so following your trip report thanks
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Old 30 Oct 19, 01:13 PM  
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Jessika
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Mobile

Ah fantastic hope you get some tips and ideas, thanks for following.
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