The Silver Wedding NYC & Boston trip - Travel Day & Upper West Side

[jocat]

Index here

Travel Day - Friday 26th September

The alarm went off at 5:40 am. We had quick showers, and left the Premier Inn on Bath Road at 6:30am.

We were leaving our car at the Long stay car park for Heathrow which was just a few minutes away. We parked easily enough, then waited about 5 minutes for the shuttle bus, which dropped off at Terminal 1 and 2 first. We arrived at Terminal 3 at 7:10am.
There was no queue at the Premium Economy desk so did bag drop, cleared security and started shopping. I’d left my cheap Dorothy Perkins sunglasses at home so of course needed some new ones. Ended up with some Calvin Klein sunglasses which were a lovely shade of purple. Martin bought some aftershave and we also called into Harrods for an extra gift for our Big Apple Greeter. Shopping over and it was time for breakfast. We tried to eat at Bridge Bar and Eating House but the queues for a table were long and it seemed packed to the rafters. I remembered seeing another restaurant near Duty Free so we headed there instead. We were seated straightaway in the calm oasis of Rhubarb at 8am – the complete opposite experience to the restaurant we’d just left. Martin ordered a full English and I ordered a bacon butty, both with orange juice to drink. Don't know why he ordered a full English as he'd be eating both his and my meal on the plane shortly!





We noticed the board was now showing a small delay, so sat down and passed the time away until our gate was announced. I also had a mooch round a few more shops. Unfortunately I have a tendency for travel sickness, so went to Boots to buy some medication for this and a bottle of water to take them. They’re supposed to be taken 2 hours before travelling, but I wasn’t too far off that timescale. Eventually, Gate 21 flashed up and we made our way to the gate. We joined quite a long queue but then Martin noticed the premium economy queue with just one person in it. We moved to it and were through in a matter of seconds. Good timing too as the crew all moved when we walked in there, freeing up some seats. We could see our plane - we would be travelling on 'Miss England'.



Finally at about 9:50 am we started to board. The boarding was done very quickly and the doors were closed and we pushed back from the gate as soon as the last person boarded. We then joined a large queue of planes for the runway and eventually took off just over an hour late at 10:50 am.

It was our first ever premium economy experience. Our welcome drink was brought round while we were still at the gate - a choice of sparkling wine, orange juice or water. We both plumped for the Orange Juice as it was a little early for us to be drinking!

Shortly after take off, the first of the drinks were brought round along with a mini bag of pretzels - I love these. Martin had wine while I stuck to the orange juice.



They were having huge problems with the entertainment system. Martin's seat back TV wasn't working at this point, along with several others in the PE cabin. They reset the system and Martin's came back on but this restart seemed to take out the whole of the middle section. They did eventually get it started for everyone though.

The captain gave us a laugh - he forgot the names of people he was flying with and kept saying we were going to JFK instead of Newark. It really was amusing to hear him keep backtracking over the mistakes he was making, although I’m sure if you were a nervous flyer, you may have had a different slant on his mistakes!

I settled down to watch an episode of the Big Bang Theory while Martin put Spider-Man on. The next thing I know it was 12:30 and Martin was waking me as they were bringing the food round. I can never normally sleep on a plane, but the combination of the comfier seats, more legroom and my travel sickness tablets must have had something to do with it - more likely the tablets knocked me out.







We both chose the chicken and I actually ate most of mine so it was a good decision after all that Martin had eaten a full breakfast! I even had a glass of wine, although not entirely sure I should have drank with the tablets.





Shortly after dinner they came round offering Brandy, but we declined this.

I managed to sleep for a couple more hours then watched the Mrs Brown's Boys film.

They then brought us round a Mini fab. While eating this, I opened the window blind and looked out, but had a bit of a shock at the sight of another plane! It was much closer initially, but by the time I’d found my bag, located my phone and turned it on to take the photo, it had moved a fair bit to the right.



Afternoon tea was served shortly afterwards, which consisted of cheese and sun dried tomato finger sandwiches, a mini bag of Plane Crisps and a millionaires shortbread type biscuit.



Soon we we were nearly there.





We landed at 1:30pm local time and saw our first hazy view of the Manhattan skyline from the right hand side of the plane.



We disembarked fairly quickly and it only took 30 minutes to clear immigration, which I think was really good for New York. We had a lovely immigration officer who was really chatty and when she enquired why we were visiting, couldn't stop offering her congratulations and good wishes for our anniversary.

We picked up our bags and headed downstairs to ground transportation, where we used a phone there to contact our pre arranged car service. We were told to wait at Area 4, which was just outside, and given the car number to look out for. A few minutes later we were heading towards our hotel. The Dial 7 driver was cheerful and fairly chatty and we also felt safe - most unusual in NYC traffic!

We arrived at the Hotel Beacon in the Upper West Side, checked in and were given a room on the 15th floor. When we got to our room, we'd been given a bottle of wine and box of chocolates along with a card from the General Manager to celebrate our anniversary - it was a lovely touch even though neither of us drink red wine!









After dumping our luggage, we headed straight back out to the Fairway Market across the street. We just bought some diet Pepsi, water, orange juice, mixed berries and crisps - although we had the facilities to cook we had no intention of doing so, so just bought a few things for when we are in the room. I also made a quick call to leave a message for our Big Apple Greeter to let her know we’d arrived.

After freshening up, we headed out to find food.





We found the Shake Shack in the Upper West Side, and after reading Abi's trip report knew we had to head here. She wasn't wrong - the burgers were lovely and juicy. Left half of my fries that came with it though and don't think I'd bother with them next time. They were just regular fries that were overcooked in my opinion – they no longer seemed to have the crinkle cut fries that I’ve seen in other trippies. Not sure if it was just at this location though.



Once we'd finished eating, we carried on wandering around the UWS. We loved looking at the residential buildings, and passed a playground and a school. We also walked around the perimeter of the Natural History Museum but felt too tired to go in.











We had a bit of a look in Zabars, then Duane Reade, before decided to head back towards the hotel as we were flagging a bit by now. We decided to head into the hotel bar, where they were having Happy Hour. Not sure whether alcohol was a good idea when we were feeling tired, but decided to give it a try! Martin had a Pale Ale while I went for a Cosmo - it was very strong and took me a while to drink it. Both drinks came to $14, which I thought was a bit of a bargain, particular for a hotel bar in New York!



Drinks finished and we headed back to the room. We unpacked, and I was in my pyjamas by 7:30pm. Susan, our Big Apple Greeter called to confirm our meeting for tomorrow and we just chilled on the sofa for a while, trying to avoid going to sleep too early. Think I finally gave up at about 9pm.

[happytraveller]

Brilliant start Cant't wait to read more

[silverfox46]

Looking forward to rest of trippie. Hope the weather was as good for you as us (we were there 25th -30th Sept) and sun never stopped shining. How I wish we were still there even though I found this visit the most expensive we ever had. Prices have shot up so much so it was cheaper to buy converse here than NYC.

[jocat]

Originally Posted by happytraveller

Brilliant start Cant't wait to read more

See more...

Thanks. The next day might take a while - there's about 100 photos and that's after I've reduced them down!

Originally Posted by silverfox46

Looking forward to rest of trippie. Hope the weather was as good for you as us (we were there 25th -30th Sept) and sun never stopped shining. How I wish we were still there even though I found this visit the most expensive we ever had. Prices have shot up so much so it was cheaper to buy converse here than NYC.

See more...

Thanks. The weather was fantastic wasn't it? I can't believe we were that lucky. You left on the right day though as it was overcast on the 1st October with a little bit of drizzle.

We didn't really shop much on this trip, so didn't notice that it was more expensive than before.

Are you doing a trippie?

[academy]

Can't wait to read the rest of your trippie. I'm off to New York next August for 5 days before flying down to Orlando.

Never been to New York before soooo excited!

[tracy99]

What a great start,can't wait to read more,it always brings back great memories,when I read NY trip reports!
Tracy x

[hross42877]

Great start!

[gasp0de]

Great start, can't wait to read more. I have booked 5 nights in new york next September before flying down to Orlando for 17 days.We'll be careful celebrating our 50th birthdays and a belated 25th wedding anniversary

[jocat]

Originally Posted by academy

Can't wait to read the rest of your trippie. I'm off to New York next August for 5 days before flying down to Orlando.

Never been to New York before soooo excited!

See more...

Oh you'll have a fab time. You're definitely doing it the right way, with New York first and you've got a good amount of days for your first visit there. If you need a couple of chilling days after New York, you'll be able to do it by a pool.

Originally Posted by tracy99

What a great start,can't wait to read more,it always brings back great memories,when I read NY trip reports!
Tracy x

See more...

I know what you mean. I love reading the trippies too - it seems to give me my New York fix!

Originally Posted by hross42877

Great start!

See more...

Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted by gasp0de

Great start, can't wait to read more. I have booked 5 nights in new york next September before flying down to Orlando for 17 days.We'll be careful celebrating our 50th birthdays and a belated 25th wedding anniversary

See more...

Thank you. September was a lovely time to visit. Even better when you've got something to celebrate too. Where are you staying?

[megaflyer]

Great trip report and the photos make it feel like we are there with you ... lol

Excited to read more