I finally fell asleep in my hotel in NY by 9. But the noise, hotels are full of new sounds, that take a while to accept, woke me, and the time difference made sleep difficult. But I did finally get some sleep, and 6:30 seemed to arrive early and unbidden.
(looking a bit tired)
Dinner was at the local Applebee’s because it was easy to find and didn’t require much energy. I was too tired to try out something new. My waiter, Lilly, was from the area, living with her parents, and seemed too young to be serving me. I had a chicken and cheese offering that I have had better versions of, but it has been years since I last ate at an Applebee’s. But the salsa was wicked and wonderful, and the cheese was sharp and fresh. Maybe it was good, actually, as I think back. The gin and tonic was perfect.
The Fairfield Inn is expensive, as are all hotels in this area, and it seems to have added another $500 to the price I was quoted for the week I am here. Something to check at checkout. Hmmm. The room was not bad, though smaller than my last recent hotel, which charged less. But again, we are an hour from Manhattan.
I arrived at the hotel after walking for five minutes, rolling my bags past bird feed for pigeons, a dive bar (recommended by the hacker community for late drinks), and getting used to large urban areas again. I took the Q30 bus for forty-five minutes with my bags next to me after the friendly driver helped me. I did not have auto-accept on my phone for scanning the equipment here (fixed now). The bus was clean and quiet. The usual don’t-make-eye-contact NY ride.
(Sorry, got my finger in photo; yes, those steps)
To reach the bus, I had to walk around and find the bus station off the Jamaica AirTrain stop. I had to get down from the platform before that. The escalator and elevators were not working, and thus I carried my bags down the stairs. It was a lot of stairs. I just thought, welcome to the NYC area, where stairs are everywhere. I got help with the payment because the phone was not in the correct settings, as I mentioned earlier.
I found the train on my second pass, thinking it was different from the airport train, but it turned out to be the same. To find the train, I first had to find my bags. I got my steps as my arrival gate at JFK was at the extreme end, and the baggage claim was at the other end. Also, it took my plane forty minutes to reach the gate, open the door, and unload to my point, seat 31A, so I could deplane. Thus, I reached the Q30 bus at 5 local time and at the hotel around 6 local time.
I had decided not to take a taxi and instead use public transit. I am early retired and have no income other than my investments. Time to be more frugal! It is also fun, new adventures and things to learn.
Before all of this, I would usually wake up at 4AM at my hotel in PDX, get dressed, and head out. I had done some swimming and showered again before bed. My skin was all itchy, and I had trouble sleeping. It was a hard start when the alarm rang.
On my shuttle was a forest fire-fighting crew from northern Michigan, and apparently, there is an annual meeting here in Oregon for them. I wished them well, thanked them for their help, and hoped they would return for the next meeting. Fire season is starting in Oregon.
(PDX carpet shot, a thing for us)
The plane, an Airbus, was the usual one, and I watched a movie, nodding off a few times. I brought my own noise-reducing plug-in earbuds. I can only hear from one ear, and I put all the movies on CC. To hear all the words I have to turn up the volume too load so I would rather hear/read. I do this at home now too. Part of the cost of being alive.
(The uptown, I think)
I had breakfast at my usual place, Grassa, and they had a JFK sandwich, and an egg with bacon sandwich, which was terrific. Lunch was a cookie and coffee on the plane, which was fine.
(yes, very Portland, there are more cocktail options than food)
One awful moment on the Airbus, two folks took very long in two of the three bathrooms on the plane. I was in a line six deep, and there was another line at the other bathroom. Yikes! I waited ten minutes or more until the line started to move. Finally, everything returned to normal.
And that is what I remember for Tuesday, thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 