After supping on the offerings in the lounge, it was time to get some shut eye. There were other passengers draped over the lounge suites in various uncomfortable positions trying to sleep and I did not fancy joining them. So using my incredible charm on the reception staff i managed to secure a private quiet room with 2 long couches with nice woolen blankets for John and I. The ingrate decided not to sleep but spent the night working.
We were up early able to shower and head for breakfast. The lounge operates 24/7and changes the offerings to suit the time of day. Our flight was schedulled for 10 am departure however this time we left the lounge early and wandered through duty free before heading for the security check.(Baileys 1 litre $22.00, Brambui 1 litre $29.00) No queues for us fortunatley as you get an express pass for security, scanning and passport/ boarding pass checks.
What was interesting was that the first flight from Bangkok was a Boeing 777-300 and bus class started at row 5. There was no first class section. This plane was an Airbus 340-500. It however also had first class section ahead of BC and the BC rows started at 5 again. The capsule arrangement on both planes was identical.
John and I had side by side capsules in the middle of the plane on both flights. The capsules are twins down the middle and from the centre towards the windows are singles. Soon after boarding the euphoria of BC hit the deck. Babies and children. We were seated in row 9 and first problem was a couple with a baby and children, with mother in row 5 in a single capsule, father behind us in row 10 in a twin but with someone else in the one side. They needed all of a centre of row 10, twin plus 2 singles on each side for their mob. All good as long as mother had the baby (already crying). Then musical chairs started as we taxied. People in single in row 10 moved, mum moved behind us. horror of horrors we had the whole family right behind us. We hit the runway. No time to do anything. We asssesed while taking off. The moment the seat belt signs were off I occupied mothers old single in row five. John took the single behind me in row 6. Saved up to a point because the kids performed intermittently for the whole 13.5 hours.
Again hillbilly me decided to accpet the offer ogf a drink for sir after take off . Sir played safe and ordered a Baileys. We had a great menu selection and I had a "fish dome" entree and a crumbed beef tenderloin, beautiful, followed by ice cream. Dear John who worked through the night before promptly fell asleep after his entree. Nurtured the Baileys while watching movies, then had a lapse in concentration, took my hand off the baileys and where did it end up, In Sirs lap and on the seat. How embarrasing. Fortunatley I had a great flight attendant, she was so attentive through the entire flight that I could swear she only had eyes for me.
Anyway she provided me with a face towel and as I had almost finished the baileys there was not too much to clean up. After cleaning up, sat down and promtply sat on my ear phones breaking them.
I had a lot to learn still. After sleeping and watching movies, as we neared JFK I could have ordered another meal, but my mindset failed to move past the perspective that I had had a meal so why have another one, not realising that i had been in the air for 12 hours and one should have more than one meal in a 12 hour period. Needless to say I regretted this later.
When we landed at JFK we joined the egalitarian society, no express clearances for Bus class, we were pretty much first from our plane to hit the arrivals hall. Huge with queues for US Citizens, greencard holders, Quick connects for ongoing flights, diplomats and finally visitors. We scanned each one as we walked and when we hit the visitors, more horror, hundreds people in front of us. There were 20 processing cubicles and the queue snaked the length of them and was 6 rows deep. We were there for almost 1.5 hours and my stomach let me know I had not eaten. I was hungry. Could have had another beef tenderloin before landing- idiot. Will not make the same mistake on return trip. Will be a seasoned Bus Class traveler then.
When we finally got to a procesing cubicle we found at least one reason why it took that long. Several idiots deccided not to complete the immigration forms on the plane or at the counters prior to joining the queue and were actually being allowed to do it at the counter.
By the time we cleared immigration and headed to the luggage collection I was sure our bags could have been removed from the carousel. We walked past long queues with their bags waiting now for customs. More horror awaited us. When we hit it there were bags sitting on the far side. I could not see our bags on the carousel as i approached so i headed for the other side, found Johns bag dumped and then started searching for mine. Decided to go back to the other side and found mine standing to one side.
And then fortune smiled on us. The Business class angel returned. Standing next to my bag was a young girl in uniform and as I examined my bag she asked if I was expecting a limousine. Oh yes we were thank you very much. We followed her and sailed past the queues waiting for customs, she waved to the counter staff and we walked through. Out the exit to a counter where a guy called up a driver on the 2 way, told us where to exit the terminal and as we walked out - a big black mercedes was waiting at the kerb - hoo hah!!.
The driver was great, advised us on what to see and took us on a mini tour in peak our traffic. We drove through the east river tunnel and emerged in Manhattan. I was in New York City, 5th avenue and a host of other street names i had only heard of before, look left and right at each intersection and huge buildings soaring skyward on both sides, passed the empire states building, Macy' department store and on into the Lincoln tunnel under the famous Hudson river, out the other side and i was in Hoboken. Have to say the driver at some points was hitting 90 miles an hour, the merc would leap forward when we hit a freeway, with me worried about all these other drivers heading towards us on the wrong side of the road. (in my mind).
We finally got into Ronnie's apartment and what a view, accross the Hudson and the New York city skyline in front of you uninterrupted.
Went out for hot mexican last night and plans are to check into our hotel in Manhattan later today with some touring of the city after John comes back from his run along the Hudson.
Next stop Toronto and the Niagra falls.
PS. Here are a couple of shots of the view out my window:
We were up early able to shower and head for breakfast. The lounge operates 24/7and changes the offerings to suit the time of day. Our flight was schedulled for 10 am departure however this time we left the lounge early and wandered through duty free before heading for the security check.(Baileys 1 litre $22.00, Brambui 1 litre $29.00) No queues for us fortunatley as you get an express pass for security, scanning and passport/ boarding pass checks.
What was interesting was that the first flight from Bangkok was a Boeing 777-300 and bus class started at row 5. There was no first class section. This plane was an Airbus 340-500. It however also had first class section ahead of BC and the BC rows started at 5 again. The capsule arrangement on both planes was identical.
John and I had side by side capsules in the middle of the plane on both flights. The capsules are twins down the middle and from the centre towards the windows are singles. Soon after boarding the euphoria of BC hit the deck. Babies and children. We were seated in row 9 and first problem was a couple with a baby and children, with mother in row 5 in a single capsule, father behind us in row 10 in a twin but with someone else in the one side. They needed all of a centre of row 10, twin plus 2 singles on each side for their mob. All good as long as mother had the baby (already crying). Then musical chairs started as we taxied. People in single in row 10 moved, mum moved behind us. horror of horrors we had the whole family right behind us. We hit the runway. No time to do anything. We asssesed while taking off. The moment the seat belt signs were off I occupied mothers old single in row five. John took the single behind me in row 6. Saved up to a point because the kids performed intermittently for the whole 13.5 hours.
Again hillbilly me decided to accpet the offer ogf a drink for sir after take off . Sir played safe and ordered a Baileys. We had a great menu selection and I had a "fish dome" entree and a crumbed beef tenderloin, beautiful, followed by ice cream. Dear John who worked through the night before promptly fell asleep after his entree. Nurtured the Baileys while watching movies, then had a lapse in concentration, took my hand off the baileys and where did it end up, In Sirs lap and on the seat. How embarrasing. Fortunatley I had a great flight attendant, she was so attentive through the entire flight that I could swear she only had eyes for me.
Anyway she provided me with a face towel and as I had almost finished the baileys there was not too much to clean up. After cleaning up, sat down and promtply sat on my ear phones breaking them.
I had a lot to learn still. After sleeping and watching movies, as we neared JFK I could have ordered another meal, but my mindset failed to move past the perspective that I had had a meal so why have another one, not realising that i had been in the air for 12 hours and one should have more than one meal in a 12 hour period. Needless to say I regretted this later.
When we landed at JFK we joined the egalitarian society, no express clearances for Bus class, we were pretty much first from our plane to hit the arrivals hall. Huge with queues for US Citizens, greencard holders, Quick connects for ongoing flights, diplomats and finally visitors. We scanned each one as we walked and when we hit the visitors, more horror, hundreds people in front of us. There were 20 processing cubicles and the queue snaked the length of them and was 6 rows deep. We were there for almost 1.5 hours and my stomach let me know I had not eaten. I was hungry. Could have had another beef tenderloin before landing- idiot. Will not make the same mistake on return trip. Will be a seasoned Bus Class traveler then.
When we finally got to a procesing cubicle we found at least one reason why it took that long. Several idiots deccided not to complete the immigration forms on the plane or at the counters prior to joining the queue and were actually being allowed to do it at the counter.
By the time we cleared immigration and headed to the luggage collection I was sure our bags could have been removed from the carousel. We walked past long queues with their bags waiting now for customs. More horror awaited us. When we hit it there were bags sitting on the far side. I could not see our bags on the carousel as i approached so i headed for the other side, found Johns bag dumped and then started searching for mine. Decided to go back to the other side and found mine standing to one side.
And then fortune smiled on us. The Business class angel returned. Standing next to my bag was a young girl in uniform and as I examined my bag she asked if I was expecting a limousine. Oh yes we were thank you very much. We followed her and sailed past the queues waiting for customs, she waved to the counter staff and we walked through. Out the exit to a counter where a guy called up a driver on the 2 way, told us where to exit the terminal and as we walked out - a big black mercedes was waiting at the kerb - hoo hah!!.
The driver was great, advised us on what to see and took us on a mini tour in peak our traffic. We drove through the east river tunnel and emerged in Manhattan. I was in New York City, 5th avenue and a host of other street names i had only heard of before, look left and right at each intersection and huge buildings soaring skyward on both sides, passed the empire states building, Macy' department store and on into the Lincoln tunnel under the famous Hudson river, out the other side and i was in Hoboken. Have to say the driver at some points was hitting 90 miles an hour, the merc would leap forward when we hit a freeway, with me worried about all these other drivers heading towards us on the wrong side of the road. (in my mind).
We finally got into Ronnie's apartment and what a view, accross the Hudson and the New York city skyline in front of you uninterrupted.
Went out for hot mexican last night and plans are to check into our hotel in Manhattan later today with some touring of the city after John comes back from his run along the Hudson.
Next stop Toronto and the Niagra falls.
PS. Here are a couple of shots of the view out my window:
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