Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014: Day 8 – New York JFK to London City LCY

So, before the flight to London City, I needed to get across New York city which sounds a lot easier that it really was. The number of people that I ended up fighting with to get a seat, get some air (in some cases) it was amazing.

It was by far the worst transport system from a overcrowding and dirty perspective that I have seen.

It started off well – I was off to the AirTrain – no one was going to stop me. The AirTrain had just arrived, so I jumped on it. It was a minute after it had left before I realised it was going the wrong way! No big deal though – jumped off at the first parking stop and got on the next AirTrain back.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that the AirTrain at Liberty are poorly designed. I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have gone for an airy design like the JFK AirTrain. I’ve no idea which came first but feels like JFK had got it right, and EWR had made a big boo-boo.

Reached the New Jersey Transit station and got the ticket out which I had purchased on the way to Newark, and was through the first barrier.

I followed the signs for trains to New York on to Platforms 1 and A, and waited for the next New Jersey Transit train. This came within 10 mins and I had to pay on the train – $10. Of course that was the ticket I had paid for as a return but failed to wait for the return ticket to print out at Penn Station.

Got to Penn Station and then it became a little bewildering. I got to the LIRR ok, and then there were a load of tracks and destinations I hadn’t heard of. So I looked for a map to see which line I should be looking for and which destination would go through Jamaica.

Could I find any map that provided any vaguely useful info? No. So, I had to ask a young lady who kindly pointed me towards a big black destinations board which cross referenced possible destinations and the next available train to take you there.

Well that made it a little easier! Why not stick some signs up to help dozy people like me to know that’s where they need to go?

Anyway found a train and jumped on – took about 15 mins and I was back at Jamaica and familiar ground. Wazzed through to T7 using the JFK AirTrain and found my way around to the Premium Security channel which was literally empty. I have to say that T7 as a whole was not busy at all – not like the last time I was here.

Into the First lounge to bag a seat, and then popped in to the pre-flight dinner service, where I had a very nice beef penang curry.

I waited in the lounge chilling – it was another couple of hours before I would be queuing up to board, and then the plan was to sleep as much as possible.

As the flights left JFK, the F lounge slowly emptied and it became deadly quiet – the business class lounge provided a far more airy and energetic feel to it, so perhaps next time I’d hang around there instead.

Left a tad earlier than scheduled – we were called a good 35 mins before departure time – advised that the flight would only take 6.5 hours due to strong tail winds.

There were only 18 pax on board. Normally it’s chocker from JFK based on my previous experience. The purser introduced himself – nice chap, but the the two FAs were not very friendly, and indeed one had a right scowl on her face.

Although it’s not a sociable time to be working, it’s hardly a difficult shift since 90%-100% of pax sleep for 6 hrs+?

I moved from the front of the plane to the back. Someone was next to me, and the plane was nowhere near full, so I thought I might as well move to row 8 to see what that’s like.

There’s something about fluffy clouds isn’t there?

In the end, I got about 5 hrs kip and woke around 7am – everyone else seemed to wake not long after – possibly because I opened the window blind! I love making an entrance!

Breakfast service was efficient. The fruit was lovely, but the sausage didn’t taste that good. Landing was pretty smooth and it was only a minute or two before we were at the gate and waiting for steps to take us down to the waiting bus. Hardly anyone in the immigration queue so we just joined the main queue and I was through in no time.

I think it’s the first time I can remember sitting behind the wings, and it’s a different perspective which I appreciated. It was also nice not having anyone next to me which gave me the freedom to relax and chill on board, and I think that was one reason why I managed to get so much sleep.

I was ready for my trip across London – DLR to Canning Town – Jubilee Line to Green Park – Piccadilly to Heathrow.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014