Washington & New York

Nov 4th - Nov 13th 2016

Friday 4th November 2016 

London

Quiet day. Yesterday I was off work with the lurgy - still feeling a bit rubbish today. Lots of Strepsils and Soothers.

Got all the paperwork ready for the big trip and did the packing. Nikki had patients so was in and out all day.

Had some lunch and decided to head off around 14.30. Managed to get on the road by around 15.00.

Not nice weather on the drive down to Heathrow. Took about 1.5 hours. Quite a few hold-ups on the M40 and then on the M25.

Found the DoubleTree By Hilton easily enough - straight down the Bath Road. Arrived around 16.40 and got checked in. Was in room 508 on the top floor which has great view of the planes landing at Heathrow but no noise at all thanks to the double/triple/quadruple glazing.

Got myself sorted and waited for the rain to stop and then walked across the road to Tesco Express to grab some more Strepsils. Then walked about half a mile up the road to Starbucks for a coffee. Back to the hotel after about 45 mins - feels quite chilly out there.

Spoke to Danno about downloading some movies and caught up with Nikki on FaceTime to show her the room. Stuart arrived around 19.00 and checked-in to his room. We went out for some dinner shortly after - earlier I’d found a place across the road that did all-day breakfasts so we went there. Very nice. Portuguese place - both had a huge breakfast with toast and chips. Well, start as you mean to continue.

Back at the hotel we used our drinks vouchers for a Starbucks in the bar and planned for the trip for half an hour or so.

Now it’s 21.30 and I’m pretty much ready for bed. Busy day tomorrow.

Saturday 5th November

London to Washington

Well that was a night and a half. Slept really well until 04.00 then pretty much up for the rest of it apart from a brief doze listening to the World Service!

Got up and had my shower around 06.00 and made a coffee. Not feeling 100% by any means. Was ready to go by 08.00 so met in reception.

Drive to LHR is only about 10 mins but there was traffic. Found Car Park 3 and dropped the car off before walking across to check-in. Few people in front of us but nothing major. Slight queue for security but we got through in about 10 mins and hit the lounge.

After a decaf latte and some water, I’m starting to feel a little better.

We left the lounge around 11.10 to walk down to the plane. Boarding started exactly as we got there so we walked through and were first on. We were in 1K and 2K so right at the front. Very old plane and very old Upper Class seats - not seen these before but it soon became apparent that they were actually more comfortable than the newer ones. More worn in perhaps!

Quite a delay on taxiing out and queuing to for the runway. With my cold, I was paranoid about my ears not popping which happened on a flight back from Spain once. Agony. Luckily a combination of Strepsils and yawning did the trick and it was fine. Nikki’s advice had been to drink plenty so I was really ready for the loo when the seatbelt sign went off!

Once we were up they came round with hot towels, drinks and then some nose-bag. I had the Squash Soup again which was very nice but decided to give the curry a miss in my delicate condition. The crew very kindly got me a veggie meal from Premium Economy - some sort of pasta. Not very nice though. Watched a few films. Bad Moms which was actually really funny and another couple of ‘airplane’ movies. Instantly forgettable but makes the time go. Chatted with Stuart at the bar for a while and we were joined by two other people and one of the crew. Very enjoyable and got rid of another hour.

Landed into DC at 16.15 and had to use the funny trucks that cart passengers around Dulles before we arrived at immigration. The queue was horrendous. Over an hour. And because I’ve been sent to the naughty room on pretty much every previous visit to the US, I was fully expecting it this time. Amazingly no! Straight through - no issues at all.

Found our bags and then had another HUGE queue to get through Customs. Eventually got out and found Door 4. We’d decided to do it budget-style and go into DC on public transport. A cab is around $80, Uber wanted $75 whereas the bus and train is $8.60. We caught the Silverline bus from Door 4 which took us to the Wiehle-Reston East metro stop. That costs $5 - and then its $3.60 into DC from there. From the minute we left there was this eastern European chap in his late-60’s who’d been pushing his way in. He started talking to us briefly so we nodded and smiled. When we got to the metro stop he was still there so we explained how he got to Metro Center. The train came - and as Wiehle-Reston is currently the end of the line it was empty so we spread out. Our (as we then discovered) dreadfully racist Hungarian friend sat directly behind us. And then he started. The new Hungarian President is cracking down on Muslims, followers of Mohammed are banned from entering Hungary etc etc. So I just said, we’re from the UK and we like Muslims there. Then we had a story about a Muslim colleague of his who went to pray. It was left with a ‘whatever mate’ as we got off at Falls Church East to change trains. He stayed on the train and off he went on the Silver Line.

We waited about 15 mins for the Orange Line train which eventually arrived. We went one stop down the line, the doors opened and GUESS WHO GOT ON!! Bloody Racist Ron!!! How the hell is that even possible?? We left him on a Silver Line train. We’d changed to the Orange Line and gone one stop down and not only did he get on THROUGH THE EXACT DOOR WE’D USED - but then came and sat down right next to me!!!!

We’d obviously cured him of his racism so now he’d moved on to commenting about women. There was a woman, in her twenties wearing a pair of shorts, tights and ankle high boots. He proceeded to tell me how awful she looked. I’d had enough of him by this point and said I think she looks absolutely lovely and suggested he not talk to me anymore. He didn’t.

We got to Faragut North - one stop from our planned stop at McPherson Square and then train in front broke down. Quick look at Google Maps and saw it was quite close to the hotel so decided to walk. Slightly confusing but we managed it. Got to the hotel around 19.40. If you know where you’re going, then the bus and metro is a great idea - if it’s your first visit to DC, then maybe get a cab! Good experience though.

I’m in 1468 on the top floor, Stuart is in 777. Nice rooms. Little bit dated but certainly fine. We headed out for some dinner. Everywhere in central DC seems to close by around 18.00 on a Saturday night, but we found a Five Guys. Not a bad toasted cheese sandwich, some chips and about 6 cups of water later and felt a bit more human. Headed back to the hotel via a quick look at the Club Lounge and called it a night around 21.30.

Normally in hotels, I like to unpack and get sorted - just had no energy so grabbed the essentials and hit the sack by 22.00. At 22.15 was woken up by the chap delivering the fridge I’d ordered from reception. Declined to let him in and that was me done for the night.

Sunday 6th November 2016

Washington

Woke up around 04.00 and then dozed until 05.00 Emailed Stuart on the off chance and amazingly got a reply! I’d done some early digging into the candidates’ schedules for the day and discovered that Trump was due to be in Leesburg, Virginia tonight. Did my media accreditation and got Stuart to do his.

Walked over to Starbucks when they opened at 06.00 for a bucket of decaf latte and left one outside Stuart’s door as well. Back in the room, I started planning for the Leesburg trip. It’s about 50 minutes outside DC. Checked out the car hire rates. Seems if you use VPN and book via the Hertz UK site, you get a better deal. But I couldn’t get it to replicate. The accreditation page was saying ‘pending’ on our applications so we met up for breakfast at 08.00. Two options - the Club Lounge or the main restaurant. But they wanted to charge more for the main restaurant. Stuart explained why this was wrong and why they should give us 4 vouchers each for the main restaurant. Happily they agreed. Really nice breakfast - but both mostly had fruit and toast.

Back up to my room for a car hire conference. Eventually settled on Avis for £55 which we could get from 16.00 to 01.00. Then out for a wander around DC. We used our metro cards and got a Circulator bus from right outside the hotel up towards Union Station. Had a good explore of the station and scoped out where we were catching the train from on Wednesday. We also pre-reviewed the food court for lunch. Then it was a walk around the Capitol. Nice and quiet on a Sunday. Walked up from Union Station and went round the back of the Capitol stopping for loads of pics. Gorgeous day. Stuart went for the shorts but I wasn’t that brave. Nice and warm in the sunshine. We walked all around the outside of the Capitol and then tried (and failed) to get into the Fox/NBC building. We were hoping to get a look at the roof where all the world’s media do their reports from. Oh well. By this time it was approaching lunchtime so we walked back up to Union Station to this amazing salad place called Chopt we’d seen earlier. Really nice. Sat in Union Station watching people come and go for a while and continuing to see if the ‘pending’ on our accreditation requests had turned to ‘confirmed’. It hadn’t.

Got the bus back to the hotel for a quick bit of down-time before the trip to Leesburg. I dozed off watching CNN for about 15 mins before we set off at 15.15. We walked across McPherson Square to get the Metro out to Reagan Airport. Slightly confusing as the platform we needed was closed and all trains were arriving at the opposite one. Found the right train and got on our way.

At Reagan we found the Avis desk - and then they asked if I’d brought my passport. Nope! Luckily we persuaded the desk agent that my press card was pretty much the same. We got the car and hit the open road. For the first 4 or 5 miles we were totally lost before we sorted out the map on the iPhone! Really good drive out to Leesburg apart from 2 toll plazas. When we got close, we decided to get some nose-bag. We stopped in Leesburg and found a really nice bar/restaurant in the downtown area called Tuscarora Mill. Stuart had a burger and I had a pumpkin ravioli. Excellent food.

We had 3 miles to go to get to the venue of the Trump rally. And then we hit the traffic. The Loudoun County Fairgrounds is in the middle of nowhere with country lanes leading up to it. People were just dumping their cars on the side of the road and walking - some over 2.5 miles. Both sides of the road were totally rammed - not a blade of grass in sight. We were about a mile away when the email came through saying we’d been accredited! It gave the details of where we needed to go etc - and where to park. When we got to the entrance it was a flat ‘No’ from the guys on the gate - including the Secret Service. It was that “I don’t know what to tell you, but you can’t park here.” We flounced off down the road. Managed to turn around after a while and drove back up. We got hold of Sean (Spicer?) who was the event organiser - he was at the airport waiting for Trump. He told us that, yes, we should go in through that entrance. When we got back up there the Secret Service guy still refused despite our finest arguing. We drove up the road for about half a mile and spotted a walking and cycling path and figured we could drive down there and park. Perfect!

The path then led back to the Fairgrounds. We walked down the path in pitch-black using our phones as torches and then came across The Crowd. They were queuing to get in - what we didn’t realise at this stage was that the queue was around a mile long. We walked up to the gate area and explained we were media. A very helpful cop sent us up the line - but as we were walking up, we were getting shouted at by the Trump supporters queuing. Fair enough I suppose. We gave up when there was no way to get through the people waiting to go through security. Walking back down we found our friendly cop again and got Sean on the phone. Basically the organisation was rubbish - but then they only get 24 hours notice that these events are happening and, as a few of the cops said, this was the worst possible venue. After speaking to the cop for a while, he either took pity on us or was sick of us and escorted us in!

We were met by the Trump press team who were initially suspicious of what we wanted. Once we’d got through security though they seems to get a bit more friendly. The chap took us towards this big barn which we assumed was the media area. Nope. This was the venue. It was basically a big, empty barn. We later discovered the legal capacity was 2,200 and there were probably 10,000 trying to get in! We found a table at the back in the media section and nabbed the 2 remaining chairs and parked ourselves. There were 8 portable toilets for the entire crowd so you can imagine what fun that was! While we were sat there our accreditation for the Hillary event in Philadelphia tomorrow arrived on the email. We celebrated quietly!

Trump was doing 5 events today and Loudoun County was the final one. He was due on at 21.30. By about 20.00 it became very apparent that there was no way he was going to make that. He still hadn’t arrived at his 20.00 event in Pittsburgh which is over 300 miles away. We chatted to an Israeli journalist who decided to call it a day around 21.00. As we were sat right at the back by the door where people were coming in, it was getting colder and colder. At around 22.30, the barn had reached capacity so they were stopping anyone else coming in. We’d planned to stay for 15 mins of Trump and then slope off. But with people being allowed to stand behind the barrier at the entrance, that was never going to be possible. And with the roads and the parking, people at the front would still be there at 05.00 tomorrow morning. Word from the Trump people was that he’d be along by 23.30. But we could see a live feed of his previous event in Pittsburgh, and he wasn’t even there yet! We decided to call it a day by 22.45 and made our excuses.

As we were leaving we walked by all the people still queuing to get in, plus the ones who were being held at the main entrance who had no idea that they’d closed the venue. Trump supporters are quite scary so we pushed our way through with lots of ‘sorry’, ‘excuse me’! Got to the car and were both absolutely freezing. Cracked up the heating and hit the road.

The drive back was much quicker, though we did have a problem at one toll plaza when we couldn’t figure out the credit card thingy. Got there in the end though. We got back to Reagan at 23.20. While we were waiting at the Trump rally, I’d booked another car with Avis and we had the bright idea of seeing if we could combine the two bookings and basically keep the same car - despite it saying ‘no phone is connected’ every few miles. Eventually we explained what we needed and they agreed. However we needed to wait the 40 mins until 00.01 so the new rental could be opened without charging us for another day. So we waited. Kept an eye on the live stream of the Trump event in Loudoun County - he still hadn’t turned up. The desk agent sorted us out just after Midnight and we drove back into Washington and dumped the car at the hotel - $52 for overnight parking!! I was in bed by 01.00 and Trump had just started speaking down at the Fairgrounds.

That was a cold, busy day - and we’ve got the Clinton rally in Philly tomorrow!

Monday 7th November 2016

Washington

It’s the Clinton/Obama Rally Day!

The day started with me waking up at just after 06.00. God this is tiring - but I still can’t sleep! Too excited maybe?!

Met Stuart for breakfast at 09.00. Again, had it in the dining room. We booked this hotel for the Club Lounge and have been in there once and that was only for a nose.

After breakfast we got ourselves sorted and met at the car for 10.15. Our drive took us from DC into Maryland and then briefly into Delaware before arriving in Pennsylvania. We stopped after about a hour for a Starbucks just off the I-95 and then again at a Service Plaza about an hour out of Philadelphia. Roads started to get more clogged as we arrived in Philadelphia - not down to the rally, just normal! We arrived at 14.00ish and started the hunt for parking in downtown. Our route in took us past the venue for tonight’s rally - Independence Hall - it’s not actually in the Hall, rather on the park outside. I’d put a nearby parking garage in the sat-nav, but that was full when we got there. Only took us about 15 minutes to find a garage next to the Hilton Garden Inn on Arch Street and we got parked.

After a brief comfort break at the Hilton, we walked the five-or-so blocks back down to Independence Hall so we could check out where we were supposed to go. Very friendly cop pointed us in the right direction and we met the people looking after press accreditation. They said they would be opening in a couple of hours so we decided to go for a wander.

Both of us were wearing shirts and jackets with no coats so decided shopping might be a good idea. Walked back up Arch and found a shopping centre which had a couple of ‘cheaper’ style shops! Spend a good hour trying stuff on and FaceTiming with Nikki before choosing a hat and coat. Very pleased.

We went back to the car to dump some stuff and pick up the lap-top bag etc and walked back down to Independence Hall via a Subway for some nose-bag.

The queue to get into the press area was substantial. Obviously with two Presidents and a possible future President, they weren’t taking any chances. We got our accreditation and queued for the scanning. We had to switch on any computers to show they worked and then get wanded by the Secret Service. Once inside it was obvious just how many press were here. There were dozens and dozens of tables set up with power points for laptops etc. There were 3 giant risers for the TV which we were able to climb up on to take pictures. At the Trump rally on Sunday night the barn had a capacity of 2,200 - apparently there were that number of press here.

Had a wait of about an hour and a half before the speeches started. We heard from a few Congressmen and Congresswomen plus some Mayors running on the Democratic ticket. And then we had Jon Bon Jovi. He played a few songs including ‘Living On A Prayer” and made a very eloquent speech about why he’s backing Hillary. And then the surprise of the night - Bruce Springsteen. Again some hits and a speech.

After a short break we were introduced to Chelsea and Bill Clinton. Chelsea speaks really well - Bill was a bit rambling. They then introduced Michelle Obama who was, without a doubt, the speaker of the night. She spoke about her great-grandfather being a slave and really got the crowd going. She then introduced her husband. I got up on the risers again to get some pictures. Good speech from Barack - and he then introduced Hillary. Crowd was going wild!! We stayed for about 10 minutes of Hillary and then decided to beat the rush.

Getting out was very easy. We walked our way back up Arch Street to the car-park. Got the car and headed out. Sadly the Sat-Nav decided to take us back towards Independence Hall so we got caught up by the crowds coming out - we even saw the Presidential motorcade passing on a nearby road. Decided to just drive north with no Sat-Nav and then turn it on to find I-95. Thankfully the plan worked.

On the way back we stopped at a service plaza for a comfort break and a coffee before driving back to Reagan Airport. Filled up with petrol and drove around to arrivals where I got a nice lady driving a taxi to follow us to the Avis parking garage so she could take us back to the hotel. Worked like a dream and we were back in the hotel in around 20 minutes.

That was a great day. Totally knackered.

Tuesday 8th November 2016

Washington - Election Day

Started Election Day at 09.30 with a late breakfast. Restaurant was quite deserted. We planned a day of general sightseeing around Washington.

We caught the Circulator Bus up to Union Station and popped in for a coffee. Our plan was to catch the Circulator that goes around The Mall area. Found it with no problems and discovered it was totally empty.

Seems election day is a good day to be a tourist in DC.

Our driver took us round the route and dropped us off at the Lincoln Memorial. Again, very, very quiet. I did an extended FaceTime looking at everything there - including a school band which was playing near the Reflecting Pool.

We jumped back on the bus and got off near the White House and walked across. Took some pictures and had a general nose around before walking around to the front. Few more people there but still generally quiet.

We caught and Uber up to Union Station for some lunch. After enjoying the massive salad we’d had there the other day, we’d decided to have another one. Great decision. We sat and discussed how we were going to get into the DNC Watch Party and tried a few hotels to see if they were hosting it. No luck. So we decided to give up and watch it in Stuart’s room.

Headed back down to the hotel to figure out how I was going to get my Clinton/Kaine board back home. Checked with FedEx and they wanted $399. Sod that. Went to the Post Office where it was a much more reasonable $30. By this time it was 16.20 and they closed at 17.00 so we dashed back to the hotel with the cardboard container they gave us and quickly wrapped it before running back again. Made it!! We then went to a 7-11 for some election watching nibbles to get set for the evening!

I crashed out on the bed for a few hours watching CNN. No votes counted yet but they were still discussing every possible outcome. Found an app like JustEast that brings you food so ordered a pizza for my tea. Went down to Stuart’s room around 20.00 when he’d come back from Five Guys and got settled in to watch the election.

Flicked between CNN and NBC mostly. Probably at around 21.40 the first hints started to emerge about the earthquake that was on the horizon. By around Midnight it was getting clearer that Hillary’s path to 270 was looking very dodgy indeed. And by the time we called it a night at 01.50 it was clear what was going to happen. Crawled into bed around 02.15 with a real sense of doom!

Wednesday 9th November 2016

Washington to New York

Woke up around 05.30 after 3 hours sleep and put the TV on with a feeling of trepidation - and there it was. President-Elect Trump. Sat in bed with a coffee listening to all the speculation about what this means for the US and the world. Truly earth-shattering news for everyone - and I include the Trump people in that too.

Met up for a subdued breakfast at 08.00 and then got packed and ready to go by 09.00. We had an Uber booked to take us to Union Station which arrived on time and we loaded in the cases. When we got to Union Station we were about 50 mins early for the train. We found out where we were supposed to go and headed there. We boarded around 10.00. Nice, big carriage. We grabbed a 4 seat first but figured more people would be getting on further up the line so we moved to a 2 seat. Lots of leg-room and a couple of power sockets so we were sorted.

Watched Hillary’s press conference and then Obama’s statement on Sky News as we trundled through the countryside. We stopped in loads of places including Wilmington and Pennsylvania. Journey went really quickly and we pulled into Penn Station at around 13.35.

Getting out and finding a taxi was a bit tricky - we ended up at the back end of the taxi rank line without realising it - only twigged when we hailed a taxi and got loaded up and then spotted the queue. Whoops! Traffic was a nightmare all the way down to Lower Manhattan. I’d been tracking Nikki on the plane app so we saw when she landed. The plan was for us to dash down and drop our cases off before going to JFK to meet her. No chance - it took nearly 45 mins just to get to the hotel. I texted Nikki and she said she would get a cab.

Got checked in to the Hotel Indigo. Really funky monkey hotel - very industrial but the rooms are really nice. We’re in 913 which has an amazing view of the Freedom Tower. It’s on the back end of the hotel so no problem with road noise. Made myself a coffee and decided to take my dirty washing around to a laundry at the end of the road. Got all my clothes so far this trip washed and folded for $10. Nice. I got some cookies and milk and dropped them back to the room and went outside to meet Nikki. Her cab came about 30 mins later. Great to see her again after 5 days away.

Came up to the room for coffee, cookies and a catch-up. Both fell asleep for a bit. Met up with Stuart around 18.00 and went next door to the Italian restaurant. Really nice meal. Back in the room by 20.00. Tried to watch a bit of Jason Bourne but we were both struggling to keep our eyes open. Hit the sack at 21.15.

Thursday 10th November 2016

New York

Decided to start the day with breakfast on the 14th floor of the hotel. Not the best decision we’ve ever made. It’s more of a cafe with quite a limited choice.

After that we planned to go and see the High Line and Washington Square Park. Worked out that we could get an Uber to WSP and then walk to the High Line from there. Washington Square Park is really nice with a small Arc de Triomphe in the middle. We started out walk to the High Line and stopped halfway for a much needed coffee and a sit down in Starbucks.

We found the end of the High Line easily enough and went up in the lift. Really interesting idea. They’ve converted an old high-level freight-train line that cuts through Manhattan into a walkway with loads of plants on the way. Great views of some of the streets of Manhattan and a really different way to see the city. We checked out the new building work happening over the rail yards at the top end before coming back down to street level around 32nd Street.

We walked over towards Penn Station so Stuart could get his ticket for the train out to Newark Airport for Friday. They were holding a big fight event at The Garden so there were loads and loads of media trucks around. We decided to have a lunch break at the Tick-Tock Diner under the Hotel New Yorker. All had egg based dishes with chips etc. Very nice indeed.

After lunch me and Nikki grabbed and Uber back to the hotel for some downtime while Stuart went up to the Apple store to see about buying the new iPhone 7. Had a doze on the bed while watching the news. Still dominated by the Trump victory.

I went over and picked up my washing from the laundrette at about 17.00ish. All the dirty washing from the trip so far done for $10. Result.

We decided to head up to the food court at Grand Central Station so grabbed an Uber to take us up there. Finding the food court in itself was a challenge  but we got there and were all thoroughly disappointed. Like Union Station in Washington, it seems to have gone downhill. Very little choice and hardly anywhere to sit. We then decided to walk across towards Times Square to find somewhere else to eat. Ended up in Ruby Tuesdays on Times Square. Not a bad place to eat at all. Wasn’t feeling too great so we got an Uber back to the hotel and I was in bed by 22.30.

Friday 11th November 2016

New York

After yesterday’s less than satisfactory breakfast in the hotel, we decided to try the famous Katz Deli on the corner. It’s the Deli made famous by Meg Ryan in ‘When Harry Met Sally’. We’d checked out the menu online and it looked good - lots of choice. But sadly when we got there, it became apparent quite quickly that the online menu didn’t reflect the actual menu at all. We got coffee, bagels and toast. Asking for waffles was met with “No chance, you wanna go Uptown for that”

Nipped back to the hotel and then set off for the walk to the subway. I’d figured that we could get a train to Grand Central. Found the station easily enough - but working out which platform was which, and which lift we needed to get there was another story. Took a while but we figured it in the end. Got the Pelham train which stopped at Grand Central - and then we had the fun of figuring out where the lift was there!!

We walked down the road to the bus stop and caught a bus to 23rd Street. The death of Leonard Cohen had been announced so I wanted to go over to the Chelsea Hotel where he’d lived to see the tributes outside. We walked a couple of blocks to find it. Very moving. Some candles and pictures of him outside and a few TV cameras.

We then walked to the Burlington Coat Factory and Nikki bought a new bag - good bargain. We’d planned to stop at a salad place for lunch but by the time we got back there it was bursting at the seams. We walked downtown a little while as I got more and more annoyed by everything before we found a Chopt salad store. Again it was rammed but we managed to find a table eventually and had a rather nice lunch.

After some nose-bag it was time to get a bus - but after walking down to 17th St and waiting at the bus stop, the traffic was so bad there was no way a bus was coming anytime soon. So we went for an Uber back to the hotel!

Said bye to Stuart in the lobby as he went off to get his flight from Newark and ended up lying on the bed watching CNN as the sun went down. After a while I got quite hungry and nicked some M&M’s from the mini-bar. Felt guilty as they were $5 a bag so went round to the shop and bought a replacement - and managed not to eat them!

I fancied eating at the Italian next to the hotel again so went down to see if they could squeeze us in. Really nice girl moved things around and found us a table so I went back up to get Nikki. Very nice dinner putting the world to rights.

Saturday 12th November 2016

New York

We decided to give Katz Deli a miss for breakfast and after a bit of digging on Google I found a diner around the corner. Walked 2 blocks to get there - and it was amazing. Proper American diner. Had eggs, coffee and juice. Nikki had an Eggs Benedict. Both delighted!!

Went back to the hotel and got our tickets sorted for the new World Trade Center. I booked us the priority tickets so we wouldn’t have to queue. Got an Uber over to WTC. Taxi dropped us off at the front. It was absolutely freezing.

Got whisked through the queue to get in and went through security before being shown to the lift. Really good display in the lift on how the skyline of New York had changed. We were then herded into a theatre for a rather meh film but then the screen lifted up to show us the view out of the windows. Very effective indeed. We then had another presentation on renting an iPad and then had to go down in a lift to the actual viewing floor on 100. Great views but not as good as the original building. That was more square and the windows seemed to be bigger. It was a bright blue-sky day so the views went on for miles. We walked around snapping pictures for a while and then went up to the restaurant level on 101. Sadly there were no seats in the canteen area and the restaurant was a bit pricy so we went back down to 100 for a bit. After more pictures we called it a day and went up to 102 to catch the lift down.

The plan had now been to go to the 9-11 museum. Sadly the queue was quite substantial so we went into the new station area. Very impressive but nowhere for a coffee. Ended up walking down Broadway for a bit until we found a Starbucks. I was absolutely freezing by this point so a coffee was well-needed.

We then caught an M103 bus uptown. We were heading for Trump Tower but on the way I realised we’d be passing Vezzo which is a pizza restaurant recommended by one of our Uber drivers. Got off the bus and got a table. Excellent lunch!

The plan was to go back on the bus up to 59th St but halfway up 3rd Ave I started to feel VERY unwell. Got off the bus and dashed to a nearby cafe. After that all I wanted was to go to bed so we got an Uber back to the hotel. After discussing my symptoms, we decided to speak to a pharmacist. After a quick trip there, we went back to the diner and had veggie burgers and chips.

Sorted a car for tomorrow’s airport run and settled our $11 bill and hit the sack.

Sunday 13th November 2016

New York to Home

The 04.30 alarm wasn’t too painful. Nikki made some coffee and we made a start on the packing. Our car was coming at 05.15 so we had time. Got the cases pretty much sorted before jumping in the shower. The bell-boy came just before 05.15 and we were downstairs well on time.

The car we booked hadn’t turned up so I ordered an Uber which came within 10 minutes. Drive out to JFK was very straight-forward - hardly any traffic. Took around 30 mins.

We went to the Premium desk to check-in - even though we were flying Economy. Virgin were merging their systems with Delta so we were the guinea pigs. Took a bit longer than normal but we got there. The check-in agent kindly stamped our boarding passes so we could go though the Upper Class check-in. The woman directing things there was as unhelpful as she could be. And then we had the joy of the TSA. They just have a certain attitude. Nikki was taken off for an enhanced screening while I was left to twiddle my thumbs. Eventually I intervened and they got themselves sorted. Though I think my intervention just happened to be at the point they were getting sorted rather than any sort of catalyst.

We found a place to have a bite of breakfast. Orange juice and pain-au-chocolat. And I discovered the Americans don’t call them pain-au-chocolat but go with chocolate criossant. Took a bit of pointing until they realised what I wanted. We got to the gate in plenty of time. Both us feeling a bit rubbish by this point. We were supposed to board at 07.20 but 

that came and went. No plane on the stand either. They then explained that it was coming from a remote stand so we’d be delayed until 07.50. That came and went as well. Eventually the plane did arrive and we boarded around 08.30. We were in 33A and 33C in economy. Bit of a shock. Seats were OK and the leg-room wasn’t too bad.

With the delay we didn’t get push-back until nearly 10.00 and eventually got going. I’d ordered veggie breakfast for me and Nikki. They brought mine - yoghurt, granola and some fruit - and then delivered Nikki’s when they brought everyones. Exactly the same but for some reason I was given mine 10 mins before everyone! Watched a couple of TV shows, went for a wander, stretched a bit and generally made a nuisance of myself. Then decided I was hungry so walked down to the Upper Class bar and grabbed some more food for me and Nikki. Journey was only 6’20” but seemed to go on for ever.

About 1’30” out of London they came round with dinner - and the same thing. I got mine 10 mins before everyone else then Nikki got hers in the general food delivery. Very odd. And again we had exactly the same food.

Landed at Heathrow around 21.30. Got the chair and off we went. Going through immigration was easy so we headed for the baggage hall. As we walked in I spotted a porter for £10 and nabbed him. He got our bags off the belt and came with us up to the car park. Car was right by the door so we got loaded up and headed off.

Not much traffic at all. Too late to ring the folks, so we stopped at Beaconsfield for a coffee. M&S was closed there so we continued up to Bicester and went to the BP Garage by Bicester Village for some bread and milk.

Unpacking took about half an hour and then we had half an hour of TV and toast before hitting the sack around 01.00.

Great trip of two halves. Roll on the 2020 election - maybe in California so we can benefit from the time difference and the warmth.