Home Again

Saturday, October 8, 2022

I was sitting at the breakfast buffet this morning, looking at the New York City skyline, trying to wrap my head around the fact that it was actually there. We have so many ways to view things that we might never see in real life, that somehow sometimes real life doesn’t seem real.

Anyway, it was pretty as a picture, so I took a picture for future enjoyment. Enjoy.

We took the shuttle to the airport and it was quite an interesting trip. The seats in the bus all seemed quite reclined, but since they all looked the same, it seemed that was the way they just were. People had a bit of difficulty sliding into their seats because of the recline of the seat in front of them. Keith didn’t take it for granted, and figured out how to un-recline the seats and went up and down the aisle sitting people up straighter. My seat, however, was just plain broken. It was at a nice angle for a nap, and the lovely British lady behind assured me that it was fine (after she managed to get into her seat). Her husband suggested I just give up and take a nap, so I closed my eyes and relaxed. The woman behind them was reading aloud from her phone about the tunnel we were going through (9,??? feet long and called something…) and I was enjoying the commentary. She announced that she thought we were now in Manhattan. Mmmm. Why would we go to Manhattan to get from Brooklyn to Newark? Didn’t quite check out, so I opened my eyes and looked around. Yep. We were in Manhattan. I pulled myself up in time to get a good look at One World Trade Center as we turned a corner. I pointed out Ground Zero and the memorial/museum site to Keith. He was quite happy to be expectantly in the city for the first time. After not too long, we were going through the Holland tunnel and heading to New Jersey.

We were on a bridge and Keith was thinking that another bridge looked quite interesting when we were rerouted because of an accident and then we were on the interesting bridge (more interesting to look at than to be on, it turned out). We finally got to Liberty Airport Terminal A. Then we were at Terminal C. People got off at each stop, but we stayed on, because, of course, we needed Terminal B. Around we went. And by around, I mean around. We had some very tight corners for a bus. We went around a bit more. The signs were not very helpful. At one point, it said Terminal B next left…then at the intersection it said No Left Turn. Keith was reading signs with the driver, who said he never comes to this airport, always LaGuardia and JFK. Our ride to the airport had been less than 45 minutes. Our ride today was an hour and 45 minutes.

As we elevatored to check in, a lady asked me about my shirt. I am wearing my Liechtenstein shirt. She said it was pretty and asked if I had gotten it in Germany. I said, “No, in Liechtenstein.” She asked if that was a place. I said, “Yes, it’s a country, between Germany and Switzerland.” She said, “I don’t know that country. I’m from Idaho.” I thought that was a very, very interesting reason for not knowing about Liechtenstein.

We had gotten bumped to Comfort+ a few days ago and Keith was watching for first class. Once bumped, apparently completely spoiled. We were #4 and #5 on the list, and there were 3 open seats, so it wasn’t going to happen. While we waited (oh, even though our shuttle ride was long, we were there way early. Happily so, since security took a long time and most people were missing their flights or having to run run run. We were very happy to have time to spare) at the gate (and had tasty Stromboli) (the chicken and spinach was better than the pepperoni. Go figure) and just before boarding started, the gate agent called both of us to the desk. She had one first class seat and wanted to know if we wanted to be separated. We said YES! (teehee) and each tried to give the other the seat. Of course, she let me win and put Keith in first class. Funny thing was, she didn’t put anyone in his seat, so I had two comfort seats to myself. Win for me.

Tom and Louise’s daughter, Stacy, came and scooped us up from the airport and delivered us to home. We cooked spaghetti and watched Ted Lasso. I looked at my pictures from today and tried to imagine I was looking at NYC at breakfast. Airplanes make magic happen.