Flying home for Christmas

This will possibly be a long post. Just recounting my last day in New York and flight home.

I didn't get much sleep on the night before my flight. I don't know why. Maybe too anxious. This meant the last day was spent trying to make time go by as quickly as possible.

But I had Christmas Eve in NYC.

Went to Barnes and Noble hoping to get another one of those hot spiced ciders. Sadly they'd stopped doing them. Decided to head to the hipster bar we went to before because it was the sort of place where it would be fine to spend an hour. Had Avacado toast because I already own a house so I can justify it.

Ambled back to hotel. Figured I might as well head to the airport. Last time I went from Manhattan to JFK I took a taxi, it was expensive, and we spent an extra hour getting there because of traffic. Decided to try public transport this time. I had a lot of time after all, and Interstate 678 seems to get traffic issues a lot. All the advice was to take the E-train (subway), then change to the JFK skytrain. I guess it was fine but I think I'dhave found the mainline (Long Island Railroad of LIRR for short) nicer. Subways aren't really designed for people with large cases and they're dark.

Skytrain was excellent though. Airport transit systems are usually pretty good. This was a large spacious train, driverless; and powered by linear induction motors.

Arrived at the airport with almost 5 hours to spare. Not a lot to do airside so joined the queue and sat and waited for check-in desks to open. Waited in the Premium line. The regular line had served a handful of people while the Premium line was still faffing about with label printers so decided to switch queues. This was the right choice.

Straight through security. This time the Premium ticket queue skip was worthwhile. Airport concourse was pretty darn quiet. Not surprising given I was flying internationally on Christmas Eve during a pandemic.

For once they didn't think I was a suspected terrorist so was through there in no time. Went to the Wingtip lounge. Not a patch on the Escape lounge at Manchester Terminal 2. Central area feels like a break room in a company with plastic chairs. There isn't a buffet area, except for some soup. I could order a wrap and that was nice enough and they did have lots of comfy seats, complementary drinks, and wi-fi, so I was happy sitting the for the next 3 hours. Downloaded some essential viewing material. I rather like my Kindle Fire although I feel I could do with a newer tablet at some time.

Got to plane. Premium section was half empty, and there was nobody sitting next to me! I am really pleased I splashed out on the upgrade. Had food. Watched a bit of Muppets Christmas Carol. Tried to get some sleep. I think I napped for a bit. I can't really sleep on planes but I was really really tired! Finished off Muppets. I did keep an eye out for Father Christmas but didn't see him.

Landed. Messaged Flickums. Went to passport control. Probably the quickest I'd ever got through. Must have been 5 minutes. Message to Flickums had not been read, so I called. Flickums was very apologetic and promised to head to the airport immediately. Poor thing had hardly slept. But I had a long wait for luggage.

Then there was the queue for PCR tests. For some reason the person at the front of the queue seemed to have a complicated issue. So did the person behind them.The family immediately in front of me were dealt with very quickly and so was I. In and out in a couple of minutes.

Flickums had managed to park at this point so I went to intercept her. Met up and hugged. And hugged more.

Went home.

Had tea.

Went to bed.

Decided Christmas could wait a few hours.