07-18-12 Amsterdam to New York Blog

Ordered a cab to pick me up at 12:00 for ride to Schiphol Airport (flat rate: 40 euros...about $70? Turns out to be a 15 minute ride. A tad steep, I thought). Then realized my flight left at 1:25, not 3:25 and hurriedly changed taxi times.

I must say I've never had a smoother check-in. Everything went without a hitch, for a change. And having finally the extra-legroom seat I'd paid an extra $69 for was well worth it. (They couldn't bump me from my seat for being far too decrepit and frail to turn an emergency door handle as they had done the last time, since the flight was completely sold out and there was nowhere else they could put me.)

Watched two movies on the way, and the time went fairly quickly. The cabin crew was somewhat less attentive than previous flights, but perhaps because I was sitting across from the galley and there was a lot of activity going on.

Arrived at JFK on time, got my bag without problem, went to find a shuttle bus to my hotel. The minute I stepped outside the terminal to get on the bus, it started raining, and soon we were in the middle of a seldom-seen, no-holds-barred gullywasher, rain and wind and thunder and lightning.

Shuttle buses are nice because they are much cheaper than cabs. However, with 8 people, that means sometimes 8 different hotel stops around the city before they get to yours. It took me 3 hours (count 'em, THREE) from the time I got off the plane until I got to the hotel. I think going back I'll take a cab rather than risk missing my flight going from hotel to hotel picking up passengers.

And so here I am. Gary, whose plane from Chicago had gotten in after mind did, beat me to the hotel by two hours. And he discovered that our room had one...one...double bed and no available rooms with  two beds. Definitely not acceptable, so they brought in a portable single bed.

Gary and I are best friends, but when we travel together we have a slight problem in that he is always far too warm, no matter what the temperature, and insists on sleeping with the a/c on. I nearly froze, and used two blankets.

So now we are ready to head off to the 911 Memorial, then to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Stay tuned.

Dorien will continue posting blogs and photos while on the New York leg of his current adventure. You can see the photos on www.doriengreyandme.com...scroll down past the blog. And you're always invited to check out his website at www.doriengrey.com.