20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Wow! What a HUGE 24 hours!!!
So, as expected, the night before we left, we didn't get a great deal of sleep. We were both up at 5am on Wednesday 20 November (Melbourne time) and packed the last few things in to our bags before jumping in the car to the airport. Many thanks to my big brother Grant for providing the transport, and for travelling all the way from Canberra just to do so! (I think he was trying to ensure we actually left the country!)
We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, thinking that would be PLENTY of time to negotiate checkin and the departure procedures...it probably would have been, had it not been for a couple of hurdles that popped up!
Firstly, we mistakenly went to the QANTAS domestic checkin counters. We were very lucky, because the new girl behind the counter realised just as she printed off one of the bag tags before sending it through on the conveyor! Lucky she caught that, because our bags would never have been on our flight had they gone through the domestic conveyor system! She was very helpful and took us to the international counters where our bags were safely sent on their way.
Then it was off to the international departure area. We navigated through the duty free section with the next stop being passport control, where we had to scan our passports to pass through the barriers and on to the departure gates.
Lizzie breezed through the security gates, but I got stuck! The gates wouldn't open for me, despite the lights turning green every time I scanned my passport. Apparently, I was doing it wrong and had to take my passport out of the RFID pouch I had it in so it would scan properly. Once that was done, I was through, but not without a few swear words and a lot of frustration!
By the time we managed to get our way through the checkpoint, and in to the food court, we had about five minutes before our flight started boarding! We certainly wouldn't have wanted to cut it too much finer.
In any event, we settled in to our seats on the Boeing 737 for our short flight to Auckland, New Zealand. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in NZ where we transitioned to the departure lounge with about 40 minutes to spare before our next flight.
The next flight was aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. What a huge aircraft! Once we sat down, it became painfully apparent to Lizzie that we weren't in business class, as we barely had enough leg room, and we were sitting shoulder to shoulder! Lucky for her she has the window seat, and wasn't sitting next to the smelly guy I was!
We were well fed through the 16 hour flight, and our meals included a stir fry beef, and vegetarian ravioli. Both were quite nice.
I managed to get through three movies on the flight, and may have managed a 30 minute power nap. Lizzie slept a little longer, but by the time we landed in NYC, we were both exhausted and ready to get off the aircraft. Unfortunately we had some really low cloud coming in to land, so we didn't manage to get a look at the area from the air. We landed at about 2:30 pm on Wednesday 20 November (NYC time) to a thick overcast and a temperature of about 16 degrees.
Clearing customs took about 30 minutes and was quite painless. No customs declarations cards anymore - just present to the TSA screening gate and answer some questions before they wave you through. Our bags were waiting for us once we formally entered the country and then it was straight out to the pickup point to be collected by our driver. We waited about 30 minutes for him to make his way in to the airport, and we were off. We used a company called GO Airlink NYC. It cost $126.85 USD (about $180 AUD) for a standard sedan pickup to travel from JFK Airport to the Upper West Side, a distance of about 26 Km, for a one hour ride...or at least, that was the estimated time...boy, was that wrong!
The drive to our apartment actually took TWO HOURS!!!! Traffic in NYC is crazy! I started feeling sorry for our driver, as he told us that as soon as he dropped us off, he had to return to the airport for another pickup! Drivers here LOVE using their horns too!
After unpacking and familiarising ourselves with the apartment, we ducked out to collect some dinner. What did we do for our first meal in NYC? Pizza of course! And boy do they make them BIG! We only got a medium pizza, but it was as big as a family size ay home! We got a sausage and pepperoni and it was quite tasty. That's another difference - they don't put anywhere near as many toppings on their pizzas as we do!
After dinner, we both crashed! We were in bed by 8:30 pm, and aside from waking a couple of times through the night, Lizzie woke at about 8:00 am and I woke at 10:00 am!
We bounced out of bed, ready for a big day of walking our neighbourhood. First stop was Magnolia Bakery literally about 30 metres away from our apartment where Lizzie started the day with a pumpkin spiced latte. The cakes all sound really interesting and look amazing - rest assured we'll be spending plenty of time in this place!
From there, we wandered around the place and found some great stores nearby. Surprisingly, everyone has been quite friendly so far although only one person has been able to identify our accent.
We also found the intersection of two famous streets - Broadway and Columbus Avenues!
Lizzie introduced me to Shake Shack for lunch where we had burgers, and a couple of Christmas shakes... a Christmas Cookie Shake (white) and a Christmas Yule Log Shake (chocolate) to be precise. The burgers were very tasty, as were the shakes, but this meal set us back $70 AUD!
We meandered home after buying some groceries, and as I write this, Lizzie is cooking us some good old fashioned Aussie style spag bog! We are both a bit weary, and Lizzie is ready to settle down and watch a Hallmark movie before another early night. After 6 km's of walking, we're both ready to rest. Tomorrow will be a bigger day!
Thanks for reading. The next update will probably be over the weekend sometime.
So, as expected, the night before we left, we didn't get a great deal of sleep. We were both up at 5am on Wednesday 20 November (Melbourne time) and packed the last few things in to our bags before jumping in the car to the airport. Many thanks to my big brother Grant for providing the transport, and for travelling all the way from Canberra just to do so! (I think he was trying to ensure we actually left the country!)
We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, thinking that would be PLENTY of time to negotiate checkin and the departure procedures...it probably would have been, had it not been for a couple of hurdles that popped up!
Firstly, we mistakenly went to the QANTAS domestic checkin counters. We were very lucky, because the new girl behind the counter realised just as she printed off one of the bag tags before sending it through on the conveyor! Lucky she caught that, because our bags would never have been on our flight had they gone through the domestic conveyor system! She was very helpful and took us to the international counters where our bags were safely sent on their way.
Then it was off to the international departure area. We navigated through the duty free section with the next stop being passport control, where we had to scan our passports to pass through the barriers and on to the departure gates.
- It's time to go!
- IMG-20241120-WA0000.jpg (203.36 KiB) Viewed 199 times
By the time we managed to get our way through the checkpoint, and in to the food court, we had about five minutes before our flight started boarding! We certainly wouldn't have wanted to cut it too much finer.
In any event, we settled in to our seats on the Boeing 737 for our short flight to Auckland, New Zealand. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in NZ where we transitioned to the departure lounge with about 40 minutes to spare before our next flight.
The next flight was aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. What a huge aircraft! Once we sat down, it became painfully apparent to Lizzie that we weren't in business class, as we barely had enough leg room, and we were sitting shoulder to shoulder! Lucky for her she has the window seat, and wasn't sitting next to the smelly guy I was!
We were well fed through the 16 hour flight, and our meals included a stir fry beef, and vegetarian ravioli. Both were quite nice.
- Stirfry beef
- stirfry beef.jpg (1.81 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Vegetarian ravioli
- vegetarian ravioli.jpg (2.05 MiB) Viewed 199 times
Clearing customs took about 30 minutes and was quite painless. No customs declarations cards anymore - just present to the TSA screening gate and answer some questions before they wave you through. Our bags were waiting for us once we formally entered the country and then it was straight out to the pickup point to be collected by our driver. We waited about 30 minutes for him to make his way in to the airport, and we were off. We used a company called GO Airlink NYC. It cost $126.85 USD (about $180 AUD) for a standard sedan pickup to travel from JFK Airport to the Upper West Side, a distance of about 26 Km, for a one hour ride...or at least, that was the estimated time...boy, was that wrong!
The drive to our apartment actually took TWO HOURS!!!! Traffic in NYC is crazy! I started feeling sorry for our driver, as he told us that as soon as he dropped us off, he had to return to the airport for another pickup! Drivers here LOVE using their horns too!
- We're here!
- Outside apartment.jpg (5.14 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- And in we go
- apartment front.jpg (4.01 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Panoramic view
- apartment panorama.jpg (10.28 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Kitchenette
- kitchenette.jpg (1.87 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Living area
- lounge area.jpg (2.38 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Bedroom
- bedroom panorama.jpg (11.84 MiB) Viewed 199 times
After unpacking and familiarising ourselves with the apartment, we ducked out to collect some dinner. What did we do for our first meal in NYC? Pizza of course! And boy do they make them BIG! We only got a medium pizza, but it was as big as a family size ay home! We got a sausage and pepperoni and it was quite tasty. That's another difference - they don't put anywhere near as many toppings on their pizzas as we do!
- sausage pizza scale.jpg (2.13 MiB) Viewed 199 times
After dinner, we both crashed! We were in bed by 8:30 pm, and aside from waking a couple of times through the night, Lizzie woke at about 8:00 am and I woke at 10:00 am!
We bounced out of bed, ready for a big day of walking our neighbourhood. First stop was Magnolia Bakery literally about 30 metres away from our apartment where Lizzie started the day with a pumpkin spiced latte. The cakes all sound really interesting and look amazing - rest assured we'll be spending plenty of time in this place!
- Magnolia Bakery panorama
- Magnolia Bakery.jpg (9.21 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Counter 1 cakes
- Magnolia Bakery counter 1.jpg (4.05 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Counter 2 cakes and pudding/custards
- Magnolia Bakery counter 2.jpg (4.14 MiB) Viewed 199 times
We also found the intersection of two famous streets - Broadway and Columbus Avenues!
- Broadway and Columbus
- Broadway and Columbus.jpg (4.06 MiB) Viewed 199 times
- Shake Shack.jpeg (2.78 MiB) Viewed 199 times
Thanks for reading. The next update will probably be over the weekend sometime.
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
What a great review of your first day in New York, feel as though I’m there too! Can’t believe you went to domestic check in, fancy arriving in NY without your ice skating gear!!! Hope you got the heater going full blast, there’s a cold few days coming up.Have a wonderful time, don’t drink any wayward spirits, much love.
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Glad you arrived safely! 
Great pics x
Have the best time, look forward to more updates
Great pics xHave the best time, look forward to more updates
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
I can’t believe you went to domestic checking. Laughed at that. Hopefully that will be the only problem you experience on this trip.
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
If only there was a massive sign, 100m long on top of the terminal at Melbourne airport that said "International Terminal" ...
Oh wait...
Oh wait...
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Those burgers look amazing 
Many Christmas decorations around yet?
Or does that happen after thanksgiving?
Enjoy your weekend meandering NYC
Many Christmas decorations around yet?
Or does that happen after thanksgiving?
Enjoy your weekend meandering NYC
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Loved reading this!! Glad you both got there safely and I hope those shakes were delish!! Lizzo, love your jacket by the way!! 
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Thanks for the replies everyone. We've had to pinch ourselves a couple of times to make sure this is all real! I'm so glad Lizzie is making this wish come true.
Neither of us have any thought to the departure check in...we both made a beeline for QANTAS. I guess we were both too excited to get the trip under way!
Mon, there are a few Christmas decorations around the place, but there's no vibe yet. It kind of feels like they want to get Thanksgiving out of the way first.
They're forecasting rain for the big parade, so we're not looking forward to sitting for 5 hours getting wet. At least our snow jackets will keep us dry. We just need to find some snow pants for Lizzie and we'll be set!
Neither of us have any thought to the departure check in...we both made a beeline for QANTAS. I guess we were both too excited to get the trip under way!
Mon, there are a few Christmas decorations around the place, but there's no vibe yet. It kind of feels like they want to get Thanksgiving out of the way first.
They're forecasting rain for the big parade, so we're not looking forward to sitting for 5 hours getting wet. At least our snow jackets will keep us dry. We just need to find some snow pants for Lizzie and we'll be set!
Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Oohh, love the cakes, Why would u go to Qantas.. u just left .. keep the adventure going..
keep the adventure going..Re: 20-21 Nov 2024 - The Trip Over and Day 1!
Glad you’re both having an amazing time and arrived safely. Just love Christmas. I’ll have to get into those Hallmark movies Liz. Looking forward to the next update.