286. Travel Notes

1.  Traveling with a husband who has a new large piece of metal in his shoulder significantly impedes progress through airport security. Well, at least that is true in BTV.  JFK?  Didn't even set off the metal detector.  Hm. 

2.  People whose plane to Atlanta has blown a tire should stop whining that they are "going to have to spend another night in Burlington."  They should be celebrating or something, that the blown-out tire happened before they got on the plane, not after. 

3.  The Air Train is one truly wonderful piece of infrastructure.  It's clean, reliable, air conditioned and uncrowded.  Why is it that it seems to be underutilized? The only way it might be a bad idea is if one had a ton of luggage.  Otherwise, it should win an award for greatness. 

At least one friend I know is coming in to JFK and going to Penn Station for her trip to Rhinebeck.  A while ago, she mentioned to me that wanted advice on an economical way to transfer to Penn Station. I wrote her the details and decided it would be blog-worthy to put it here, also, in case anyone else can use the info. 

Seven bucks per person took us to Penn Station in about an hour, and it wasn't complicated, to wit:

When you land, you go to get your luggage if you have any, then follow the signs to the Air Train.  It is very well marked.  You get on the Air Train without a ticket, and pay when you get off.  It runs every 10 minutes in non-peak hours and every 3-5 in peak hours.  It takes about 10-15 mins. to get to Jamaica station, where you can pick up several rail and subway lines. 

You can buy a combined Air Train and subway ticket in whatever amount you want to, then use it to pay for the rest of your journey plus whatever other subway travel you might be doing while in the city.  After you've bought your ticket at one of the ticket machines (you can use cash or credit card for this), you go through the turnstile to exit the Air Train and follow the signs to whatever line you need.  In this case, for getting to Penn Station, it's the E subway line.  Follow the signs.  It's well marked.

Take the E all the way to Penn Station.  This part of the journey takes about 45 minutes.  There are lots of friendly, helpful agents in uniform to help you with buying tickets and getting on the right trains, if needed. If you don't see any of them (but how could you not, there are so many), your average New Yorker is very helpful.  All you have to do is ask. 

4.  The Mesa Grill deserves its wonderful reputation in every way.  All that fame has clearly not gone to Bobby Flay's head -- or maybe it has, but he still puts out a most spectacular meal.  The place has a great atmosphere, an incredibly beautiful and cheerful and smiling and helpful wait staff, a really fantastic house margarita (made with Cointreau as the orange bit), and the food... well, the food!  I had the Gala Apple Salad which was a riot of flavor and interest, what with its bleu cheese and spicy orange dressing.  An interesting note about the salad:  It's a baby spinach and apple salad, and yet the spinach was shredded.  This alone made it just so much better than your average baby spinach salad.  I think we all like to see the baby spinach leaves on our plates -- they are just so CUTE.  But eating them shredded in this way, rather than whole, for some reason made it so much more interesting and enjoyable.

For my entree, I had venison chops, which were the special of the day.  Oh.my.GOD.  So perfect.  I got the best dessert at the table, and Abigail and Ryan helped me to eat it, though they had their own desserts.  Mine was a chocolate souffle, though it was called something else like Chocolate Brown Sugar Bourbon Pudding, or some such.  I did not think, by the description, that it was going to be a souffle, but it was. It was so good, it was a real act of love to allow anyone else's spoon into my dish, I'll tell you.  So, in a nutshell:  Mesa Grill: An altogether fabulous place, an altogether fabulous meal.   

5.  Mr. Jefferies got to chew on a venison bone afterwards.  This is a puppy who has only presumably had his mother's milk and puppy chow up 'til now.  Let me just say no one needs to tell a puppy what to do with a red meat bone, even though he's never seen one before.  Talk about blissed out -- it was pure hilarious entertainment.  I only allowed him to chew on it for a few minutes, and he really gave me the what-for after I took it away, I'll tell you. It's quite something to see a 2.5-pound puppy with an attitude.  Heh. 

6. The sweater is seamed up.  Now on to the button bands and collar. 

Comments

[klaus]

One time, I inadvertently bought a plane ticket that included a transfer between JFK and Newark. Yes, my layover was not only in different airports, but in different STATES.
Needless to say, that was an adventure, but I agree, that airport train thing is really nice.

[klaus]

One time, I inadvertently bought a plane ticket that included a transfer between JFK and Newark. Yes, my layover was not only in different airports, but in different STATES.
Needless to say, that was an adventure, but I agree, that airport train thing is really nice.

[lissa]

Ah, it's nice to have that transfer dealie laid out. I try to get my clients to stay out near the airports when they call me, since it's much less expensive compared to staying in Manhattan - but I couldn't find a coherent way to get them from JFK to Penn Station! This is a huge help.

[margene]

Your trip sounds like heaven!!

[Carole]

I can just picture the puppy with the bone - you're a good granny!

[Anonymous]

Norma, I always enjoy your writing but today it seems like you wrote an entry especially for me!!!! See, I absolutely love NY and this past week I had guests that made my life a living hell for a week due to their constant complaints about NYC. For starters, they hated the AirTrain, they complained about not having a car, and they said there was nothing to do in NYC but shot down every suggestion I made. Luckily, by the third day they rented a car and went to Atlantic City. Came back with stomach poisoning and pooped on my new guest bedroom bed. (That last sentence was totally unnecessary but I am feeling mean.)

All this TMI is my way of expressing my gratitude to you for seeing NYC the same way I do.

[gayle]

I'm right there with you on #2 - people should count their blessings. I was once on a plane embarking on a cross-country flight that backed up 3 feet from the gate, then went "clunk" and all the power shut down. Engines and all. The pilot announced that there would be a slight delay while the techs fixed the problem. I spent the next 45 minutes mentally whining "I don't want this airplane. This one is broken. I want a new airplane..." We eventually powered back up, and flew without incident, but still...
Love your grandpuppy! And woohoo on your sweater!!

[marianne]

Fabulous post, I want to head up north and experience it all.
Hee... something I've noticed about the wee pups... they seem to have absolutely NO idea they're small... a dog is a dog is a dog and I LOVE that! :^)

[claudia]

I do not forgive you for leaving the good camera home when there were cute puppy pix to be had. Bad Norma.

[Cheryl S.]

I once had a plane delay for an hour because they needed to fix the hydraulics. It was amazing how many people complained. Uh, folks? I'd sure like to have it fixed before I get on it.

I like chopped salads. They're not always as pretty, but you aren't trying to stuff big pieces of lettuce in your mouth, and it's nice to get all of those mixed flavors in a single forkful.

Claudia is right.

[Cookie]

Maybe you should have taken a different husband with you. ;^)

[sil]

I must agree as a rather frequent flyer, I'd rather be late arriving than late. Tires bursting are one of the most dangerous things that can happen, so be grateful.

I must add that if you frequently travel from JFK to NYC, please consider the LIRR. It's a bit more expensive but rather nicer and easier. Plus your cell phone works on the LIRR to NYC. Here's a great link to the JFK options:

http://www.nysubway.com/airport/jfk.html

See you SOON!

[BunnyQueen]

If you think 3 pound dogs giving you attitude is something to see, you seriously need to check out http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com . My favorite is way back near the beginning of the blog and is titled "a single molecule of disapprovium". *giggle*

[jessica~]

Really??? You went to Mesa? ENVY. ENVY. I have that cookbook...want to make/eat everything in it. I want to go there and have the ginger reposada cocktail that is on their menu. Ginger and tequila - two of my favorite things. Bobby Flay is totally my secret lover. Er, one of them anyway...

ps- that is kinda scary about the metal detectors...