krazykanuck

Disclaimer: this is a TR to prepare my writing and pictures for more interesting TRs to come later in 2014. Possible ones include a weekend MR to Dubai/Kuwait on EK, week in Eastern Europe over Thanksgiving courtesy of the AA mistake fare few months ago, and a week in Mexico City and a Mexico beach resort in December). It's a week in NYC with a mix of UA, some lounges, some Amtrak, some Airbnb, a Hilton, a wedding, and a pear tree. Ok, there's no pear tree. But you get the picture. Comments/suggestions welcome!

Trip started: 8/27/2014 (so far I wrote much this on the plane)

I was feeling pretty happy with this trip to NYC. I had secured an upgrade for my IAH-LGA flight, my train travel and hotel from NYC to the wedding had been booked, etc. Unfortunately fate decided that I've had the travel thing go too easily for too long and this trip began going sideways from the get go. Due to a moment of pure idiocy and ensuing series of events that are all completely my fault (hint: it has to do with sleeping too long) I had to change flights and go from F on a 737 to E- on a slimmed A319, and pay UA a bit of money in the process. Ugh, stupid kk. The only redeeming factor is I'm now that much closer to my 20k bonus Starpoints from the offer a couple months ago. Clutching my new boarding pass, I make my way through security and over to the KLM lounge.

KLM Lounge, IAH Terminal D

I've visited this lounge a number of times, though this is the first time I've been here for breakfast. Selection of greek yogurt, muffins, and a soup that looks disgusting but smells good. I'm going to go with French onion. Also a selection of cold cuts and cheese to make a sandwich. I make a turkey sandwich and have some greek yogurt, along with what I've called a Wdenesday. It’s a cappuccino from the machine, then filled to the top with Baileys. Because why not? #5oclocksomewherefaraway





UA IAH-LGA, A319

Deciding I didn't want to be late for another flight, at t-55 I begin the trek to my gate at C-30 something. I arrive and jump into gate lice formation as they are boarding group 2. I get onboard and take my seat in 2#F. It's a lovely seat which allows you to see the stream of pax using the facilities. I'm tired so I crawl into the fetal position and attempt a nap.



-"Ample" leg room. And I stand a gargantuan 5'8''....

I'm woken by an announcement that although we were ready to leave early (what?!) we are held because of the mechanical failure of something that doesn't need to be fixed, but they need to do all this paperwork. Whatever UA. Just get me to LGA. (We leave 7 mins late) Back to fetal position, if I can block out the screaming baby in 2XA. I wake up an hour in and the baby is still screaming. Don't these little humans get tired? Drink my can of Diet Coke and pull out my laptop. Unfortunately trying to use a full size laptop in E- is somewhat limited. I am typing this section without being able to read what I'm writing, listening to the ONE song I have downloaded to my work laptop on repeat to block out the screaming little human, while mister 2XE pulls out his can of Skoal and puts some chewing tobacco in. FML. Come at me Centurion Lounge, I need a cocktail. #5oclocksomewhereelse



After a couple hours of being reminded how comfortable bus travel is compared to this, and being sekpped by the 2nd pass of the beverage cart which decided to stop serving drinks the row before me, we land at LGA.

Musings on LGA

People like to hate on LGA of the 3 NYC airports, but I quite like it. The approach provides the nicest views of the city, bags arrive shockingly fast (beat me to the baggage carousel today), it's accessible from the city for a single $2.50~ metrocard swipe, and now it has the Centurion Lounge.
Our approach was great – from the SE and we flew straight up the island from FiDi to Harlem before looping around to land at LGA and flying barely above the water.

Here are a few pictures. Excuse the poor quality as taken with my Android. My actual camera was too far below the seat to allow my numb and twisted frame to get to it.





Next: Centurion Lounge @ LGA

krazykanuck

Centurion Lounge @ LGA

I retrieved my bag and after a brief moment of "what terminal am I in?" I found my way up to the 3rd floor and my second Centurion Lounge after visiting the one at LAS last fall. Following a quick welcome from the not at all dragony lounge dragon, I proceeded to the bar to grab a Spanish Harlem, a "kinda sorta but not really" twist on a margarita. It was fantastic. Moving onto the food, I was hungry, so I sampled much of the food. I had the salmon, the veggies, the tomatoes, the crustini, and the strawberry shortcake. All was very tasty and not all that unlike what I'd expect to get paying in a restaurant. I followed this with a Manhattan Beach which was delicious but bit more generic cocktail. As I Google mapped my way to the city, I had a Big Apple, which was my least favorite of the three cocktails. As the menu says, it is refreshing, just not my cup of tea.

Service was attentive, but not overbearing. Within a couple minutes of pushing an empty glass or plate aside, somebody would swoop in to take it away and offer water or whatever else. Didn't have to wait at the bar for drinks and the bartenders were really friendly.

All in it is a great place to start or end a trip. Off to get my metrocard and get into the city.



Salmon, veggies, and a Spanish Harlem while looking over the tarmac



Dessert



Aircraft diversity

Dinner at Momofuku in the East Village

I'm staying with a friend for a couple of nights so no hotel yet. After getting to his apartment and changing, we hit the subway to the East Village. Slight annoyance that we had to wait about an hour when we were told 30-45 minutes, but it was a nice night to hang outside and wait.



I shamelessly stole this photo from Yelp as I forgot to take a picture. The signature Momofuku ramen was delicious and quite filling. Pair that with the brisket buns and you get a tasty meal.

I might not do anything TR worthy on Thursday as I'll be at work, but we'll see!

krazykanuck

Thursday, August 28

Thursday wasn't really a noteworthy day. After stopping for a bagel at Cafe Metro, I spent my day at my company's midtown office. Went out to an indian food place for a chicken Tikka wrap, which was eaten enjoying a beautiful afternoon in Bryant Park. After work, I met up with a friend at Park Avenue Tavern, which can only be described as douchy banker central. Dinner was a slice of pizza on 7th avenue.

Following on to things going sideways, it was about this time that I realized my airbnb booking requests for Friday and Saturday nights didn't clear due to 1 person not responding and 1 person saying their calendar was out of date and the room wasn't available, so now I had to scramble to find a place that didn't cost an arm and a leg in NYC over a long weekend. I knew this would be bad. I am typing this section of my so far un-replied trip report from a sketchy hotel that I have yet to decide if I will share a section about because I'm a little embarrassed by my choice. And had to tether through my phone because, why would the free wifi actually work in my hotel? That'd be stupid.

Friday, August 29

Oh, Friday. I almost forgot about Friday. After sleeping in a bit, I hit the subway and went down to the West Village to grab coffee with a friend. I went to the Grey Dog on Carmine St and encountered a great little coffee shop. For a mere $2.25, I got a coffee which included unlimited refills and a to go cup when I left. Awesome. From there I wondered along the river over to the 9/11 Memorial. What an incredible place to see since it's now open to the public without tickets.







9/11 Memorial



Random building on West St.


No 99%ers camped out today

After that, I hopped on the subway for a quick visit up to Central Park, then back to my buddy's place to collect my stuff, then I went to the above referenced sketchy hotel. Alright all caught up. Tomorrow, I just plan to continue to wonder the city and the only thing I must do is buy a gift the wedding I'm attending on Sunday. Or just withdraw some cash. As you can tell, I seem to be leaving things to the last minute a lot.

Saturday, August 30

I wake up early and hop on the train from Newark Penn to head into the city. Another day much like Friday, though I accomplished even less. After stopping at Macy's to discover that their wedding registry machine would display the name of the person you're looking for, but then not actually show the list, I left resolved to search this from my cell phone and buy the gift on the way back to my should be condemned hotel (which I obviously survived my night in). After a few hours of wandering from Macy's on 34th St. to the UN building and back to the Plaza Hotel, I was thirsty and bought myself a 24 oz adult beverage to enjoy in Central Park (which I know is against the rules, but that doesn't stop people). Though I did have a second thought as I saw a guy getting patted down against a NYPD cruiser.



Once I had thoroughly enjoyed a restful afternoon, it was back to Macy's to buy the gift, then get it gift wrapped. I thought, I'd like some beer or wine while I sit in my wonderful room. But do I have an ice machine at the hotel? I didn't see an ice bucket. So I called the hotel.

I asked "Does your hotel have an ice machine?"
Desk lady: "Hahaha. No."

Well, so much for beer. It'd be warm by the time I got back. So I rummaged for a screw top bottle of wine at Duane Reade and got back to Penn Station. I purchased a Cabernet of unknown vintage. Had a standing room only train ride back to Newark and got back to my hotel to discover 2 things: 1) this hotel does not have maid service; and 2) the internet now works. Figured I'd type this up, post it, despite still not having any replies. I can only assume the 600-something of y'all are so stunned by the writing and the photos you have nothing to say! Back to catching up on everybody else's posts while watching Shawshank Redemption. Tomorrow's going to be a marathon of a wedding day. Amtrak's Keystone Express to Trenton, then to the hotel and the wedding.

wtcmor

Thanks for sharing. Don't get too excited about the Trenton train trip!!

Mrtrash757

very awesome TR, nice to see the pictures and hear about the experiences of NYC!

krazykanuck

After much internal debate, I have decided to show you my latest nutty decision, all in the name of us doing goofy things to see new places, save some money, just have a crazy experience, or any combination of the above. This was my humble abode for Friday and Saturday night, I'm getting ready to head out from here while packing and watching Mad Men reruns. Warning, this is a little long, but I think worthwhile. One of the more bizarre hotels to cross the trip report page.

Cost: $80/night including taxes

So the above mentioned hotel is the Riviera. No, not the Riviera like in Vegas. Riveria as in this building should have been demolished and thrown into the river. Also, I'd like to warn anybody that books a hotel with a rate 50% of the next lowest property, you should be prepared for anything. But hey, YOLO. Unless of course you don’t L past your hotel stay.

Now, like a desperate moron (noticing a trend?), I booked the hotel without looking at its illustrious reviews on TripAdvisor. It is ranked 17th of 21 hotels in Newark, which begs the question what 18-21 are like, and frankly I don't want to know the answer. So I took the #39 bus from Newark Penn just like Google Maps told me to. When I got out, I felt like Andy must have felt getting off the bus in Shawshank Redemption. The Riviera, in all its glory, where it proclaims "it has history" on the banners sits on the corner of MLK Blvd and Clinton St. The building is covered with security cameras inside and out. I walk in the front door and see the desk clerk sitting behind plexiglass. At this point, my stomach begins to turn a bit, thinking ... did I get myself into. I go up the archaic elevator and get to my floor. A security guard mysteriously pops out of the stairwell and walks ahead of me to my room, confirms my room number and opens the door. As I figured out, the door has two keys and I'm only given the key to the deadbolt. The other one can only be opened by the hotel. I'm not sure if this makes me feel comfortable or what the point is. Whatever. I just wanted to lock the door again.

For all the crappy reviews on TripAdvisor, the room wasn't as terrible as it seemed. Yes, it was pretty rough around the edges, but visually the room appeared perfectly clean and didn't have any bugs which is a common complaint. It's outfitted with a window AC unit which kept the room as cold as I wanted and a small TV attached to a decent digital cable package. A moderately comfortable, albeit maybe a bit too soft of a bed. I didn't sleep as well as I'd have liked because whenever people walk around or slam doors in the hall, its quite loud in the rooms.

Things the room didn't have: a phone, a lock that only opened from inside, maid service, and a safe. The wifi didn't work one night, and then worked about as slow as molasses the second night. Seriously, what hotel doesn't have maid service?





Truthfully it was sufficient for two nights as I was in a bit of a bind and was trying to keep costs down given my extra donation to Jeff & Co mentioned in post 1. But I don't think I'd be back unless the desperate moron side of krazykanuck comes back.

Oh, one final thought. Based on the rate card at the front desk, they seem to offer rooms for three hours at a time. So there's that travel booking flexibility available.

FallenPlat

Ok, I was waiting to see which way all this would go and, finally, you got me. Your review of the Riviera is a classic. The hardwood floors actually look pretty nice, no doubt ex the you're-inside-a-base-drum acoustics.

krazykanuck

Amtrak Northeast Regional, Newark Penn to Trenton

This is my first Amtrak experience. Actually it very well might be my first domestic train experience (excluding those light rail things). Didn't really know what to expect (another trend of this trip) but was pleasantly surprised. I escaped my accommodations unscathed on the bus, along with about 4 other vacationers, a couple from Chicago going to the city for the day and either a couple/brother and sister from the UK finishing up their summer in the US. I also didn't have any point accrual to show for it besides the 160 Starpoints from charging it on my Amex. I was ready to move on.

Get to Newark Penn and had a Dunkin Donuts bagel and coffee for breakfast (are you all shocked my glorious hotel didn't provide breakfast?). There was a breath mint left on top of the fridge, but I wouldn't even give that to a rabid dog. So I hopped on my train and found a seat on the quiet car. I love that they have this because my experiences on the plane and NJ Transit between Newark and the city has really stoked my dislike for other people's kids. They also had free wifi for my 40ish minute ride. Overall I was pleased with how comfortable the seats and space was and how relaxing it was to just sit and watch the occasionally nice to look at NJ speed past the window.


Better than UA E- !

I went and checked out the café car simply so I could comment on it for the TR, seeing as how I was neither hungry nor thirsty, but it was nothing beyond coffee, bagels, pastries, other packaged goodness, soda, juice, and beer.

I'm currently awake (obviously). I don't know why or how, given the wedding last night. For better or worse, I've always been a morning person. Time to chug some coffee and go grab some breakfast on my way back to Trenton train station. All aboard at noon!

krazykanuck

To be honest they were very nice! I also bet it was a nice hotel about 50 years ago, but the area immediately around it is kind of seedy and the owners have obviously not invested in the hotel at all.

Thanks! The more I visit the city, the more I find myself wanting to live there at some point.

krazykanuck

Hilton Garden Inn, Hamilton, NJ

I'm not going to spend much time on this, simply because I was awake in this room for about 90 minutes and there was nothing remarkable, but also nothing unremarkable. I took two showers, changed, and made one FT post. It's also pretty much the same as every other HGI I've ever stayed in.

The one quirk about this place is it seemed that either they didn't have the AC on in the corridors, so it went from cold in the lobby to warm in the guest room halls and cold in the bedrooms.

I was also happy to think, alright I'm going to get 3X Hhonors points because of this quarter's promotion, but then upon closer examination I discovered that this hotel is on the list of non-participating properties, which runs the length of the Oxford English Dictionary. 1X points plus a paltry 15% silver bonus. #firstworldproblems.


I made a mess.

Wedding venue (and the primary purpose of the whole trip)

In the interest of anonymity for my friends who don't know this trip is being chronicled for this group of travel crazies, I'm not going to share the location but here are some of the photos. It was incredibly picturesque and the weather was perfect, if maybe a tad warm and humid as it was in the mid/upper 80s. Being used to Texas, I would have been perfectly fine had I not been wearing a suit.





(sorry for the white boxes, there are people in there)

Amtrak, Keystone Service, Trenton to New York Penn

After demolishing breakfast at Chick Fil A, I took the bus back to the Trenton Transit Center. Trenton has a super clean and organized train station, it was quick and easy to get in and out. This train ride was basically the same as yesterday's except since it was the end of the line, the train was far more crowded and I wasn't able to find a row to myself.

No pics, because I may or may not have been a bit hungover. Also it looked the same as the train the day before.

The Wellington, Midtownish NYC

Since I wasn't willing to return to my castle in Newark, I Priceline name-my-own-priced a hotel for Monday night. At $81 + taxes for a hotel at the corner of 7th and 55th, seemed like a far better value than the hotel in Newark. I had run this Priceline search for Manhattan for last Friday and Saturday and willing to pay over $100 and wasn't getting any takers, so it's good the long weekend is kind of over.

While the hotel and room was a bit dated, the room was an adequate size and the bed quite comfy. The AC also blew really well and kept the room cold. I was in what they call the East Tower, which means you take two rickety slow old elevators accessible around the corner and down some stairs from the lobby. These ancient elevators don't have AC, and I suspect the corridors don't either. It was a mad dash from my ice cold room through the heat back to the AC of the lobby. But I digress. It was a perfectly pleasant place for one night, and at $105 including taxes and fees, I'd be surprised if you could do better in this part of Manhattan.

One photo stolen from TripAdvisor. I didn't take any when I got into the room, and felt I'd be doing a disservice if I took it with the bed and pillows all messed up. This looked just like my room, except mine was a bit smaller.



It was at this point on Tuesday morning, that I (ok, the Amex Platinum fee credit) forked over another $75 to Jeff and Co to change my flight from Wednesday to Tuesday. With all of my friends back to work, and having to pay for my own accommodations, I decided to head on home early. I went to McSorley's in the East Village to check it out and kill some time before going to LGA. Had a beer and caught the N train and the LGA MTA bus back to the airport.

Centurion Lounge at LGA. Again.

So I walked in and the bartender remembered me from last week. I guess that's a good thing? Maybe? Ok, not sure. Had a Sixpoint Bengali, an IPA, which is a local microbrew. Tasty. I was also happy that the food was a bit different from last week. I had the fried chicken which was very good. The rest of the food bar was the same as last week. Great service again, I'm sitting on the quiet side of the lounge near the front door and one of the guys just brought me a fresh drink. Everybody I've encountered here has been truly top notch.

Now just one last flight until my nearly week long vacation/adventure comes to an end.

krazykanuck

United 1128, LGA-IAH
Departed ~30-40 minutes late due to a late inbound aircraft

So today when I chose my seat, I picked 14F which is in that unexplainable "reserved section" of Economy that isn't E+, but is further ahead in the cabin. If anybody knows that that weird area is, I'd like to know. Thankfully I seem to have one of the only empty seats in the cabin next to me. Pretty uneventful flight, though I'm reminded how much more comfortable these Boeing planes are than the A319/320s. I actually would have preferred to take the 3 pm departure as opposed to the 5 pm, but the earlier flight was on an Airbus and I figured I'd rather wait 2 hours and sit in the Centurion Lounge waiting on the Boeing.

One confusing thing was during the beverage service, the napkins they handed out had the pmUA tulip logo on them.



All in all, a fully normal flight on United, though it was a bit bumpier than usual due to weather. Safely back in Houston, this concludes a roundabout nearly 7 days of travel. While it seems I lied about the airbnb, y'all got everything else, maybe a bit more chat than you wanted. Any comments/questions are welcome. Thanks for reading and following along!

Here are a couple of pictures from a downright gorgeous sunset we saw as we came into Houston tonight: