Sorry for the late update...
Immigration at T7 was a bit slow as mentioned. Thankfully being first of the plane mitigated that. However, it could not save me from the horrific sight in the snaking lines: a couple with a "dude" and his "wife" wearing matching t-shirts in dark pink with his having "The King" printed on it and the female "His Queen".
Stay classy, wherever you are from. (I realise this is judgemental but won't apologise. It is such a faux pas!)
I headed straight for Tribeca to meet up with some buddies watching the EURO Championships. Temperatures in the 90's so the beers kept coming.
We then headed to my mates condo in Hells Kitchen, not far from where I used to have a place. The views from this Manhattan area are spectacular as, for now, it still isn't packed with sky scrapers.
Looking East over Manhattan towards Long Island. Some of the roof top terraces on Manhattan condos are magical!
Looking west over the Hudson.
As per usual, every single time when in New York, a table was reserved at Peter Luger in Brooklyn. I still haven't found a place that makes better Porterhouse in the US or Globally. This would be my friends first visit and he agreed, it is marvellous.
After a long day of serious amounts of drinking but most of all eating it was time to hit the bed.
Sunday consisted of meetings and lots of shopping.
Bedroom view.
Strollin. I absolutely love walking around Manhattan.
I saw a huge crowd of NYPD officers just standing on the corner of Madison and low 50's. Not sure what was going on, probably preparing for training or some such. Anyhow, I thought that if I could get a photo of myself with all of these fine officers my kids would freak out and think Dad is actually pretty cool.
The result.
Sunday lunch also meant a Sweden game. It is awesome being in the US watching European sports as you get all these lunch matches.
Monday arrived for a late night flight back, in Traveller. That is Y class.
Did the business and decided to not take a cab due to traffic mayhem but jumped on the Subway from Midtown all the way to Howard Beach and then the Air Train. First time in over 10 years. It actually worked quite well and took just over an hour. Met a lovely man on the train who I chatted away with.
There was a bit of a line at JFK T7 security but then I quickly found myself in the Gold/Emerald lounge for supper and some bubbles.
747 didn't seem to busy looking earlier so I was hoping I could snag a middle row of 4 seats to myself, making a fairly comfortable bed.
Upon boarding, I had the pleasure of meeting possibly the best BA CSD (Cabin Service Director) ever. She instantly greeted me by name, having expected me and said that "while it is not First class the flight is not so busy so I will come down once seat belt sign is off and make sure you get a row of four".
Wow. ^
How about that for pro-activeness.
She did arrive as announced and I got a row of four. Took a sleeping aid before boarding so passed out soon after. Woke up 50 minutes prior to landing feeling okay. Skipped the horrific "breakfast" as I would be connecting to ARN in a few hours with time to eat properly in the F Lounge.
So while it was a very good Y experience, the knowledge of having the next trip to NYC with both sectors in F made me feel even better. This time shared with Mrs Petrus, for one of our annual kid free trips.
Next up, more B F.