NYC: From LHR to JFK

7 June 2011

We were very pleased with ourselves with our choice of flights – the outbound journey was early in the morning, but not horrifically so (though my parents, who very kindly drove us to the airport and then either went to work or to help John may question this) and got us to New York ready for lunch. The return flight later in the week was booked for late evening, meaning that we’d have a good day in Manhattan, sleep on the plane (ha!) and wake up in London in the morning See? Cunning.

About half past nine we were given our first in-flight meal. A meal when you’re ready for neither breakfast nor lunch? Yes, that’s brunch. Our first American experience of the trip. The food was actually rather nice. Creamy pasta and chicken, a bread roll and butter and a yoghurt. And some fruit out of which I picked the pineapple, orange juice I donated to Suzy on account of orange juice not liking me and a weird apple pastry thing that I avoided because it looked weird. All in all though, much better than the meal I was given on the return flight, which tasted like absolute toss. Suzy won the menu choice (and not for the first time that holiday) and had the chicken curry, while I opted for the cheese and tomato pasta. The top layer was edible, but then underneath there was something kind of grainy and spongy masquerading probably as ricotta, which rather ruined the overall effect. I ate most of the top and the bread roll … which was kind of hard and didn’t have proper butter, but rather some kind of low fat spread. Thank goodness for the cereal bars I had in my handbag.

There was quite a range of in-flight entertainment available – possibly sponsored by Jeff Bridges, as he seemed to star in pretty much all the films. Suzy watched True Grit, while I fought with headphones that didn’t work, got further with my iPod headphones, decided to watch The Big Lebowski (which I couldn’t say without calling it Le Big Lebowski for some reason), instead started watching Due Date, got fed up with it being a stupid film and lost interest in being awake and went to sleep instead. Well, I assume I went to sleep. Either that, or True Grit is only a few minutes long, because Suzy was finishing her film when I opened my eyes again.

Finally we were coming into land and Suzy shot a few photos out of the window. As we descended into the airport we passed over a field with little lakes and meandering waterways in it. Meanders! Ox bow lakes! We know geography!
Before we disembarked I had to tick the box on the customs form to say I was bringing food into the country – those handy cereal bars. At customs the nice customs man said they were fine and asked me what I did back home. He then asked Suzy her profession and promptly asked me if she was telling the truth. I decided against getting her turned back at the border and confirmed what she said.

Posted in: friends, new york, photos, travels

Comments

3 Responses to “NYC: From LHR to JFK”

bethany actually
7th June 2011 @ 7:02 pm

When I traveled from DFW to London years ago we took a similar flight thinking we’d sleep on the way over too. Ha!

Now I really want to know what Suzy does for a living. Somehow walking around the park all day with small children wasn’t conducive to small talk!

[Reply]
doow Reply:
June 7th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
She’s a relocation coordinator, helping people with international moves when their jobs require it. There was a beautiful and not at all suspicious pause at customs while she worked out how to phrase it. Web designer is much snappier for me. Even if it doesn’t exactly cover what I do for a living.

[Reply]
Lindy
7th June 2011 @ 11:05 pm

Oh that is my dream job! I helped a friend when she was moving back to the UK w/ her relocation needs- housing, good schools, info on transport… and I loved it. Wondered how I could do it for a reals but didn’t have a clue. How DID she get into this type of work?

[Reply]