After a night at the Hilton Rome Airport, we learned of a much easier way to return to the airport than the route we took to get to the Hilton. We even found a trolley along the way and, since we knew the drill for checking in, we were at the Delta line pretty quickly. The one concern was about the COVID test requirements for a test taken the day before travel, but after a bit of discussion with the agents, showing a boarding pass from yesterday (don’t throw out a boarding pass if your flight is delayed/cancelled!), and a copy of the test results from 5/21/22, we got checked in. Then through Security, passport control, and immigration and then the long walk to the departure gate. We kind of felt like pros, having done all this yesterday.
We boarded the plane on time. The plane was essentially 60% empty, the whole last third of seat rows vacant. Our assigned seats were in front of two children who kept sticking their feet into our seat backs. Christine nicely asked them to not do that (yeah, right) and so we asked if we could change our seats. We did, and then lots of people started moving to the back of the plane. The lead flight attendant was not happy since now passengers were spread out all over the plane, but that’s the way it goes. We were delayed a bit pulling back from the gate and during that time there was a banging sound coming from underneath the plane producing some anxiety, but we eventually departed.
The flight was fine and we landed at JFK. We cleared immigration, retrieved our luggage and then set off to find the AirTrain to take us to the hotel shuttle pickup area. That was all accomplished easily. Thank goodness for trolley carts, however, in the rest of the world that we explored trolley carts are free. Not so in the U.S., to my consternation, but I forked over $6.00.
We got checked in to the Hampton Inn and had a restful night. We were having breakfast and Christine had a little incident. She was trying to open a cup of fruit cocktail, and in pulling off the foil lid, she was also apparently squeezing the plastic cup, so when there was an opening in the foil lid, all the juice squirted up into her face and all over her torso. Yuck! A sticky mess ensued and Christine was quite upset. We got that all cleaned up back at the room and then set off for our next travel challenge, the NYC subway.
We took the shuttle back to the AirTrain station at Federal Circle at JFK and rode it to the Howard Beach station. That AirTrain is a great service, especially since it nicely connects to a subway route into Manhattan. We mastered our MetroCard reload, had a challenge pushing two suitcases through the turnstile while trying to get our bodies through, but soon we were seated on the A Train. Nineteen stops later (about 45 minutes) we were wandering around Port Authority trying to find our way. A guy, who we first thought had an official role, asked if he could help us. He nicely escorted us to an elevator telling us exactly where our bus would be departing from. He, we and another man were in the elevator. After pushing the floor buttons, the door closed and nothing happened. Both the men were pushing buttons trying to get the doors open. Nothing happened. The other guy pushed the emergency bell and then he called the emergency number to report that we were stuck in elevator P1. He said this happens all too often. Someone on an intercom said help was on the way. We heard noises on the other side of the door. The door was being pushed and at one point, a couple of fingers were seen trying to pry open the door, but the door wouldn’t open. Eventually, after more pushing and whatever else they were doing, the elevator started to move and we were on our way to the 4th floor. We were awfully glad to get out of that elevator. The man escorting us talked with a bus person to confirm our gate and then he asked for a tip. Okay, I had been had by a very clever fellow who must spend his day picking out confused people to escort so he can get a tip. I gladly gave him a dollar.
There was just a bit of commotion prior to our departure when the driver showed up, had some kind of a loud disagreement with a bus attendant and stormed off. The driver came back shortly and said we would be departing from a different gate so we all trudged down to another gate. We boarded and were soon on our way. There were about 30 people on the bus and I think 25 of them got off at the only stop the bus made, Monticello. It seemed like many of them were regular route passengers. Before long, we arrived in Binghamton and our friends Eve and JoAnn were waiting for us. It was nice to see friendly faces.
So, after 6 weeks of travel we arrived home happy, tired, and very grateful. We had a wonderful adventure, one that I’m sure we’ll be processing for weeks to come. One of the reasons I do this blog is for us to remember all that we did. You can’t imagine how often we look something up on the blog to jog our memories. But again, I appreciate you, dear readers, for being with us and especially those of you who comment. We revel in your reactions, thoughts, ideas, and comments. So, thanks.
And to give you some anticipatory information, our next big scheduled trip is in October. We have a cruise booked starting in Athens with stops in Cyprus, Israel, and Santorini Greek isle). Pre-and-post travel has yet to be planned, so stay tuned.