For most of my life, up to 2007....I had avoided NY City. That year....there was to be a high school reunion, and I had decided (while stationed in Germany)....I'd make a trip back to the US.
The base airline package folks sat down and had this fantastic priced deal...$850 for a R/T airline ticket. I'd fly from Frankfurt to NY City....sit there for four hours, board a 1-hour flight to Reagan Int'l in DC, and then finally arrive in Huntsville, Ala around 10 PM. Yeah, all total....roughly 27 hours on the go.....that was the crappy part of the deal.
So in mid-summer, we arrive at JFK, after some massive 8-hour storm in the area....to find that the schedule is now totally screwed-up and virtually all flights for the remainder of the day (this being 1:30 PM) were cancelled.
The airline desk? Swamped and they were telling the long line of folks....it might be 3 to 4 days before you can 'exit' NY City. After waiting about 90 minutes and realizing the odds of getting a new plan was at least 3 hours away...I gave up and started to walk around JFK to find an exit, and determine a hotel for the night.
For anyone who hasn't been to JFK....it's crap. Of the 50-odd airports I've been to in my life (both in Europe, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Panama, and the US)....it is by far, the least desirable place to be stuck at.
The terminal has this mildew smell. On having information about hotels or options in getting stuck.....it's marginal.
I eventually got enough information and called the Roosevelt Hotel....getting one night on a military discount....roughly $240. Getting from the airport to the hotel? That turned into a 45-minute mess, and after talking to a shuttle bus guy.....I worked out a deal with eight folks being hauled over to mid-town.
The 'tour' of the city from the airport to the Roosevelt? OLD was the key word to use. The pothole ratio per mile (PRPM) was probably in the 60 range.
I finally got dumped at the Roosevelt. There....I stood in line at the desk for 30 minutes...finally getting the key to the room.
The room description? Mold smell....about half the size of most rooms I've ever rented. The sandwich tray I ordered from the kitchen, with a Coke? It was around $22.
The next morning....I did the breakfast business....shocked to find that ran around $34.
Getting from the hotel back to the airport? That took about 10 minutes to drag a solution out of the lobby folks. I ended up on some Greyhound-like bus....likely in the 30-years of use. Yeah, it smelled like mold as well. The driver? This was some guy who spoke no English....I thought he was probably from Vietnam or such. The lady at the bus door selling tickets? Definitely Vietnamish. This was another $25 fee.
So I finally got to the airport....shuffled through the line and they worked up some deal....they'd get me to Atlanta (stopping at 4 places along the way), and just dump me there. The deal inferred that I'd sit in some 1st class area....giving up the remainder of my ticket.
I sorta accepted this.
Upon arriving in Atlanta, I went back to the customer folks and said I wanted the end-result....Huntsville. They eventually rigged up the system, and gave me one final ride at 9 PM....into Huntsville.
My adventure? It was one of those crappy episodes that sat on my mind for several years. I will not accept any 'leg' of a trip into the US....that requires stopping off at NY City. Just about everything in NY City is priced way above most other places. Mildew is just a normal smell in the city. And nothing really functions like you'd expect....like in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Atlanta, or Dallas.
I've been back in NY City twice....mostly to tour the city. Neither trip really impressed me....as a tourist. Don't even bring up the subway....I'll ramble on for 3 hours about the crappy conditions there.
My general advice? If you are going there for a couple of days....have a master plan, and a back-up plan. Carry around alcohol wipes with you, and wipe-up at least once an hour (particularly after the subway). Get a subway map ahead of time and spend an hour reading over how it works. Getting a five-star cheesecake? Go to Grand Central Station and the cafe in the basement. The Roosevelt no long exists....it's a refugee center today....but there are at least fifty 3-star hotels around the city (don't go expecting much). Crime has escalated big-time in the past year....so don't go wandering around after dark. Don't get stupid to pay $95 for some 30-minute horse-carriage ride around Central Park. Finally, to get away from that constant mildew smell....buy up some cheap men's after-shave and douse your nose every 30 minutes or so.
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