Travel with Christin

So now that we are back in the States and have time to readjust to the time change, do lots of laundry, doctors’ appointments and rest I will be posting about our adventures in Europe.

To start our trip, I chose for us to fly out of JFK to London Heathrow as it was an AM flight and leaving out of Charlotte would be a redeye flight. If needed I will do a redeye flight, but they can be exhausting as I can’t sleep on a plane. So, to do this we needed to get to NY. The cheapest option was to take the Amtrack from Salisbury to NYC and who could not resist a small stop in NYC.

Our train was scheduled to leave Salisbury at 6:17 a.m. and arrive at Penn Station in NYC at 5:48 p.m. on July 4th. So, we got up bright and early to catch the train. The train ended up being delayed by 40 minutes, so it was just after 7 before we departed.

We boarded the train, found a seat, stored our luggage overhead and we were off. Train seats are pretty comparable to main cabin airline seats but you more freedom to walk around. There is also a dining car to buy food, snacks and drinks with booths if you chose to stay there for a while. They have Wi-Fi so you can sit back and catch up on your latest Netflix or Hulu shows to pass the time. I along with Lexi however somehow fell asleep which is something I am never able to do whether it be a car or airplane etc. There is a picture to prove it but won’t be added it to by blog. The bad thing about falling asleep is they make one stop along the way for 45 minutes where you can exit the train and stretch your legs. I unfortunately missed it.

After a long day of riding the train, we finally make it to NYC. Once we exit the train and the station, we are only a quick .3 miles to the hotel. I chose the Double Tree Times Square. Walking distance to the station, good price and clean. It of course is like most hotels in NYC they are small, but it would do for the night before we made our way to the airport.

After getting checked in we decide it is time to eat. So, we chose to grab a slice of pizza at 2 Brother’s Pizza which is at the corner close to the hotel. The pizza was good for a quick stop but there is much better pizza in NYC. But due to time it worked for us. Since it was July 4th, we thought it would be a good idea to walk down to see the fireworks. The weather wasn’t too bad, so we said why not. Well, the first viewing point we arrived at they weren’t letting anyone back in as it was full. So had to walk down four more blocks and wait for them to open. We manage to sandwich ourselves in through the crowd and made it down to the water. After a while this became the scene.

So, after standing around for about 30 minutes and realizing the fireworks weren’t starting for 30 more minutes, we decide to make our way out of this mess. What were we thinking. Bad thing was once we got off this street it took over an hour to get back towards Times Square so we could move without pushing through people. So learned our lesson but of course Hello Kitty had to have her picture made before we left.

So, to cut off time walking as crowd pushing is exhausting, we make our way to Grand Central to take the subway closer to our hotel.

Once back at the hotel we all take a much-needed shower, order a Door dash late night snack and call it a night. We had to be up and leaving our hotel by 5:30 a.m. as JFK is an hour away. Next up is our travel to London.