“Snow bound in NY. Not funny. Airport closed. Spent the night it a sleezy hotel. No clothes or toothbrush. MAY depart tonight - if I am lucky!” “1000s of passengers fighting over few hotel spaces. Last night slept in a honeymoon suite (alone!) in a sleezy part of New Jersey. I am lucky to have got the last seat on tonight's departure......... Now just hoping it departs! Dressed in light tropical clothes and sandals doesn't help! I will laugh at this one day but currently not laughing. Reviewing a book and doing some writing........”
Those are extracts from emails sent home last weekend as my return to Devon from Panama was did not go entirely as planned. During what should have been a routine four hour stop over on Friday evening in Newark Liberty Airport became a 24 hour adventure, as they closed the airport because of a snow and ice storm. When the decision was announced it was chaos, as 1000s of travellers battled to the airline desks to try to rebook onto the next available flight. I got lucky, as with some quick thinking found an alternative desk to make my new booking and managed to get the next seat booked the following evening. The next challenge was to find a place to sleep, and as
I did not fancy a night in the airport I was determined to find somewhere. All the courtesy ‘phones to the hotels were either jammed or registering that the rooms were all booked, but I took my chances by walking ca ½ mile from the terminal to the Radison Hotel, across the snowscape in my light clothes I had originally donned early that morning in tropics! My toes froze. As expected, Radison said ‘no room at the Inn’ but they offered to bus a load of opportunistic business travellers out to wider New Jersey where they reckoned there was a greater chance of accommodation. Having nothing to lose I piled in. After about 45 minutes I was lucky to be amongst the first group to be dropped off at a rather forminable looking place called The Loop Inn. The receptionist was sited behind a glass screen and we were asked whether we wanted to book the room for an hour, 2 hours or more. Also, did I want to share with my travel mates? Hmm. Having cleared up that I was not after a gay session, my companions and I eventually managed to pay $125.00 to secure our separate rooms for the night and dispersed into the night. As I opened my door all became clear. The room was about as big as a small gym, with mirrors on the ceiling and walls, a giant jacuzzi in the middle of the room and a bed so large I burned calories simply climbing into it. And I won’t say what was ‘free’ on the telly, but I am sure you get the idea. I must s
ay that the place did seem to be remarkably clean (there is nothing worse than climbing into a bed with hairs in it is there?) but the only downer was that it did not do any food, let alone tea or coffee. Having forgot to eat dinner that day, my diet was water. Next morning I slipped my sandles on and stepped out into the snow. Having befriended the receptionist, I booked a taxi back to the airport and spent 13 hours working on my laptop and hanging around hoping for my flight to depart. Eventually it did, 26 hours later than I had originally intended and I eventually got home to the comfort of my Devon home and family on Sunday morning, just in time for a Mothers day lunch at the Tors Inn. Now there is a contrast an a half!
Those are extracts from emails sent home last weekend as my return to Devon from Panama was did not go entirely as planned. During what should have been a routine four hour stop over on Friday evening in Newark Liberty Airport became a 24 hour adventure, as they closed the airport because of a snow and ice storm. When the decision was announced it was chaos, as 1000s of travellers battled to the airline desks to try to rebook onto the next available flight. I got lucky, as with some quick thinking found an alternative desk to make my new booking and managed to get the next seat booked the following evening. The next challenge was to find a place to sleep, and as
I did not fancy a night in the airport I was determined to find somewhere. All the courtesy ‘phones to the hotels were either jammed or registering that the rooms were all booked, but I took my chances by walking ca ½ mile from the terminal to the Radison Hotel, across the snowscape in my light clothes I had originally donned early that morning in tropics! My toes froze. As expected, Radison said ‘no room at the Inn’ but they offered to bus a load of opportunistic business travellers out to wider New Jersey where they reckoned there was a greater chance of accommodation. Having nothing to lose I piled in. After about 45 minutes I was lucky to be amongst the first group to be dropped off at a rather forminable looking place called The Loop Inn. The receptionist was sited behind a glass screen and we were asked whether we wanted to book the room for an hour, 2 hours or more. Also, did I want to share with my travel mates? Hmm. Having cleared up that I was not after a gay session, my companions and I eventually managed to pay $125.00 to secure our separate rooms for the night and dispersed into the night. As I opened my door all became clear. The room was about as big as a small gym, with mirrors on the ceiling and walls, a giant jacuzzi in the middle of the room and a bed so large I burned calories simply climbing into it. And I won’t say what was ‘free’ on the telly, but I am sure you get the idea. I must say that the place did seem to be remarkably clean (there is nothing worse than climbing into a bed with hairs in it is there?) but the only downer was that it did not do any food, let alone tea or coffee. Having forgot to eat dinner that day, my diet was water. Next morning I slipped my sandles on and stepped out into the snow. Having befriended the receptionist, I booked a taxi back to the airport and spent 13 hours working on my laptop and hanging around hoping for my flight to depart. Eventually it did, 26 hours later than I had originally intended and I eventually got home to the comfort of my Devon home and family on Sunday morning, just in time for a Mothers day lunch at the Tors Inn. Now there is a contrast an a half!
3 comments:
How awful! Glad you made it back home safely.
These things make us stronger. Apart from heart shaped baths, which make us look very soft.
What a story - a gripping read. The idea of sandals and snow is rather amusing...I will always wear my full outdoor gear and boots on every flight from now on. Good to have you back Phil
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