We didn’t get much sleep last night – there was a lot of partying going on near our hotel, with loads of loud sirens until sometime after 2am. Midtown Manhattan is always noisy, but this was by far the loudest night of our trip.
But we did both manage to fall asleep for a few hours, only to be awakened by our alarm at 6:15. After that, things went pretty well.
- Our Uber arrived early to pick us up at our hotel (the Hyatt Place New York Midtown/South, which was a fine place to spend a week in Manhattan), and traffic was light until we hit construction on the Van Wyck a few exits before reaching JFK (as usual)
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It took a little longer than I expected to get through security at JFK (they appeared to be short-staffed, unsurprisingly), but we had plenty of time so that wasn’t an issue.
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Flying First Class on Alaska got us access to the Admirals Club; it had been a while since I’d been in a domestic Admirals Club and they’ve made changes for the better. There was plenty of room, and they had some actual food available for free, not just pretzels and nuts. There were even some free alcoholic drinks available (but only a few options; there was a fully-stocked bar for those who were willing to pay for more choices).
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We left the gate on time, had a short taxi, and a smooth flight.
- The flight arrived at SFO 45 minutes early!
It was a much better experience than I’d expected after reading horror stories about long delays over the past few days because of the shutdown.
It’s good to be home.
And I guess we get four extra hours of sleep tonight – three from flying West and one because we go back to standard time overnight. I need it!