A New York State of Mind

Meg McGuire was determined to go to Portugal and when she found an amazing price on a non-stop from New York’s JFK to Lisbon, there was no need to twist my arm and the trip was ON! We just knew we could find cheap flights to JFK from our home airports of Atlanta and Memphis. Wrong! But, we did find decent prices to LaGuardia so we decided to fly in early and hang out in the City (with a capital “C”) with Meg’s dad.

Sometimes, plans just don’t work out and we were on our own with a 10-hour layover in New York. We talked about storing our bags at JFK and taking the train into the City.

Since we are both photographers who chose to forgo big cameras for iPhone portability on this trip, we tried to come up with something to enlighten us. B & H, the mothership store for photographers, is closed on the sabbath, the photo exhibit I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the last time I was in New York was no longer there, and the convoluted transport into Manhattan and worry about return traffic to the airport stressed us.

I remembered once getting a day room at a hotel in London when I had a long layover on my way to Portugal, so we Ubered to a Hilton in a residential neighborhood in Jamaica, New York. We didn’t spot an offsite restaurant nearby and the pool was a bit creepy as was the guy just staring at it.

So, we started our vacay with lunch and drinks at the hotel restaurant, then retired to our room to watch TV. Sadly, we couldn’t find “Law and Order: SVU,” the standard by which we rate all shows. (“These are their stories. Duh dun.”)

We watched “Shrek,” showered and headed to the airport where we enjoyed $20 margaritas and OK Mexican food. It was still better than the airline swill, but what do you expect for that bargain ticket price?

After praying to the patron saint of airline seats, Saint No Middle Man, we lucked out with a window seat and an aisle seat with no one between us.

Because we hadn’t waited long enough, we endured a flight delay (see Sad Meg below) and we were finally on our way to Lisbon and Morgado Lusitano, freshly showered and full of expensive tequila.

Next up, we land in Lisbon and are launched into classical dressage riding lessons, cobblestoned streets, castles, new friendships, gin and tonic, and lots of wine.