Well at about 1.30pm in the afternoon I jumped on the Qantas Jumbo for one of the longest commercial flights in the world, director Fort Worth Dallas. The plan then was to connect through to New York, but not everything goes to plan now does it?
By the time we landed it was about 1.30pm local time and my connecting flight boarded at 2.50pm. Should be ok I thought. That was until I joined the immigration line. After about 20 minutes there I was able to jump the queue, due to my imminent departure.
I cleared customs quick smart with a priority pass and started to race to my gate. However, when I looked at the board by flight had been cancelled. DAMM. I headed to the gate anyway, which meant taking the monorail hey have in Dallas to move you between terminals (this place is huge).
When I got to the gate, yup the flight was cancelled and worse still was booked for the 7pm flight instead! The airlines rep said I could try my luck with a stand by for the 4.30pm flight but I said I would rather take the confirmed booking as the 4.30pm flight was fully booked as it was.
So what did I do for those extra four hours? I walked around the terminal, I had a snooze, I used the free internet (bring an Ethernet cable when you come here to take advantage of it), I went to Starbucks, etc, etc. Finally my 7pm flight boarded and it too was full.
I finally arrived at La Guardia airport in New York at about midnight. I went down the baggage claim and not seeing many bags coming on the conveyer. I checked in with luggage services people and my bag had arrived earlier. Important tip I learned last time I was in Vegas. If you flight gets delayed or cancelled, chances are you bags get sent ahead. So go check with the baggage services rather than being a dork and standing looking an empty carousel.
I located the ground services desk and made my call to SuperShuttle. They charge about $20 each way and was pretty good I reckon. Typically, on the shuttle (I chose the shared option) was, yes, you guessed it another Australia. So we discussed State or Origin Rugby League on the trip into the City.
By the time I finally arrived at the Chelsea Lodge it was about 2.30am. Luckily, I had forewarned them of my delays (even though they have 24hr reception) and I was soon in my acconmodation, finally glad here.
I’ll write more tomorrow once I have gotten some sleep.
