Texas to New York

I had to get up early today for breakfast before being ready for my Supershuttle to the airport at 8am, which was booked for 8.05am-8.20am. My Supershuttle to the airport was a little late in arriving, but I had left plenty of time to get to the airport. However, I knew it was on its way, as you can track the vehicle on their website. I can only conclude that most drivers in Texas are mad - we witnessed three accidents on the short journey to the airport and a number of near misses.

I have noticed that almost every time, the gate for my plane is at the far end of the concourse as far away from the security checkpoint as it is possible to be. Not this time, though. For the second time in a row, my gate was directly opposite the security exit, so no long trek to the gate.

I spent 10,000 miles, the compensation from the earlier transatlantic flight, to upgrade to first class for this flight, although it was only an old 737. I have not yet had any flight with a personal video system - it's all been overhead screens only (and it's usually been Men in Black 3 every flight too!) Hopefully the 777-200 operating the flight back to London will have proper systems on it and different films. I talked quite a bit at the start and the end of the journey to the lady sitting next to me about baseball, as she is a big Rangers fan.

Unusually, we landed at Newark from the North, so we flew down the Hudson and over the impressive-looking Meadowlands Sports Complex, where the New York Giants and New York Jets NFL teams play their home games. The baggage seemed to take an age to come out, but my bag was one of the first as it had a 'high priority' sticker on it - one of the benefits of going first class - and so I bought my Newark Airport to New York Penn Station return ticket (seems to come with a huge discount now compared to two singles), took the AirTrain along to the railway station and got the train into New York.

The New York subway is still not as accessible as it could be. I couldn't find step-free access to the A,C,E lines at 34 St/Penn Station, nor at Queensboro Plaza, so I struggled up the steps at 34 St and travelled to Queens Plaza instead which was a longer walk to the hotel, but at least it had elevator access to street level.

The hotel, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson, in Long Island City, is rather drab and in need of refurbishment. Everything is shabby - the cupboard door doesn't close, the carpets are dirty, aircon unit flap is broken, fan in bathroom is noisy, TV isn't HD, and the breakfast is rather limited, although free. Maybe I'll move to a different place, although it is convenient for getting to Flushing for the Mets games.