October 18th, 2023
Back on the road again after a summer of rain and cold through the UK, we were jetting off for a Fall adventure that would hopefully include a little sun, blue skies, pumpkins, and autumn leaves…the forecasts were not looking too good but we were back underway on one of our epic road trips. Starting in the best City in the World… New York City…and we planned to arrive in style!
Preamble
Our last trip around California was now a distant memory, a whopping 3 months ago, so maybe not that distant, but it feels like it after a very hard summer. This time last year we were heading for Halloween in Lahaina and not that has been destroyed by Fires, breaking our hearts in the process. This year it was the East Coast that would be graced with our presence for Halloween and we had a huge itinerary of spooky fun as we hit New York, Boston, Salem, Upstate New York, Niagra Falla, Cedar Point, Chicago, and finally heading south to see if we can catch the last of the warm weather in Wilmington North Carolina. It was going to be EPIC! And to kick it off, a little Upper-Class Luxury!
Sheraton Skyline – Club Class
As always we find the trip just easier if we head down to London Heathrow to jet off across the pond. We drive down the night before, stay in an airport hotel, and leave the car for the duration in the Hotel Carpark, all pre-arranged by Holiday Extras. This just worked and gave us a stress-free arrival. We got to our Hotel around 5 pm after a pretty event-free drive down and checked into our Club Class Room. This upgrade was pretty reasonable, £40 per night, and got us a superior room, Runway View, Dressing Gowns, and access to the Club Lounge.
The Club Lounge offers light breakfast and Snacks between 6 pm and 8 pm…and most importantly, FREE Drinks between 6 pm and 8 pm. We were sure we could drink more than enough in 2 hours to cover the upgrade. Plus our room was really nice and the food options were actually so substantial we skipped dinner, saving us another £5-60 on dinner! There were two wines available and a fridge full of Beers, so pretty basic but acceptable. We ate, Calamari, Stuffed Vine Leaves, DIY NAchos, Ceasar Salad, Cheese Board, Red Velvet Cupcakes, and Fresh Fruit!
Overall pretty good and we helped ourselves to a few drinks before retiring to the room. A little last blast of British telly and off to sleep ready for tomorrow.
Virgin Atlantic Club Lounge
We woke nice and early, packed up, and headed out of the hotel. We pulled up an Uber and sped off to the Airport. Destination Virgin Atlantic Upper-Class Wing!
We had an absolute STEAL on this trip. The initial cost was £700 Return per person for Upper Class outbound and Premium Return. We really like Premium and are happy enough flying back in the middle class but love getting the VIP feels on the the way out. We had booked to fly on Virgin’s new A330-Neo to check out the new Upper-Class finery, but Virgin did the dirty on us and switched the plane! We were very annoyed and were forced to fly the A350-1000. There is nothing wrong with that… in fact, we LOVE it, but we had down it before and wanted to try the new plane, we are travel bloggers and Aviation enthusiasts after all.
After a little two-ing and fro-ing, we came to a solution and upgraded our Return flight to Upper Class using points, so we were on both legs in Upper and on the New on the way back. This also means we will get to visit the Club Lounge at JFK later on in the trip…For now, we were heading to the London Clubhouse and couldn’t be happier.
The Upper Class Check-in was manic, which meant we had to wait 30 seconds for a check-in clerk, and a whole 5 minutes for security. In total, it took around 25 minutes from the Hotel Lobby to the Duty-Free hall! We love the Upper-Class wing, it really makes you feel special and even though the above experience is pretty bad for the Upper-Class wing, it’s still incredible.
We were now out in the melee of the Main Airport terminal, and forgot how bad things can be out here so scurried off to the privacy of the Upper-Class Clubhouse. This is probably our favorite Upper-Class Lounge, and we headed in and scouted out our favorite spot, in the separate section behind the bar looking out over the Apron. We had barely sat down before a glass of Champagne arrived, and we settled into updating the social media, messaging family, and enjoying some of the great food and drink.
We had around 3 hours in the clubhouse before heading off to the Gate, a little tipsy and very happy.
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class A350
Boarding was a little chaotic with no obvious priority lane. But we kind of excused our way to the front and, politely, demanded priority access. It seemed a good job we did as there were a lot of other upper-class customers, politely waiting in huge queues they didn’t need to and came forward after following our lead. It’s a small thing, but the Priority boarding is one of the dwindling perks of Upper Class, so we are not going to wait in line when we do not need to.
We headed aboard and settled into our Upper-Class pods, we had booked the front row on this flight as these offer even more space than the rest of the cabin, and we wanted to see if the space was worth the pay-off of being near the lavatory and the noise and intrusion that brings. For us, definitely, there was very little noise, and none once the headphones were on. A couple of times we had people standing over us as they waited for a free cubicle, but overall there was barely any intrusion and lots of extra legroom. For those with longer legs, this row is a must.
The Service started on the ground with a welcome drink. Then we had our lunch order taken, although we had pre-ordered mains and got a little upgrade as we pre-ordered and they took our in-cruise drink order. Being at the front of the cabin gets you the best service as the Cabin Crew works from the front to the back.
After a little ground delay, we were up in the air and the pampering began, drinks to start with, and straight into the meal service. the starter was Parma Ham, and I had a Crispy Cod Main, which was nice, but lacked some CArbs and was anything but crispy, The fish was moist and a good portion. Kate’s Porkbelly was incredible and a huge portion, so big she didn’t finish it and left the rest to her human dustbin Husband. Dessert was a Chocolate Deluche bar that was divine and then onto the Cheeseboard and port.
Overall a really good meal and plenty of wine was served alongside. The service was then left open. Allowing people to sleep, but a flight attendant would be on hand at the push of a button, I timed it and was attended in less the 14 seconds!
We watched films and listened to music, and Kate had a little snooze. At some point, the crew came around with a little tub of Ice-cream and we spent some time in the Loft, the Social space on the plane, where we chatted with the cabin crew and had around 30 offers to get us some drinks, some of which we accepted, but we were pretty well along by now!
With around 1hr30 left the Afternoon Tea service commenced, this was a Choice of Cream Tea, a Chicken Bao Bun, and a Lamb Flatbread. The Cream tea was tempting but we split the LAmb Flatbreab and a Bao Bun between us. Both were really good. The LAmb was rich and spicy with a hint of Mint Yogurt, and the Bao bun had a real kick. The Chicken was curried and there was a spicy satay dressing and some Red Chilli Slices, I like my heat and actually found the Bun pretty spicy, it could really blow away those who like less heat!
With this done, we started our descent and had a swift and diversion-free arrival at JFK. There was a little delay on the tarmac, but overall we hit the gate about 15 minutes early, first off the place we headed to immigration having spent the last 10-12 hours in the lap of luxury…the bubble was about to pop violently.
Arrival in JFK
The arrival hall was seriously packed. We have not seen it like this for several years. we joined the Queue as it snaked towards the few open counters, and just waited, packed in like sardines. Nearly two hours later we approached the front, naturally stuck behind some of those awkward arrivals who seem to have three passports and take ten times longer than us.
Eventually, we headed to the baggage carousel and found our luggage instantly, 2 hours being plenty of time for them to process the flight’s luggage. We then headed out into the New York night.
It was now past 6 pm and New York traffic was at its finest. Uber was surcharging up to $90 but we sucked it up and jumped in the cab, in the end regretting not using the Airtrain and Subway. The drive-in was gnarly. Huge queues, stationary traffic, and lots of irate drivers. Not much fun and an hour and a half later we arrived at the Hotel…pretty exhausted, it was nearly 8 pm when we got to our room, and that was 2 am on our body clock, having been awake since 7 am going on 20 hours!
Any sensible person would knock it on the head and hit the hay…
Riu Plaza Manhattan Times Square
We had booked this Hotel very early on in the booking process at a pretty reasonable rate. We did this mainly to lock in a rate so we could try and find something better and/or cheaper. But after booking rates had soared we never really got close to beating the $250 per night we paid for a room here, and it was a superior room with an enhanced city view.
On check-in, the clerk was very proud to say we were on 45 floor, of 48, and with the best view direction, giving us one of the best rooms in the building. We headed up the elevator and sure enough, the view was epic!
The room was nice enough, modern and recently refurbished, large LCD screen we would barely use, and a large bed that was pretty comfy, but actually pretty basic. A nice work desk area, quite a bit of storage and organizing space, and a pretty plush bathroom. It was small, but decent by New York Standards. Overall a decent room and spotlessly clean. The best feature was those floor-to-ceiling windows and that view!
After settling in a little, as we said the most sensible decision was to call it a night after a LONG day…we are not sensible…
Times Square
First order of business, Time Square. No one’s favorite place, but an essential visit for all. As we were literally a quarter block from the iconic Square, this was the first place to visit. And we instantly got that System Shcok as we were hit by the bright lights and throngs of people. The Square is one of those places where you really forget how bonkers it is until you go back.
We simply wandered through the square taking things in and a quick stop in McDonald’s mainly as we were really thirsty and a giant Icey Soda was just the ticket…and maybe a few nuggets as well. Then it was on to one of our favorite spots in NYC.
230 Fifth Rooftop Bar
We headed out of the square and pulled up the Uber App they wanted $30 to travel less than a mile and estimated a 30-minute trip…it was a 20-minute free walk, and despite being exhausted, that just didn’t add up so we took to our heels and powered down fifth. The walk ended up being longer than 20 mins as Google just cannot calculate the time spent waiting at crosswalks!
Finally, at the world-famous Rooftop bar, we headed straight up with no problems. The Bar has certainly grown in popularity since we first came all those years ago where the small deck was half empty most nights. Now the vastly increased rooftop space was packed to the gills with pretty much standing room only on a Wednesday night!
This was fine by us as were mainly here for the view. And there is bad news on that front. Nothing stands still in New York and the city is CONSTANTLY growing, we visit so regularly, 12 months as a minimum, and every time a new building has sprung up like a mushroom. And this time one had sprung up right in front of 230 Fifth, partially blocking the view. The building is no “looker” either and just sits right in the skyline like an ugly eyesore. And it’s there forever now!
The view from the main deck is not too badly affected, but it’s still there and bloody annoying. But it’s still an incredible view and one of our happy places. So we just took in the view and for once didn’t actually drink, we had both had more than enough on the flight and were more in hangover mode than drinky mode…
BED
Eventually, it all caught up with us and we started flagging, so it was time to head back and finally get some rest. The Uber was still $20 but at least it was a shorter drive time.
Walking Total – 9,590 Steps – 5.2 Miles
A long day time-wise, but largely spent sitting down in a leather lie-flat seat, so not too many steps, we will put this right tomorrow!
