One Short Day in New York

American Airlines shuttled us to the Marco LaGuardia Hotel by Lexington, a 3 1/2 star property. The lobby and public spaces looked recently remodeled, and by the luck of the draw, our room was great. Actually, it was a suite, with large, flat screened televisions in both the living room and bedroom, plus a stainless steel and granite kitchenette.

Emma!

Between the delays and long flight, we were tired by the time we turned in around midnight, so we didn't take the fullest advantage of the room, especially because we awoke early to head from Flushing to Washington Heights to visit Gina, Laszlo and Emma.

By the time we made it across town on the subway, Laszlo had left for work and Gina had pushed her departure back about as far as she could. She skipped taking the subway and instead took a taxi to give us a few minutes together before she headed to a conference at which she was a featured speaker.

However, Emma was able to clear her calendar, and we enjoyed spending the morning with her and Laszlo's mother Ria, who lives around the corner from Gina. The Laughing Cow cheese package that Julie had kept from her airline meal proved to be a pretty fun toy.



Gina was able to meet us for lunch at an authentic New York Deli, where I had a great pastrami sandwich while the ladies enjoyed less fatty sandwiches. We took a pleasant stroll with Gina before she headed back to her conference to make her presentation.



Emma and Ria headed home, while Julie and I caught the subway that connected to the Air Train, which dropped right at JFK's jetBlue terminal two hours before our 4 PM flight. We used our American Airlines meal vouchers to buy a box lunch to eat on our flight.

While we hadn't seen a Yankees game, scaled the Empire State Building or seen a Broadway show, we enjoyed our forced overnight in New York far more than flying to Chicago where who knows what could have disrupted our change of planes. I would have gladly paid for the privilege...if American Airlines hadn't wanted $800 per person for a planned stayover in New York booked in advance.