Laguardia to Bush Intercontinental

Laguardia to Bush Intercontinental

The Caribbean Princess sailed into NY Harbor this morning around 6:00AM. We were to disembark at 7:30. MA had booked our flight on Continental for the 10:30 flight to Bush Intercontinental. Well that meant we had to get off the ship asap, being one of the "walkoffs". Our plan was to be the first in line by getting there an hour early but six others had the same idea. As long as we could get a cab and get to the airport quickly we would make our flight. Well the time came and we said goodbye to stateroom A522 and made our way to the Coral Dining Room. The ship got clearance from the Port Authority and we were off. We walked down the gangplank pulling our luggage, cleared Customs, and out the door to the taxi stand. I ran ahead of everyone coming out of the building because I wanted to find the "Cash Cab". There were ten cabs in line waiting for passengers and I started checking them for the guy on TV that drives and asks questions. I couldn't find him and finally MA caught up with me and said get in the taxi we have to go. I was just trying to win enough to pay for our cruise.

Anyway, we got into the second cab and the driver looked Chinese. I told him we needed to get to Laguardia, chop, chop(quickly). He said $40 and I just put the bags in the trunk. We got in and MA took over. He said $40 again and MA told him to turn on the meter! He mumbled $40 and she said turn on the meter and he did. I found out his name was Tashi and he was from Nepal. He made it clear he was NOT Chinese. It seems that China has ruled Nepal with an iron hand but we didn't have time to get into a conversation about that. What a wild ride to Laguardia. We left the Port at 7:45am and arrived at the Continental departure curb at 8:15. Not bad. Oh, and the meter said $31.50. MA still gave him a $6 tip. But we had plenty of time to check in, drop our luggage, and walk to MA's Continental Club and have coffee and a bagel. The Continental lounge had a TV on and another couple also waiting for a plane. The TV was on NBC which I cannot stand. I asked the couple if it would be OK if I changed channels. They weren't watching it anyway. I flipped through a couple of hundred channels and finally found Fox News. I glanced at the guy sitting there with us and he kind of grinned. Well time passed by and we pulled our carry-on bags to the gate and boarded the plane.

I asked MA to put us in the seats by the emergency doors as the leg room is double that of other seats. I asked her if I could sit next to the window cause I wanted a photo of New York as the plane cleared the runway. We were sitting there as other passengers squeezed down the narrow aisle with there luggage. Then this huge man plopped himself next to MA and I thought she was going to come unglued. This guy was so big the flight attendant had to bring and extension for his seat belt. He took up his seat and half of MA's and half of the aisle. The plane took off and he kept trying to put the arm rest down and MA kept putting it up. Finally he and the lady sitting in front of him traded places. It seemed his wife was in the row of seats in front of us. Once he moved MA was happy, I was happy because she was happy. She worked her crossword puzzles and I listened to Mozart and read half of the book of Psalms. We landed in Bush, got out luggage, caught our parking shuttle and found my truck. It stared right up and we made our way home. I think the drive home was more dangerous than the flight home. We arrive home in time to make our Saturday Bible study class at Second Baptist.

I've started to upload some of my photos from the trip to my web site. I'll email you the link when that is done.