Blogs from Newark, New Jersey, United States, North America - page 6

O mai gard! O mai gard!! America. Where the airline food is better than the Swiss could ever dream of, and the airline shopping literally has something for everyone. Most of the wackiest things ever invented are available for sale at skymall.com, and displayed in an inflight glossy brochure as thick as the latest Harry Potter, which is yours to take home. On top of this epic shopping adventure, you can also peruse the duty free catalogue, which is full of the usual expensive lolly waters (both sprayable and drinkable), and of course, the in-flight magazine, which is mostly full-page ads for hospitals, medical treatments, dental surgeries, and public speaking seminars. The only destinations featured in the magazine were American states, except for a brief article featuring somewhere in Mexico (virtually an American state anyway), ... read more

There are several things that alert a traveler that she is about to embark on a very interesting journey: 1) When the last glimpse of American life that she sees is in Newark International Airport. 2) When she is subjected to airport security on three separate occasions on the way to the gate, then told that her sweatshirt is too baggy to ensure passenger safety. 3) When she is cowering on the floor near the entrance gate, surrounded by women in saris, and trying not to get trampled when there is stampede to enter the flying prison that will keep them all captives for the next seven hours, thirty minutes, and 23 seconds. Not that she is counting, of course. They say that, when it comes to airlines, you get what you pay for. A wealthy ... read more

Today was one of adventure. We chose to stay in Neward, NJ just near NYC. We arrived at 3:30 or so and settled into the Hilton Gateway for $129.00 pernight plus parking and anything extra we want. We stay here 2 nights and explore by taking public transportation to Manhatten. We didn't have a clue about how to travel but this hotel has a direct skywalk to Penn Station so we went there and funally learned that we needed PATH - a train- subway that gets over to several stops in Manhatten. The first black lady I spoke to about how to get over there said I needed to take 'PUFF' I thought. PATH was spelled out eventually. The trip over was uneventful. We just ask questions and make new friends (except for those who don't ... read more