I am currently in a Jet Blue plane flying over Cuba at around 700 km/hour for a great price. Trying to find the cheapest airfare is always a challenge for me and my friend. This time we managed to get a one-way ticket to Cartagena for 207$ CAD leaving from New-York. Having the departure straight from Montreal was about twice that price. So a Greyhound bus (70$) to New-York and the flight was still a pretty good deal; and on top of that we could spend a night of fun in The Big Apple.
The Greyhound bus was very comfortable as usual and the weather was great. Going through the Appalachian Mountains, while watching House of Cards, made it a fairly quick 7 hour trip.
Once in New-York we were really hungry; it was 8 pm and we really didn’t have much to eat since breakfast. We both opted for a super greasy Hamburger. We started walking around, took pictures and videos on Time Square and kept our eyes open for a good Bar/Restaurant. Walking around was very difficult with our big backpacks in the crowd at first. It eventually started to rain massively and suddenly the streets cleared out. We both tested our waterproof bag extension and jumped in our rain gear and within seconds we were ready to walk the streets alone. We felt pretty organised and badass!
After asking a bunch of locals, we ended up at Smith’s Restaurant: It was perfect. A live band, big menu of local beers and a great ambiance. We got some super greasy extra fat mega delicious burgers and a few beers. Around 11h30, when we got out of the bar, we only then really felt in vacation.
Having a morning flight at 8, we wanted to get to the airport before the metro closes. Taking the Metro E line was 2.75$, and the sky-train was 6$.
I really like JFK airport when it comes to a transit but for sleeping it is one of the worst since it is always so busy. The hardest part was finding a place to lie down because there were so many people trying to get some sleep everywhere in the airport. Now, I regret not having made a photo album about that. We managed to get 2 seats in a section for handicaps; the lady told us there is no problem if we leave before 4 am.
I barely slept there, and waking up Arnaud was the hardest part. We then headed to deposit our backpack to the luggage drop-off. Turned out we could keep it with us during the flight even if it’s pretty big. This is good news, no need to worry about it being damaged, lost or stolen during the manipulation of the airport. Also, it meant we could leave the airport right away and save a lot of time.
Right now we are flying over Jamaica, getting closer and closer to the beginning of the real adventure!
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