It’s a strange feeling – waking up on a plane after an eight-hour sleep and knowing that we still have another four hours left to fly before we arrive.
Still, I prefer this to the six-hour flights from North American to Europe (or thereabouts), where we’re lucky to get four hours of sleep at most before arriving early the following morning.
We didn’t particularly enjoy losing hours while cruising from west to east, but it’s time for us to get them all back at once – it’s 7 hours earlier in New York than in Kenya. Travelling east to west is generally easier than the alternative, but no one ever gets a proper sleep on airplanes.
Thankfully, we have a plan to address our exhausted arrival. More on that later.
The rest of the flight passes more-or-less uneventfully. I have midnight snacks of both pizza and cookie-flavoured ice cream after waking:
The pizza tastes much better than it looks
These are followed eventually by a strange breakfast of sausage and croissant:
A few more hours in the air, and we land – touchdown JFK.
There is some initial confusion while we go through Customs. We have Nexus cards, so we’re directed to use Global Entry – but then we’re told that we can only use Nexus when arriving from Canada or Mexico. Oops. But he graciously lets us go through the Global Entry line regardless.
We had been concerned about entering the United States given some of the horror stories that have been showing up in the news – we realize that the risks are very low, but the consequences are potentially catastrophic. Thankfully we have no issues.
Bags are off shortly after our arrival. We have a connecting flight back to Canada, but it won’t be til later – so it’s time for our secret weapon: a daytripper rental at the TWA Hotel.
This is the closest airport hotel and – in addition to regular overnight stays – they also book rooms by the hour during the day. They have a four hour minimum and then you can add on extra hours. There are also very early check-in and very late check-out options if staying overnight.
Getting there is relatively straightforward – take the AirTrain to Terminal 5, and then follow the clearly-marked signs to the TWA Hotel. These signs take us up one elevator then down another, and then along about 300 metres of uneven pavement. But we get there eventually.
Inside is something of a 1960s time warp, which TWA leans into – though the hotel was completely renovated in 2019.
The kids really enjoy seeing the old cars, and the Jetsons-style retro futurism – as do we.
Or at least we will, once we’ve had the chance to get a bit more rest. So we go to check in – and hit a snag. One of our rooms is ready, but the other isn’t visible in their system.
The reception agent does just about everything he can think of – he looks up the reservation by name, and by number but still can’t find it. Eventually he asks us to book another room, and says he’ll look into it while we’re resting.
We get a nicer room for a lower cost, but it requires us to trust that they’ll refund the prepaid room later. But we’re falling asleep on our feet, so what choice do we have?
Up to the rooms, where the retro aesthetic continues:
Off to bed.
Just as we’re heading off to sleep, the front desk agent calls up to ask us to send over the confirmation e-mail to help them figure out what’s gone wrong with our booking. Not cool, particularly as we’d already told them that we were exhausted and needed to get some sleep. I send the e-mail, then promptly disconnect all the phones.
We all get somewhere between three to five hours of rest, and then the more wakeful of us go off to get some food from the canteen downstairs.
It’s expensive – USD$20 for a pizza, USD$10 for a soft-serve waffle cone – but the portions are large, and it gets the job done. Not fair of us to expect to still be paying Africa prices in the United States, but it still stings!
Then back to the front desk to see if they’ve made any headway. Best they can figure is that someone with the same name as our daughter somehow managed to check in to our reservation two days early. Strangely, they inquire whether it was actually our daughter who checked in and we have to clarify that 1.) she was in Africa with us at the time and 2.) she’s nine year old.
Bizarre. This is a new one on me – and apparently on TWA as well. They are going to process a refund shortly, and we end up with a free upgrade and a cheaper room. It seems about a fair trade for the delayed check-in and the most-unwanted phone call.
And would we stay at TWA again? Absolutely. Indeed, we wish more hotels would follow the TWA model – a reduced price for short stays, plus stylish environs to boot. The reservation issue was annoying, but I got the sense that this happens very rarely, if ever.
Even during our short stay we spot multiple weddings, birthday parties, and other celebrations. People wander around, filming everything, and stand mesmerized by the mechanical board showing departure and arrival times.
I mean, we didn’t even get the chance to visit the pool! Or the vintage living room!
But that’s how time goes. 3 pm soon rolls around, and it’s time for us to repack our bags and once more depart.
The rest of our trip should be relatively straightforward so we’ll save the “rest-of-the-way-home” post for perhaps a week from now, once we’re properly situated.
Perhaps I’ll also gather some thoughts and reflections from our first three-month-long family trip – though I’m feeling a bit too close to it right now.
Right now I feel very grateful, and very tired.
Thank you so much for following along. It’s been an incredible journey, and it wouldn’t have been the same without you.