The Thanksgiving Trip

Well, we made it!! There and back. As always, New York is a great place to visit.

Previously I wondered (somewhat sarcastically) if we might encounter any delays during this trip... I was very surprised.

It took no longer getting through security in Atlanta than it takes to undress, disassemble everything and get it all put back together again. There was NO line. The flight to LGA arrived early. Security leaving LGA was a bit longer… I would estimate their line to have been 20 to 40 minutes. I say “estimate” because we did not go through it. Susan showed her work ID and we went through the employee line.

Leaving LaGuardia yesterday afternoon, we did have to do one turnaround on the taxiway, but the delay was only about thirty minutes, if that. The flight crew never did specifically say why, but there was rain and fog in Atlanta at the time. That was pretty much the entirety of the delay we encountered… thirty minutes… during the busiest travel period of the year.

Like I said, I was surprised... but I wasn't baffled by it. I can’t help but think that the underlying reason for our relatively delay-free trip was the general absence of severe weather. The timing of our trip (a mid-day departure) was also a factor, although we had no way of knowing it in advance. We learned from speaking with the TSA people in Atlanta that the security wait time was significantly longer in the hours prior to our arrival at the checkpoint. They also allowed that they expected that the wait time would increase again later in the day. Although I have not looked up any data pertaining to it, I think it is also quite possible that more folks than usual chose to drive (or chose not to fly) to their holiday destinations this year.

One thing that I will remain certain did NOT have anything to do with it was the “addition” of the holiday "express lanes” in the sky through military use airspace. If you're curious why I used quotation marks in the previous sentence, check out this recent entry from Don Brown's blog.

*****

Everything we wanted to do got done, EXCEPT for a certain play that we had tickets to see. It was (and still is) among the two dozen or so Broadway productions that have been cancelled for the duration until an agreement is reached between the theater owners & producers and the stagehands. Such is life.

One of the great things about New York is that there is certainly enough to do that we were easily able to replace the missed show with something else. Among the many things we did get to do were: watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, see The Radio City Christmas show, eat dirty water hot dogs, go to Inflation Eve, visit the American Museum of Natural History, walk, ride the subway, eat hot dogs, eat pizza, go to Toys R Us, eat at Carmine’s, go to Nintendo World, eat, shop at Macy’s, go to FAO Schwartz, walk, see the decorated windows along Fifth Avenue and at Macy’s, do the Canal Street shops, walk, and eat. Got to do some drinkin’, too.

Here are some photos (click to see full size). If you want to see more than you hoped for, go to TheTravelPages:

View from the Queensborough Bridge

It DOES keep going...

Kermit from the room

The American Museum of Natural History

There's nothing like a dirty water dog.

Busy Sidewalks-- a video. See if you can spot the Naked Cowboy. Hint: He's the center of attention.