New York, New York!

Monday 2nd March Set off from our overnight hotel at Birmingham Airport at 6:30 am - a more depressing and soulless place would be hard to find! (we changed room because the first one we were sent to stank of cigarette smoke.... Non smoking hotel? Hmmmm...) Anyway, everything's hunky dory now, airport departure was really smooth - except Jan was chosen "at random", by the computer, for a full baggage search... by security - I misheard and thought he sad "full body search" and sniggered childishly before being silenced by Jan's frosty glare... I'm writing this at 38,000ft having just enjoyed a surprisingly tasty "in flight" lunch of "chicken in plastic" whilst listening to Santana on the "in flight" audio system, in a moment I'll be watching the latest "Tin Tin" film on the "in flight" video system..... definitely in relaxed holiday mode now! (several hours later).... So we have now arrived Stateside, and yes, everything is indeed bigger - the queue at "Arrivals" was massive, and tediously slow, it took at least 90 minutes before we were "processed", this delay issue is a real problem when coming to America, and must put off loads of people. We got the train from Newark airport and found our way to the hotel, the "New Yorker", just near Penn station and Madison Square garden. Our hotel is nice, it is styled as 30's "Art Deco" and although a bit faded, certainly good enough. We explored locally, found a Diner for Cheese cake, and are now about to go to meet Sally - her plane arrived 7 hours after ours. No pictures today, I'm using my IPad and am having a few problems, maybe tomorrow..