For professional reasons, we decided on our upcoming vacation very late. However, due to the travel period from late September to early October, the destination was decided quite quickly: Indian Summer on the East Coast of the USA. At the beginning of August, we managed to get a relatively inexpensive flight with SWISS from Tegel via Zurich and Geneva to New York. From New York, we'll then drive north to Ottawa by rental car, via Boston and Acadia National Park, among other places.
Lufthansa Senator Lounge (Berlin-Tegel)
Our trip started this morning at 3 a.m. with the drive to Berlin-Tegel Airport. After parking our car in a distant parking garage with an airport shuttle, we arrived at the airport at 5:30 a.m., quite tired. After a quick check-in at the empty First Class counter, we headed to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge for breakfast. We were starting to feel hungry. The lounge's offerings are perfectly adequate. There are both sweet and savory spreads and even a selection of hot meals. However, we skipped the alcohol at this early hour.
SWISS flight LX 963 to Zurich
Right on time for sunrise, we took off at 6:50 a.m. on SWISS flight LX 963 to Zurich. Along the way, we marveled at a magnificent panorama of the Alps. We were "kindly" given even more time because we had to fly a few holding patterns over Zurich. Thus, the time advantage we had gained was lost, and we landed late. Our connecting flight to Geneva (LX 2804) wasn't scheduled until 9:40 a.m. This gave us time for a quick coffee break in the SWISS Senator Lounge. It was again quite crowded and quite warm. But the food and drink selection is still some of the best we've had so far.
SWISS flight LX 2804 to Geneva
The short 30-minute hop to Geneva passed quite quickly. Geneva Airport was new on our list of airports to visit. We were quite surprised by how small and crowded it was. Expansion work is underway in many places. To pass the time, we went to the lounge again. It's located outside the non-Schengen area and was clearly far too small. We had to wait a few minutes before we got a seat. The quality and selection of the food was far below the level of the SWISS lounge in Zurich. But we don't want to complain too much about high standards.
SWISS flight LX 22 to New York
At 11:35 a.m., we went to Gate C16 for our flight LX 22 to New York (JFK). Despite the stated boarding time of 11:15 a.m., nothing had happened. It wasn't until shortly before 12 p.m. that we boarded, along with the first-class and business-class passengers. We had to cross the still-empty economy class of the A330 almost to the very back (seats 39A-B).
Takeoff was relatively on time, and we flew over Lake Geneva and then over Lyon out into the Atlantic. As we crossed the Prime Meridian south of Great Britain, lunch was served. The choices were pasta with mushrooms and chicken polenta. We tried both: quite acceptable. The service was generally very good. Drinks and snacks were served frequently. Even bringing your own bottle of water to your seat wasn't a problem.
Are you still looking for a flight to New York?
New York International Airport is accessible year-round from many German cities. You can find cheap flights through online travel agencies such as Flugladen.de, Bravofly, ebookers.com, Expedia, lastminute.com or skyscanner.
After landing at JFK ahead of schedule at 2:30 p.m., we stepped up the pace to get through immigration quickly. Every passenger we overtake meant a definite time advantage at passport control. Our luggage was already there, so we headed for the Airtrain. The rental car locations are located at Federal Circle, about a 10-minute train ride away. Avis (booked through billiger-mietwagen.de) naturally had another problem with us showing up at the counter about an hour before the stated rental start time. After a lot of paperwork, we finally got the keys to our vehicle for the next 12 days: a Hyundai Sonata. We were pleasantly surprised by the car. It offered plenty of space in the trunk and was quite well equipped. Unfortunately, we had an ugly interior, consisting of light-colored fabric for the seats and beige-black plastic dashboard trim.
Our destination for today was Berlin, Connecticut. It was halfway between New York and Boston. After entering the route into our TomTom, we were quite surprised when it wanted to take us right through Manhattan. It was quite a traffic jam, but it gave Christin a taste of NYC.
After leaving the hustle and bustle behind us, we continued north. For dinner, I had already picked out "Five Guys Burger and Fries." A fast-food chain I'd heard good things about, but hadn't had a chance to try yet. We ordered a small and a large cheeseburger with bacon. They also offer a wide selection of toppings, like tomatoes, fried onions, etc., which you can add for free. This made the burger incredibly delicious.
Quite tired and exhausted, we arrived at 9 pm in Days Inn Motel Berlin After a shower, we went straight to bed.
