Days 9 and 10

So here we are, the final Day in New York

We met up at 9 and had one last breakfast at the Tick Tock Diner and I reverted back to the egg white omelette 

Lovely

We then did some last minute shopping where the whole family ganged up against me and forced me to buy a hoodie #firstworldproblems

We still had a lot of time to kill so where on earth could we go? You guessed it

As well as beer, though, there’s always time for cake

As we were finishing up our chirpy taxi driver messaged to say he was here and so we went off to meet him

He took one look at us and said he couldn’t take all the luggage and showed be his e-receipt from Elite Cabs which said just 4 suitcases

I countered this with my e-ticket from Hoppa (with whom I booked) which clearly said 4 suitcases and 4 carry-ons 

He said I had to take it up with Hoppa and I said it was between Elite and Hoppa - not me

He then said he’d contact Hoppa and showed me the return message which said we as the customers would have to find another way of getting the luggage there

Unfortunately for him I’m not stupid so pointed out that the message clearly came from Elite and not Hoppa

This was a shake down

So I asked how much extra it would cost to put the carry-ons in - he replied $25 and then fitted them all in easily enough

It was a very tense and awkward journey where he started showing me how much he was getting paid which was obviously much less than I’d paid

I said that that was nothing to do with me but was worried to antagonise him as I had a feeling he was just going to stop the car

We got to the airport and I paid the extra and he was all smiles

It rather tainted this last day because if he’s just been nice, I’d have tipped him and nothing would be said and we’d have had a pleasant journey

As it happens, I will now be putting a complaint in on my return…..

Still, we were here now and were swiftly through check-in and security and off to the Greenwich Lounge

Much bigger than the Heathrow but a little sparse on the extras like fruit and biscuits

The chicken and rice I had , though, was delicious 

I hope that New York copes without us - from the money we’ve spent I can its earnings taking a real hit 

When the barmaid at the Irish bar quotes your order before you’ve had a chance to say it as you enter, you know you’ve probably spent too much time there - but it was a lot of fun😊

We had the joy of the business class seats in the way home and again a stewardess went over and above to take care of Kieren

The menus were good again tonight

The only shame was that the plane was so hot, despite the seat going flat, I still couldn’t sleep

In fact I almost caused an antisemitic incident as I pushed the arm of a young lad who kept leaning over my pod and banging the inside - “stop that” I said and it was only as I said it I realised he had the skull cap on - surely pointing out bad manners isn’t racist…..

As we left the plane we saw our first celebrity, leaving by the first class section- Benedict Cumberbatch!!!

No I didn’t ask for a selfie, I’m not 6

We went swiftly through security and all 4 of our bags came out in the first dozen or so - result!!

We found the pods but when we settled in, the doors wouldn’t shut

This went on for a while before the emergency intercom said that as our luggage was so heavy we’d need to split into 2 pods

I could tell by the voice she wanted to say we were too fat but she was too polite to follow through

Back in the car we “flew” back from London and we’re home by 9:30

Just the washing and ironing to do then, to complete a fantastic holiday