Getting 'There'

Travel can always be a bit challenging and probably the most important day on this voyage was getting 'there'. 'There' being Brooklyn, New York. If I don't get 'there' then I'm in a spot of bother!

1. Train from Stoke on Trent to Manchester Airport. Earliest train on a Sunday would get me to the airport with 2 hours to spare. So when the connecting train from Manchester Piccadilly was delayed with an unknown delay time it was time to deploy an emergency taxi to reduce the risk of seeing that time disappear.

2. Manchester Airport. Got there with just shy of two hours to spare. All good. The Aer Lingus bag drop experience was pretty seamless and the airport has recently been refurbished and to be fair they've done a good job!! Shiny new restaurants and good signage making navigation easy.

3. The flight. A very pleasant flight which was fairly light on passengers. I'd selected the rearmost seat in a row of two. No neighbour showed up so I had the seats to myself for the 7.5 hour flight. Nice outcome!! The on board service was good, a few complimentary red wines to wash down the medication for the knackered back

4. JFK. Landed on time, all good, until it wasn't. So I can't get an ESTA as I have visas. One as crew and one for business and pleasure. Because I can't get an ESTA I can't go through the fast track. Wouldn't have mattered as there was not enough Customs and Border Patrol officers to man the different lines. So we all got dumped in the same 500 strong queue. An hour later, I was pretty much the last one to be seen. Needless to say, due to the complex visa issue and the US being, well, the US, off I went for a face to face interview to provide my proof that I was here for pleasure and then work. Another 30 minutes later and the passport is stamped and I'm good to go.

5. Public transport to Brooklyn. At this point I made the executive decision to abandon the original plan including a transfer to the Long Island Rail Road to Brooklyn. My spine wasn't playing so it was the air train to Jamaica where all Ubers/Lyfts etc have an official pick up point. I booked an Uber and sat back and watched the snow fall in the boroughs of New York until we arrived in Brooklyn. My spine was grateful for that decision!!

6. The Lodge, Red Hook, Brooklyn. I type today's entry sitting on a large comfortable bed with a coffee to wash down the latest bundle of painkillers!! A decent priced hotel (£120 a night) by comparison to most (£250+ a night in Manhattan)

Most importantly, I've done the hard bit. I'm about 500 meters from Brooklyn cruise terminal, where Queen Mary 2 will dock just after 6am local time tomorrow.

There was some faffery in getting here but I'm here. So it's time to regroup and reflect on what starts tomorrow!!!!