For professional reasons, we decided very late for the upcoming vacation. However, due to the travel period from the end of September to the beginning of October, the destination was determined quite quickly: the Indian Summer on the east coast of the United States. At the beginning of August, we got a relatively cheap flight with SWISS from Tegel via Zurich and Geneva to New York. From New York, the rental car will then take you north via Boston, Acadia National Park, among others, to Ottawa.
Lufthansa Senator Lounge (Berlin-Tegel)
Our trip started this morning at 3 a.m. with the drive to Berlin-Tegel Airport. After returning our car to a remote parking garage with airport transfers, we arrived at the airport at 5:30 am, quite tired. After a quick check-in at the empty First Class counter, we went to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge for breakfast. Hunger came slowly. The offer of the lounge is completely sufficient for this. There are both sweet and savory spreads and even a selection of hot dishes. However, we left the alcohol behind at the early hour.
Flight SWISS LX 963 to Zurich
At 6:50 a.m. we took off on SWISS flight LX 963 to Zurich, just in time for sunrise. On the way we admired a great panorama of the Alps. We were “friendly” given even more time because we had to do some holding loops in Zurich. So the time advantage flown out was over again and we landed late. Our onward flight to Geneva (LX 2804) was only scheduled for 9:40 a.m. So we had time for a short coffee break in the SWISS Senator Lounge. This was again quite crowded and also quite warm. But the food and drink offer is still one of the best we've had so far.
Flight SWISS LX 2804 to Geneva
The short 30 minute hop to Geneva went by pretty quickly. Geneva airport was new on our list of airports visited. We were quite surprised how small and crowded it is. The extension is being built at many corners. To pass the time we went back to the lounge. This is outside the non-Schengen area and was clearly far too small. We had to wait a few minutes to get a seat. The quality and range of food was far below the level of the SWISS Lounge in Zurich. But we don't want to complain so much at a high level.
Flight SWISS LX 22 to New York
At 11:35 am we proceeded to gate C16 for our flight LX 22 to New York (JFK). Despite the stated boarding time of 11:15, nothing had happened. Just before 12 p.m. we boarded together with the First and Business passengers. We had to cross the still empty economy class of the A330 almost to the back (seat 39A-B).
The start was relatively punctual and we flew over Lake Geneva and then over Lyon out onto the Atlantic. As we crossed the Prime Meridian south of Britain, lunch was served. The choices were pasta with mushrooms and a chicken polenta. We tried both: quite acceptable. Overall the service was very good. Drinks and snacks were often served. Having your own bottle of water on site was also no problem.
Are you still looking for a flight to New York?
New York International Airport can be reached from many German cities all year round. You can find cheap flights through online travel agencies such as Flugladen.de, Bravofly,ebookers.de,Expedia,lastminute.deorSkyscanner.
After landing in JFK at 2:30 p.m. on time, we stepped up our game to get through immigration quickly. Every passenger overtaken means a clear time advantage at passport control. The luggage was already there, so we went to the Airtrain. The rental car stations are located at Federal Circle, which is about a 10-minute train ride away. Avis (booked viabilliger-mietwagen.de) of course again had a problem with the fact that we showed up at the counter about an hour before the start of the rental period. After a lot of paperwork, we finally got the keys for our vehicle for the next 12 days: a Hyundai Sonata. We were pleasantly surprised by the car. It offered enough space in the trunk and was quite well equipped. Unfortunately, we got an ugly interior consisting of light-colored fabric for the seats and beige-black plastic fittings.
Today's destination should be Berlin, Connecticut. This was halfway between New York and Boston. After entering the route into our TomTom, we were not badly surprised that it wanted to take us across Manhattan. Quite a traffic chaos, but that way I could give Christin a first taste of NYC.
After we had the hustle and bustle behind us, we went further and further north. For dinner I had picked out “Five Guys Burger and Fries” in advance. A fast food chain I'd heard good things about but haven't been able to test it myself. We ordered a small and large cheeseburger with bacon. There is also a large selection of toppings such as tomato, fried onions, etc., which you can choose yourself for free. This made the burger incredibly delicious.
Quite tired and broken, we arrived at 9 p.mDays Inn Motel Berlinon. After a shower we went straight to bed.
