Virginia
Read moreTWA Hotel, JFK Airport, NYC
by Richard and Melissa TerrisYesterday was my first father's day as a dad, and I was spoiled by my wife and children with gifts and cards in the morning.
Melissa informed me that we had a date in the afternoon, and that the location was a surprise. We headed out, and Melissa drove so that the surprise wouldn't be spoiled!
We drove along the belt parkway, and as we headed towards JFK, I started to wonder 'has she booked a flight on a small plane to somewhere close?'... We drove into the section that said departing flights, and I REALLY started to wonder what she was up to!
We stopped the car and were greeted by valet parking, and walked towards this odd looking building. Then the penny dropped; I had seen something on social media about this a year before... the old TWA terminal that had been turned into a hotel!
Once inside, the building is very cool. To your left there are check-in desks, but now instead of checking into the flight, you check into the hotel! We headed upstairs to the 'Paris cafe'. The food was very nice. I had an asparagus salad with steak, and Melissa had a pizza with truffle topping. The cafe is a nice mixture of decor from the 1950's and 60's, and the music playing is from that era; so it was right up my street!
After eating we wandered around the terminal. There were sections that preserved aspects of that period too, like a bank of rotary phones (which I remember having in my granny's house when I was a wee boy) which still worked, and a section which showcased a number of old captain and cabin crew uniforms from back then - all very cool!
We made our way outside to the old airplane ("Connie") which has been transformed into a cocktail bar. On the walls down the corridor to reach the plane, were a number of pictures with information about the history of the plane, and how it was restored and made it's way first to Manhattan, and then it's final destination at the hotel. Inside the plane was pretty cool, especially the old cockpit. You couldn't go inside as it was roped off, but you could stick your head and take a look - all those old controls and instruments were really cool!
As a final stop before departure (see what I did there?) we went downstairs for some ice cream - a vanilla waffle cone from Mr. Softie - my favorite!
If you're visting New York, or even if you live here, this is well worth a visit. It was a lot of fun, and packed with great historical artifacts of a golden era! Thanks to my lovely wife for a great father's day!
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