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= WEBSITE Didn't have a chance to read last week's newsletter? Click here! HOUSE KEEPING: Remember when you click on the pictures in "Where's Johnny Jet," they will open up in another window. Just click the "x"(close) in each picture to get back to the newsletter. This should alleviate complaints about closing Johnny Jet. Thanks again for your support, and remember: If you book trips on the web, please go through johnnyjet.com (we get a commission and it doesn't cost you any more money). "If you want Johnny Jet to continue I need your support and the support of your fellow travelers". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greetings! Next week Amber Airplane and I go on our long-anticipated “work” trip. I’ll give you a full report when we get back. But for now let’s pick up where we left off, in beautiful Connecticut. From there I went to NYC, Boston and then back to CT for an early Father’s Day, before heading home to California. I took Metro North, the local commuter train, to NYC. The ride is only an hour, and costs $7.50 off-peak. I spent a few nights in NYC all by my lonesome. It was nice. I finally caught up on work, relaxed, ordered takeout from my favorite neighborhood restaurants, and vegged out watching the Yankees. It doesn’t get much better than that. But it also didn’t last long, because I had a meeting in Boston. I thought (for a nanosecond) about flying. But it not only would have been way too expensive, it also would’ve taken me longer than driving (figuring travel to and from airports, and security lines). Still, who wants to drive on the always-under-construction roads to Boston? That meant my best alternative was heading to Penn Station, and catching a train. New York City has two major train stations. Grand Central Terminal is basically for commuters (mostly from Connecticut and Westchester County, NY. Penn Station has a ton of commuters as well (mostly from Long Island and New Jersey), but they also offer train service to practically anywhere in the country. I had two choices of trains to Boston. Amtrak takes 4 hours and 15 minutes, while Acela takes 3 hours and 30 minutes. Acela is the fairly new high-speed train -- America’s version of Europe’s TGV. I know Acela doesn’t run nearly as well or as fast as European trains, but at least it gets up to 150 mph. (Amtrak tops out at around 80.) Acela is offered on only two major U.S. routes: NY to Boston, and NY to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. (and smaller cities in between). The first of 10 Boston trains departs New York at 7 a.m.; the last leaves at 7p.m. It stops in Stamford (CT), New Haven (CT), New London (CT), Providence (R.I.), Route 128 (MA), Boston Back Station and South Station. (Amtrak makes more stops. For a complete listing click here. (it’s a PDF document) Acela is only 45 minutes quicker to Boston than Amtrak because there is only a small portion of track where the conductor can open it up. Since Acela is also much more expensive (one-way fares: Acela $92, Amtrak $64), I decided to take it only one way. One other thing: Acela does not offer discounts, but Amtrak does. The best savings I could find was 10 percent off with an AAA card. There are a bunch of offers, so check here to see if you can find a way to save. To speak to a real human being, call 800-872-7245. Penn Station is located underneath Madison Square Garden, at West 34th Street and 7thAvenue. I hate Penn Station. For starters, Grand Central Terminal is not only beautiful, but it’s a fun place just to hang out in. There are plenty of great places to eat and shop, and the architecture is amazing (I love the high ceilings). Penn Station feels more like a world away than just a few streets. It is dark, dreary and depressing. Basically, it has the same amount of charm as a huge basement. Try to spend as little time as possible in Penn Station. The place really is the pits. Unfortunately, I had to go to Penn Station to take the train. Acela requires advance reservations, unlike Amtrak. Fortunately, Acela offers a separate waiting area in the terminal. However, as far as I could tell there wasn’t much difference between that and the normal waiting area. If you are lucky enough to ride in First Class, you can use Acela’s club room free of charge. Now that is something to be excited about. The room is identical to an airport club room. In fact, Amtrak has an agreement with Continental Airlines. President's Club members with a valid membership card, or Continental Business or First Class ticket for same-day travel are welcome in the New York ClubAcela. Before I got on the train I grabbed a sandwich to go at Zaro’s bakery which looked liked the best option. The sandwich was good, but next time I’ll will try food from the bar car on the train. As soon as the track number appeared on the big European-like departure board in the center of the station, about 10 minutes before departure, I boarded the train with all the other passengers. As I wrote last week, I was surprised by the lack of security on New York’s rail system. What’s even more shocking is that just days before I had read that the police were tightening security on the trains, out of fear of a Madrid-type incident. I don’t know how they cracked down, because there was no sign at all of any police presence. No one searched my bags, or even checked my ID as I boarded the train. I did not have an assigned seat, so I grabbed an empty row. The seat next to mine stayed empty the entire trip. Acela trains are sleek, plush and clean. The interior looks something like the space station in the original “Star Wars” movie. Instead of struggling with heavy doors between cars, you press a button and they open. It was pretty cool. The best part was plenty of leg room and overhead space. Each seat came with a large tray table, a little foot rest attached to the seat in front, and an AC plug. I was very comfortable. Acela designates one quiet car, where cell phones are not allowed. I like that, because most people still do not talk softly on their cell phones. Don’t you hate that? I should’ve sat in that car, because this idiot seven rows in front of me was talking on his cell like he was calling China with a walkie-talkie. While I’m ranting, I should also bring up this question: Why is it so hard for people to use the vibrator ringer mode?. Some people are so clueless and rude. The ride to Boston was smooth, and I worked nearly the entire time. My only breaks were to use the extra-large bathroom, and to look out the window admiring the scenery. The highlights were the NYC skyline, and the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island. If the weather was nicer, most of the ride would have been very scenic. The only bummer was that I got motion sickness the last half hour. I later learned the probable reason: That’s when we hit top speed. Because I am vulnerable to motion sickness, I should not have been reading. I learned my lesson. We arrived at South Station right on time. South Station is nice, and I like the feel of it. It looked as if there were some good places to eat, or just pass time. I was in Boston for just one night. After my meeting I met my good friends who work at one of my favorite travel websites; SmarterLiving.com. Their office is really nice, and they are a good group of people. That night I went to dinner with my friends Mark and Nick. They both work at SmarterLiving, and really know how to make a half-Italian out-of-town guy happy. They took me to the North End, which is Boston’s Little Italy. We dined outside on the deck, at an awesome place called Fiore. They serve some tasty pasta. My favorite was the gnocchi al forno. Their house pasta, bombolotti al forno, is homemade pasta tossed with Italian hot sausages, onion, tomato sauce and fresh basil, topped with Reggiano cheese and goat cheese, and baked to perfection. Fiore; 250 Hanover St., Boston; tel.: 617-371-1176. Instead of eating dessert at Fiore we walked a block down the street to Mike’s Pastry (it’s supposedly world famous). To be honest, I am not a big fan of Italian desserts (please Grandma, have mercy on me). I like the colors and I do love gelato; I just don’t love Italian cakes and pastries. However, Mike’s pastries got my palate salivating. Almost everything looked great, but my German chocolate brownie was dry. It was probably just a fluke, though. The place has to be good -- it’s always packed with locals. Mike's Pastry; 300 Hanover St. (between Parmenter/Richmond and Prince Streets). Boston. I like Boston except everyone there hates my beloved Yankees. I wonder why. There is so much to seen and do in Boston that I will not even try to write about it. In the meantime check out Frommers.com. They’ve done a great job writing about this fine historic city that will one day see Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez win World Series rings. (Of course they will be wearing New York Yankee uniforms, just like Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens.) Oooh, that was low -- but that’s what you get for selling these “Yankee Suck” t-shirts all over the city. My friend Nick and his wife Sarah were kind enough to host me. We had a nice night watching the Red Sox lose on TV, and reminiscing about their wedding. My trip went way too fast, and the next day I found myself back in South Station. This time I took Amtrak to Connecticut. I really liked Acela, but Amtrak is pretty nice too. The seats are almost as comfortable. You still get plenty of leg room, and they have electrical outlets. What else can you ask for? There really is no need to spend the extra money for Acela, unless you’re in a huge hurry or your company is paying for your ticket. My destination was Westport, CT. To get there I had to get off in Bridgeport, which isn’t the nicest or safest city in America, but the station was fine. I transferred quickly to a Metro-North train, for the 15-minute ride. In Westport I attended a monthly family get-together (when my grandma was alive it was every Sunday). This month we had brunch at Positano restaurant, which is right on the water near Compo Beach. The location is quite beautiful, and the food is good. However, they overcooked two omelets: mine and my cousin Nicky D’s. Positano Restaurant; 233 Hillspoint Rd., Westport, CT; tel.: 203-454-4922. I also played golf at Longshore with my brother Frank, and the woman he loves, Cricket and my buddy Mike. Longshore is a public golf course, but it looks private. Even if you don’t play golf, take a drive down their incredible driveway. I think it’s one of the nicest in America. But let’s not talk about my golf game. I was so bad it was embarrassing. I think I shot a 80… on the front nine. Ugh! Longshore; 260 South Compo Rd., Westport CT; tel.: 203 -341-1833. I spent a lot of time with my dad and his fiancee Nancy. Yes, they got engaged. I have to admit I was a little hurt when I first heard, but after getting to know Nancy and seeing how happy my dad is, I’m happy for them. I’m sure my mom is too. After all, who wants to be lonely? Because I will be away on Father’s Day, we celebrated early at one of the my dad’s favorite events: the Belmont Stakes. He loves horse racing, and his dream is to see a Triple Crown winner. We have been fortunate enough to go to the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in the past, but each time the horse in contention for the Triple Crown came up short. This year almost everyone (including my dad) thought Smarty Jones would finally win the elusive Triple Crown (it has not been done for 26 years). This year we waited too long to get our tickets (miscommunication problems: My dad can’t hear well, I don’t listen well, you know…). My dad heard that Belmont Race Track would be sold out. That is surprising, because the place holds 120,000. Because we were so worried about not getting in, we got ripped off on eBay. We bought seats for the lowest price we could find: $65 apiece. It turned out we could have bought general admission tickets at the gate. That would have been great, because we stood the whole time anyway. (Our seats were so bad we sat in them for only two minutes). Before the big race I realized it was so crowded, there was no way we could see the race except on the big screen. I told the gang -- my dad, Nancy, and my friends Mike and Henrietta -- to follow me. I walked into the swanky Visa/NBC party up in the clubhouse like it was my party, and they followed me. It was so easy to crash. The others followed me, because they had no idea where we were going. When we were way past security I whispered to them to keep smiling and keep cool; we would watch the race in style. That we did. We ended up with all the bigwigs and horse owners. How cool is that? Smarty Jones lost by a nose, which meant no Triple Crown. However, the race was really exciting. In fact, I will never forget a moment I shared with my dad. These huge guys in front of us decided to stand on their chairs. Therefore, we got on ours for a better view. The chairs were rickety so I held on to my dad, especially because I knew as soon as the horses took off he could not stand still. Whenever he watches a horse race he moves uncontrollably. He bounces, his thigh with his hand and yells "Come on!" I think he was a jockey in his past life. As Smarty Jones came down the stretch, everyone thought he would make history. My dad was practically crying with joy (me too). Then Birdstone came out of nowhere, and crossed the finish line first. The whole place was silent -- just like the moment of silence for President Reagan. It was sad. We came so close. Hopefully, next year we will do it all over again. And when we walked to the car we met one of horse racing’s most famous jockeys: Pat Day. He was a nice man, and my dad was thrilled. It was still a great Father’s Day. If you want to guess where Amber and I are, I’ll give you a hint: We’re going to two different places. The first is a six-hour flight from L.A.; the other is 2 ½ hours from there. Any ideas? Okay, how about if I tell you they are two different countries. Still need more? Okay, they’re both islands. Now you MUST know! Happy Travels, Johnny Jet P.S. Do me a favor and browse our sponsors and book all your online travel through JohnnyJet.com. 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| TIP OF THE WEEK |
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Folk Remedy for hot-weather health challenges. They work wonders, even if we don't always know why. ALLERGIES Use honeycomb to quell the wheezing, itchy eyes and runny nose of an allergy attack. Cut off a one-inch square of fresh honeycomb (available at most health-food stores), suck out the honey, and chew the wax for five minutes. Then spit it out. You may even be able to immunize yourself against future attacks if you do this daily. Caution: Diabetics and those allergic to honey should not try this. Never give honey to a child younger than one year. If your allergies act up in an air-conditioned car, it may be due to the chemicals and/or mold in the air-conditioning unit. Turn off the air conditioning, and open the windows instead. Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen of New York City. The sisters are authors of Chicken Soup & Other Folk Remedies (Ballantine) and Folk Remedies That Work (Harper). They grew up in Brooklyn, where their mother and grandmother had folk remedies for almost everything. Have A Travel Tip or Travel Joke? (Send it to Johnny@johnnyjet.com) |
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Keep travel costs down when gas prices rise If you're planning a road trip this summer, there's nowhere to hide from high gas prices. Still, with the right preparation and information, you can cut down on unnecessary costs to ensure the most affordable trip possible. Click Here To Read Article |
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