getting there

A couple of weeks ago I sent most of the things I'll need to my home-away-from-home on the Cape.

It's mostly the electronics I now have to carry on-board. 

• My phone plus charger.
• My laptop plus charger.
• My Kindle plus charger.
• My Fitbit plus charger.

To think that a little over ten years ago I didn't need any of this stuff (some of which didn't even exist then), and now I'd feel naked without them for even a day.

I take the subway to JFK. It's pretty easy: Bus to 53rd and Lex, E train to Sutphin, and sky train to JFK. Still, it's hard to know how long it'll take. So I leave at 8 for an 11:11 flight.

By mistake I get on the M train. But no problem, I can change at Queens Plaza and catch the E there.  

The ONLY two people at Queens Plaza are clearly in no hurry to get anywhere.

The E train comes and I get on. The 20-something girl sitting next to me, while clean-looking and dressed well-enough, exudes a pungent, nasty smell. It could be some fragrance she's wearing but I doubt it. I breathe through my nose until my stop.

I no longer need to check-in at the airport — just show my boarding pass that's on my phone. And again, for reasons I don't understand, I am elevated to the pre-approved TSA check-in line. 

By 9:45, I am plugged in, with my coffee, paper and phone, waiting for my flight.






The packed flight pulls away from the gate at eleven minutes ahead of schedule. Good that I arrived early. The 35-minute flight is smooth and fast.

And by noon, I'm in the welcoming arms of sunny Cape Cod.