Caribbean Bound - Travel Day: Jax to Queens

Bless Letreze for being my pesonal airport deliverer! She always makes my journeys begin with good spirits and happy wishes!

I began this morningwith a bang when I relaized that I had yet to maile ny IRS payment AND the printer refused to cooperate in the matter of my boarding pass, despite new ink cartridges! I
took care of the IRS and saved the boarding pass to my phone, hoping it will be ok and there won’t be a repeat of the 2012 LGA almost fiasco when my phone locked up for no explicable reason!

Success! Breezed through security to the departure gate. Boarded plane no problem. Amazingly there are NO BABIES aboard!!!! Smallish plane, but an Embraer so comfortable seats and manageable legroom. I read the entire flight, which a tailwind helped along and we arrived a few minutes early.

LaGuardia is still a traffic nightmare. I swear it gets worse everytime I come through here. I am sure it will be a fabulous airport once this remodel is complete but it’s alredy been five years with another three to go! I am so thankful I don’t have to deal with this mess on a daily basis. even my cab driver was flummoxed and not anticipating the weekend!

Speaking of my cabbie, we had a first for each of us when despite two GPS enabled phones, he couldn’t find my hotel. After the second attempt, he offered to bring me to his home for dinner! Meanwhile Sheila is standing outside the hotel waiting for us! We finally arrived and The Paper Factory is all I hoped it would be.

In June when I found the place on-line and told Sheila of a boutique hotel in her neighborhood, she scoffed. After visiting the site and meeting the manager, Marijana Boros, Sheila actualy GUSHED about this place. I tiotally agree!

It’s a former paper factory (I know, What a Shock!!) transformed into a kitchy hotel. The bed is one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on. The food is wonderful. The atmopshere is fun-loving and quirky. The lobby has a full size Doctor Who telephone box at the entrance and a half melted into the floor one near the elevator. It’s antique meets 21st century. The television rises from a cabinet built from an old paper filing cabinet. The electric fireplace sits atop a White Star Lines steamer trunk. The microwave resides on a turquoise Nostalgia Electrics refrigertaor. My pictures cannot do it justice. Check out the gallery on the website! The Paper Factory 

Sheila and I met Marijana, toured the hotel a bit, every floor is different, no standardized corporate sameness anywhere! We set out to find a liquor store for a bottle of Proseco and she found her favorite (Mionetto). Then we stopped for Chinese take-out and dined in my hotel room while we tallked and sipped Proseco. Several hours later, she left for home (a not too distant walk from here) after telling me the car company would pick me up at 11:30 in the morning.

I almost forgot to mention the view! Two sides of this corner room have HUGE windows. One ste gives me views of the lit-up Triboro Bridge; the other gives me The Empre State and Chrysler buildings in the distance. Ignore the rain spattered window.

Wine and early hours got to me and I crashed before publishing this post. Hence it’s Friday mornign and I’m heading down to breakfast. Hope all’s well with you.