We had an absolutely marvelous first day. It started early (4:30!) but we didn’t have to rush or sweat the hour long trip to O’Hare at rush hour. And once through security we settled into the United Club prior to boarding.
Then the magic began.
No not those! We were treated to the best crew we’ve experienced since our first Cathay Pacific flight back in 2013. United Airlines Captain Robert Monroe and first flight attendant Renee Wassell are surely among the finest in the sky, and United must be proud to have them.
Captain Monroe came out of the cockpit prior to boarding to speak directly to the customers seated in First Class (yay us!). He thanked us for flying United and let us know our flight plan and shared with us his view of why he comes out of the cockpit – which is to take the mystery out of the voice. He also shared his thoughts that one mile of road can take you one mile, but if we gave him one mile of runway he could take us anywhere. Such a warm and genuine greeting.
Then as we were landing Renee handed out a personal note written by Captain Monroe to each of us. When have you seen that before on a domestic flight?
Captain Monroe has 30 years with United and his pride shows. But our flight wouldn’t have been nearly so comfortable without Ms. Wassell taking such good care of us. She never failed to smile and was always through the cabin to make sure everyone had what they wanted/needed. So kind and caring that we’ll remember Renee and this flight for a very long time.
Before we knew it we were landing at LaGuardia for our one day and night in New York.
Thanks to our noon arrival we were in a cab and at our hotel in midtown within the hour. We dropped our bags and headed to lunch at Rockefeller Plaza. It was a nice day to be sitting outside.
After lunch we headed to MoMA for some culture. Hah. We started with a very cool virtual reality exhibit that let you zoom around inside an actual miniature sculpture of an imagined city that was on display in the adjacent exhibition room. It was dreamy!
The 5th floor at MoMA is magnificent and well worth the visit. My favorite from today, a Kirchner entitled “Street, Berlin”.
But others stood out as well. A Pollock.
Of course this gorgeous Mark Rothko that I could swear we saw at the Tate Modern in London.
A really lovely institution. Post culture we met up with our friend Lisa (not Dallas Lisa) for dinner at Frenchette in TriBeCa.
Altogether a really nice day! Tommorow we embark on our real voyage, next to Kathmandu. We’ll be flying the Etihad Airways Apartment. Tune in for some really decadent pictures!
