From Milwaukee to London, via New York

I have a tendency to try to squeeze more into a travel itinerary than any sane person. When I read back through this blog and my journal and see how much we manage to do in one day, it's mind boggling. But no matter how hard we try, it's hard for us to take a vacation and just...relax. There's so much world to see, so much history to learn, and so much food to eat! Our trip to the UK in May 2016 exemplified this. Not only did we want to pack visits to London, Cardiff, and Bath into a 9-day trip, but we also needed to spend two of those days in Yorkshire to attend a friend's wedding.

So when I looked at the potential flight schedules (economy flights on United booked with frequent flyer miles earned from credit cards), I saw that we could have a layover in New York for just over 7.5 hours. We generally don't like to spend a lot of time in New York (one long weekend was enough for us), but we love the city for two things: food and theater. This layover would give us a chance to pop into the city for a meal at a Michellin starred restaurant before continuing on to London. Great idea!

In reality, it may not have been the smartest thing given our connecting airport, but it was an adventure and I'm excited to share it with you. Even if you think we're ridiculous.

Milwaukee to New York

We left our house near Lake Mills, WI just before 7:00 am. and made it to the Wally Park near the Milwaukee airport before 8:00. This was our first time trying off-site parking (inspired by a great online coupon), and we've decided it's much easier than doing airport SuperSaver parking. We pulled up to the entrance, presented our prepaid reservation, and were directed to the office entrance. A shuttle driver grabbed our bags and put them in the bus, we handed our keys to the valet, and five minutes later we were at the airport. Fantastic.

Since we left from Terminal E, which is basically a ghost town at MKE, there wasn't a security line. We stopped at Collectivo (rest in peace, as the coffee shops are now operated by a different company) for a breakfast burrito and a leisurely coffee before heading through security. With such light traffic, the Pre Check lane wasn't open, but we got "expedited screening."

Pro-tip: If you're visiting Wisconsin and want to take some cheese home with you, both the Madison and Milwaukee airports have extensive cheese displays in the terminals. You're welcome.

This was a Saturday morning flight full of mostly leisure travelers. Yet we're flying looking smart because we have big plans for our layover.

While waiting for our plane, everyone's rolling luggage was tagged for gate check, but the gate agent walked right by our Tom Bihn bags, which held everything we needed for 9 days in Europe and fit into the tiny overhead bins of this regional jet. Are we becoming expert travelers? [Note: I adore these bags but I am in no way compensated for endorsing them. We just really like to buy them.]

Here's my bag shoved into the overhead bin that won't fit a wheeled suitcase. Aaron had one of his own as well. We can wear them on our backs, carry as a tote, or add a shoulder strap. It's like the Tardis...it seems bigger on the inside

Spending A Newark Layover in Manhattan at Casa Mono

So, I've flown to New York at least a couple times for work and vacations. But I've always flown into LGA or JFK. I don't think I'd ever been in the Newark airport before this flight. I had done some googling about transportation options to Manhattan, and I knew it was possible by train at a fairly affordable price, but the timing wasn't perfect for me. Some site online told me that the taxi from Newark to Manhattan would cost $50 and take 40 minutes. That seemed acceptable.

The internet lied.

We hopped into a cab at 1:30 p.m., and while waiting for the super long lines to get into the tunnel to Manhattan, we sort of regretted our decision. The fare to the Union Square area was $60, plus $20 for the tolls, and $5 for using a credit card. After tip, we were out $95 and we hadn't entered the restaurant yet. Yikes! The ride took over an hour because of traffic and randomly closed streets. We eventually had the cab drop us off on a corner so we could be rid of him. While walking the remaining blocks to our destination, we encountered the reason for the many closed streets—a dance parade. We didn't stick around to watch it, because we had reservations.

We arrived at Casa Mono, a tapas restaurant that received three stars from the New York Times in 2015 and has had a Michelin star since 2009, 10-15 minutes before our 3:00 p.m. reservation to find the restaurant absolutely packed. But, there was one empty table in the front waiting for us. It was a tight squeeze in this tiny restaurant. We ordered a nice bottle of red wine and settled in for a luxurious lunch.

Our server brought us bread and olive oil, which was the most "olivey" tasting olive oil I've ever had. We started the meal with razor clams smothered in garlic. It was very good, but not mind blowing.

Next we had a plate of gorgeous jamon Iberico. I had actually ordered the ham-wrapped asparagus, but apparently the waiter misheard me. We considered it a happy accident, because it was just like we remembered in Spain. Absolutely delicious meat candy.

Next was a sunny side up duck egg served atop truffled potatoes and topped with cured meat, drizzled with truffle olive oil. We wanted to lick the olive oil off the plate—this was a winner.

We followed this up with the bone marrow, which was also served with a cured tuna on toast and what I believe were fried prawn heads. The marrow, surprisingly, was the weakest part of the dish. Aaron thought it was under-salted. Bits of "my end" tasted pretty damn good.

We had room in our bellies for one more dish, so we asked the waiter what we had missed. He suggested the foie gras...how could we say no? It was served on top of toast and 5 kinds of onions and a sherry sauce. This dish tied with the duck egg/truffle for the gold star of the meal. 

We finished the meal with some sherry.

The meal was fantastic, and all the food was on-point. Service, however, was a little lacking. We refilled our own glasses a few times (yes, we've become very picky the more we experience fine dining) and our server switched with no explanation toward the end of the meal. The tables are quite close together, especially in the alcove where we were seated, which makes for some awkward moments when a server has to wedge himself back there.

After lunch, we picked up our bags (which they had stored for us in coat check at Bar Jamon next door), and hopped in a cab back to Newark. This ride managed to clock in at $110. Sigh. This layover was a bit more expensive than we had planned. Oh well, you only live once, I guess.

New York to London

We stood in a 10-minute line for Pre Check passengers at security, and then went straight to the United Club (although we were flying economy, we had passes from our credit cards). I changed into sweatpants, had a snack and hot chocolate, and watched planes while Aaron drank a few free beers.

We left the lounge just as boarding began and we were on the plane in just a few minutes...in our Economy Plus seats. We are totally spoiled after flying business class last year. After booking our economy seats with miles we'd paid about $130 each to upgrade them to economy plus. $100 was refunded to each of us through one of our American Express cards as a travel fee reimbursement. Our "extra" leg room seemed by no means extravagant...the same went for the extra recline. 

We were departing around 9:30 p.m. and it was only a 6.5 hour flight, so I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I put on my eye mask, ear plugs, and the tissue-thin blanket and tried to get comfortable with the provided pillow. I struggled for hours. It didn't help that a full (smelly) dinner was served, including a frozen dessert. The cabin lights were on full blast for about two hours to accommodate this. The smell of cooking fish from the galley almost made me nauseous. I finally got about 3 hours of fitful sleep, and was woken about 75 minutes out when the lights were turned on again for "breakfast" service, which was a croissant.

When we landed, we made our way through immigration, picked up our TEP wireless hotspot, and then went to the Plaza Premium arrivals lounge to test out our new Priority Pass membership—one of the benefits of our new-to-us American Express Platinum cards. We checked into the small, almost empty lounge and immediately took showers. While I'll never turn down a shower after an overnight flight, this facility can't compare to the airside United Club, which offers a larger space, more and nicer toiletries, and better climate control.

After our showers we had a quick breakfast in the lounge and then went downstairs to purchase our Oyster cards. We each put £25 on our cards, which turned out to be an excellent estimate for 3 days in London. Then we hopped on the Tube, and after a few transfers we arrived at Marble Arch about an hour later. Our hotel (the Hyatt Regency London-Churchill, booked with free night certificates from a a credit card bonus, saving us $1,100!) was less than a 5 minute walk from the underground stop. We checked in promptly, but our room wasn't ready (it was only 11:45 a.m.), so they held our bags for us. The clerk was amazed that we didn't have more luggage. In order to avoid jet lag, we needed to get out into the sunshine, so it was time to see London!

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