I have a love-hate relationship with my haphazard life right now…but I found myself driving through Manhattan and across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on a spur-of-the-moment overnight road trip after a late-night transatlantic arrival into JFK.
My Spur-Of-The-Moment Overnight Road Trip From JFK To Pittsburgh
As I wrote about yesterday, I flew from Basel to New York via Paris on Air France…I scored a great deal for only 45,000 Flying Blue miles but the only availability was an afternoon departure from Basel with a “reverse redeye” from CDG to JFK. I was scheduled into JFK at 10:40 pm and the last flight to Pittsburgh, which happened to be operated by JetBlue, left at 10:00 pm.
So I faced a dilemma: just sleep overnight at the TWA Hotel or the Hyatt Regency JFK Airport at Resorts World New York down the street, then take a morning flight to Pittsburgh…or drive. The problem was the first flight from JFK-PIT was not until 9:48 am the following morning, which would not put main to PIT until 11:37 pm…half the day would be gone already and I am most productive in the morning.
JetBlue’s operations have been so bad this summer that I figured the late flight would be delayed and I’d be able to get on that. Sure enough, while the flight was showing on-time when I took off from Paris, it soon posted a delay of one hour.
Problem solved, right?
But as we approached New York the delay got worse:
And I figured at that point the flight would cancel and I did not want to sit waiting for three hours in Terminal 5 at JFK only to wind up with a cancelled flight at 2:00 am in the morning.
Sure enough, the flight did later cancel around 1:00 am…validating my decision.
I reserved a one-way trip from New York JFK to Pittsburgh PIT and Sixt was remarkably cheaper than any other competitor (Avis is my preferred rental car company right now, but would not even rent me a one-way to Pittsburgh).
After landing, I breezed through Global Entry and hoped on the Air Train to the Federal Circle station to pick-up my rental car. I was assigned a Toyota 4Runner which was hardly a sexy car, but perfect for the road trip ahead.
The route was six hours via the Turnpike (toll road) or seven hours avoiding tolls and I opted for the longer drive not to save the $60 in tolls, but because I figured it would be a little more entertaining of a drive than simply on a boring interstate highway.
What I wasn’t prepared for was that the navi woudl take me right through Manhattan…indeed, right through Central Park! It was my first time driving in Manhattan and I quite enjoyed it (at 11:00 pm traffic was manageable).
How cool to drive through Central Park and by The Juilliard School before heading uptown and crossing the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey! I would have through the navigation would have taken me through the Bronx instead of Manhattan, but what do I know?
The drive continued and since I was avoiding toll roads, took me on some interesting back roads, including through a little town called Hope, New Jersey with Trump flags everywhere (seemingly an outlier in a very blue state).
I continued to road trip for a few hours before the fatigue finally caught up to me (I had enjoyed a double espresso before landing and was feeling pretty good, but I had only slept for four hours onboard).
I came a rest stop in Greene Township (Clinton County) off of I-80 and pulled in to use the restroom and take a nap…I slept for about an hour before continuing my journey.
As I passed through Julian, PA on PA-220, the sun began to rise…it was a gorgeous morning with clouds and the temperature was cool and refreshing (after 40ºC / 104ºF temperatures in Germany without air conditioning).
I made into Pittsburgh by 7:30 am and headed right for Commonwealth Coffee in the Point Breeze North neighborhood…no time to sleep, it would be a big day ahead.
I’m not sure whether I’m to be lauded or lamented for pushing myself like this, but it was a fun overnight trip and I still enjoyed a full and productive day work after arrival (though you can bet that by late afternoon I hit the gym, had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then slept for nine hours).
I believe you meant a RAV 4 instead of a 4Runner.
Kudos to you for not falling asleep at the wheel. That would have been my greatest worry
You missed the pics of the Pilot truck stop in Milton. It’s a known hookup place in the area for everything you want, or so I heard.
i’m truly sorry you have to go to pittsburgh…after living their nine years i’m happy to never set foot in that place again.
Ha you could have cut an hour from drive that with a $2 toll at the I-80 Delaware Water Gap bridge.
If you want your kids to enjoy having a live, breathing father, you should stop doing such stupid things. It’s incredibly dangerous and irresponsible to come off a transatlantic flight then get behind the wheel and set off on a long drive, blindly following a GPS system through big cities and empty countryside that you know nothing about. Absolute stupidity. You won’t live very long if you keep making idiotic choices like that. Shame on you.
You need lots of life insurance.