Arriving in the Big Apple

Well we finally touched down in the Big Apple!  What I'd like to know is how at 35,000 feet if the air is as thin as they say, can it be SOOOOO bumpy?  We travelled American Airlines, it wasn't to bad, been on worse, been on better too, so average would be my verdict.  Would I use them again.......if they were cheap, Yes!  By far the best bit of the flight was the entertaining flight attendant, he was much more 'Universal' than 'Disney'!  Anyone who has done the Florida theme parks will understand that.  He offered us "bad chicken"or "bad pasta" to eat, and later a choice of "pizza or don't eat".  I nearly laughed out loud when just before take off, after the Captain had instructed everyone to turn off all electrical devices and a woman in front of us clearly decided this didn't apply to her, he told her"mam, if it has a power button or a window, push it and turn it off, it's not complicated!" We touched down at 6.15 NYC time, and we'd been wondering how big JFK was, that was answered when we arrived at terminal 8, and it took over 20 minutes to reach it from the runway.  Our transit through the airport was speedy though, we were walking out of the front door, having cleared immigration and collected our luggage at 7pm.  Straight into a yellow cab and en route to Manhatten, so easily!  CC was so excited to be here she had tears in her eyes as we landed.  As we left the airport and she spotted all the cabs she gave a little squeal, and as we drove into Manhatten and we saw all the lights come into view we both shed a little tear, it's so magical.   We drove up Park Avenue and Grand Central came into view....... Wow!  Then we arrived at the Waldorf....... Wow again!  The lobby is nothing short of beautiful, the room is lovely too, with very comfy beds and pillows.  Staff seem really helpful, couldn't ask for more really.  The only downside is we don't have one of the best views, but we don't intend to spend that much time in the room, we're going to go out and see it all, so we aren't too worried about the view from the room. It's not even as cold as we'd been expecting either, and the bit of snow they had yesterday has well and truly gone.  The taxi driver said its been a very mild winter and they have had hardly any snow, so that's great for us getting about. The one real downside of things so far has been me leaving my new phone in the back of the cab on the way from the airport.  I realised almost as soon as we got into the hotel, but by then the cab was well gone.  Hubby's spoke to the hotel concierge, who suggested we call the taxi people but said that there ws pretty much no hope of getting it back.  I was gutted, hubbs was furious with me, and CC wasn't best pleased with me either.  I tried to phone the cab people but couldn't get through, then thought I'd try calling the phone.  By complete fluke a lady answered, she found it in the back of a cab, and told me she would leave it with the doorman at her apartment.  We headed over there, not far at all by cab, and got the phone.  Can you believe it, I can't, I'm so lucky, even the concierge couldn't believe it, he said he's never known anyone get a phone back!  While we were out we stopped at a diner to grab something to eat and it was really good, it was a bit off the beaten track in a residential area so we were the only tourists which was fab.  We saw a bit of real NYC.  So what could have been a disaster, turned out really well n the end!   A very long day that started 21 hours before when we got up in Coventry, ended with us absolutely shattered, tucked up in a nice warm bed in New York City.