Hotel Review: TWA Airport at JFK Airport (New York, NY)

Dan and I recently completed our third stay at one of my very favorite hotels – the TWA Hotel at JFK airport! Yes, this is the former TWA terminal at JFK that reopened as a hotel in 2019. You’ve almost certainly heard about the TWA Hotel, but these are my thoughts over three separate stays spanning three years. In sum, I absolutely love, love, love this hotel, but that’s due to my love of aviation and all things flying and travel, as well as the 1960s. The hotel itself, while fantastic for “av-geeks”, is, without question, overpriced and has never lived up to the standards I expect for the price. My recommendation is to go once if you love aviation, TWA or the 1960s but otherwise, I would skip an overnight reservation. The actual hotel portion of the TWA hotel only “ok” in terms of a luxury property (which its priced as). All of that being said, a day visit to the common area of the TWA Hotel is free and certainly worth the time if you have a long layover at JFK or are in the area and curious!

The TWA hotel!

The gorgeous Sunken Lounge at TWA.

A map of the public area of the TWA Hotel.

TWA Hotel Location.

The TWA Hotel is actually located inside the former TWA Terminal at JFK.  The TWA Hotel is directly connected to JFK’s Terminal 5 (the home of Jet Blue!) via an elevator, which is very convenient. Those arriving or departing from other terminals can use JFK’s free AirTrain to travel between terminals. The AirTrain station is located across the street from the TWA Hotel in the parking area on the second floor. There are plenty of signs and large elevators for luggage. The AirTrain is easy to use and goes to all JFK terminals.  As its free, no tickets or anything of the like are required.

The TWA Hotel! This view is from the entrance to the AirTrain across the street.

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A Gourmet Foodie Tour of the Golden Circle in Iceland!

Dan and I went to Iceland exactly one year ago, in February 2020 over Valentine’s Day(!), and despite being kept inside for an entire day due to Storm Dennis, we had a fantastic time. Since our main hobby is eating and drinking, we obviously joined a food tour in Iceland – 2 in fact! One of these was a full day private Golden Circle Gourmet tour with Magical Iceland. This tour is most certainly the most expensive food tour I have ever done (and probably will ever do), but everything in Iceland is expensive and I found it to be worth the hefty price tag. Booking was easy via email correspondence with the owner and main tour guide, Ymir. And, when our original date had to be rebooked due to Storm Dennis, Ymir was quick to reach out to us and reschedule (or refund if we preferred).

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Views driving through Iceland.

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Barra Alipus: A Review of a Mezcal Bar in Condesa, CDMX on this Quarantined Cinco de Mayo!

Its Cinco de Mayo on a Taco Tuesday people, and we’re stuck inside. That’s mighty cruel. So in an effort to boost my own sprits, I wrote this post about a tasty little cafe in Condesa, Mexico City that Dan and I visited in 2018! I had meant to write about it before and never got around to it, but now seems like a better time than ever!

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Dan & I just outside of Mexico City at Teotihuacan in 2018.

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Exploring the Executive Lounge At the Double Tree by Hilton Montreal (Complexe Desjardins)

Over Memorial Day, Dan and I drove to Montreal (from NYC, 6.5 hours) to spend a glorious weekend eating and drinking far too much. Montreal is the perfect place for that. On this trip, we stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton in the Complexe Desjardins, which was very recently converted from a Hyatt to a Double Tree in December.  Fun fact – we stayed at that Hyatt back in 2012! This time around, we were very excited to check out the new Executive Lounge a/k/a Club Lounge at the Double Tree, having really enjoyed the one at the Double Tree by Hilton in Santiago!

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Entrance to the “Club Lounge” a/k/a Executive Lounge in Hilton speak.

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