Falling in love with New England… TRIP REPORT COMPLETED - Page 25 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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i watch the map on JetBlue everytime we land and it is amazingly inaccurate. i always hear the wheels touch down yet the map says we are at attitude 300 feet. We are even flying when we are at the gate. I don't know if it's Jet Blue or what but I am waiting to see us on land.
Oh wow! Yes, seeing your flight land would be good...
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Sorry you hit so much traffic. And I have rented a car just once at Logan when mine was in the shop so I decided (wrongly) it would be easy to get home and then get my car a day later. I thought it was a mess and remember it taking forever to get to the car center and even longer to find my way out of the airport.
Sorry about the meltdown at the airport! You did fairly well with the traffic! Yes, there are quite some "weathered! cities as you're leaving the airport going north! Glad you managed all the rotaries! Massachusetts certainly have their fair share of them!
I think all of the New England states we visited had their fair share from what we saw!
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So sorry that you had such an unpleasant experience in Logan Airport. It is an extremely busy airport and the traffic getting out of there always seems to be awful! So glad your expectations were met once you got out of the airport area and into the nicer towns I'm enjoying all your pictures!
And it did just get better that day, the further we got out from the airport.
When you're wiped out emotionally and physically, all it takes is a bad interaction to send you over the edge. Not the best airport experience. I always find Logan difficult and unfriendly.
That's a pretty good description of it from our experience this time around. The sad thing is I don't remember it being like that when we first went through it 10 years earlier.
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The towns to the north of Boston are pretty sad-looking these days. Most were former bustling factory and mill towns fallen on hard times.
That's so sad to hear.
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I loved seeing the photo of "Anthony's Pier 4". The original restaurant was a harbor side fixture in Boston for many, many years. My grandfather (who was also a restaurateur) and Anthony Athanas were great friends and we had many wonderful meals there.
I don't blame you for losing it at the airport. There's only so much negative that can be tolerated in one day. You reached your limit! And it was probably good for you that you did too... just unfortunate that it happened at the airport! Oh well.
I did say to Mark afterwards that, while I was exceptionally upset, part of me also didn't care, as I figured that as soon as someone saw a grown woman in a heck of a state, they wouldn't want to deal with that and I was right. It meant I didn't have to worry about holding everything in, I could just stand there and let it all out - even if it got me a few funny looks along the way - and that was such a relief.
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Beautiful seaside New England photos. Classic!
Oh, and we call them roundabouts here in WI, or traffic circles. I don't think I've ever heard of rotary.
Somewhere in the US that calls them roundabouts - you have been well trained by your British ancestors!
Great pictures flying into New England. Too bad not many of trees had changed color yet, because that would have been really beautiful!
I knew we were early for the fall colours, so it was fine and, to be honest, we're seeing some beautiful displays over here the last few days, which is some compensation.
All caught up. Sorry about all the hassles at the airport. I totally understand your breakdown at the airport. Just last week my husband and I lost our neighbor who was a friend and for the first few days after his death, there were times I would just start crying. I'm glad the agent seemed to be understanding and let you guys go without taking up too much of your time.
Looks like the areas by the water are very pretty with some very nice houses.
All caught up. Sorry about all the hassles at the airport. I totally understand your breakdown at the airport. Just last week my husband and I lost our neighbor who was a friend and for the first few days after his death, there were times I would just start crying. I'm glad the agent seemed to be understanding and let you guys go without taking up too much of your time.
So sorry you got upset at the airport. It's so easy to lose things when you are tired and overwrought emotionally. And that grumpy pants customs guy should ask himself how he would like to be barked at, as if he's never lost anything in his life. I hope the rest of the evening goes better--your pictures of Swampscott are nice -- I recognize several of the views and one or two of the houses as well!
So sorry you got upset at the airport. It's so easy to lose things when you are tired and overwrought emotionally. And that grumpy pants customs guy should ask himself how he would like to be barked at, as if he's never lost anything in his life.
Good point!
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I hope the rest of the evening goes better--your pictures of Swampscott are nice -- I recognize several of the views and one or two of the houses as well!
Wednesday 23 September – part seven: what a lovely place!
Soon we were coming into Marblehead, and wow, what a stunning place! It didn’t even warrant a mention in my New England guidebook, and goodness knows why not, as it’s absolutely beautiful, and packed with lovely historic buildings. I was in my element!
Finally, we found our home for the night, the Harbor Light Inn, and we parked up, and headed inside.
When we got to check in, there was another couple in front of us, and I could immediately tell they had British accents, and they sounded as they could be from the south of the country, but I didn’t think any more to it than that. When the woman, Carolyn we later found out was her name, came back to check us in, she asked if we were with them. When she said she went back and double checked, and they came from Kent as well! We bumped into them a few minutes later, and we’re about half an hour away from them. Altogether now, “it’s a small, small world!”
I absolutely loved this place, and as Carolyn took us on a quick tour, I grabbed a few photos, although I got a lot more later on. I did say to her that I should have expected this, given this is New England, but this is so like England really!
She took us upstairs to room 22, which I had been dying to see, and the first thing I found was the major selling point for me – the double Jacuzzi bath!
The rest of the room was lovely as well… look how spacious it is!
We then had to lug the suitcases up the stairs, as of course there were no elevators. Mark told me he’d do it after he’d moved the car, but I managed to deal with both of them, although I think in hindsight, that wasn’t such a good plan, as will become evident later on in this report…
Of course, the first thing we did once we were settled in was try out the Jacuzzi. However, you needed a degree in Jacuzzis to turn the thing on! I couldn’t work it out, and probably not a surprise, given I was in it, and the instructions were on the far wall of the bathroom! Once you followed those, it worked fine, but you had to do about three things before you could actually turn the thing on! However, it was well worth it. Mark put it on for 10 minutes, and that came around way too soon, so you can see what’s coming next – he went to put it back on again, it was so lovely!
Eventually, we decided we’d need to get something to eat, so we got dressed and headed downstairs. Now earlier Carolyn had been telling us that they only did snacks, and we should go to a local restaurant. Well, I had set my heart on their lobster bisque, and crab cakes, so I wasn’t going anywhere else.
We put our orders in, and I had a wander around to ensure I’d photographed all the main areas of the house…
Isn’t it just perfect? I really absolutely loved this place and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone else. It was just beautiful.
We got some cocktails first – I had the tinker’s gong, made up of pineapple vodka, cranberry and OJ, and it was very nice.
Mark had the harbour cosmo, made up of pineapple vodka, Cointreau and cranberry, and this was dangerous. you couldn’t taste the alcohol, but my goodness, it was in there!
We both got a cup each of lobster bisque, and this was just superb. It’s exactly how I expect it to taste, and my only regret was not getting a bowl of the stuff.
Mark also had a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, and I certainly wouldn’t call this a snack…
Mind you, my crab cakes weren’t exactly small either:
I couldn’t get through them though, as I wasn’t that hungry. I also found there was some form of dressing on the salad that I wasn’t keen on, so I just stuck with the crab cakes, and did manage to eat most of them.
Harbor Light Inn
Appetiser 10 9
Entrée 8½ 9
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money
Average score: 9.06
We had literally only just finished eating when the couple from Kent arrived, so we chatted to them, and then an American couple who also arrived. It was so nice to meet some of the other people staying here, and as Mark said, I don’t think they’d have stopped in the bar had we not been there, so I’m glad they got to experience it.
We made it to 9:10pm, which I didn’t think was bad going, before we collapsed into bed.
The weather today was dry, but cold in London, with temperatures in the low 50s and sunny and warm in Boston with temperatures in the low 70s. The best thing today was our wonderful hotel The worst thing today was the whole debacle with the customs form. Today we tried driving out of Boston And the result was it was a bit stressful in the traffic, but better the further out we got. The most magical moment today was being in the double Jacuzzi tub!
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Yes, seeing your flight land would be good... 
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Pixie Dust
I'm enjoying all your pictures!
I really admire Mark and his driving any and every where! He's braver than I am by a long shot.
It didn’t even warrant a mention in my New England guidebook, and goodness knows why not, as it’s absolutely beautiful, and packed with lovely historic buildings. I was in my element! 
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