Alan Ferber: Quick route to JFK, and other random stuff...

I'm writing this from the Phoenix airport where my flight back to NY has been delayed. This is helping to divert my attention away from the extremely large man across from me snoring REALLY loud. It's cutting through my Bose noise-cancelling headphones like a freshly-sharpened sword. Anyway, for all you musicians who make lots of trips to JFK and are tired of spending your previous night's salary from the 55 Bar on a car service, listen up! I took the Q train to Atlantic Ave (where a zillion other trains stop as well) and hopped on the LIRR to Jamaica. From Jamaica, I got the Airtrain which took me right to my terminal. The trip from my apartment to Atlantic took 10 minutes, from Atlantic to Jamaica took 20 minutes, and Airtrain to terminal took 10-15 minutes. The whole thing cost $12 ($2 subway + $5 LIRR + $5 Airtrain) and was a total breeze. I made it to the airport in an hour, all told, and had enough money left over to buy a $15 slice of pizza. Another perk: there was a jazz quartet playing at the Jetblue terminal and I was able to sit in on "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" before running off to catch my flight. I don't really like that tune, but it definitely beat sitting in on a "jazzy" version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."