Flying With Faber - May 2012

Return to New York

By Stuart Faber

I never pass up an opportunity to visit New York City. After countless excursions throughout my life, each new visit is like a new romance.  Recently, I was flying around the east coast, so I decided to drop into Teterboro Airport and spend a few days in the city.

Teterboro Airport (KTEB) has always been one of my favorites.  It’s incessantly busy, crowded and populated with just about any civil airplane one can imagine – and from just about any corner of the world. Runway 1/19 is 7,000 feet long and Runway 6/24 is 6,013 feet long.  ILS approaches are available for Runway 19 and Runway 6, plus you have choices of GPS, RNAV or VOR.  I just love it when an approach is required in actual conditions.  There are about five major FBOs on the field. My choice for service and the best fuel prices is Meridian, 201/288-5040. On a good day, KTEB is about a 45-minute drive from midtown Manhattan.

Hotels

This trip would be devoted to visiting an old favorite hotel, a new hotel and a few notable restaurants.

The Pierre Hotel, 2 E. 61^st St., New York, NY 10065, 212/838-8000, www.tajhotels.com/pierre

The Taj Pierre (Courtesy Taj Hotels)I have been a lifetime fan of The Pierre, the iconic U.S. flagship of India’s Taj Hotels on New York’s Fifth Avenue just across from Central Park. The hotel has re-opened following an impressive $100 million renovation debuting new guestroom and bath interiors – I wanted to have a look.  My first visit took place when it was just The Pierre. Later, Four Seasons took over. Today, Taj Hotels has scrupulously preserved its great tradition.

The latest in modern conveniences include interactive flat-panel televisions in bedrooms, living rooms and bathrooms, the Bose Home Theatre system with iPod docking stations, high speed wired and wireless Internet access, executive desks with built-in data and power outlets, and electronic safes with power outlets that accommodate laptops – but it’s still The Pierre.

Click to read more ...

Flying With Faber - April 2013

Seventy Years of San Francisco

By Stuart J. Faber

For some reason, it almost seems as if New Year’s day shows up twice a year. Perhaps it seems that way because, as I get older, the years grow shorter.

For almost 20 years, I’ve been making an annual New Year’s trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Last December, as I commenced the planning of this year’s trip, I felt as if I had planned the previous excursion just a few months before.

I’ve always regarded San Francisco as my second home. My first love remains my boyhood home in Wisconsin, however, my memories of the wartime years (WWII, that is), some of which were spent in San Francisco, always generate a groundswell of nostalgia. As we flew into the Bay Area and I commenced my descent into Oakland International Airport, it occurred to me that it had been exactly 70 years since my very first glimpse of the city.

Click to read more ...

Flying With Faber - March 2013

Kudsadasi and Ephesus, Turkey - The Pearl of the Aegean Seacoast

By Stuart J. Faber

Each year, it becomes a more daunting challenge to find a spot in the world that is unique and untouched.  In today’s corporate-blanketed world, a country 5,000 miles from the United States often looks like its identical twin. Twins are cute, but when a traveler spends his/her time and money and suffers the onslaughts of long lines, over-worked airline personnel and lost luggage, an intriguing pot of gold is expected at the end of the voyage.

Turkish Airlines – A Great Discovery

The comfortable and well-planned seating arrangements onboard Turkish Airlines. (Turkish Airlines)Not only will travelers to Turkey’s west coast find the destination-pot of gold, the journey aboard Turkish Airlines will be as sleek and resplendent as the rainbow. Whether you sign on for Business Class, Comfort Class or Economy, you will experience air travel that you might have thought was extinct.

During my recent excursions to Turkey, I observed and experienced all three cabins.  Comfort Class and Economy Class in many respects approached the quality of Business Class of other airlines. Whatever section of the aircraft I was in, the staff was extraordinarily professional, courteous and friendly.  Every flight I boarded departed on time and arrived on time. Luggage arrived swiftly.  Cabins were sparkling clean. Electronic components worked flawlessly.  Cuisine was remarkably delicious.

Click to read more ...

Flying With Faber

The New, Sophisticated, Yet Unpretentious Paso Robles, California

By Stuart J. Faber

Downtown city park with the Acron Building in the background. (Travel Paso Robles Alliance)I love to visit cities and villages that are surrounded by definitive boundaries.  In today’s urban and suburban United States, many cities have been joined at the hip.  You can drive from one community to another without ever knowing that you have crossed a boundary.  In Los Angeles County, for example, many cities have amorphous identities. Unless you notice the “Welcome to…” street sign, you might have no idea where you are. 

I love to fly over (or drive through), farmland, prairies and forests and discover that, within ten miles, for example, I will reach a well defined community. I know exactly when I arrive at the outskirts of town and when I depart. If driving, I generally slow down and wave at the cop who is hiding behind a tree and waiting for me. When I am flying, I always look for the road leading to the town, the water tower upon which the name of the town is proudly emblazoned and, of course, the local airport.

Click to read more ...

Flying With Faber - January 2013

Exploring the Great St. Lawrence River

By Stuart J. Faber

Tibbets Point LIghthouse Hostel, Cape Vincent. this still-functioning lighthouse where Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River meet at the start of the 1000 Islands offers private rooms, bunks and dorm-style rooms. Guests stay in the Victorian-era lighthouse keeper’s quarters. (Courtesy of Thousand Islands, Seaway)As many of my readers already know, I’m from Wisconsin. In several of my articles I have rhapsodized over the natural beauty of that state. My friends and acquaintances are weary of hearing of the virtues of Wisconsin.

I’ve never been one to engage in a fight-playground, saloon, or any form of belligerence for that matter.  But if anyone ever challenged me with the assertion that there was a region in America more beautiful than Wisconsin, they were asking for it.  That is, until my recent visit to the St. Lawrence River region of New York state, where one night I was sitting around the dinner table in a St. Lawrence riverside restaurant and met a Wisconsin transplant.

 “Never in my life would I ever have thought about leaving Wisconsin,” he said. “The lakes, the forests, the rolling farmland, the hunting and fishing – they are the best in the world – until one day, a friend invited me to go fishing with him on the St. Lawrence River. After the trip, I returned to Wisconsin, packed up my belongings, headed for the St. Lawrence and never looked back.”

Click to read more ...