Next time for a real adventure fly into LaGuardia then exit at terminal C...get on the M60 SBS heading towards Manhattan with two huge expensive samsonite hard shells plus the wheeled carryon. That’s $300 each for the full size and 150 for the carry on and everyone knows how expensive those are on the mass transit system. Get off the M60 in Astoria Queens at the aptly named Astoria Blvd station. Then lug those dual 48lb cases weighed exactly to be sure they are under 50# limits. Plus the carryon up two landings of slick stairs because this is December a week before new year’s in The City of course it’s misting and raining. But there is an ADA compliant elevator at the Astoria Blvd station as listed on the MTA website...ha I have never seen that elevator running it’s always broken. That station is the easy gateway to Queen’s so it gets used for food trips on the regular.Then take the N line to midtown Manhattan shoulder to shoulder with holiday straphangers while bird dogging your luggage.... get off at 34th station where there is no elevator so lug them bad boys up again out of the underground and hump the last 3 tenths of a mile to Penn station where the hotel Penn was across the street formerly.
It will be fun they said ,it will be an adventure they said....
Only did mass transit into The City that one time because the contract ride I had booked canceled as I was getting my luggage and uber was surge pricing and an hour wait so the Google showed a 51 min trip via one bus from the terminal to the metro system and a 5 min walk to the hotel Penn. Adventure to say the least. On the way back it was uber black to the terminal for $125 and worth every penny.
As you also found out, it is, but not a pleasant time. It took a while! We stayed at a high-end hotel a block off Times Square. Came in from New Jersey, left out JFK.
Yeah, Uber would be our next choice. Public transit works in NYC, but there is a level of hassle when unfamiliar with its specifics.