One of my pet peeves as a frequent traveler is making complex transfers in from airports into the city. The worst is when I just assume that the metro attaches to airport, I can just mosey down from my gate, into the subway, out and into my hostel or hotel — only to find out that you have to take minibus k22 from terminal 1 to the city’s suburban center, transfer to a rickshaw then take that 4km into the city.
When I was younger, I was shocked when I found out that America’s largest city didn’t have direct subway connections to their airports (I heard that this was because the city wanted the profits from the cab companies — anyone else hear that?). So I had to figure out how to get out from LaGuarda or Newark or JFK into Manhattan, a task not too difficult but daunting for a first time visitor. I still get mixed up at LGA between the Q45 and Q33 buses.
Luckily, we now have our good friends at Flyertalk who have put together an excellent guide on transfer in from the city’s three co-terminals. At the Flyerguide, users take a comprehensive look at options, prices and routes, all in a convenient wiki form so that it can be maintained and updated en masse.
I wish they had one of these for every city.