skipping along: Pre-flight night at Courtyard Newark International Airport

Preflight night

Before my flight, I stayed over at the Courtyard Newark Airport on Routes 1 & 9 since I wanted to be close to the airport in case anything weird were to happen. Also, the hotel made me a deal on parking and I was able to leave my car there during my trip. This saved me having to arrange for a car service, a ride or having to haul my stuff on New Jersey Transit. Not to mention that parking, even in the long term, economy lot, is ridiculously expensive at EWR. Plus, having seen many of the off site, cheaper parking facilities near the airport, there’s no way I was going to leave my car in any of them

This Courtyard is located in a different area that the properties in which I usually stay and to the uninitiated, it can be daunting trying to find the property. It’s located North of the airport, adjacent to three other hotels: Fairfield Inn and SpringHill Suites by Marriott and a Home2Suites by Hilton. There are no restaurants, other than the Bistro in the Courtyard, near these hotels, and there’s nothing else around either. However, there are several delivery options and you could always go out or take the shuttle to the airport and grab something in one of the pre-security food courts in terminals A or B.

My king room was ready when I arrived, so I was able to rearrange a few things in my luggage, ride over to the airport to check out the CLEAR and TSA Precheck situation and go out for lunch. While this Courtyard is an earlier generation, and has an actual courtyard, it was remodeled within the last year or so and I found the room fresh, clean and comfortable.

After a short rest I set out for lunch. I’d planned to sample what is supposed to be the best hamburger in the state, at Krug’s Tavern in Newark, but I could not find a parking spot anyplace within a reasonable walking distance. So, I decided to head over to a nice spot that I’d dined in before called Catas which serves tapas, full meals, excellent drinks and is located in Newark’s “Ironbound” district. The other great thing is that Catas has its own small parking lot.

I opted to sit at the bar for my lunch and I enjoyed beef empanadas, patatas bravas, sangria and churros for dessert. Another delicious lunch with friendly service and prices that are not outrageously expensive. Here are some photos of my yummy meal. You can get here by cab or Uber as well. It’s only about 10-15 minutes from the hotel depending on traffic.

Sangria

Beef empanadas

Patatas Bravas

Churros

Following lunch, I returned to the hotel, took a ride on the shuttle over to Terminal C at EWR and had a look at the new CLEAR kiosks. I verified that my information was still on file and saw that the CLEAR line was right next to the Precheck line. I was hoping that the usual mess known as security at EWR would be less painful with the addition of CLEAR.

Later in the evening I wound up ordering a turkey sandwich from a local pizza shop called Original Primos. The delivery time was a ridiculous 90 minutes even though when the order was placed, the suggested time was only about 30 minutes. The food was pretty good but wound up being over $20 for a turkey wrap, a bag of chips and a soda. The $13 minimum for delivery, along with the added delivery fee PLUS a tip made this a pretty pricey turkey wrap. Yikes.

I finally turned in though I was too excited to get very much sleep. I knew I’d have a LONG day ahead so figured any sleep was better than no sleep. I woke up in the morning and wound up getting an Americano and a muffin from the Bistro in the lobby. The Courtyard “proudly serves” Starbucks coffee so I was happy. I think I took a little nap before showering, packing up and getting ready to head over to the airport for my flight across the pond! I felt like a little kid again!!

Here are a few more photos of the public areas and exterior of the Courtyard Newark Airport.

Stay tuned for another installment!