The term "Fly-overs" was once used to describe that middle bit of America most travellers never see.
Queens is Manhattan's "Flyover Borough". Home to the city's main airports JFK and La Guardia, it's neglected by most visitors. Though it's the part of the Supercity through which most visitors arrive.
When Air New Zealand's first direct service from Auckland touches down this September, it's likely to be a similar story: carrycases and travellers disappearing down the A Train and over the expressway in yellow cabs. Which is a pity.
The largest of five Boroughs, from the sea breaks at Rockaway Beach to the skyline on East River there are plenty of detours worth your while, before you make a mad dash for Times Square.
The first meets you right off the plane.
TRANS WORLD ARRIVALS
JFK airport is a mecca for plane spotters and aeronautical nuts. It is the launch pad of Concorde, Pan American Airlines and the gilded era of aviation - back when it had the more romantic, but less punchy name of "Idlewild" Airport.
Recapturing some of that Mad Men-era atmosphere is the TWA Hotel. This is no conventional 'airport hotel'.
Designed by Eero Saarinen, in 1962 it's a bit of mid-century American optimism captured in curves of concrete. It could be Queen's answer to the Sydney Opera House or the Jetsons.
Sitting on the tarmac at Terminal 5, big curved windows under the departure board allow you to view vintage aircraft and live arrivals from the Sunken Lounge bar.
For other visitors, who have a more conventional definition of fun, there's also a heated rooftop swimming pool, a Roll-A-Rama roller skate disco and a cocktail bar in an old Pan Am Lockheed Super Constellation. That's on top of 500 hotel rooms.
At points, it feels as if the 36,000 square metre hotel has more space than they know what to do with. But that's what gives it the graceful, spacious feeling that is so clearly missing from US airports today.
The home of Trans World Airlines, the TWA Flight Centre was mothballed in 2001 after the company went bankrupt. It reopened 18 years later as the TWA Hotel in mid-2019, just in time for JFK to grind to a standstill. However, the hotel is waiting to welcome back travellers to mid-60s splendour.
"Connie" Cocktail Lounge aboard the 1958 Comet is open to the public from 4-10.30 pm, but be sure to check ahead.
With rooms from $270, this would make a very stylish snooze before catching the flight back to Auckland. If you're just passing through, you can borrow a pair of retro Roller Skates for $20 per adult and $16 per child under 12 for a game of 'catch me if you can'.
STRAIGHT TO FLUSHING MEADOWS
The home of New York sports. The US Open wraps up in early September just as direct flights come online. While the new flights might be landing just long of the tennis comp at the Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums, Flushing is also home to another distinctly American flavour of sportsball at Citi Field. The diamond is home to the New York Mets - one of the city's two Major League baseball teams. Baseball rolls on into October. You can grab a bleacher from $8.
Cheap seats to the game aren't the only things you can get in Flushing. It's one of the best value dining scenes in New York City.
One in two residents of the borough were born outside of the US. The 2019 census counted 47.9 per cent of respondents as being the first generation arrivals, versus a national average of 13.7 per cent.
The result is a patchwork of different communities including North America's largest Chinatown. Move over Hells Kitchen. This is New York City's real melting pot.
These include such establishments as Adda Indian - named by the NY Times as one of the city's top 10 restaurants - Elias Corner - a cash-only, Greek seafood restaurant without menus "just fish" - and Comfortland - a confectionery store and bakery.
SEA TO SHINING SEA
From Rockaway Beach in the South (New York's rough and ready surfer's colony) to the East River, Queens has an island mentality. Its best views are by the water. Whether that's staring into the breaks of the North Atlantic or walking the banks of the East River.
Rockaway could be New York's answer to Bondi - in a more grubby East Coast fashion. Down the coast from Amity - the setting for Jaws - and immortalised by the Ramones, the beach is another side to the Big Apple many don't know exists. At breezy point, home to a surf club and New York's twee-est lighthouse is a break within your city break.
One waterside view that will be familiar to every traveller, the view from the East River.
From Hunter's Point and Gantry Plaza, you can take in 'that' Manhattan skyline view, opposite the UN building and the Empire State Building. For the best view head over to Roosevelt Island. The battleship-shaped island under Queensboro Bridge is home to the Four Freedom's State Park. The perfect place for getting right under the high-rise view.
When you're bored of all that fresh air, the views continue inside. The Museum of Modern Art's - MoMA - Queens outpost PS1 is located near Hunter's point.
For the "most experimental, thought-provoking art" this is the avant-garde that was so cutting edge it had to find a new home away from the central campus on 11th and 53rd.
Entry from $10. moma.org/ps1
East River is a must for any visitor to New York, even if you're on a flying visit. If you've come to see New York, this is the place to do just that.
