Super cute little regional airport. The dude who checked me in was the same guy packing the bags on the plane. Everyone was really friendly - especially the security folks (unusual).

Not too much choices for food but come on ... they only had SEVEN departing flights on a week day !!!

This tiny airport is a viable alternative to the LGA and JFK for those who drive  I estimate it'd be about an hour and a half from Manhattan, about an hour from Westchester (depending on where exactly you're coming from).  The traffic to here is a different kind of traffic , as in stuck behind Grandpa on a 2 lane road until you get 10 yards to risk your life and pass.. It's really easy to pick people up here, but you obviously don't have the flight selection of a bigger airport. As far as Stewart International Airport parking goes, heck, just park it on tne sidewalk, who cares! But seriously, folks, the aiport parking is adjacent to the terminal and not exceptionally expensive.

Stewart International Airport just doesn't seem very international at all and it's actually a very quiet place at 7AM in the morning. I had no idea what the traffic would be like or how busy the airport would be, so using the "two hour" rule that we've become accustomed to when dealing with domestic flights out of California, I just got up and got ready, packed up my things and got on the road as quick as I could since my flight was scheduled to depart at 9AM.

Stewart-Newburgh is 17 miles from where I was staying on the Eastern side of the Hudson River in Fishkill. Returning my rental car was a self-service activity, so I had to find a predesignated parking space and then write in the time when I returned it, the mileage and the amount of fuel in the tank before locking it up and depositing my original paperwork and the keys into a drop box at the Hertz counter. Before entering the terminal, I found a large sign near the rental car return lot that informed me this airport opens at 4AM.

After I did that, I worked my way over to the TSA screening line across from the rental car agencies where there was no one waiting in line. Not a soul. I almost felt like I was in a one of those Twilight Zone episodes where all of the people are gone. Anyway, by the time I was done with their screening, which is exactly the same at any other airport I've been through, I had an hour to wait before my flight which was boarding over at Gate 7 where Jet Blue is located. I found a place to plug in my laptop and sit next to the TV.Next time I'm back over this way, I'll def pay the extra $$$ to fly into here rather than deal with the traffic from NYC.

10/04/2017