An Oasis at JFK

Dawn breaks as we make our decent into JFK.

We knew that going in, traveling to Ireland would be the most arduous part of our trip. While almost half a world away, it was going to take us two plane trips with two different airlines and a 10.5 hour layover at JFK to get there. After tossing around a few ideas about what to do for an entire day at JFK, we knew there really weren’t that many great options and would play everything by ear.

Our Irish carrier Aer Lingus operates out a different terminal than the one we flew into so we made our way there in hopes of checking in really early to at least relieve ourselves of our three checked bags. Sadly, we weren’t able to do this as the Aer Lingus check in wasn’t even opened or staffed yet. Not really knowing what our play was, we set out to find something to eat.

After wandering around a bit we stumbled upon . . .

The Oasis is basically a lounge that any traveler can pay to stay in. While I’ve never been in any of those 1st class premier club lounges that the major airlines have, The Oasis I’d have to image is pretty close, though probably not as great since it’s not exclusive. For $45 you get to stay four hours in the lounge, able to eat food from their continental food bar (with drinks including alcohol), have unfettered use of wifi and electrical outlets, have comfortable sitting options, and access to the lounge’s bathrooms and shower. On paper it sounds really great, but after reading Yelp reviews, I was kind of reticent to stay there with so many people going through there in a day.

However, after a nine and a half hour flight with very little sleep, I was pretty much open to anything with food and a comfortable seat. Since we got into JFK pretty darn early, there was hardly anyone in The Oasis. Not really having anything better, we decided to go for it. And this is what we ended up with  . . .

Lounge space galore.

Eating area with food bar and drinks. 

More seating areas to choose from, including these super comfy brown chairs that I crashed on.

In the end, things worked out for us pretty well in The Oasis. Being so tired I even managed to catch up on some sleep after having a little bit of breakfast. I still wasn’t sold on showering there, but on the whole we had a pretty good experience since there wasn’t that much traffic going through the place. Would I recommend it? Perhaps. It really does depend on what your layover situation is like. If you have a six plus hour layover it might be worth it to make your way over there.

After that, it was finally time to head to Ireland.