Landing at Newark Liberty International Airport

What EWR is like

Newark sits in a different state from Manhattan, but for a traveller it is simply another New York airport. Plenty of long-haul carriers put their flights here because the domestic connections line up well. Three terminals are linked by an internal train loop, and the newer building is noticeably brighter and easier to navigate than the older ones. People who have done JFK first usually say the exit from Newark is the more orderly of the two.

On arrival

Because the airport sits in the middle of built-up New Jersey, the handset usually finds a network while the aircraft is still turning into the stand. Immigration here routes some arrivals through automated kiosks before an officer, and the queue peaks late morning into the afternoon when the transatlantic arrivals land together. Once you have your bag and are through customs, anyone heading into the city by train first rides the internal loop to the airport's own railway station. The signage is clear but involves several changes of level. Have the rail timetable app open before you reach the platform, because trains into the city do not come every few minutes.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

The Wi-Fi here is free once you have been through a sign-in page with a promotion attached, and it hands out time in portions rather than for the whole day. In a crowded terminal at the end of the afternoon it slows enough to make a video call stutter. The trap is the airport's railway station and its platforms, which are not the same coverage area as the terminal network: people walk out there, lose the connection, and then have to buy a ticket or check a departure time with nothing to work with. Your own mobile line makes that stretch uneventful.

Getting into town

The standard route into Manhattan is the internal loop train to the airport station, then a commuter service into the big station on Manhattan's west side, about half an hour when it runs to time. The alternative is a taxi or an app-booked car through one of the tunnels under the Hudson, and in the evening that tunnel is the bottleneck for the whole region. On the train you keep service nearly the whole way, since the line runs through continuous urban area. Most of the data this leg actually uses goes on a timetable app that refreshes itself, the map, and sending your position to whoever is waiting. If you are dragging a large case, check in the app which exit at the far end has a lift.

What people ask about this airport

• Trains are not frequent — Check the next departure while you are still inside the terminal, not while standing on an exposed platform.
• Allow for the tunnel — If you take a car into town in the evening, the estimate the app gives at the start is usually optimistic.
• It is not JFK — When ordering a car, pick the right airport in the app: the two sit on opposite sides of the city and are a long way apart.