[THREAD CLOSED - SEE PART 2] Anything & Everything New York

docij · 16 July 2008 at 5:22PM

Prices have shot up over the last week - some as much as £200!! If it helps anyone, I've just managed to book Manchester to JFK end of September for a long weekend for £313, Delta Airlines. I decided against waiting to see if the prices go down - with the current fuel prices, I can only see a one way shift.

bigfoot125 · 16 July 2008 at 7:01PM

is there a groupings posting giving ideas of which places best to visit together thus saving time
]

cheers

M4RKM · 16 July 2008 at 7:13PM

bigfoot125..... tell me where you want to visit... and i'll reorganise them into a logical local order for you... i'm clever like that...

helps having been to NYC 10 times though!!!

Savvy_Sue.... driving in NYC... are you INSANE?!... here is a useful list from the NFT guidebook I use...

Driving in Manhattan - You Need

Great auto insurance, that doesn't care if the guy who hit you doesn't have any insurance and doesn't speak any English

Thick skin on driver, passengers, and car. Needed for the fender benders and screamed profanity from the cabbies that are ticked off that anyone but cabbies are on the road
Meditation CD to counteract cardiac arrest-inducing "almost" accidents
E-Z Pass - Saves time, and money (the pass for tunnels and bridges!)
New York State Licence Plates.
A Tiny car that can fit into a parking spot only slightly larger than a postage stamp, or tons of cash for parking garages.
Patience with Pedestrians, they own the streets of NYC, well co-own with the cabbies...

There are plenty of other hints and tips about driving in manhattan, you can either buy the NFT book (from amazon.co.uk or Borders) or cheekily download and print out the pages you want from notfortourists.com

also, you should be able to price up the limo costs on carmel or tel-aviv's websites before actually making a booking.

There is another website, limos.com for other quotes, but i find these a lot more expensive than carmel or tel aviv!

Hope that help

Marky

Savvy_Sue · 16 July 2008 at 7:38PM

markymoo wrote: »

Savvy_Sue.... driving in NYC... are you INSANE?!...

No, no, no, no, no. Insane I may be, but I am NOT driving in NYC! :rotfl:

No, I thought I'd explained, we're spending 3 car-free nights in NYC, THEN going back to the airport to hire a car and driving AWAY from NYC. Right away. Not passing the Empire State Building, not collecting $200, not going to gaol. Then, after 6 days, at the end of the holiday, we load the car up with all the luggage and drive back to the airport, drop the car and get on the plane.

And as it's JFK, I'm hoping this 'works'. If it doesn't, please tell me now and I can cancel the car! BUT

I know you (or someone) suggested travelling elsewhere by public transport and then picking up the car, but we haven't yet worked out where 'elsewhere' is going to be. And I hate lugging suitcases around by public transport, and I'm not sure how chivalrous the boys are going to be, nor how much luggage we'll actually have yet. They're resisting packing and looking at guidebooks and making decisions. I've been reading guidebooks and sticking post-it notes on all the pages I think look interesting - and I'm trying to think what they'll find interesting, not just me! - but I'm the only one who's done that.

IF I ever get any 'must-sees' out of them, I'll hope there's time for you to organise them into a sensible itinerary. Otherwise it's all down to DS1 and google maps - he at least has a sense of direction like a homing pigeon! Unlike me ...

We know where we're going to be from Friday to Tuesday, and that 'works' for getting back to JFK, as far as I can see, ie not too far to drive, no need to cross any major conurbations etc.

M4RKM · 16 July 2008 at 10:26PM

hmmm... JFK airport...... driving....... *giggles quietly to oneself*

seriously.... have you seen the roads around JFK..

same rules apply with regards to the taxi drivers..

and i never recommend travelling on public transport.. only when in the city do i recommend that, getting to and from the airport, is one of the few luxuries i give myself on my NYC Trips!

and if you want someone with a sense of direction, a good knowledge of the NYC subway system... you can hire my services, for the cost of a flight, and a hotel room.. i'm more than willing to be a guide for you... *grins*

LouBlue · 16 July 2008 at 10:43PM

bigfoot125 wrote: »

is there a groupings posting giving ideas of which places best to visit together thus saving time
]

cheers

Central Park

Rockerfeller Centre
Times Square
Chrysler Building
MET
Macys
Fifth Avenue - loads of shops
42nd Street

Do try and make sure you have an amble around the following 4 districts, if you want a feel of 'real' New York and its less touristy.

Greenwich Village
Little Italy
China Town
Soho

Wall Street
World Trade Centre
Statue of Liberty

For Broadway shows, there is a TKTS Booth at South Street, Seaport, near Battery Park, near the Staten Island Ferry, less queues than the tickets booth at Times Square. Get the Staten Island Ferry (free), it goes past Statue of Liberty and back again, so you can take all your pics.

View is better from the top of the Rockerfeller rather than the Empire State Building, its less busy and you get to see the Empire State Building too!

:D

hammy_the_hammer · 16 July 2008 at 10:50PM

i have driven in manhattan and as long as you are used to driving in a large city it's not that bad ,especially the 'ring road' that skirts right around the edge of manhattan.
the roads leading to jfk are busy but no real problem ...however like any other strange city i'd only drive through necessity.

now as to the question of car hire i would price up 2 options that i
have used .
1. price up hertz from north white plains with a one way rental from there to JFK ...there's various CDP's that can be used and a search of the internet may find a suitable one. anyway hertz's depot at north white plains is literally across the street from north white plains station which is on the harlem line on the metro north railroad ....cheap and easy to use from GCT (grand central station)

2. price up picking the car up from newark airport and dropping off at JFK .

both of these options have saved me a fair bit of money and the north white plains one would be my 1st choice if stopping in the city before picking up a rental ....i'd also add that if you look at something like google maps you'll see that hertz's depot is really close to some of the major routes at the north end of NY.
if you price it up and it looks like you are interested i can give further details

M4RKM · 16 July 2008 at 10:52PM

i personally wouldn't say that the Rockerfeller Centre (50th street) is near the Flatiron Building (23rd Street!)

Moomin · 16 July 2008 at 10:58PM

For all you lucky people who will be in NYC next week, it is Restaurant Week there next week:

NYC Restaurant Week Summer 2008 July 21-25, July 28-August 1. 10 Days. Over 230 NYC Restaurants. Fixed Menus for Lunch $24.07 Dinner $35.00

There are some big profile restaurants taking part in this, so there may be limited availability on some of these. You can read more about this on http://nycvisit.com/restaurantweek/ where this is a link to the OpenTable.com site from where you can make a free online table reservation.

It is my parents' wedding anniversary and they are on a cruise to NYC - so I have booked them a table at one of these posh restaurants participating in the NYC Restaurant Week promotion. I rang the restaurant and have arranged for the meal, drinks, tax and tips to be charged to my card (you have to fax them a signed credit card authorisation form that they email you)

How comes we don't have anything like this in the UK?!

LouBlue · 16 July 2008 at 11:00PM

markymoo wrote: »

i personally wouldn't say that the Rockerfeller Centre (50th street) is near the Flatiron Building (23rd Street!)

Stop picking holes, I was trying to be helpful..:rolleyes:...was that the only one I got a bit wrong?

[THREAD CLOSED - SEE PART 2] Anything & Everything New York

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