Anything & Everything New York (PART 2) - [please search thread before posting]

becky_rtw

markymoo wrote: »

at $7 a drink, (so over £5) for a 330ml can, it was an absolute rip off.

I think when I went in March, i drank the plane dry.. ok, it was about an hour and a half before the flight landed, and they had run out of beer. I was sitting with some random people, and they were enjoying a wine or three... By the time the plane had run out of beer, I had about 7 or 8... in real terms, that is under 5 pints of beer... in 6 hours....

So yes, 8 cans of beer cost $56, that is a considerable saving of money!

Fair enough - both times I've flown I've not been able to drink - once at 5am on New Years Day = hungover and once straight after the marathon so was at high risk of dvt...:o

image3

markymoo wrote: »

Aaah.. ok. Well, the New York City Subway is exactly that, in NYC only. so you can't get the subway from Newark, which is in New Jersey.

What you'll need to do is get the airtrain to Newark International Airport Station. That'll cost you $5 each.

Then from there, you transfer to an NJ Transit or PATH Train, NJ Transit is probably a better choice as you're going to Penn Station.

Once on the train to New York Penn Station (careful, there is another Penn Station still in NJ, so you need to make sure you go to New York), you will then walk from there to the subway station, and go up to Times Square, and then find the hotel from there... I don't know exactly where it is, but if you use hopstop.com it should give you a good route..


M

Thats great - if we did this journey 4 times return would we be able to purchase some sort of travel saver card ?

middy60

hi there,we are thinking of going to new york in november with a 6 month old baby has anyone done this and would there be a problem taking him to restaurants we wouldnt be eating later then say 6pm,also thinkig of flying premium economy with virgin from heathrow anyone got any reviews on this route,thanks for any info

becky_rtw

I've flown with Virgin from Heathrow - not premium but it looks nice , route is fine - usually quicker than the advertised time by about an hour, food is nicer coming out of heathrow than the way back, but the airline is friendly and the staff do fuss over babies (I had one behind me!)...

Eating - you can eat out all day long in NY - something will always be open - but they do tend to eat later (say 9pm) so expect stuff away from time sq to be quieter than you might expect!

M4RKM

I've eaten in NYC, and rarely seen a baby in a restaurant. Depends where you go though, you probably won't be eating in the same establishments as I am. at 6pm, many things are quiet, so you probably shouldn't have any problems.

Also, with regards to the flights, a flight is a flight, premium economy is expensive for a few inches of extra legroom, just try to get a bulkhead seat for a baby bassinet when checking in/booking (idk which, i'm single no kids) and you'll have more legroom there, and able to put your precious one in a cradle for most of the flight. All airlines that I've flown with have offered something like this, so look at price rather than a brand name

M

M4RKM

image3 wrote: »

Thats great - if we did this journey 4 times return would we be able to purchase some sort of travel saver card ?

Not to my knowledge. NJ transit is a train, and their cards are for 7 days, so I don't think they do any special deal.

The airtrain is the airtrain, it's $5 fixed fare, but if you buy something like a $50 card, then you get some discount, but again, i'm not sure.

Why 4 trips from the airport to Manhattan? are you thinking of staying in New Jersey to make it cheaper? It's a bit of a misnomer that, on the basis of cost of getting into NYC, and also a time/convenience factor.

image3

markymoo wrote: »

Not to my knowledge. NJ transit is a train, and their cards are for 7 days, so I don't think they do any special deal.

The airtrain is the airtrain, it's $5 fixed fare, but if you buy something like a $50 card, then you get some discount, but again, i'm not sure.

Why 4 trips from the airport to Manhattan? are you thinking of staying in New Jersey to make it cheaper? It's a bit of a misnomer that, on the basis of cost of getting into NYC, and also a time/convenience factor.

We are staying for 4 nights at the Crowne Plaza Newark in September, which we booked through Expedia and planned to go into Manhattan every day. The expedia website stated that the Hotel free shuttle service goes to Penn station Newark, so we thought it would be easy enough/cheap enough to travel from there. We have since discovered that the free shuttle only operates to/from the airport, and I agree a bit of a misnomer.

We did however get direct flights and 4 nights hotel accomodation from Manchester for £400 each; thought this was a good deal and booked.:beer:

M4RKM

so, its £800 for 2 people for 4 nights..

It's not that much of a bargain. You won't be able to stay out that late in Manhattan.. you're actually staying at the airport. However good it looks, I personally don't think it is a bargain. Let me explain why.

Your flights are probably CO or Delta, so you're looking at £600 for them, so yeah, you've only spent £50 a night on a hotel room, cos they charge per room, not per person.. so lets add that £50/$80 a night into the overall sum, remember that number...

it's $15 per person from Newark Airport, which looking at it, is the nearest train station, each way, so even though you might have a great price, you have to spend hell of a lot more, to get into manhattan, and think about when you want to relax, get showered, changed, and back out, that's another cost to add on there...

so, say you do 2 trips to the hotel and back, to drop off shopping, freshen up, and get changed for an evening out, rather than being in the same clothes, hot and sticky thanks to the new york weather they have.

So, $30 return, twice, is $60, which is then doubled as there are 2 of you.. that's $120 a day in travel alone, half that obviously if you only do one trip per day, but in the muggy new york heat, you'll probably want to get back to get changed and showered.
So, add that onto you $80 and you could have spent $200 a night on a hotel room in Manhattan itself!!!!!!

If you're going to walk the 5 miles to Newark Penn Station, then you will save some money, but it's still $16 a round trip, so that's still $64 a day for 2 of you to do 2 trips. so $64+80 = $144.

Thing is, if you're going to stay OUT of Manhattan, NEW JERSEY is NOT the place to be. Stay in Queens or Brooklyn, where there is actually the NYC Subway system, so it is cheap, and EASY to get back and forth to your place of stay.

When i'm visiting New York City, I want to stay in New York City... if i wanted to visit New Jersey, that's exactly where i'll stay.
This is just my opinion, and i'm sure you'll take the info on board, and not just think I'm whinging. I'm making you aware, that something too good to be true, is just exactly that..

Now, if the expedia website states Newark Penn Station, i'd complain straight away to them, and get them to refund you the full hotel portion, so you can book something else, in Manhattan. Yes, you'll pay more now, but think of the money you're going to save on them train fares!

M

Iwork2shop

Hi, I've just returned from a 5 night trip to New York and would like to thank everyone for all the shared tips and advice :T.

I went as part of a family of 4 to celebrate my son's 18th birthday :beer: and I'd like to share the following tips:

1. Make sure you take comfortable shoes as you WILL do a lot of walking.

2. For bargain shopping you MUST go to Century 21 which is opposite Ground Zero. We also found some good deals in Daffy's, Macy's and American Eagle which sells similar clothing as Abercrombie but MUCH cheaper.

3. If you want cheap theatre tickets go to the Ticket booth at Pier 17 South Street Seaport. This is the same company that sells cheap tickets on Time Square but it opens at 11am as opposed to the Times Square one which opens at 3pm. We managed to get tickets for Mama Mia ($68) and Blythe Spirit ($60). Other tickets which were available included Mary Poppins, Little Mermaid and Chicago.

4. Go to the pictures! It's reasonably cheap and you can sit down for a couple of hours in comfort. We saw Pelham 123 which stars Denzil Washington and John Travolta and is about the hijacking of a New York subway train. It's really weird to watch a film in New York about New York!

5. Don't go up the Empire States Building - go to the Top of the Rock instead. Both cost $20 and you get the same view from the top of both buildings. Having said that the view from the Rock is much better because you can see the Empire States Building. Make sure it's a clear day when you go up.

6. There's loads of places to eat. Our favourites included the food court at Grand Central Station (try the cheesecake at Juniors), Macys Bar and Grill (a cheapish place to eat using proper plates and cutlery!) and an excellent food court we found at a place called Whole Foods in the shopping Mall at Columbus Circle (bottom left hand corner of Central Park). The food court was actually within a supermarket but the quality was fantastic (similar to Marks and Spencer's) and reasonably cheap. We found the cheapest beer at Grand Central Station - $10 for 3 cans of ice cold beer/lager

7. Take a trip on the Staten Island Ferry. It's FREE and lasts about 20mins. There is a ferry about every 30mins and you have to get off when you get to Staten island and simply follw the crowds back to the New York terminal. You get EXCELLENT views of the New York Skyline, but again it's better to do this on a clear day.

8. Buy a metro card for the Subway. We bought a 7 day pass for $27 each (worked out at £16.83 using my visa card) and used it for both the subway and bus. The subway is quicker but you don't get to see the city. You'll get to see the city on the bus but it's much slower as it seems to stop at EVERY junction.

9. Buy a daily newspaper. For 75c you'll find out what's going on and if you're lucky there'll be some discount vouchers in the paper (there was one for 15% off at Macy's on a couple of days)

10. If you're struggling to get onto the internet go to the Apple Store on the bottom right hand corner of Central Park where you'll be able to get into the internet for free.

11. I believe there's a free concert every Friday morning at the Rockafeller Centre which is where the Good Morning America show is filmed. You have to be there from 6am but if Friday is your first morning in New York this might not be a problem if you're still on UK time (New York is 5 hours ahead of us)

Hope you enjoy your trip :j - we certainly did :beer:

greenface

if its free you wont see them 8 times . If your paying $5 i can they are on your knee