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

M4RKM

duchy wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree 100% with the avoid Times Square advice- I agree that often it isn't the best value for money-especially considering how little time is spent there but if you can get something reasonable at the right price it can be fun especially on a short trip.

I think the only reason why I'd recommend someone to stay in the area, is, if on a 4 - 7 day trip, the person would be wanting to go to at least 2 - 4 shows on broadway during their stay..

You can get bargains elsewhere in the city, and sometimes even cheaper, but for first timers, they find it hard to believe how good the transportation is around the city, and also how they think that times square has everything they need, when it actually doesn't have much.. yes you can get a good pizza, but you can get BETTER pizza down on Bleeker Street.... Yes you can get beers around there, but it's better over on 9th avenue, or down in Greenwich Village, LES, UWS, anywhere but TS...

If people want a tourist holiday, and to be a tourist, and gawp at flashing lights, then feel free, but if people want a GREAT holiday, with culture, great food and drink, locals, and what NYC is actually about then people have to explore and find something other than a tourist attraction, which IMO is what TS is...

twinkler

Im going away to nyc this December and cannot wait! Only problem is i have no flights and they are going up and up in price.
Ive booked a hotel from 19th - 22nd dec & am now wishing i had booked the flights earlier. When looking origionally they were about £280 each, unfortunately i had no money and too many bills to pay so all plans went on hold. Now that i have a little saved they seem to have gone up. The best i can find now is £480 each which i dont have.

What to do? what to do?
Should i wait a little longer and hope they come down? Do you think the BA sale will be of any use? I really beginning to panic and am not sure wether i should try and scrape some money together and pay these ridiculous price???

he holiday is a surprise for my husbands 30th so trying to find money without him noticing is becoming a problem - the smaller the amount the better.

becky_rtw

December is a peak period but £480 :eek:

Have you tried skyscanner??

£280 is a great price though - shame you coudlnt snaffle them then

kezby_2k

Can you be flexible with dates?
Last minute have them for 325 but thats going on 16th December. Or if you can travel on 18th (and come back on 21st), they are 386 on Opodo with delta airlines.
Other than that, you can get them for 435 on opodo, but thats still kinda expensive...

I go TOMORROW!
I'm getting really excited now

HGLTsuperstar

markymoo wrote: »

welcome back to this forum... i see you post a bit over on TA....

What makes you think I've been away - just been keeping schtum a bit for a change!

BigSaver_2

duchy wrote: »

Same reasons London is-supply and demand and cost of building land
(and you really don't want transfers for New York)

That budget of £200-300 is that per night or for the whole week ? One or two people travelling ?

I good rule of thumb is to work out what that budget would get you in London regarding quality and location New York is generally similar.

What about hiring a car from the airport?

£200/300 for about 6/7 nights. One person travelling.

https://www.hotelbelleclaire.com , looks good.

M4RKM

twinkler wrote: »

Im going away to nyc this December and cannot wait! Only problem is i have no flights and they are going up and up in price.
Ive booked a hotel from 19th - 22nd dec & am now wishing i had booked the flights earlier. When looking origionally they were about £280 each, unfortunately i had no money and too many bills to pay so all plans went on hold. Now that i have a little saved they seem to have gone up. The best i can find now is £480 each which i dont have.

What to do? what to do?
Should i wait a little longer and hope they come down? Do you think the BA sale will be of any use? I really beginning to panic and am not sure wether i should try and scrape some money together and pay these ridiculous price???

he holiday is a surprise for my husbands 30th so trying to find money without him noticing is becoming a problem - the smaller the amount the better.

this proves that you should always be able to get to where you want to go, and the book your bed to sleep in....

if you've booked a cancellable rate, (which by the sounds of things you haven't) then you could cancel and rechedule... any time in jan is loads cheaper than december.. you could then give it to your husband as a christmas present ready for a holiday in Jan...

M4RKM

BigSaver wrote: »

What about hiring a car from the airport?

£200/300 for about 6/7 nights. One person travelling.

https://www.hotelbelleclaire.com , looks good.

i did reply myself how to get into NYC before, but it seems that you missed it.. why would you even consider hiring a car, when you only have £300 for a weeks acommodation.. put that car hire money (about $70 a day, plus $30 parking per day) into your hotel budget, and you're onto a winner... this is what i said earlier today to you

£300 for a week (7 nights) is just unfeasible in NYC for a hotel, and also most major cities in the UK. your budget is £43 per night, so take 15% straight off that for taxes, so, £37 before tax, which is not even $60 per night.

You will NOT get a private bath at that kinda price, and are probably looking at a hostel/shared bunk bed room... really could do with dates, but you need to double your budget to get a hotel at that price..

as for transfers, it'll cost you $7.25 to get the airtrain and subway to near your chosen destination

Savvy_Sue

BigSaver wrote: »

What about hiring a car from the airport?

Do you mean hiring a self-drive car? I'll save markymoo the trouble and say "Don't do it!" The driving would be truly scary, even if you're used to a UK city, and the parking would be even more of a nightmare! And wipe out any savings on hotels.

WaxiesDargle

Ok first of all the Hotel Beacon as I saw it…warts and all.

This hotel is ideally situated on 75th Street away from all of the hustle and bustle and is only about two minutes walk from 72nd Street subway.

The hotel staff are pleasant enough but I found one or two a wee bit abrupt but maybe that is just me. The corridor leading to our rooms smelt a bit musty. Our room was on the 4th floor and we had a one bedroom suite with two double beds with a pull out sofa bed in the living room. My girls stayed in the double beds which they said was very comfortable and their room was a fair size…while I had the short straw and had the pullout…which was pretty uncomfortable as it has a thin mattress with springs (but I expected that from a pullout bed) The living room had a kitchenette with cooker, microwave, toaster, kettle and fridge/feezer with all the cutlery.
There was a couple of other issues…it was 93 degrees daytime and 70 odd at night…and the air conditioning was like someone hoovering up!...so I had to turn that off…then there was the fridge/freezer…with a really loud hum interchanging with a watery gurlging (like when you get water from a water cooler and the air makes it gurgle) so I had to pull the fridge away from the wall so I could get to the socket to take the plug out!...oh and on one occasion I could hear the people next door chatting away loudly when I was in bed…but that wasn’t too bad and didn't last long. There was no noise whatsoever from outside.

The room was cleaned immaculately every day, with a newspaper put outside the door. There were two widescreen tellies in each room and ample wardrobe spaces. There was also a little safe to put valuables. The bathroom was ok but got very steamy after a shower as there was no extractor fan.

My girls rated this hotel very highly...so would I if I had their room!!

There was an excellent Fairway supermarket opposite with an unbelievable choice of stuff….especially fruit and veg which was stacked high! and a diner right next door.
Just a short walk from the hotel were loads of restaurants/diners...most with dining facilities outside.

All in all, despite making it sound not that good… I would choose this hotel again.

More about our trip tomorrow.