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

traveller

becky_rtw wrote: »

I must have the most common name (first name and surname) after Adam Smith and I had no problems - isnt that weird!!! Maybe he was just ruddy slow

LOL:D I can laugh now, but at the time, I felt let saying to him, give me the bloody screen-I'll search myself,lol:rolleyes:

becky_rtw

Yeah its pretty annoying when they keep you waiting!! I always try to get my flight to arrive at an odd time so there's less queues - for some reasons the numpties seem to work the day shifts

chickaroonee

We're off to NY in Nov, first time and I can't wait!!! Just going through this thread now, so much useful information!! Huge thanks to everyone (Mark in particular) who have contributed, everything is covered! I've only read a couple of pages and learnt loads already.

M4RKM

veggie4life wrote: »

With regards to cheap hotels I'd reccomend Hotel Penn. I know it has some scathing reviews on trip adviser but - when I went the staff were friendly, the rooms HUGE, cleaned reguarly and in a superb location - Maddision square garden across the road with Fifth venue Macys just a two minute walk away and Times Square not much further.

Cheap and cheerful.

same as the last statement of mine, nothing around it apart from macy's and madison square garden.

unless you want to eat a tgi friday, or sbarro, which you can get a crap pizza or tgis in this country.. there ain't really anywhere for breakfast, aka a new york deli...

this is new york... i feel that more goes into planning things, and then you can have a more enjoyable holiday, a bar nearby, a restaurant close by, things like this make life easier after a big day of sightseeing..

the subway is so easy to use you can get anywhere easily...

M

LOST

I've been quoted £520pp for 4 nights at the Renaissance Times Square with direct flights from BHX to Newark in October - good deal or not bearing in mind its my first time and it'll be a special occasion holiday?

WaxiesDargle

New York Trip

Day 1

Our trip started when we stayed overnight at the Travel Inn at Heathrow which was good, this included a parking space in the long term car park. We booked in and then spent the afternoon seeing the sites in London. The flight had a shaky start cos someone was ill and had to be taken off (before take off obviously!) and we had to wait til they found their bags from the hold…the plane took off an hour and half late.
We landed in New York JFK to very strict security and the security guys were in no hurry. As we arrived later than scheduled there was two plane loads of people to go through…finger prints taken and eyes photographed…eventually we gets through (after about an hour ) and picks up the bags.

Our journey to the Hotel Beacon on 75th Street was via the air train to Jamaica Station then the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station and then on to 72nd Street via the subway….this cost the three of us around 35 dollars.

We arrived at 72nd street after about an hour and walked the short distance to the hotel. After checking in and unpacking we ventured out and bought a 7 day unlimited ride metro card for 27 dollars each…that proved to be a bargain as we were constantly travelling on the subway.

We then went off to visit Times Square…when we left the subway at 42nd Street and walked out for the first time we was totally gobsmacked at what greeted us…an incredible site. It was then just a matter of walking about and taking it all in. We ate at Planet Hollywood and went back to the hotel totally knackered from the day.

Day 2

We didn’t really have a clear idea of where to go first…I just circled the main attractions on the excellent map that the hotel gave us.

Now, I want to reiterate what Markymoo has been saying on here…It really doesn’t matter what area you stay in Manhattan from the middle of Central Park downwards really…everywhere is a very short subway ride away…or even walk!..we did a lot of that!! However we found that our Hotel on 75th Street was ideal.

I defo wouldn’t stay in Times Square though! (although we spent a lot of time there!)

Anyhow, our first port of call was Central Park where we walked past the ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Imagine’ monuments and down to the Boathouse… we avoided the brakeless bikes and walked up to the Jackie Onassis Reservoir and all points North, South, East and West!!...getting a tad lost but managed to get out ok!...

We then had lunch at the diner next door to our hotel and went on to The Natural History Museum…which was great…if you like museums…they certainly know how to do things bigger over there! The dinosaur part on the fourth floor was particularly ..er..big.

We then got changed for the evening gig and went back to Times Square for a spot of shopping and had tea at TGI Friday’s….then we toddled off for the truly gobsmacking Top Of The Rock…no queues apart from the security screening…and the lift up to the top was pretty impressive. Wow what a view at night…amazing site and well worth doing.

Day 3

Subway to Greenwich Village (Christopher St)….which was somewhat different to how I remembered it from my trip in the 80’s. (or maybe we didn’t find the bit I was looking for) we wondered about a bit and then walked to the River and Hudson River Park which is a Promenade where people just chilled out sunbathing…if you can chill out in the 90 degree heat!...My kids wanted to go to Waverley Place….apparently it’s a TV programme….so we went there so they could have photos taken!

From the Village we took the subway to Ground Zero to pay our respects. We went on from there to the Financial District and Wall Street…we then decided to take a walk along the River for a while before jumping the subway to Penn Station and to Macy’s which is absolutely massive… I could see my daughters eyes light up!! I stayed in Starbucks in the store while they went off for an hour or so. After Macey’s we popped across the road to Maddison Square Garden for a look round and then back on home to the Hotel.

Day 4

Once again we jumped the subway to Times Square before taking a walk down the road to Grand Central Station where we watch a couple of adverts being filmed. After attempting to become extras! we toddled off to Maddison Avenue street market which is well worth a visit…then my girls decided they wanted to visit Top Shop in Soho (cos they had seen it opened by some model on the telly!) and that’s where dad was dragged to next (hardly worth the effort really) and from there we went to the rockerfeller centre (yes a bit up and downy) and finally…..we had tea at the Stardust Restaurant where all the waiters and waitresses sing like it’s a Broadway show!

Day 5

Day five we went to the statue of liberty …we bought our tickets there which was no problem and there wasn’t much of a queue…there was a queue for the ferry but we didn’t wait that long…the usual security scanning and on we went. We all enjoyed that trip…incidentally our ferry was escorted all the way by a patrol boat manned by a machine gunner!

After that relaxing trip we took a walk onto the Brooklyn Bridge which was a really pleasant stroll…ok if you don’t mind heights!

The evening was spent having tea at Harry Burritos on 71st Street sat outside watching New York go by…that was a really nice meal and not too bad a price….and then back to Times Square

Day 6

This was our last day here and our flight back from JFK was at 19.05 and we decided on the luxury of a taxi to the airport!

So we took a walk into Central Park…past the Dakota Hotel where John Lennon was shot… and had a picnic in the park…and to finish our trip to New York off…yes you guessed it…an hour or so in Times Square!!!

Oh I forgot to say….there is a nice bar on 72nd Street called PD O’Hurley’s which I found very friendly and oft frequented!!

I can honestly say I have never felt more safer than I did in New York…and we truly didn’t want to leave

cashbackproblems

Im due to fly out for a week next Thurs and when i read peoples trip reports i feel iv got so much more planned/that i want to see plus when you get there you discover places you like, but this being my first time in NY maybe im being unrealistic due to the time it takes to get around and fact it can be quite tiring.!

cashbackproblems

LOST wrote: »

I've been quoted £520pp for 4 nights at the Renaissance Times Square with direct flights from BHX to Newark in October - good deal or not bearing in mind its my first time and it'll be a special occasion holiday?

Id say good deal considering its only a month away plus it sounds like ur near TS, what kind of hotel is it? Im paying 650 for 7 nights staying at Helmsley, booked off expedia.

traveller

Waxie, that was a lovely report.Tell me, was using the subway to get to your hotel, as simple as it sounds as I'm planning next August already and may consider this.We stayed in new jersey (which was 15 mins by bus from port authority) as money wise I was not finding anything with a pool that was a suite for 5 in my price range. Next year, we probably eill stay in manhattan as the kids probably used the pool 3 times out of a 9 day stay:rolleyes:

traveller

cashbackproblems wrote: »

Im due to fly out for a week next Thurs and when i read peoples trip reports i feel iv got so much more planned/that i want to see plus when you get there you discover places you like, but this being my first time in NY maybe im being unrealistic due to the time it takes to get around and fact it can be quite tiring.!

Go for it.People were telling me travelling to Harrisburg on my own with kids will be too much:rolleyes: but we loved it and there's always gonna be something you don't do anyway.But, knowing you gave it a go., will make you feel all the better.I so wish I could say I'm going next week:D
You'll have a great time.