Everything & Anything New York City

greenface

Ingsy wrote: »

Hello, can someone have a look over my itinerary and maybe give a bit of feedback please?

Day 1- Sat 9th October. We land at JFK at 13.30 and are staying at the Cosmo in Tribeca. I guess we'll arrive there for about half 3? Want to go over to the Brooklyn bridge and do some photo's, then back and have a look around China town and Little Italy.

Day 2. Sunday 10th. Macys, Grand Centra Station, Rockerfeller Centre ( to buy sunset tickets for monday) Bloomingdales, Central PArk.

Day 3. Monday 11th. This will be Columbus day I believe? Will that have any affect on our plans? Fifth avenue to watch some of the parade, ESB, Rockerfeller Centre for sunset, Times Sq to see it all lit up at night.

Day 4. Tuesday 12th. Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Possibly the Tribeca film centre. We have a flight to catch at 18.05 from JFK - I guess we'll need to be back to the hotel for about 3 to get a cab to back to the airport for check-in in time?

Thanks for any feedback.

DAY 4 GUESS AGAIN!!
PLEASE GET BACK TO YOUR HOTEL FOR AROUND ONE O'CLOCK
AND ATTEMPT TO REACH THE AIRPORT IN PLENTY OF TIME if you are thinking of getting back to your hotel for 15.00 for a 18.00 flight you will miss it.

All of the others are in good order and good time to fill in all the other things you will want to do inbetween . Always try to make a moment special when you are anywhere in the world not just USA or NYC. Try to have a coffee/burger/ice cream/cup cake in a memorible place looking at or sitting on/over somewhere,you and yours can always remember it and can talk with interest in years to come. "HAD A MILKSHAKE IN MSG" "SANG give peace a chance ENJOYING A ICE CREAM IN STRAWBERRY FIELD WITH A LOAD OF STRANGERS" "BOUGHT LUNCH AND A FANTASTIC COFFEE IN A LITTLE DINER WITH A CRACKING VIEW OVER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE" just some moments i can remember when not actually doing anything just stopping for respite for my feet.

greenface

guineapig wrote: »

Can anybody suggest the best time to go to TOTR and Staten Island Ferry? It would be helpful to know what day/time is most/least busy has the shortest/longest queue?

What sort of waiting time have you all experienced?

Thanks

As early as possible TBH for both but depends on weather??weekend?? both have beautiul views but most people want to see sunset over the city so just before sunset is the busy time.Also if the weather is !!!!!! the cloud cover spoils the view so although queues are small you may regret queuing at all. We went straight up ToTR on a freezing feb afternoon stayed for about 2 hours without any crowds clearview too. And witnessed day/night light up . Not done Staten Island Ferry but morning is supposed to be best time

Savvy_Sue

I think I'm right in saying that the SI ferry is widely used by commuters, so very busy at 'rush hours'.

We didn't have a fixed plan, and went on it twice, once in daytime and once at night. Both lovely, in their different ways.

Ingsy

greenface wrote: »

DAY 4 GUESS AGAIN!!
PLEASE GET BACK TO YOUR HOTEL FOR AROUND ONE O'CLOCK
AND ATTEMPT TO REACH THE AIRPORT IN PLENTY OF TIME if you are thinking of getting back to your hotel for 15.00 for a 18.00 flight you will miss it.

All of the others are in good order and good time to fill in all the other things you will want to do inbetween . Always try to make a moment special when you are anywhere in the world not just USA or NYC. Try to have a coffee/burger/ice cream/cup cake in a memorible place looking at or sitting on/over somewhere,you and yours can always remember it and can talk with interest in years to come. "HAD A MILKSHAKE IN MSG" "SANG give peace a chance ENJOYING A ICE CREAM IN STRAWBERRY FIELD WITH A LOAD OF STRANGERS" "BOUGHT LUNCH AND A FANTASTIC COFFEE IN A LITTLE DINER WITH A CRACKING VIEW OVER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE" just some moments i can remember when not actually doing anything just stopping for respite for my feet.

Thanks for the feedback greenface. We've deliberately not tried to fill the days with too much stuff, as we don't want to be rushing around all over the place and not have time to actually enjoy being there, by doing some of the things you've mentioned. Sometimes it's nice just to sit and watch the world go by and take it all in.

As for getting back to the hotel for the flight, we're flying on to Vegas, and the Delta web-site says check in 90 minutes before the flight, so we thought we'd be ok if the cab was booked for 3 to leave the hotel. I thought it is about an hour from Tribeca to JFK?

Lady_S

Personally I wouldn't leave that short a time, even with a 90 minute check in.

It takes about an hour to get to the airport, longer in heavy traffic, so you only have a 30 min cushion for check in.

Gill247

guineapig wrote: »

Can anybody suggest the best time to go to TOTR and Staten Island Ferry? It would be helpful to know what day/time is most/least busy has the shortest/longest queue?

What sort of waiting time have you all experienced?

Thanks

For the Staten Island Ferry avoid rush hours on weekdays as it is mobbed with commuters. I have always went about mid morning, 10-11am and have found you can always get a seat and good view outside. Remember to wrap up, even when its nice weather the wind out on the water can get chilly!

Gill247

emmalouisedunn wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am due to visit NYC for the first time in a couple of weeks with my boyfriend and I have a list of things I want to try and fit in but as I have no idea where anything is in relation to eachother, how long journey times are etc. I am struggling with creating an itinerary! I want to make every second count!

My flight lands at 13.30 at JFK (people have told us to allow 2 hours to get out of the airport, is this correct?)

Yes it can take a long time to clear through US Customs and then pick up your bags. You might get lucky but plan for 2 hours and you wont be dissapointed.

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then we are staying at the Hudson Hotel (356 West 58th Street) and we are yet to decide how to get there. I have considered bus, metro and taxi (what would be my best bet, how long would each take and what would the cost be?) [/QUOTE]

The bus will probably work out cheapest if there is only 2 of you. You will need to allow time to find the bus stop, wait for the next one, then for the travelling time into Manhattan. If you can afford it then taxis are the quickest and will take you straight to your hotel.

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So then we have Saturday late afternoon/evening free, Sunday (plan to go to Woodbury Common), all of Monday and Tuesday Morning (need to leave after lunch) [/QUOTE]

Make use of Saturday late afternoon / evening. Try to do the things near your hotel. Like Bloomingdales, Tiffanys, maybe Rockerfeller at sunset?, Serendipity (you should book as its v. popular), Magnolia Bakery near Rockerfeller.

See all the other posts re Woodbury Common. You can pick up bargains but its a full day out of your time and you can pick up good savings in alot of shops in NYC. Take your passport to the guest services in Macy's and get your 10% off voucher etc.

Use Monday to go downtown and see Ground Zero, Century 21 and Brooklyn Bridge.

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And here are a list of things we want to do: have a walk through central park (not a long walk, thinking maybe early one morning) visit empire state OR rockerfeller (which is best, go to Carnegie Deli, Serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate, Possibly Katz Deli (?), Possibly Magnolia for cupcakes, Possibly Century 21, Visit Ground Zero, Go the big department stores Macys, Dwayne Reed Pharmacy, Canal Street, Bloomingdales, Tiffany and Pandora stores. Maybe Brooklyn Bridge if we can fit it in? Food wise, gotta try a good NY pizzza/hotdog, would like to try a nice steakhouse, american style breakfast (maybe pancakes), possibly a chinese too and CRAB LEGS (love these). Maybe check out some nice cocktail type bars in the evening?? [/QUOTE]

There is Duane Reeds all over the city, you wont need to plan one into your schedule as you will most definately come across one. They are great!!

The same with pizza / hot dogs. There is hundreds of carts all over the city's street corners.

One of the best things I have done in NY is the Sex and the City tour (dont it twice now its so good). Its a good way to see the city if you are a fan of the show, plus you stop at Magnolia Bakery and get a cupcake, photo opp outside Carrie's apartment, and a cocktail in 'Aidens' bar. Its about 3 hours and they have a few each day but you have to book.

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Are there any other must do/sees?? [/QUOTE]

The Staten Island Ferry is worth it if you have a spare hour when you are downtown. You get to see some amazing views of lower Manhattan and pass the Statue of Liberty. The best bit is its free!!

claire80

So only 6 weeks to go to my trip to NYC , getting very excited , mom bought me a guide book which i have read cover to cover lol and been researching like mad almost ready to make my final itinery ! now all i need to do is book a hotel ! didnt realise when i 1st decided to go to new york how much the rooms are so have been holding out for a "deal" doesnt seem to be any fluctuation on prices so i think im gonna bite the bullet next week when hubby gets paid and book somewhere !

kelda_shelton

We're flying out of newark at 7.10pm on a Monday we were going to use the subway plus the air train... (is that correct? from penn station to the aiport?) how much time would you guys recommend to leave for this?

Also we arrive into Newark at 5.45am in the morning and were plannign to egt the air train in. Does it run that early?

hornblower

kelda_shelton, the Newark Airtrain runs 24 hours a day:

From http://www.panynj.gov/airports/ewr-to-from.html

AirTrain arrives and departs every three minutes from 5 a.m. to midnight and approximately every 15 minutes between midnight and 5 a.m. On Sundays, the train arrives and departs approximately every 15 minutes from midnight to 7 a.m. Nighttime operation is a shuttle service which requires transfer of trains. Shuttles generally run RailLink to P4, P4 to Terminal A and Terminal A to P1. For more information, see AirTrain Newark Map.


And if you're going from Penn Station in NYC, you can catch the NJ Transit to Newark.

Beware: there is a Penn Station in NYC and a Penn Station in Newark!