Everything & Anything New York City

bb69

AllyS wrote: »

Hi

Ok I am a complete New york novice. We are thinking possible of going this year, if budget will stretch. We have to go in the school holidays due to my work, or we could fly out Fri afternoon, but I would have to be back for work on Tuesday morning. I might be able to wangle an extra day, but would rather not. We would like to go for 3 nights. The things we def want to do are see a show and eat in really nice places. Then just experience New York and go with the flow as such.

Where do you receommend staying and what type of budget do you think we need? I do want to do some shopping

I know it is quite basic, but we just want to go to New York and experience it. I just always said I want to go see a broadway show and sit in a cafe eating New York cheesecake and watch New York go past me :rotfl:

Thanks in advance

NYC is a great choice.
What's your budget for the flights and accomondation? What month were you thinking of going?

greenface

bb69 wrote: »

NYC is a great choice.
What's your budget for the flights and accomondation? What month were you thinking of going?

As above and where from ???

A long weekend sometimes is difficult you say friday night . Well make that early sat morn from mankchester (direct) so you will get to your hotel for late afternoon. Then you can return tuesday morning (about 7am and straight to work) or monday morning (direct) meaning your heading to the airport sunday teatime for a 10pm flight I make that about 28hrs in Manhattan . (Mankchester example for direct flights other airports and times will differ but add it all up first)

Dave1979

NYCbabyeee wrote: »

Hi I am looking at flights from Edinburgh to Newark. Been keeping an eye on them for a few months now. Looking to go in February 2012. Went in April (more expensive than Feb) 2 years ago and it cost us £333 going on a Friday. Looking to book Thursday (as it's cheaper) to Monday and the cheapest I can get direct just now is £422. Today it's gone up to £546!

I tried going so far with a booking on Continental website to see the availability and there seems to be over 90 seats free (does anyone know if that's reliable?) so I am checking lots of different comparison websites every day. I'm hoping the prices will come down after Christmas. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

We just booked Edinburgh to Newark in April on the Continental website and it was £450 (Thur - Tue). Also got 5 nights in the Yotel for £750 inc. all taxes when they were doing an offer. Can't wait! I was there for 9/11 and this will be my first time back.

AllyS

bb69 wrote: »

NYC is a great choice.
What's your budget for the flights and accomondation? What month were you thinking of going?

Budget for flights, accomodation is £500 each, but the lower this is the more money we have to spend on other fun stuff

greenface wrote: »

As above and where from ???

A long weekend sometimes is difficult you say friday night . Well make that early sat morn from mankchester (direct) so you will get to your hotel for late afternoon. Then you can return tuesday morning (about 7am and straight to work) or monday morning (direct) meaning your heading to the airport sunday teatime for a 10pm flight I make that about 28hrs in Manhattan . (Mankchester example for direct flights other airports and times will differ but add it all up first)

We can fly from Bristol or any London airport (pref Heathrow or Luton) or even Manchester. We live in SW but have family in London and near Manchester, so all are possible. Yup thought that about the weekend, so it will have to be school hols. Looking at August (maybe too hot, altho have been to Aus and temp was fine for me 30's), October or maybe New year, but I am guessing New Year will be mega money.

M4RKM

AllyS wrote: »

Budget for flights, accomodation is £500 each, but the lower this is the more money we have to spend on other fun stuff

... Looking at August (maybe too hot, altho have been to Aus and temp was fine for me 30's), October or maybe New year, but I am guessing New Year will be mega money.

£1000 for 2 people to head to NYC is a tight budget at anytime of year. Heathrow is by far the cheapest airport to fly out of, and flights are, at cheapest on average £400 each.

Towards the end of August is then the cheapest out of the three times you've stated for a hotel room, but these run around the price of $200 (excluding tax) per night for a hotel in Manhattan, or £150 including taxes to give you british money. If you've only got £200 for accommodation (going on your original budget), then you can see how tight things are.

Luckily, there are cheaper hotels but these are not in Manhattan, but a short distance away. Look at the Country Inn & Suites in Long Island City, and you'll get a room there for around $125 per night at the end of August. So, on your budget, you can afford to stay only 2 nights.

I really would take a look at that budget and see if you can increase it anyway. Staying in Manhattan for your first holiday to NYC does make it more exciting and is easier, but if push comes to shove, Long Island City will do the trick.

Finally, it isn't the temperature that is unbearable in NYC. It is the humidity. It is so humid you can feel the moisture in the air. You walk outside, and it hits you like a slap in the face. Everywhere inside is airconditioned, but the 5 minute wait on the subway platform is just UGH! Regardless whether you can handle the heat, can you handle near 90% humidity??

M

nvh

AllyS wrote: »

Looking at August (maybe too hot, altho have been to Aus and temp was fine for me 30's), October or maybe New year, but I am guessing New Year will be mega money.

cost us £600 each at New Year (6 nights, departing on 26th from MAN, change @ LHR then on to Newark) - coming back at 7pm on New Years Day direct from Newark to MAN so it is possible to get close to your budget price without paying through the nose.

This included 6 nights accommodation in a smoke-free King Size room at a new Super 8 in Brooklyn including complimentary breakfast, free wifi and a fridge in the room (as well as quite a lot of space!), and just one block from the R train running into Manhatten - about 30mins to get to Times Square for example

Suited us perfectly, was worried about the travel times into Manhatten but they ended up flying by (gave us time to look at our tourist books and see what we could fit in that day!)

Bought the flights in June (or July) 2011 so that may give you some more time to save! Also got 2000 nectar points through Expedia and also some cashback via. Quidco

Hope that helps a bit - was quite a nice / quiet area in Brooklyn - quite a few restaurants and bars away from the hustle and bustle (and a lot cheaper too!)

edit: with the above, you will need to add $29 per person to your budget for a week-long subway pass! - taxi from NWR to the Super 8 was $72 + toll + tips. Private hire from Super 8 to NWR was $82 + toll + tips. Toll was $16 IIRC

edit 2: just noticed you said originally you wanted to do some shopping - this hotel may not appeal in that case as you won't be able to just hop back to your hotel to drop things off... we saw the sights more than we did the shopping thing, though there are shops a couple of stops away from Union Street @ Hoyt Street (and thereabouts) inc. Macy's, you won't have A&F etc etc etc!

Wazlett

Hi Everyone,

I've been a long time reader and there has been some incredibly useful information provided on these NY pages!

I'm booking a trip for 6 people to NY for their 1st trip there in November this year. I wanted to catch the Thanksgiving Parade (22nd Nov), but also see that the Christmas tree lighting ceremony will be the week after. So I'm looking to fly from Manchester on 21st Nov to JFK and returning on 30th Nov (which will hopefully let me see both events!). I've seen some direct flights with AA / BA for £492 (return) on Netflights, but this price seems to fluctuate.

Is it worth waiting to see if they drop or is this an impossible dream given that Thanksgiving will be a busy time?

Any tips for catching those two events are very much appreciated also!

Thanks for your help

VestanPance

£492 is a decent price for flights these days. I'd doubt if they would drop much at all, particularly as November tends to be a busy season in NYC.

KK22_2

I was wondering if any of you lovely people out there fancied helping me hunt out some good deals for a holiday to NYC.

Looking to fly from Glasgow to NYC airports, direct flight preferrably. We are totally flexible in terms of when we can go, we would would prefer to go in April/May for 7 nights and leaving on a Thursday (if possible). We prefer hotels to be in the midtown area, we have previously stayed in there are familiar with the area but again, can be flexible here. Budget per person is £800

Any help would be appreciated, we are desperate to go again but im not having much luck finding good deals at this time!

josie

Wazlett wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I've been a long time reader and there has been some incredibly useful information provided on these NY pages!

I'm booking a trip for 6 people to NY for their 1st trip there in November this year. I wanted to catch the Thanksgiving Parade (22nd Nov), but also see that the Christmas tree lighting ceremony will be the week after. So I'm looking to fly from Manchester on 21st Nov to JFK and returning on 30th Nov (which will hopefully let me see both events!). I've seen some direct flights with AA / BA for £492 (return) on Netflights, but this price seems to fluctuate.

Is it worth waiting to see if they drop or is this an impossible dream given that Thanksgiving will be a busy time?

Any tips for catching those two events are very much appreciated also!

Thanks for your help

You'll need to stay for 7 nights, I'd guess as would think the tree lighting would be on 28 Nov - but worth checking! It's a bit early to look at a deal on Expedia yet for that time. We went for 6 nights Nov '11, landing on Sat 26 Nov for £673 each with Expedia + £50 cashback from Quidco, staying at the Edison Hotel (great location, average hotel).

We thought about going to the tree lighting, but if you've been to the Rock Centre before, you'll know how hemmed in it is. Well, they started putting the barriers up the day before, and tbh you'll be lucky to get anywhere near it. We decided to go home and watch it on TV and went back to look at it live the next day. There are that many TV cameras and very restricted viewing that I wouldn't personally recommend it. Also, it's a 3 hour "show" with Justin Bieber, The Rockettes, etc., etc., or whoever it'll be this year and then they switch it on at the end and it seemed a bit of a let down to me! Just my twopennorth tho!