Everything & Anything New York City

cubegame

Might be of interest to people on here.

The Yankees have started their individual game ticket sales today for Mastercard holders. Tickets from $5.

hellokitty08

Im back! yay Well no, Boo!

I will give you a brief run down of my trip.


Took a local train service to Birmingham airport - all fine, on time and empty
Airport - booked No1 Traveller lounge, with some help from my friends on the lounge discount board. It was very nice, good breakfast and plenty of drinks to choose from. They were very helpful as I forgot to print off my confirmation, they let me in anyway.
Flight - united airlines - quick flight, 6 1/2 hours, plenty of food on board, had a vegi curry, salad and roll, with desert and then later a hot turkey and chesse roll with a bag of crisps. Lots of drinks. it was a bit crampt but not the end of the world on a 6 1/2 hour flight. Arrived in NY early, left Birmingham on time. on board entertainment was good.

Airport Transfer (from Newark) - Used Dial 7. Very good service at airport, even though we were an hour ahead of schedule car was with us in 5 minutes. Poliet and quite driver, took 25 minutes to get to hotel.

Hotel - Tryp Times Square South. Location was perfect for us, room was massive. It had two double beds in and more then enough room to swing a couple of tigers! Big bathroom too, I am sure you could have easily fitted 15 people in there! Staff pretty much all poliet and very helpful. A concerige said he couldnt help us get a taxi and a bar man was a bit rude, but everyone else was extra helpful.

Macys - had great fun checking out the 50% sale sections, of which there was loads.

Bloomingdales - was boring

Times Square - Good fun, I personally enjoyed Toys R Us. I usually hate touristy tack, but I enjoyed our visit (we were only there a couple of hours)

Mary Poppins - Some odd attempts at British accents, but Mary was great. The new amsterdam theatre was a great venue, seats were very comfortable. (we booked disounted tickets before we left, just googled the show, and booked with a code on the offical ticket agent site. Got 40% off a few weeks in advance. Picked them up on the night no problem or lines)

Empire State - I didnt go up, I have a massive fear of heights, but it was ok to look at from the ground! :rotfl:

Staten Island Ferry - The best thing to do for free, surely? Got some great pictures of the statue of liberty.

Subway - Used it loads, it was fine. Bought a metro card, it was very easy to do and machines are located everywhere.

Taxis - hailed a couple, easy to do, quite cheep.

K-mart! - hehehe, got some total bargins here. Tops for $3.45, bundles of Pjs $10, I saved over $100 on the bits I bought that were in the sales.

China Town - The biggest one I have ever been to. Some amazing shopping and an excellent meal. Spent the whole day there buying gifts and catching a dragon parade.

Torrid - Plus size clothing store. They dont have one in manhattan, I travelled to Staten Island mall, with some help from my friends on here. Its totally worth a trip if your in to plus size young fashion. (there is one in broklyn and the bronx i think)

Rockafeller Centre - Not much to look at, a statue, a fountin, some ice skaters on what seemed like a small rink. Maybe I missed the point?

Return trip to the airport - Carmel car hire, I thought I would try them. Nicer car, again good service, arrived 10 minutes early. Would reccomend.

Return flight, chair wouldnt recline and in flight entertainment didnt work either, so i was a bit bored, but I had had a great holiday by then so I didnt really mind.

I cant wait to go back! I actually brought back £250 worth of spending money and my suitcase was rammed! Good Times.

bb69

hellokitty08 wrote: »

Im back! yay Well no, Boo!

I will give you a brief run down of my trip.


Took a local train service to Birmingham airport - all fine, on time and empty
Airport - booked No1 Traveller lounge, with some help from my friends on the lounge discount board. It was very nice, good breakfast and plenty of drinks to choose from. They were very helpful as I forgot to print off my confirmation, they let me in anyway.
Flight - united airlines - quick flight, 6 1/2 hours, plenty of food on board, had a vegi curry, salad and roll, with desert and then later a hot turkey and chesse roll with a bag of crisps. Lots of drinks. it was a bit crampt but not the end of the world on a 6 1/2 hour flight. Arrived in NY early, left Birmingham on time. on board entertainment was good.

Airport Transfer (from Newark) - Used Dial 7. Very good service at airport, even though we were an hour ahead of schedule car was with us in 5 minutes. Poliet and quite driver, took 25 minutes to get to hotel.

Hotel - Tryp Times Square South. Location was perfect for us, room was massive. It had two double beds in and more then enough room to swing a couple of tigers! Big bathroom too, I am sure you could have easily fitted 15 people in there! Staff pretty much all poliet and very helpful. A concerige said he couldnt help us get a taxi and a bar man was a bit rude, but everyone else was extra helpful.

Macys - had great fun checking out the 50% sale sections, of which there was loads.

Bloomingdales - was boring

Times Square - Good fun, I personally enjoyed Toys R Us. I usually hate touristy tack, but I enjoyed our visit (we were only there a couple of hours)

Mary Poppins - Some odd attempts at British accents, but Mary was great. The new amsterdam theatre was a great venue, seats were very comfortable. (we booked disounted tickets before we left, just googled the show, and booked with a code on the offical ticket agent site. Got 40% off a few weeks in advance. Picked them up on the night no problem or lines)

Empire State - I didnt go up, I have a massive fear of heights, but it was ok to look at from the ground! :rotfl:

Staten Island Ferry - The best thing to do for free, surely? Got some great pictures of the statue of liberty.

Subway - Used it loads, it was fine. Bought a metro card, it was very easy to do and machines are located everywhere.

Taxis - hailed a couple, easy to do, quite cheep.

K-mart! - hehehe, got some total bargins here. Tops for $3.45, bundles of Pjs $10, I saved over $100 on the bits I bought that were in the sales.

China Town - The biggest one I have ever been to. Some amazing shopping and an excellent meal. Spent the whole day there buying gifts and catching a dragon parade.

Torrid - Plus size clothing store. They dont have one in manhattan, I travelled to Staten Island mall, with some help from my friends on here. Its totally worth a trip if your in to plus size young fashion. (there is one in broklyn and the bronx i think)

Rockafeller Centre - Not much to look at, a statue, a fountin, some ice skaters on what seemed like a small rink. Maybe I missed the point?

Return trip to the airport - Carmel car hire, I thought I would try them. Nicer car, again good service, arrived 10 minutes early. Would reccomend.

Return flight, chair wouldnt recline and in flight entertainment didnt work either, so i was a bit bored, but I had had a great holiday by then so I didnt really mind.

I cant wait to go back! I actually brought back £250 worth of spending money and my suitcase was rammed! Good Times.

glad you had a good time! What was the weather like?

hellokitty08

We had one day of rain, but it was quite light. We were out and about and went back to the hotel after about 6 hours, because it was then when were were starting to soak through. apart from that, clear, with the sun out, but cold, about 3 degrees. The thing is though as soon as you go in to a building they kill you with heat, so I spent most of my time wondering around with a jumper and a rain mac on. It was much more suitable then my coat.

plodder1

Hi All,
We fly into Newark next Saturday. Got 5 nights in Verve Hotel, Long Island City, Queens - can't wait!
To get from airport to hotel, would you recommend trains (presumably: Airtrain, NY Penn, subway) or is it better to book a car with the likes of Carmel?
Struggling with cost vs. convenience and would really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Savvy_Sue

plodder1 wrote: »

Hi All,
We fly into Newark next Saturday. Got 5 nights in Verve Hotel, Long Island City, Queens - can't wait!
To get from airport to hotel, would you recommend trains (presumably: Airtrain, NY Penn, subway) or is it better to book a car with the likes of Carmel?
Struggling with cost vs. convenience and would really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

How many people, what ages and levels of mobility, how much luggage, what time are you due to arrive?

With me and DH and three teenagers each with a suitcase, we opted NOT to use public transport to our hotel after an evening arrival, but we happily did so on the way out. Actually we were only on our way to Grand Central Station, with no fixed train to catch, but we'd have been happy to go all the way to the airport if necessary.

plodder1

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

How many people, what ages and levels of mobility, how much luggage, what time are you due to arrive?

With me and DH and three teenagers each with a suitcase, we opted NOT to use public transport to our hotel after an evening arrival, but we happily did so on the way out. Actually we were only on our way to Grand Central Station, with no fixed train to catch, but we'd have been happy to go all the way to the airport if necessary.

Thanks Savvy. We are 2 grown-ups, both mobile (sort of!), 2 big cases plus hand luggage. Arriving lunchtime. What did you you use to get to your hotel? how did prices compare with public transport?

Savvy_Sue

plodder1 wrote: »

Thanks Savvy. We are 2 grown-ups, both mobile (sort of!), 2 big cases plus hand luggage. Arriving lunchtime. What did you you use to get to your hotel? how did prices compare with public transport?

We used the shuttle, but I should have listened to Mark, I'd never do it again ...

I've no idea how it compared with public transport, I'm afraid. I just thought that it would be better for the boys NOT to be exposed to the general public when they were tired and crabby. And we weren't going to fit into one taxi.

You could always see how you feel on the day. Work out what the route looks like by public transport, and then if you don't feel up to it get a taxi. You will, at least, fit into one.

Not the NY holiday, but some other trips DH hasn't gone to bed the night before and then slept (a bit) on the plane. He's therefore fit for nothing when he first arrives, although he bounces back quite quickly. If you've had a similar experience, you'll probably want the taxi!

M4RKM

plodder1 wrote: »

Thanks Savvy. We are 2 grown-ups, both mobile (sort of!), 2 big cases plus hand luggage. Arriving lunchtime. What did you you use to get to your hotel? how did prices compare with public transport?

The main problem here is that you're landing in New Jersey, which just for convenience sake isn't great for Long Island City. It's good for areas around Penn Station, and down to Lower Manhattan, but anything other than that, it's a pain to get anywhere. Also, the cost of the taxi/car service is greater, as they're always going to have to traverse Manhattan.

What I would do, is hop on the AirTrain, then NJ Transit into Penn Station, and when you get out of Penn Station, get a taxi through to your hotel. It's probably the most convenient way, while keeping costs to a decent level.

M

will_i_am_2

Hi Guys.

Glad I found this sub-forum. I'm off to NYC with the missus on the last week of this month for 5 days, very much looking forward to it as it's our 1st time in the states.

I'm flying from Belfast to Newark and would like some hints and tips to make the most of my trip and have a few questions that hopefully the helpful people on here could answer for me.

I've looked into booking the USAcoach which is recommended on the liberty airport website, it's 28 dollars each for a round trip from EWR to Penn station which is near our hotel (New Yorker). Is this my best option or are there other more cost effective ways in doing this? My thought is that at nearly £20 each for a 10 mile return is a bit steep isn't it, as I wouldn't pay that sort of money for a short return bus in the U.K

I was thinking of getting a pre-paid travel card to put half my spending money on and take the other half in cash, probably pay for all my meals on the card and have the cash for drinks and bits here and there, would anyone recommend a FXcard or an equivalent?

the New York Pass - is it currently on offer on their website at 150 dollars which is circa 100 quid each for a 3 day pass, this all looks good on paper as it seems to save quite abit of money, we will be doing as much sightseeing as possible in the short time we are there, would this be my best way of doing so?

Places to eat and drink would be great to hear of, I'm Irish and in the Forces so was also hoping to flash my I.D as I hear it gets you alot of discounts over there as they love the military and all that hoorah stuff. would the Irish bars be somewhere I would have a good time, surely their not the usual Irish bars as with over here?

it's all getting exciting, can not wait to go.

Cheers, Will