Everything & Anything New York City

John259

JRS1990 wrote: »

Now here is where I'm about to sound stupid.

There is no stupid. There's lack of knowledge but if you don't know then you don't know and the solution is to find out.

For the United States, you need to know about the ESTA system. This is the official site:
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta
Beware of other sites which provide an identical service but charge much more.

Also, when I have been doing my searches on hotels, it often says city tax isn't included? Is that something we cough up when we arrive?

If you pay for accommodation when you're in the USA, then it will be subject to applicable sales taxes. These vary between states and sometimes there are additional taxes in cities. Prices quoted on motel and hotel web sites exclude sales tax. Prices shown in shops and restaurants also exclude sales tax. However, prices shown in petrol (gas) stations include tax.

If you have pre-paid accommodation then you need to check whether or not sales tax is included or has be paid locally. It is possible I guess for state sales tax to have been pre-paid but city sales tax has to be paid locally.

The best flight prices we can find are leaving Gatwick 18.30 arriving NY 22.50.

That's ghastly (IMHO). With the time difference you'll be arriving early morning UK time feeling like death cooled down, because in my experience you never get any proper sleep on a plane. The zeroth law of aviation states that every flight has a crying baby or a group of teenagers who never stop talking. In addition, arriving in a strange city at 10:30pm isn't a good idea. Unless the saving is critical, I'd strongly advise a much earlier flight.

Also their subway

This video has some excellent advice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayp0ZUjfZRA
There are quite a few similar ones on YouTube if there's anything that one doesn't explain.

Keep asking questions, keep looking things up online.

greenface

JRS1990 wrote: »

Hi all,

Now here is where I'm about to sound stupid.

Hi there . There is no thing as a stupid question but......... far from me to be accused of any sarcasm . Any chance letting us know how long your thinking of going to NYC for. £1300 ? How many people is it 1300 each person or for 2 adults etc . A tad more info will help people to help you

gregg1

greenface wrote: »

Hi there . There is no thing as a stupid question but......... far from me to be accused of any sarcasm . Any chance letting us know how long your thinking of going to NYC for. £1300 ? How many people is it 1300 each person or for 2 adults etc . A tad more info will help people to help you

I asked a genuine question. Not everyone knows everything about NY and what may be a silly question to you is not to them. A little courtesy perhaps would be more welcome than a sneering put down. I was surprised because it seemed out of character for you as you are usually extremely helpful and polite (and have not yet resorted to referring to yourself pompously in the third person like someone else I won't mention;))

So, apologies for irritating you with my question. But it really was something I was not sure about.

Neil49

Our ESTA's are now around 18 months old and contain flight/hotel details from October 2012.

We are returning to NY later this month but do we need to update them with our new travel details or, given that we got in ok last time, do we just turn up at the airport and say we have existing ESTA's and leave it at that.

Many thanks.

jackieblack

You don't NEED to update, but we usually do.
You don't NEED to carry a print out either, but we always do that too.
It takes no effort and I'd rather do it hoping to avoid any potential issues, but lots of people don't and it rarely seems to be queried.

blindman

JRS1990 wrote: »

Hi all, I've been half following this thread but with 300+ pages I haven't read it all.

Now here is where I'm about to sound stupid. probably really stupid to ask

It is not stupid to ask , just plain lazy

All the answers are provided on the first page of this thread which has links to previous threads' first pages.

Just read those.:cool:

JRS1990

greenface wrote: »

Hi there . There is no thing as a stupid question but......... far from me to be accused of any sarcasm . Any chance letting us know how long your thinking of going to NYC for. £1300 ? How many people is it 1300 each person or for 2 adults etc . A tad more info will help people to help you

2 adults, 5 days/4 nights. Forgot to include this sorry

rutsnuts

Hi

I wondered if anyone has managed to purchase Groupon deals for New York via the groupon.com site?
I am going to New York with my family for 10 days in August and have seen some deals for reduced bike hire in Central Park and discounts at restaurants, but can't seem to purchase as it asks for province and zip codes.

Anyone got any ideas of how I can get around this? Am I ok to put the zip code for my hotel and get vouchers sent to my email address?

Cheers folks

rutsnuts

P.s. if anyone has any recommendations of places to go outside of usual tourist spots in Manhattan would be greatly appreciated ..cheers

Saint_Chris

I've just managed to book flight to new York, with flythomascook, for next june for £299 including luggage.


I'm real pleased and I will be spending loads of time on here reading all your posts and asking questions.