My girlfriend and I have just got back from 6 weeks in the USA, and although our time in New York was brief I would like to share what made our time in New York so special and one of the best places we visited. During our travels we visited cities including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas and Toronto. We would definitely rate New York as the nicest city by far.
Day 1 – July 5th
After an action packed Independence Day we were tired yet excited by the prospect of travelling to New York. We arrived at DFW airport at approximately 8.30am with an anticipated departure of 10.30; however our plane suffered a flat tire on the runway which meant a cancelled flight and a wait until 5pm. We finally touched down in LGA at 9.30pm with a beautiful lap of Manhattan at night prior. This gave us our first insight into the city that never sleeps. We received our checked luggage quickly and proceeded to the ground transportation desk to enquire about the SuperShuttle we had already booked. We were lucky there was already a driver present and we arrived at our hotel within an hour of touchdown. This is were a little nerves set in as we are both only 21 and our first visit to the USA so we were a little daunted by New York. Partly due to the bad reviews our hotel had received on Trip Advisor. Our hotel was the Days Inn on Broadway and 96th Street. Upon check-in we were given many information leaflets about New York, informed about the subway across the road and given our rooms. We were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the reception staff. Upon entering our room, we gave it the once over, everything was clean and that was all we really wanted, although the room did have a slight smell. I would say that we were on a budget due to the scale of the trip and got exactly what we paid for. If you want something better I think you’ll probably have to pay a lot more for it. We only wanted a bed for the night and spent very little time in the room. We went to sleep in anticipation for an early start the next day.
Day 2 – July 6th
We made our way to the subway at approximately 7.30am to get down to Times Square to pick up an organised tour we had booked. We had a walk around a surprisingly quiet Times Square at this time, got some breakfast and joined our tour. We decided on a tour so we could see a little of everything and revisit anything we really wanted to. The tour group was small and the guide very informative so we really got an insight into New York. We visited many sites including, Strawberry Fields, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Madison Square Gardens, Rockefeller Plaza, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry (Views of New York Skyline, Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty), Ground Zero, St Paul’s Church, Wall Street, Flatiron building etc etc. We really did get to see an awful lot and appreciated that the tour was 50% driving and 50% walking so you weren’t stuck in traffic jams all day. The tour allowed us to be dropped off at the Empire State Building at the end so we took this opportunity and used our pre-booked tickets to ride to the top. The tour finished at approximately 2.30pm. We enjoyed the beautiful uninterrupted views at the top before making our way down and browsing some of the cheap souvenir shops for postcards etc. We started making our way along Fifth Avenue from 34th Street passing many interesting buildings, such as the Public Library, Trump Tower etc. We stopped for a drink to refresh then proceeded to FAO Schwarz. We enjoyed our time in there and were mesmerised by all the soft toys. We couldn’t leave without purchasing a souvenir teddy bear. We had a quick look at the state of The Plaza, then walked to Bloomingdale’s. From there we walked back to Times Square, went to the Hard Rock Café for our evening meal then see Times Square in all its glory at night. Although it was only 9.30pm we headed back on the subway to the hotel, we were both shattered and must have walked miles.
Day 3 – July 7th
Upon our arrival to NYC we had a fax waiting informing us of our success in our application for a Big Apple Greeter. We contacted our greeter and confirmed our tour for July 7th at 9.00pm. For those who don’t know, Big Apple Greeter is an organisation that pairs one family of between 2 and 6 people with a volunteer who shares his love of the city within the same interests as the group. We requested a tour of Central Park and we were paired with Philip Sarrel, a lovely man who has a love for Central Park. Philip met us promptly at our hotel and sat down and talked through the history of Central Park. We proceeded to Central Park entering about 3 blocks from our hotel. This was the start of a wonderful tour that gave us a real insight into what life in New York is like. We walked around the park seeing many of the highlights including the Reservoir which between 8 and 10 thousand people run around everyday of the year, the rambles, the boat house, Bow Bridge, the Great Lawn, Turtle Pond, Belvedere Castle, the many statues including Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Anderson and finally the beautiful Bethesda Terrace. Having a volunteer like Philip made New York more special for us and his knowledge was extensive. Big Apple Greeter has a no tipping policy and volunteers give tours free of charge. Philip said we couldn’t even buy him a drink and he gave us a both a metro card and asked us where we would like to go so he could direct us. At the end of the tour he took us out of the park at the South End by The Plaza, walked us to the subway and directed us to Macy’s, where we wanted to go next. Central Park is a magnificent place and many describe it as the lungs of the city and I would have to agree. I would recommend a morning in the park to any visitor and even a picnic if you can. However, the park is vast and I would recommend having map or if you’re lucky enough to get a guide definitely take that option. We went to Macy’s, and had a good look around before returning to our hotel to freshen up before heading to Broadway. We went back down to Times Square for about 6.30pm to get some food before making our way to the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre to see Mamma Mia!. This show was amazing and had us singing all the way home! We walked back to Times Square to have one last look before heading back to the hotel to pack.
Day 4 – July 8th
We reluctantly got up and got ready for our SuperShuttle that picked us up promptly at 8.00am. We made our way back to La Guardia and boarded our plane to Niagara Falls. We had amazing time in New York and are already planning to come back. Despite our hotel being on 96th Street we both felt that this was as close as we needed to be and a trip to New York wouldn’t have been complete without a trip of the Subway and oh yeah some lovely New York Cheesecake. Finally I just wanted to say thanks to all those who responded to my questions on Trip Advisor in preparation for our trip, it was all your helpful advice that made the trip what it was and allowed us to take advantage of programs such the Big Apple Greeters etc, so a big thanks!!!