Take a Bite of the Big Apple (New York City)

Member Name: HS28

Product:	New York City
Date:	17/05/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic city to see numerous attracitons and shop til you drop

Disadvantages: The only downside for me would be the air quality and booking a dodgy hotel

***New York New York***

This is only a review from my perspective so will of course not feature all the attractions one can se on a trip to New York. Hopefully it does touch upon the main things to do and in a positive light! New York is one of those cities that I will always be a must see destination and one which entices back travellers year after year. It has been through some huge changes from the city of grime and crime to getting a make over as a shopper's paradise then the sadness of the twin towers and rising from the ashes. My Review of New York is from pre 911 but I feel the favourite places and things that you do when there and I did are still the same. When we went it was around about the time that the Mayor had been doing a big clean up campaign and tourism was on the up. It is one of the most metropolitan cities to visit and famous for theatre, music, fashion, finance and culture.


**Where is it and what you should see**

Well New York other wise known as the Big Apple is located in the North East of the United States and New York is located in the south of New York State. It is one of the largest cities if not the largest city geographically in the US. Some of the key attractions to see are Central Park, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, Broadway and Times Square, Rockefeller Centre, Wall Street and The World Trade Centre, The Museums, China Town, Greenwich Village. Not forgetting the shopping, pulling in a show and eating out or even clubbing.


**When I went**

I went to New York in September 2000 on a holiday with my Dad visiting New York, Niagara Falls and Toronto. I was still at university and working part time at the airport and for some reason I fancied an extravagant holiday to the USA as I had never been. The price flights and hotels in that year to the USA were quite good value. My mum was at home as sister was having her first baby so I went away with my dad who could get time off work. Luckily whilst we were out there we missed the fuel crisis in the UK which apparently wasn't so much fun. The stay in New York was for 3 days before moving on via plane to Niagara Falls then on to Toronto. We flew with Sabena Airlines (now bust I think) form Manchester via Brussels to JFK Airport and it was a good flight in the times when they gave you lots of free alcohol on board! My dad booked the hotels and flights and I just paid up the price owed which was about £250 for the flight and about £300 for the accommodation over the whole trip. I then in my spend, spend, spend days took my credit cards for shopping companions!


**Welcome to New York**

I must say that the immigration into New York was pretty easy going as I was concerned on the plane but they really want you to enjoy your stay. Unlike I must say my entry into Canada who were not as friendly with the happy spending tourists on my second leg of this holiday.

**Where we stayed**

I remember arriving in New York JFK Airport amazed at its size and jumped aboard one of those airport vans. That is like a rollercoaster of a ride as the drivers in those things take no prisoners and bomb down the free ways. Now as I said my Dad booked the hotel which was he said a 2 star hotel for tourists and two twin beds. I remember looking out the blue van and thinking this neighbourhood looks a little rough especially when I saw a couple of big American ladies with hot pants on! (they were hookers!!) It turned out we were at our destination too which was somewhere like Mid Manhattan and dropped off with our cases at the hotel door. We went in and I was shocked to the core. The reception person showed us the room which was actually a single dorm and I swear there was a white chalk outline of a dead body on the floor (my dad said I was exaggerating but I still have nightmares about this place). Soon we realised that using the internet to book tourist hotel accommodation in a non branded chain in New York was not a good idea! Hmm we argued with the receptionist over the booking and opted to find somewhere half decent. We stepped out into the street hoping for a big yellow taxi to take us to safety. We were overjoyed when the taxi driver said his cousin was from Fallowfield and we lived in Manchester at the time. He said he would take us to a nice decent chain in Times Square.

Well half an hour later and we ended up at Days Inn in Times Square. The cost was a lot more than the booked hotel but my dad paid for it in the end out of guilt. We did get the money back from the other hotel though by using one of the cyber cafes round the corner to email the booking agent. This hotel was by no means the Hilton but Days Inn is a respected national chain and had all the mod cons expected in Hotel accommodation. My big tip on accommodation therefore is unless you have been before only go for a nationally recognisable chain and in a central tourist area!


**What we did in New York**

**The Attractions**

There is so much to see and do in New York and I know sadly in 3 days we did not get to do them all which is why I must return to there some day. I had a list of things to do which I had above but sadly I did not get to the Rockafella Centre, the Museums or The Empire State Building. Part of the reason I missed the Empire State Building was due to Macys getting in the way and me ending up doing a spot of shopping. .

In order to pack in the main attractions we ended up opting to use the tourist red bus for 2 days as that allowed us to hop on and off as we wanted. We used the bus to get to central park which was amazing and on the bus you got the history of all the sights too which was interesting to see it used to be swamp land. We went to Greenwich Village and Little Italy etc and stopped off in some nice New York cafes for lunch. We even got to see the finance sector and Wall Street which was off course pre twin towers and I remember having photos of the towers in the district at the time. What was also eerie was we were there on that date but a year prior to the dreadful events. We used the bus to get to the Statue of Liberty which required a short ferry ride across to the island. It was a nice leisurely ferry ride and in September the queues for this weren't too bad. I would certainly recommend using the hop on hop off buses as they were not that expensive and they had a good onboard speaker/guide and went pretty much everywhere.

We also walked around too and found it easy to navigate around New York due to the grid like town planning of the streets. It was a very busy place on foot though and also lots and lots of traffic about so I would have not attempted to hire a car!


**Seeing a Show**

We wanted to see a show on one of the nights and we queued up on the day to see what tickets were available and I wanted to see the Lion King which was new out at the time but completely sold out so we ended up seeing Saturday Night Fever. The show was fabulous though but my jet lag did kick in slightly. As our hotel was in Times Square we were only around the corner form the theatres and there were also lots of shops here too to browse in. If you queue up on the day you get the tickets at discounted prices though unofrtunately the new shows sell out fast. You queue up smack in the middle of Times Square to get these cheaper tickets.


**Eating & Shopping**

For food we ate the big American breakfasts in local eateries and I tried the New York Steaks for my teas. The food was relatively cheap at this time as the dollar was quite good against the pound and probably similar to how it is now. We ate in little side street restaurants as we were not looking for the places that the celebs go or empty your wallet but they were nice eateries.

I made sure I got to 5th Avenue and Saks and also to Macys and Bloomingdales and treated myself to perfume and clothes. I was a little too extravagant here and bought lots of souvenirs to bring home for family too. Although in shopping I felt it was hard to find shops on the streets. I think it must be because in the US they tend to be indoors in Malls so we tended to end up in the big department stores. It is definitely a must for shopping though for the latest trends in clothes, electronics and fragrances. I would recommend the big three department stores as they have all the designer brands and a good cross range of goods on offer. I would also recommend the cheap tourist shops to get your NY base ball cap, mini statue of liberty and New York Snow Globe.


**Recommend**

New York was my first taste of the USA and since made me a USA travel lover. I found 3 days the right length of time to see the attractions and shop. If I was there any longer I think I would have got bored or come home penniless from shopping. I found it a good destination to do as part of a few cities like we did by going to here Niagara and then Toronto. We went in September which is a quieter season and I would recommend that time of year to avoid the queues for the attractions and also for accommodation to be cheaper.

I want to revisit with one of my friends and re see all the attractions as well as some of the museums. This time I want to shop more too and see some new shows and do a spot of clubbing in some of those trendy New York bars. I feel New York is a city for the young and the old, families, singles and couples. It has a mass appeal. The biggest tip is to be sure to use a mainstream hotel and stay pretty central as the beginning of the trip was a bit scary for me and has since made sure that I book branded chains whenever I visit the US now.


**Want to go** (as I do again)

The cost of flights in New York are quite dear now a days in comparison to when I went and are around £400 or more return. In these times I would recommend booking the flights and Hotel together using a site like Opodo or Expedia as you can't seem to find flights as cheap these days. The Hotels on Expedia etc will often do deals where if you book 3 nights or more you save money so it is worth shopping around and I recommend going at least 3 star some where central like Times Square or Central Park. Also use the airport shared vans to get to New York rather than a Taxi as it is a lot cheaper even if a little hair raising!

Summary: Brilliant Modern Versatile City of Fun