New York trip advice

[Angry Ram]

Prey for ColonelBlimp 

#Blimpstrong

[Inglorius]

My advice would be watch The Hurt Locker first to get some guidance on what clothes to take with you

[ilkleyram]

All the advice on here is great and it will be the safest city in the world for the next few weeks.  

Two things we have done which we thought were really good which I haven't seen here are:  in the Statue of Liberty the exhibition describing how they processed and dealt with the immigrants coming into the country (I will refrain from making any comments about how we might learn from them today :)).  And on a similar theme there are some tenement housing museums (can't recall where) which showed how the immigrants lived and how the housing system worked - it was cramped!

Great city.  I've been a few times and loved it always

[sage]

9 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

All the advice on here is great and it will be the safest city in the world for the next few weeks.  

Two things we have done which we thought were really good which I haven't seen here are:  in the Statue of Liberty the exhibition describing how they processed and dealt with the immigrants coming into the country (I will refrain from making any comments about how we might learn from them today :)).  And on a similar theme there are some tenement housing museums (can't recall where) which showed how the immigrants lived and how the housing system worked - it was cramped!

Great city.  I've been a few times and loved it always

All immigrants were processed at Ellis Island. The commissioner for many years was Robert Watchorn from Alfreton. He emigrated as a coal miner, became a union leader then an immigration inspector. After working in immigration he made his fortune in the oil industry.

He donated money to build the Watchorn Church and Sunday School in Alfreton and the nearby A38 roundabout is still known as Watchorn Island. He wouldn't have approved of Farage. 

[Sith Happens]

On 19/09/2016 at 22:49, sage said:

All immigrants were processed at Ellis Island. The commissioner for many years was Robert Watchorn from Alfreton. He emigrated as a coal miner, became a union leader then an immigration inspector. After working in immigration he made his fortune in the oil industry.

He donated money to build the Watchorn Church and Sunday School in Alfreton and the nearby A38 roundabout is still known as Watchorn Island. He wouldn't have approved of Farage. 

Take it that's why the building had Abraham Lincoln's name on it?

[sage]

10 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

Take it that's why the building had Abraham Lincoln's name on it?

it is indeed. 

[ketteringram]

There seems to be a lot on here who have been! 

I'm going in December. As regards the arrival at JFK........ are the stories true, about how long it takes to get through to 'landside'? Assume that security is up a notch recently too. 

[Inglorius]

1 hour ago, ketteringram said:

There seems to be a lot on here who have been! 

I'm going in December. As regards the arrival at JFK........ are the stories true, about how long it takes to get through to 'landside'? Assume that security is up a notch recently too. 

I went just after the incident with Richard Reid the shoebomber, all of the delays were accumulated before embarking on the plane -  proof of accomodation before you even checked in, obligatory shoe search, body scanner, passing through customs at JKF was relatively easy

[ColonelBlimp]

Cheers guys, off tomorrow afternoon, (AA6134 in case it goes missing!!)

Definitely eating at diners, not at hotel. Highline is top of the list and getting a 7 day metro card. 

Staying at the Affinia in Manhattan and I shall be taking my Rams sweatshirt of course.

 

Will let @ketteringram know about JFK and any other observations/recommendations on my return.

Thanks to everyone who suggested stuff, much appreciated.

[ketteringram]

9 minutes ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Cheers guys, off tomorrow afternoon, (AA6134 in case it goes missing!!)

Definitely eating at diners, not at hotel. Highline is top of the list and getting a 7 day metro card. 

Staying at the Affinia in Manhattan and I shall be taking my Rams sweatshirt of course.

 

Will let @ketteringram know about JFK and any other observations/recommendations on my return.

Thanks to everyone who suggested stuff, much appreciated.

Thanks. I'm going 21st December! 

I know a lot on here have talked about the top of the rock, and the empire state. But last night, I was checking out the One world observatory. That's the building on the site of the twin towers. Looks amazing, and is definitely going on my list. 

Have a great trip! 

[ilkleyram]

3 hours ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Cheers guys, off tomorrow afternoon, (AA6134 in case it goes missing!!)

Definitely eating at diners, not at hotel. Highline is top of the list and getting a 7 day metro card. 

Staying at the Affinia in Manhattan and I shall be taking my Rams sweatshirt of course.

 

Will let @ketteringram know about JFK and any other observations/recommendations on my return.

Thanks to everyone who suggested stuff, much appreciated.

Then you'll be the third Rams fan at least to have stayed in the Affinia, CB - young Ilkley and I stayed there in 2007 with his sisters.  Madison Square Garden is nearby, so too is Macy's, I think, and most of the sights are easily walkable/cabbable from memory.  The hotel itself was fine - we just slept there and ate out most of the time

[G STAR RAM]

Check the weather before you go, seems to have extremes of hot and cold with little in between.

Top of the Rock for the best view of the city. (Although One World Trade was not quite finished when I was there).

Take a walk across Brooklyn Bridge.

Spend the whole day on Sunday in a sports bar..wall to wall sport because of time zones.

Take plenty of money. 

Have a great time!

 

[ColonelBlimp]

Update time, hopefully @ketteringram will have some questions answered, if not, ask away!

Make sure you have got your ESTA all sorted well before you go btw.

Flight AA6134 turned out to be British Airways BA113 as well so that was nice.

Terminal 5 at Heathrow is very nice, big clean and lots of shops/eateries to wander round after going through the bag check. Be prepared to take your shoes and belt off though.

BA flight was straightforward, free wine with your meal of course! Watched a film on the way to pass the time.

JFK- From landing to getting through customs was about 45 minutes in total, quicker than I'd imagined but I think timing is      critical here, another plane landed about 15 minutes after we did and they had to join the same queue so i would imagine  their wait was longer.

We did have transfers but we didn't use them, heard bad things about people waiting for up to 2 hours for one. We got a yellow cab straight outside, you've got to haven't you? Cab fare is fixed from JFK to Manhattan at £65 so allow that plus a tip, round up to 70 maybe. They love cash but you can pay by card in the cab if you need to.

Hotel was great, a room on the 14th floor overlooking Penn Station/Madison Square Garden so happy with that. Decent size for 2 as well.

Everything in Midtown was within walking distance and we only used the subway once, to get to SoHo on day2 as a starting point. We walked 45 miles while there over almost 5 days. I would definitely recommend some comfy shoes, I have Skechers  Get a good guide book with pull out street and subway plan. I didn't take my phone but you can use apps as well. I love a good pocket map.

Plenty of places to eat, we used the Europa Cafe for breakfast, great food and chatty local staff and it was only 2 doors down. Also try Johnny's Luncheonette if you can, also very good but very tiny.

Getting around is an absolute piece of pi55, avenues go north/south, streets go east/west. A doddle. Subway is easy to work out as well but i only used Red 2.

As for shopping, expensive, but places like Macy's seem to have a sale on in various departments all the time we were there. 

The sales tax and coupon thing I never really worked out. I think it's about 8% but not on every item. It was easier for me just to add 8% on in my head and if it turned out cheaper at the till then that was a bonus. My wife found this Michael Kors dress in Bloomingdales that was $160 but there was an "up to half-price" sale on so I expected to pay around $90 with tax. At the till, they put a  little sticker on it and scanned it it it came to $52. No idea why!

Next up, the places we went to and impressions of them.

 

 

 

[ColonelBlimp]

Macy's is big, Bloomingdale's is big but posher and Tiffany's is also on a number of floors. Be prepared for tired legs (and hips if you're old)

No queue at the Empire State. straight in, straight up and I hate queuing so that was good. Incredible views. There's a guy who takes photo's on the 80th floor which you can buy on the way down if you wish. I had my Rams sweatshirt on and he recognised it! That made my day and it was only 9am

Grand Central station is impressive as well but really hemmed in by the skyscrapers. Chrysler Building round the corner is another looker. An Australian chap inside took a picture for us and also recognised the Ram.

911 memorial is one of those places that's full of people yet quiet and respectful. You can feel your soul moving.

Century21 is round the corner, like TK-Maxx on steroids if that's your thing.

Had lunch in Battery Park, decided not to go on the Liberty ferry. Got the Staten Island Ferry instead which is free and goes straight past Liberty Island for those photo opportunites. Nothing much on Staten Island so came straight back pretty much. Ferries run every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day. Met some old people also visiting from Wisconsin who decided I must be from Georgia on account of my accent ?! I have a pretty neutral English accent.

On to Wall st, over the Brooklyn Bridge, quick look around DUMBO then back again. Chinatown, Little Italy and SoHo, that's the area where they have older houses with the fire escapes on the outside.

HighLine, Chelsea Market, Greenwich Village (with the Stonewall Inn), Union Square, Washington Arch, Strand bookshop (if you like books you'll love this) and the Flat-Iron building we did as one day. High Line was OK but not as good as I expected. Still a WiP progress though. If you walk it North to South make sure you get off and walk back a couple of streets to Chelsea Market. Loads of little shops/food places inside. The Fat Witch Brownie mix is worth bringing back with you.

Central park is good to do on a nice weather day, ice cream was $4 each though. Avoid the horse and carriage thing unless you like tacky, very expensive as well. 

Dakota building is being renovated which was annoying. Didn't go up to the Top of the Rock, Empire State was the one for me. Rockefeller Centre were just building the Ice-Rink at the time so probably all go by now.

Times Square is a great place to spend your evenings, shops are open till 9-30-10pm anyway and the lights and hubbub creates a great ambience. Loads of actory types dressed up as characters around but they do expect a tip if you have your photo taken with them.

If you want waffels, there's a great place in Bryant Square, scrummy.

 

There are homeless people everywhere, all with cardboard signs with hard-luck stories on them. No idea how many were genuine, how do you tell?

 

Ultimately, New York was better than I expected, top notch as a holiday destination. The missus now has the long-haul bug and wants to go to San Francisco next. Must get saving, she'll only want to buy stuff. Women eh? 

 

[ketteringram]

@ColonelBlimp that's brilliant, thank you! 

[ColonelBlimp]

3 hours ago, ketteringram said:

@ColonelBlimp that's brilliant, thank you! 

No problem, if you think of anything you'd like to know, just ask.

I would say though, at certain times we'd be in a building and it felt like the floor was moving, very strange.

Apparently it's related to flying and the ear/brain communication, not the buildings. Don't worry about it if it happens to you.

Also, get a money belt and wear it hidden around your waist. For us it was perfect as I didn't have to carry a rucksack. We just took cash and locked what we didn't need for that day in the safe in the hotel room along with passports and documentation. Only used a card once and that was for hotel check-in.

[ketteringram]

3 hours ago, ColonelBlimp said:

No problem, if you think of anything you'd like to know, just ask.

I would say though, at certain times we'd be in a building and it felt like the floor was moving, very strange.

Apparently it's related to flying and the ear/brain communication, not the buildings. Don't worry about it if it happens to you.

Also, get a money belt and wear it hidden around your waist. For us it was perfect as I didn't have to carry a rucksack. We just took cash and locked what we didn't need for that day in the safe in the hotel room along with passports and documentation. Only used a card once and that was for hotel check-in.

Did you wear that belt through both airports, no problem? I was going to take some cash, for the first day or two, and then use ATM. But I'm not sure if using that, gives you an even worse rate. Going to need quite a bit, as two of us there for seven days. 

Assume you didn't buy the City pass thing. Some seem to say it's brilliant, while others say it's only worth it if you do everything that it covers. 

[ColonelBlimp]

12 minutes ago, ketteringram said:

Did you wear that belt through both airports, no problem? I was going to take some cash, for the first day or two, and then use ATM. But I'm not sure if using that, gives you an even worse rate. Going to need quite a bit, as two of us there for seven days. 

Assume you didn't buy the City pass thing. Some seem to say it's brilliant, while others say it's only worth it if you do everything that it covers. 

Didn't wear it until I got there, the missus kept all the money in her hand luggage, split it at the hotel. We took 1500 all in cash which we got in Tesco before the pound went south. Think we got 1.28 ish.

I was going to get the 7 day metro card but it's only worth it if you plan on using the subway/bus at least 5 or 6 times each.

You only need one card, once you scan it just pass it over to the next person. Each trip is $2.75 so a return trip for 2 is $11.00 plus 1 dollar to buy the card in the first place. You can always top them up as well.

If you don't plan on walking very much, or can't, the 7 day pass is a good idea. 

[ColonelBlimp]

When you've been @ketteringram, I hope you will let us all know your impressions, looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

[ketteringram]

4 hours ago, ColonelBlimp said:

When you've been @ketteringram, I hope you will let us all know your impressions, looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

I will indeed! Still working out a very rough itinerary at the moment. Not going until 21st of Dec. I have a few 'must do' things, but some of them are quite small things that will just take a short amount of time. Going to have to give Christmas day some thought. Will need to check, what, if anything, is open.