New York City

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Shopping	Excellent
Nightlife	Excellent
Family Friendly	Good

Advantages:	Just an amazing place to be .  Gorgeous sites, lovely people .  Just amazing
Disadvantages:	Um .  can be expensive, and I am still shattered

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

New York

Intro

This review started out as just one review, however it was getting into the 6000 word mark, so I decided to take out and edit the bits that went over 1000 words or so and am going to put them into separate reviews. Hopefully you enjoy the review, please take the time to rate and comment (if you can be bothered with either �) as it will be much appreciated. Thanks again for reading.

Flying from UK to New York

On the 17th August we got the shuttle bus from our hotel to Heathrow and waited patiently to be seated onto the plane. I found that by the time we had gone through all of the security checks and everything like that, we only had a few minutes to get to the plane, which was not a lot of fun at all.

We were flying on Virgin Alantic, which I had heard good and bad things about. We as a family could only really afford Economy, which I have to say weren’t worth the money that we paid for. Everything was great, from the films provided to the service from the air hostess but the reason why I didn’t think it was worth the money was those damn seats. The flight there was just under 7 hours, and by the end of it, I swear I couldn’t feel my bum for the rest of the day. The seats are just a tiny bit of cushion on wood and you have to give up your pillow that they provide just to give your bum a little relief. If they would have just given us more comfy seats to sit in then it would have been an amazing flight.

Arriving In New York

We arrived at JFK in New York about 12pm, due to my nan being disabled we got some assistance which meant we got through all of the queues very quickly which was great after such a long flight. The guy that pushed my nan’s wheelchair was brilliant, he included us all in conversation and told us all about what was happening in New York at that time.

Getting a taxi out of the airport is very easy, you walk out of the door, and across the road and there will be a line of taxis waiting for you. You get help from a bloke who will make sure that the taxi is right and then you jump into the taxi and within 30 minutes you’ll be in Manhattan.

Hotel

This trip was a once in a lifetime thing for me and my family, it was an 18th birthday present for me, and a very early 18th birthday present for my younger sister. We had to make sure that the price of the hotel wasn’t too expensive, we finally chose the Hotel Metro.

The Hotel Metro had the best reviews on tripadvisor of all of the hotels I read about in Manhattan. It was a fantastic choice, it was the lowest price hotel out of all of the ones we looked at, and however it was a fantastic place. There is so much to talk about with the hotel, so I will do a separate review on that however I was pleasantly happy with this hotel.

The noise was the only problem with the hotel, however it is New York, it is the city that never sleeps, and that does mean dustbin men working outside the hotel at 3am, making so much damn noise. Just stick the air con on and it takes away the noise from outside.

Food/Drink

I hate to say it but I can’t talk much about food/drink in New York. We tried a few places however for some reason; we were just not hungry enough for a slap up meal. I think it had something to do with the hearty breakfast our hotel provided for us so we did pretty much live of Subway, McDonalds and the few boxes of Pringles we brought on the second night. I did find that I lost my apetite in New York for some reason and never seemed to be hungry.

There are a lot of restaurants in New York, like shops, there is a new one on every corner, however like London, it is a very expensive, a bit more expensive than we were willing to pay considering how hungry we weren’t.

People

I had quite a misconception of people in New York, the proper New Yorkers. Everyone who lived there and had a business there was very polite and helped us a lot. I did notice that if you asked the price for something, and they didn’t know, NO ONE volunteered to go and find out for you. Here it’s kind of the norm to do that in my opinion.

It was the tourists who made me quite angry, when we were standing in the queue for Madame Tassauds, this Swede just walks straight past us in the queue and straight to the ticket lady. The ticket lady was having none of it and made her get back in line, however the whole way through the place, they were always trying to jump ahead. Very rude. This happened quite a few times, people who didn’t speak English, walking straight past you on the street and then slowing down so you’re having to walk slow.

The one thing I wanted was a hoody which said New York on it. I went into this store on the last day and in hindsight should have saved my money. I went in and he politely asked if he could help. I asked to try on the Medium of this top. He asked if it was for me, and then said ‘no, if it’s for you, you should have the large’. I saw my mums eyebrows go up then... tried on the large... it would have been baggy on a 20 stone man, then tried on the medium, again, baggy, tried on the small, and it was baggy again, but just what I wanted. He was still trying to sell me the medium though, and in hindsight I really should have walked out then. Of course when we walked down the street, we saw one on sale for half the price and the people seemed lovely. Typical.

Things To Do- Day

Before we went we made sure we all wrote down what we wanted to do, and made sure we worked out when we wanted to do it. When we did get to New York, this list went straight out of the window, and we came up with a new one as we were going along, based on where we were in New York and the easiness of getting to the place.

On the Tuesday, we originally planned to go to Empire State Building, however due to our receptionist telling us that on the Wednesday we were supposed to get quite bad storms, we decided to change our plans and went to Central Park, getting there was a little bit of a challenge, but thanks to the Grey Line Sightseeing Bus, we were dropped off right outside the Zoo.

Due to the fact that I have so much to say about some of these attractions, I’ve taken what I’ve written here and am going to post it in a separate reviews.

Grey Line Sightseeing Bus
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I was so glad when we got on the bus, getting to the stop was a little bit of a challenge. It’s right in the middle of times square, however our receptionist told us, just go up Broadway and we’ll find it. Stupid idiot, it took us ages and asking a lot of people but in the end we finally got onto the bus. It is a fantastic bus, on the Tuesday we went around the uptown of Manhattan, seeing Harlem and the Museum Mile before finally stopping outside of the Central Park Zoo.

The tour guides can either be brilliant or pretty terrible; on most of the buses we had great tour guides, especially on the uptown tour of Manhattan. They know a lot about New York and manage to give you enough information but not too much that you do actually absorb it all.

Empire State Building
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I think this is a must for newcomers to the Empire State Building. One of the reasons why we chose the hotel was because it was right near the Empire State Building, plus we had a New York Pass which allowed us to get in for free. The Empire State Building is 373 meters tall, and is just amazing. You get a view of all of Manhattan, which if you have a good camera, you can get some amazing pictures.

Ground Zero
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This was the one place that we all wanted to see, it is the spot where the World Trade Centre was before it was hijacked planes. There was construction going on when we were there, so there was only one small bit where we could see, I have to say I did feel a little bit sick when people near us were taking pictures, but it was just our opinion that it just seemed a little bit wrong to take pictures of that site.

Staten Island Ferry
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When we were down in the South of New York we all really wanted to see the Statue Of Liberty. We didn’t want to pay for it (I know, really cheapskate) however I had heard about a ferry which departs from the same point and goes past the Statue Of Liberty. With my camera I was able to get some amazing pictures of the statue of liberty, however people with normal cameras might struggle to get good pictures as it is quite far away. Maybe getting the Statue of Liberty ferry instead would be better for you.

Times Square
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This is amazing, we actually found it by accident, but I was in awe. One of the main reasons I myself wanted to go to Times Square, ladies this is directed at you, is because of the Naked Cowboy. Okay, he is not all naked (wasn’t very happy about that) but he plays the guitar in just a hat, shoes and boxers. On this day it was nearly 38 degrees, so it was really really lovely to sit down and watch for a little while. There are thousands of other things to do in Times Square, Planet Hollywood, MTV Store and Billiabong to name a few.

Central Park
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We didn’t get to see much of Central Park because we struggle to find the stop for the Grey Line Sightseeing Bus, so by the time we did actually get to Central Park is was around 2 o’clock already. We did manage to see quite a bit though, not a lot of the great sites but it was still fantastic and a gorgeous place to be. It stretches 51 blocks and is 843 acres. It has been there since 1859 and was completely man made. When you walk into the park from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, you are really transformed into a different reality. It really does feel like walking from a City to the Countryside within a matter of seconds. The transformation is amazing.

The Park houses seven natural looking lakes and ponds, two ice skating rinks, one of which becomes a swimming pool during the summer months and the Central Park Zoo. It is also houses the Delecorte Theatre which was home to Shakespeare in The Park last month.

Central Park Zoo
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I’ll do a separate review on this because it was so amazing, I hate to say it but from what I can remember this was the first time I’ve ever been to a zoo with these kinds of animals in it. We animals from penguins to seals and to polar bears this was an amazing zoo and we really enjoyed our time here, it would have been a lot nicer if it wasn’t 37 degrees or so.

Madame Tassauds
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I always wanted to go to a Madame Tassauds, and with the New York Pass we got in free. It was a great experience, there is no real point to it, but some of the models are amazing, some not so much. I have to warn you the House of Horrors was terrible, but I was still shaking after it for about 5 minutes. I am a wimp. Is it worth the money? Not really, it’s good, but not brilliant. If you’ve done one, there’s no point going to another.

Battery Park
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This was a lovely little stop before going onto the Statun Island Ferry. I have to say this is the only place in the whole of New York that I felt threatened though. There was this young girl drawing cartoon faces of people, and me and my sister were stood in queue and then this other artist came over and said he’d do it for us at the same price. We stupidly said ok, and followed him only to find that his art was pretty shit, we went back to the girl but only to find that there were quite a few people in front of us. This guy kept on coming back over to us and finally my mum had to step in. It wasn’t nice but it was the only time in the whole of New York that I felt even slightly threatened.

The park was lovely, we got some great pictures with the New York Police Department which was nice as well and the best bit was the ‘Sphere’ which was originally in the world trade centre when it was hit. It was put here, obviously damaged as a memorial for 9/11.

Central Park Carriage Ride
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We did this on the Thursday when we were absolutely shattered. It cost us $34 for a ride around the park, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped, I thought we’d actually see some of the brilliant sites that I had heard about but it was still a fantastic opportunity and one I’d recommend.

Things To Do- Night

Theatre- Mamma Mia
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We really wanted to see a show, originally we wanted to see Wicked however it was fully booked other than the $300 dollar seats each. The receptionist however got us reasonably priced tickets to see Mamma Mia, which we knew should be good. As our hotel was about 15 minutes away from Times Square where the Winter Garden Theatre is, so we decided to get a taxi there and back which we were thankful for in the end. An amazing theatre production, really worth the money, the music was just fantastic, they have hired some amazing singers, actors, not so much.

Harbor Lights Cruise
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We were planning to do this, however due to my jet lag, the rest of the family didn’t want to go without me. There is lots of different Cruises put on by this company, but the one we were looking at was the harbour lights cruise which takes you around New York at night. Sounds lovely.

Shopping

Sorry boys, but if you take your wife/girlfriend to New York, you may have to fight with the shops in New York. Everywhere you turn are new shops, new amazing shops. There are a few that are worth talking about, but there are still amazing shops on every block.

Macy’s
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This shop is amazing; we only brought two things from the lingerie/pyjama floor and then it only came to about $6 but I got what I came for... the bag. It’s a great amazing store, but very expensive.

Bloomingdales
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Like Macy’s this shop is very expensive, even more so than Macy’s, when we saw a hair tie for $10 we decided that we could not afford anything there and would not want to buy anything for that price. We were very cheeky though and asked one of the salesmen if we could buy a paper bag from them. We got given 6 paper bags, all different sizes just to say we had been to Bloomingdales and he didn’t charge us a dime.

Manhattan Mall
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I once went to this huge mall in Calais and was there for hours, this one was alright, but I can understand why it’s not really talked about and why a lot of people don’t really talk about it when talking about Manhattan.

Rainbow
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This shop we found on the last day, it’s situated on the same road as Empire State Building (Fifth Avenue) and I literally had to be dragged out of the shop after spending $50 on shoes and tops. Luckily we only took 3 suitcases with us (there was four of us) however we had to buy an extra one on the last day due to all of the things I brought, mainly in this shop. I got two pairs of converse for $20 and 6 tops for $30. Unheard of here in the UK, an amazing shop, well worth checking out.

http://www.rainbowshops.com/

Getting Around

The main way of getting around in New York is by foot, no matter the time of the day/night you’ll see people walking wherever you are in the City, it is completely free and it is the easiest way to see what you want and get where you want in the city, however after 3 days of walking miles up and down the city, the idea of walking the 40 minutes or so to Central Park or even longer to walk down to Battery Park becomes a little bit more scary, and with a disabled person in our party, we had to find other means.

Taxi
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Okay, this may be the most expensive way of getting around however you get dropped right outside of the door that you want to go to and they pick you up outside of your hotel. We only originally planned to use these getting to and from the hotel, however when our bus ticket ran out, we decided to take a taxi to Bloomingdales and then back again from Central Park. The most we spent on a trip around the city was $12 which was inclusive of the tip as well, which is around about £6-7 which isn’t too bad when you are bloody shattered.

Subway
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We didn’t use the subway at all. My mum is not very good with being underground and I’m terrified of trains, so it just wasn’t really and option for us. However, if you do decide to take the subway, you can get it very cheap and there seems to be an entrance/exit on every block.

Grey Line Sightseeing Bus
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When you get to NYC, when you finally start to go out and see places, especially around the BIG attractions, then you’ll very likely be handed a leaflet for a sightseeing bus. We were a little bit sceptical when we were given a leaflet so went back to our hotel around the corner and they booked it for us. It cost $54 each, which is a lot however if you think about where it took us and the things we got to see through this bus it was well worth it.

Grid System

I should tell you that I was told by my PE teacher never to become a tour guide after getting lost on the grounds where they did orienteering during year 9. The first day we had to walk back from time square to our hotel and got completely lost and the map just made me even more confused, however when you begin to work out how it works, it is really easy and you should be able to navigate yourself around new York very easily.

New York Pass

The New York Pass was the best thing that we brought prior to the trip, it cost us $112 each which is a lot, but if we had more time we would have really had got our money’s worth. I’m afraid however because we only had such a short time, we didn’t get our money’s worth out of the pass. We could use it for 3 days, however only used it 4 times on the entire trip. It is a great little addition; however make sure that you do get your moneys worth from it.

Final Opinion

We only had four nights in New York, but really it only added up to three days as on the Monday we were shattered and on the Friday we were again, absolutely shattered as well. I think if you are going to go to New York for the first time, then I would recommend taking about 7 days or so. It will make a deeper dent in your bank balance, but you will get to see New York the way you should see it.

I would recommend doing everything I have mentioned on this review, New York’s sites are meant to be seen and their wasn’t one that we didn’t enjoy, sure Madame Tassauds wasn’t really worth the money you pay to get in, and if you’ve seen one before there is no point to do it, but I am glad I took the time to go there and really enjoyed ourselves.

The one thing I was quite disappointed about was that we didn’t spend more time in Central Park, it is so vast and has so many different and brilliant things within it that you really need a whole day almost to explore it and we didn’t really have the time to spend more than about 30 minutes there. Central Park Zoo is well worth visiting as well, the ticket is only about $8 which is well worth it, you get to see some amazing animals and the guides on hand are brilliant and tell you all about the animals you’re seeing. Well worth $8.

Of course you have to do the two observation decks, at the Top Of The Rock you get better views, however it is less well known than the Empire State Building and come on, Empire State Building is New York, everyone expects you to see it if you go to New York.

New York was a fantastic experience one that I will hopefully get to experience again. It was well worth the money we paid for it, the flights are a little expensive as is the hotels there, but if you save, you won’t be disappointed with what you get. Like I said earlier, 4 days isn’t enough, I missed out on doing things like Brooklyn Bridge, Circle Line Cruises and getting to see things like the New York Public Library, Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station which bummed me a little but there was just not enough time.

Make sure you get to see Macys and Bloomingdales, just to say you’ve visited them, and be cheeky like we were and ask for a bag, just for proof that you’ve been there.

An amazing place and I hope this review helps someone either decide to go to New York or if they’re already planning on going, help them choose what they want to do. A fantastic place, but make sure you spend more than 3 days or so there, you don’t get to see enough of it otherwise.

(C) Kirsty 2009