New trip, new questions

Hi again,

First of all, I would like to say thank you for all the friendly tips and help I got when planning our trip last fall. We had a wonderful time in New York City - in fact, my Mom liked it so much that she wants to go back this year! :-) Now I have some new questions that I hope you could help me with:

1) I would like to ask if anyone has recommendations regarding a decent hotel in Manhattan. The problem is that we are coming around Halloween/NYC marathon (this was unfortunately the only time that was OK for both of us) - and many hotels seem to be fully booked, and others very expensive. I am hoping to find a room for under 400 USD/night. I have made a cancellable booking at both, Thompson LES and the Washington Square Hotel, and I can see that Quickbook now offers 6 Columbus for around $315 as well. Which of these three would you recommend (both in terms of the rooms and the location) - or is there some other hotel that I should look at..? We will be arriving on October 28 and leaving on November 2.

2) As we will be in New York for Halloween, we certainly hope to watch the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. However, someone once mentioned that there is a Halloween parade in Tarrytown, usually held a day or two before the one in NYC. I wonder if anyone has more information about this in 2008, and if it is worth visiting? I think it might be nice to take a short day trip outside the city, and this might be a perfect day to do it (given it is not the same day as the one in Manhattan). Apart from the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, any other suggestions as what to see or do on Halloween are very welcome. Since Halloween isn%26#39;t really celebrated here, this is our first time experiencing the ';real'; American Halloween. ;-)

3) I am thinking about leaving the day of the marathon, hoping that the planes to Europe are a bit less full that day than the following days, when many runners and other marathon people are traveling back as well. As a runner myself, however, I would absolutely love to watch some of the marathon. My question is, if our flight departs around 16.30, would I have the time to do it - and where would be the best place to watch? Also, should I reserve more time to get to the airport than normally (I assume that if we take the subway instead of a cab, it shouldn%26#39;t be affected by the marathon)? We are flying out of JFK.

4) Another running-related question. I wonder if there are fellow runners here who could give me a tip where to buy running shoes? Also, is there an expo open to the general public the days before the NYC marathon?

5) For the last, since my Mom has now also seen most of the big tourist attractions, we would love to see some ';not-so-touristy'; areas as well. We both like walking outdoors, and I wonder if someone living in the city could give us suggestions for nice walking tours, parks or gardens, picnic places, places or buildings with interesting history, etc..?

I am sure I will be coming back with more questions in the months before our trip, but I would really, really appreciate it if someone was able to help me with some of the questions above.

A thousand thanks in advance! :-)

New trip, new questions

If you are just looking at third party booking sites (quikbook, expedia, etc) they will not have all hotel rooms in the city listed. Hotels allocate SOME of their rooms to these sites, and not every hotel in the city participates in every site, so checking directly with smaller hotels might help. One reason hotels may seem sold out (and prices go up as hotels sell out) is because people hold rooms at 3 or 4 hotels until the last minute they can, so check back from time to time to see if anything opens up. While holding several hotels is a common practice (I do it myself, so please don%26#39;t take any of this as a put down) the longer you do so the higher the cost to the hotels, especially durring peak periods. And, of course, this cost is passed along to the clients. So I would encourage you to release the unnecessary rooms as soon as you have made up your mind.

Al

New trip, new questions

1) How old are you and Mom? Are you prepared to share a bed? Where did you stay last time?

The Thompson LES has not yet opened but the LES is young and ';hip'; and may only have rooms with 1 bed.

hotelchatter.com/story/2008/5/13/211328/166/鈥?/a>

The cheapest prices for 6 Columbus are usually for their ';pod'; rooms, excruciatingly small. You should go back and look to see if it%26#39;s for a pod room. Then do a text search here for cricri%26#39;s description of said room. This would be the most centrally located of the 3 hotels, right near the south end of Central Park.

2) I know nothing about the Tarrytown parade, but my guess is this might have been recommended to someone with children since the Manhattan parade is definitely for adults. It%26#39;s more like a Mardi Gras parade with outrageous and sometimes lewd costumes. While a trip to Tarrytown might be nice for other reasons, I certainly wouldn%26#39;t go for their parade. For a day trip, you might look into going to Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate.

3) If your international flight leaves at 16:30, you%26#39;d have to be at the airport at 14:30. You should allow at least 1 1/2 hrs. to get there on that day and possibly more which brings us to 12:30-13:00. The first runners usually come into Manhattan off the 59th st. bridge before then (I can%26#39;t remember exactly). It%26#39;s mile 16 of the race. Here%26#39;s a map of the course

http://tinyurl.com/3g8wja

I think you%26#39;d have to have your luggage with you while watching there in order to make a quick getaway or you could try heading over the Queens (with luggage packed) and watching from the other side of the bridge (the E train is the subway you%26#39;d take to get to JFK).

4) There are dozens of places for shoes (Paragon, Foot Locker, Modell%26#39;s) I think if there%26#39;s an Expo, you%26#39;d need a pass to show you were running to get in.

5) There are literally dozens of options. Have a look thru the off the beaten path ideas from the FAQ

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k1948627鈥?/a>

In answer to #2:

The Merchants House Museum is a preserved late-19th century house in the East Village that some people believe to be haunted. Around Halloween, they do ';ghost tours'; of the house, in which they also talk about 19th century rituals regarding death and mourning. I went this past year and even though the ghost stuff is hard to swallow, the tour was very interesting and a lot of fun. Here%26#39;s their website:

www.merchantshouse.com

If you check back in the weeks leading up to your trip, they%26#39;ll have information about the ghost tours. You have to book in advance.

I%26#39;m not sure how old your mom is or if this is the sort of thing that you%26#39;d be interested in, but there are several haunted house attractions in New York then. (Do they have these in Denmark? If not, they%26#39;re basically theme parks designed to frighten the living daylights out of you.) Here%26#39;s a website for one:

http://www.hauntedhousenyc.com/

For repeat visitors, here%26#39;s a great post with great sublinks:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k976302-鈥?/a> New_York_for_the_2nd_time-