Hello -
I was a lurker here for months, never posted much, but I read and read SO many topics. THANKS for all the tips and advice I got here. Our trip to NY was ever so much nicer because of the things I learned from many of the kind folks here.
My husband, 21 yr old daughter, and I just returned from our first-ever trip to New York City. We arrived at LaGuardia airport on Thursday, May 15 and left from there on Thursday, May 22. Other than the fact that it rained buckets almost the entire time we were there, we had a wonderful trip.
I%26#39;m one of the contrary ones, and despite all your wonderful recommendations of places to stay on Manhattan island, we elected to stay elsewhere. My choice was prompted strictly by monetary concerns, and I researched my options very thoroughly. Like most of us here on the travel forum, I rely heavily on the opinions and recommendations of fellow travelers.
Because of good reviews, I chose to have my family stay at La Quinta on Queens Blvd just across the East River in Long Island City (Queens?). It is a good choice for those folks looking for a clean, comfortable place to stay that is much more affordable than staying in Manhattan. We stayed together in one room because we are accustomed to traveling together this way -- the rooms are adequately sized, and typical of many hotel chains in the US. We were pleased with our accommodations. There were two queen beds, a desk w/chair, an armoire for hanging items, and a chest of drawers (upon which sat a good-sized TV). With us, the furnishings, and our luggage, there wasn%26#39;t a lot of free space, but we managed just fine. The bathroom, although smallish, was adequate.
The best thing about staying there was the easy access to Manhattan via the 7 train. We could be to Grand Central Station in about 15-20 minutes. Once we mastered the subway system, we traveled all over the city with relative ease. --THANKS again to so many of you who patiently explain (over and over again) how to use the subway, how to orient oneself when in the city, explain how to get and use the MetroCard, etc. All that information was incredibly helpful, and I need to mention that New Yorkers were VERY helpful to us as we navigated our way around the city. Just about every person we asked for directions was kind and helpful, and many went out of their way to actually walk a bit with us to make sure we knew where to go. Kudos to New Yorkers!
Our story:
Friday May 16 - Pouring rain. We walked 2 blocks from the hotel to the train station, purchased a 7 day MetroCard for $25/person and headed into the City. Our first stop was Grand Central Station - a marvel of engineering and a busy hive of activity. From there we elected to travel to the Met. Museum of Art because we%26#39;ve always wanted to go there, and because it guaranteed a day%26#39;s worth of activity indoors out of the rain. (Have I mentioned that it was raining??) The Museum was crowded, perhaps because many people had the same idea of remaining indoors [grin] but the displays were AWESOME, so it was definitely time well spent. We ate at the cafeteria at the bottom level,a nice place with good food, rested a bit, and then tackled more of the huge collections. In the very late afternoon, we thought that the rain was letting up, and so we attempted to walk through some of Central Park - but the ground, sidewalks, and trees were soaking wet, and we just managed to become more soaked, so we decided to journey back to our hotel and find a place to eat. It was a good day, overall.
Saturday May 17
Mildly drizzling. Because there looked to be some clear patches of sky, we thought this might be the day to visit the Statue of Liberty and on the way to/from there, we%26#39;d get some clear views of the famous New York City skyline. We journeyed by subway and bus to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan to catch the Staten Island Ferry. Nice views of the Statue going and returning - fairly pleasant weather. Since were in the vicinity - we wandered around and found Wall Street, the NY Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, Ground Zero (WTC) - along with some shopping at Century 21, Sephora, and Daffy%26#39;s (at the request of my daughter, of course). The rain began in earnest later in the afternoon, so after becoming soaked again (even with our umbrellas and mostly waterproof shoes) we decided to return to our homebase, get dried out, find dinner and have a relatively early evening in.
Sunday May 18
Overcast with rain on the way. We went to church in in the morning and found pouring rain to greet us when we left after the services were over. We were dressed in ';nice'; clothes, and had originally thought that we would remain a little dressed-up for the entire day, because we were scheduled to attend a play that evening, but decided to return to our hotel to change into more casual gear to do battle with the weather more adequately. We then made our way to Times Square, via Bryant Park and the NY Public Library, so that we would have plenty of time to explore the area and find a good place to have dinner before the show started at 6:30. We ate at BB Kings (Lucille%26#39;s) across from the theater (The New Amsterdam) and then went to see Mary Poppins. The play was charming and had nice production numbers. Afterwards, we spent some hours marveling at the spectacle that is Times Square at night. The rain had finally tapered off to a very mild mist, so we could walk around and gawk at the lights and throngs of people, looking every bit the tourists we were [grin], without having to duck under our umbrellas like timid turtles.
Monday May 19
Despite the cold wind and moisture in the air, my daughter announced that today would be a mostly shopping day, accompanied by sight-seeing along the way. We traveled into Manhattan with early-morning commuters (I assume) and spent the entire day in Midtown. We saw/visited the Chrysler Building, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (with the Guerlain Spa! - and purchased some fine perfume), St. Patrick%26#39;s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center %26amp; Top of the Rock, the NBC studios, and then spent time shopping on 5th Ave, Madison-Park-Lexington Avenues.
Tuesday May 20
A bit of clear sky and sunshine in the morning. We visited the Empire State Building (but didn%26#39;t go to the observation deck because we%26#39;d already done Top of the Rock), Madison Square Garden, Museum of Modern Art, Macy%26#39;s, and back Uptown to Bloomingdales. When written down, the details don%26#39;t sound like much - but it was a FULL day of walking and going, going, going. In addition, we went back to Times Square because we went to Spamalot at the Schubert Theater at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday May 21
Despite the threatening clouds, we decided to travel to Brooklyn so that we could walk into Manhattan across the Brooklyn bridge. It was a fairly easy trip thanks to a wonderful post here on the Forum when all the details were spelled out very clearly - do a search and I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll find the information if you want it -
The walk was good, although we were buffeted by wind the entire way. Nice views of the city, the harbors, and the view back into Brooklyn. The bridge itself is a marvel of engineering and very worth the time and effort to get there.
We then elected to walk through Chinatown and Little Italy. I%26#39;m sorry to say this, because many people have written otherwise, but this was probably my least favorite activity of anything we did in New York. I%26#39;m fairly sure that the poor weather was a factor in our dissatisfaction with this part of our trip, but we didn%26#39;t find much to interest us as we walked along and we found ourselves quite anxious to leave the area. Additionally, we were the unfortunate witnesses to a woman being struck by a car (thankfully, her injuries, though severe, were not life threatening) and to some wild action down a side street that involved some 8-10 police cars with lights and sirens blaring, and many people running to and fro. Scary!
Thursday May 22
Cloudy, but no actual rain. We spent the morning getting packed and ready to go. We had severals hours until our flight left, so we left our luggage at the hotel and headed in to Manhattan for a few quick sights. Central Park was lush and green because of all the rain, and it was a lovely way to give us memories of beauty and calm amongst the sea of activity around it.
That%26#39;s it.
We loved our visit to New York and are planning to return again soon.
Thanks again for all the helpful tips and suggestions. I appreciate the wisdom, humor, and tell-it-like-it-is discussions here.
Happy traveling.
The Mom
TRIP REPORT - An alternative to staying on Manhattan
Thank you for this report!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the reason no one has responded yet is because you posted this on the New York State forum rather than the NYC forum. If you want to repost it on the NYC forum, it%26#39;s here:
tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g60763-i5-New_York鈥?/a>
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