Report: New York, USA

Femelade

We did the empire state on our first night, it was about 8pm on a fri night..no ques..it was nice to see the city lit up from there..but we went to Top of the Rock on our last day it was about 4pm so the sun was about to set..it was gorgeous! way better views that empire i think! you can see the central park which is amazing! and of course you can stay indoors with great views..or head up to the highest floor where you are outside. Also, dont forget to look up when going up the lift...tis mad!

WE did the gray line tour for down town and uptown...they were very good, the tour guides are new yorkers through and through and know everything! the down town one goes all around statue of liberty , little italy and china town etc.. and the uptown one does up around central park and harlem..shows you where all the rich people live...one tour guide showed us where he lived al his life, where he was baptised and where his parents got married, showed us his old school and where his kids went to school etc...he had a real love for the city and it was great to hear all his stories. these tours are "hop on hop off" so you can get off at any of the stops and there will be another bus along every 15 mins after that.

WE stayed in the Park south Hotel on 28th street..it was fab..breakfast included which was as many bagels, toast, muffins, fruit, yogurts, boiled eggs tea coffee you wanted..was a great start to our days..The empire state was about a 10 min walk, macys was about 15 and times square was about 20 mins walk away...which was great.

we had dinner in The View restaraunt one night (top of the merriot hotel), we didnt get a window seat as hoped but it was nice enough...you dont feel it rotating atall...the bill came to $200 dollars incl tip. which was a bit steep for what we got...i think my boyfriend was still a bit hungry afterwards.anyway booked that with www.opentable.com

We went to an ice hockey match in madsion square gardens on the sunday evening..i would recommend anyone to go there..the atmosphere was unreal..it was between New York Ranger and the New Jersey Devils...it was like watching a cork and kerry match to be honest..such rivalry...New jersey had won their last 9 games and new york had lost their last 4..it was mostly new yorkers there, so when the rangers finally scored the first goal of the game during overtime the place went mad..it was brilliant. WE got the tickest at www.coasttocoasttickets.com

We also did the yankee stadium tour..that was fairly interesting..again the tour guise was an true yankees fan from when he was a child..so he was very good at this job..it was cool to see the stadium that they call "the house that ruth built" they will be closing it next year or 09 to baseball games as they are in the process of building a new one right next door..we booked that tour through ticketmaster, we got the subway home from here..cos it wa a bit far out for taxis, we were in the bronx, so went to the subway..we found it very hard to figure out, but with little help we found our way and got home, didnt use the subway anymore after that.

WE came in from JFK to dublin yesterday morning at around 8ish....i saw one woman being stopped...they were taking aload of cd's out of her bag..i didnt see how many bags she had cos i just looked straight ahead and didnt make eye contact...Me and my boyfriend had 2 big bags each. when traveling to cork from dub with ryanair we had to pay €140 for our over weight bags..:(

edit:/ i brought over $3,500...and i spent every last dollar (have a few quarters left though) My boy friend went with $4,000(as he didnt have a credit card) and he came back with nearly $2000 , but an emptier bag than mine, even though he still bought loads!

MrJoeSoap

Great report Femmy, I'll be looking to get a hockey game in whilst I'm there, be it the Islanders, Devils or Rangers. 1-0 is a horrible score for a hockey game!

Femelade

i know! and we were about to leave just before they scored, glad we stayed now..the fans were doing mad!! but its a definate MUST..even if you are not an ice hockey fan..

MrJoeSoap

Femmy wrote: »

i know! and we were about to leave just before they scored, glad we stayed now..the fans were doing mad!! but its a definate MUST..even if you are not an ice hockey fan..

Well the reason I'm going to NY is to go up to Buffalo for the first outdoor NHL game in the USA. So I'd love to catch a game in NYC as well. How much did the tickets cost you? Were there any/many spare seats?

Femelade

well we bought the cheapest tickets...so we were in the very last row...(didnt bother us really as we were still at the sie of the rink and had a great view. When i paid for the tickets they were $87 each, $19.14 service fee and $15 for 2 day delivery (the fed ex'd them to me) so that was a total of $208.14
When were at the game the ticket said on them that they were $30 each..so i'm not sure why i paid $87 for them....

MrJoeSoap

Femmy wrote: »

well we bought the cheapest tickets...so we were in the very last row...(didnt bother us really as we were still at the sie of the rink and had a great view. When i paid for the tickets they were $87 each, $19.14 service fee and $15 for 2 day delivery (the fed ex'd them to me) so that was a total of $208.14
When were at the game the ticket said on them that they were $30 each..so i'm not sure why i paid $87 for them....

I think the NY Rangers sell out their entire season worth of tickets within a few days of them going on sale, no doubt there are agencies like the one you bought your tickets off who buy them in bulk and sell them for big profits to visitors. Pretty sad state of affairs.

Did you manage to catch a show, I'd love to go and see Spamalot whilst its on.

youcancallmeal

Excellent trip report, more or less the same as me and the missus when we went a few weeks ago. I struggled to spend the $2000 I brought over(Not including flights and accommodation). We were there for 6 nights and I bought clothes, a camera, ate out every night, saw all the sights, went to a basketball game etc etc. My girlfriend spent even less than me so how did you manage to spend $3500!!!

Femelade

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

I think the NY Rangers sell out their entire season worth of tickets within a few days of them going on sale, no doubt there are agencies like the one you bought your tickets off who buy them in bulk and sell them for big profits to visitors. Pretty sad state of affairs.

Did you manage to catch a show, I'd love to go and see Spamalot whilst its on.

didnt get to see a show! would have loved to!! was going to que at the TKS booth for cheap ones but tbh we were in bed by 10ish most night cos we were knackered!! we were up at 7am each morning. if i went again i would buy thickets online to see something, would have loved to see wicked or hairspray..

Femelade

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Excellent trip report, more or less the same as me and the missus when we went a few weeks ago. I struggled to spend the $2000 I brought over(Not including flights and accommodation). We were there for 6 nights and I bought clothes, a camera, ate out every night, saw all the sights, went to a basketball game etc etc. My girlfriend spent even less than me so how did you manage to spend $3500!!!

well $900 of that was accommodation.
and i have a 6 yr old daughter so anything "high school musical" had to be got...
i dint even get much designer stuff..bought uggd, 2 guess handbags and a juicy wallet...everything else was clothes etc..

youcancallmeal

Oh right if your including accommodation in then yeah I probably spent around $3000. Did you go to Jersey Gardens? We went out and it was just pure Irish people, I recognised at lot of them from the same flight as us and there was even big gangs of fellas walking around in Dublin jerseys. Twas kind of like the Ilac center?

Femelade

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Oh right if your including accommodation in then yeah I probably spent around $3000. Did you go to Jersey Gardens? We went out and it was just pure Irish people, I recognised at lot of them from the same flight as us and there was even big gangs of fellas walking around in Dublin jerseys. Twas kind of like the Ilac center?

we went to woodbury commons, my boyfriend spent most of his money there, cos he hates shopping, but found it easier there than in the city, as they werent as crowded..and you could easily stroll around the place without all the crowds. there were aload of people from ireland there, you could spot them straight away anywhere you went, there was a family in our hotel who were sitting across from us on the flight over...

unklerosco

How long did the ice hockey game go on for?? I know the game itself is 3 x 20mins but i'm just wondering how long I should put aside for going to see one....

Femelade

I think it was the bones of 1.5 hours. they play games during the intervals etc.

nuriusquis

Hi,
I'm planning on going to New York next March. Can anyboday recommend any hotel? what are prices like?

BuffyBot

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