I came to NYC in November 2021 for the big 30th Birthday, you know how it is - best thing for a traveler to do for their birthday don't you think especially big milestone ones, least that's my opinion anyways haha!
The city really is the city which never sleeps, it was breathtaking from the moment I landed into JFK, and traveled over to Manhattan Island to head to my hotel in the centre of Times Square, literally couldn't of asked for a better location, I was within walking distance of pretty much everything, you could even walk to the 9/11 memorial site or the Liberty view point if you had the patience too, sometimes I even think it would of been quicker than getting Ubers due to the islands traffic and one way systems.
I stayed at The Millenium Broadway Times Square, upon the 47th Floor - & I'm still mesmerised by how quick the elevators got you up & down. Simply pleased by these things haha! My Room was very clean, and a decent size, bigger than your average hotel room & the bathroom had a shower & bath tub which was an added bonus. The hotel was perfectly located, and was surrounded by everything you could want from nice restaurants to fast food joints, to high end shops to the cheaper shops - well I say cheaper shops I mean the generic high street shops like Footlocker & H&M. On the corner of the block every morning you could watch Good Morning America be filmed live from outside the studio, which was interesting.
When you arrive into the city you have to pay a City Tax at the hotel on top of the original charge which isn't too bad but again I didn't do my research as I booked this through a travel agent - Hays Travel. &, I didn't think to even ask them if there would be any additional charges, for the 5 nights I was there I had to pay $200 city tax.
The city has also now legalised cannabis on the island so it constantly smelt of peoples joints, but that should change once everyone gets used to the fact they can smoke it & it's not such a new thing anymore that they don't need too hide, well that's the hope anyways.
NYC has so much for you to do and experience, you can't really get bored, however it can cost you a fair bit but there is bits you can do without spending the money like a walk around Central Park which is super pretty, full of numerous lakes & different areas of the park to climb rocks in, during the winter months it also has an ice rink inside. The city has many of these, the best known one is obviously the rockerfella due to its Christmas tree, but personally Byrant Park looked like the better rink to skate on and was more central to Times Square. Iceskating in NYC at winter is just a must, but then I am bias as I love to skate anyways.
I highly recommend going to the top of the Rockerfella and also the Empire State Building, I went up the Rockerfella during the day and the Empire at night, personally I loved it this way around but I have heard from others they preferred it the other way around.
I never got to actually go see Liberty up close but I did see it from the view point when I walked down there after visiting 9/11 memorial site and museum. If you are one for your history I recommend it but again just like Auschwitzs it's not the easiest of things to walk around especially the museum as it shows proper footage from the planes etc, but it's well worth it. I just highly recommend a strong drink afterwards there's a lovely little local bar just around the corner from it which is next to the fire station - it's a friendly local pub well worth a visit or two.
The weather held up really well, it was chilly and wet but it didn't start to snow until the day I was due to leave and even then it was just a small flurry, the big deep snow came a couple weeks later into December.
The flight was a long one, I flew from LHR to JFK with British Airways and it took approx 8 hours, it was a comfortable flight with complimentary meals and drinks which is always an added bonus, the only downside was travelling with strict covid rules again so masks were required for the entire flight other than when you were eating or having a drink.
On arrival into JFK you are required to have your picture taken and your finger prints taken for immigration control purposes.
Food and drinks I personally found to be expensive but then it is NYC so what else was I to expect, due to the strict covid rules at the time you were not allowed entry to these without your covid pass to prove you had been vaccinated, without this proof you would been refused entry and asked to leave.
Taxes and Tips are also mandatory there, and added to the end of the bill, so the prices you see on the menus are the prices before tax & tips, this needs to be taken into account if you are on a tight budget.
It's a Bucket list location to travel to for sure, and even with the additional unexpected costs I would for sure go back to visit again, whether that be in the summer or proper winter when it's snowing I don't mind, however I wouldn't spend 5days in the city this time around, I would travel over to different areas of the USA also a make a bigger trip of it if possible.
The one thing I found I seriously suffered with when over there was vertigo, the buildings are so tall when I looked up I started to feel dizzy and nauseous haha! But in time you start to adapt to it or just learn not to look up haha!
Returning back over to the UK I had a night flight which I loved, getting through the airport was no problem at all and it was simple enough to check bags in and get to the boarding gate.
Disclaimer: I would like to share my thoughts and respects to everyone who was involved, loss their lives, effect or just watched it 9/11 happen, I hope the pictures I have posted of the memorial site do to cause any issues I am just trying to raise awareness and make sure people realise its actually there as there as some which may be looking at this blog who were not born at this point.
Comments