New York, New York!

I have sold the destination many times but nothing beats getting first-hand experience, so I decided it was time to see New York for myself so I jetted off on a Continental flight towards the big apple for my first New York adventure! The plane and service was excellent, the on demand video entertainment in the back of the seat was the best I have experienced. We flew into Newark which is only a 30-40 min drive into Manhattan, but I wanted to experience how easy it would be to catch the train to avoid all the queues of traffic. I think if you don’t have any heavy luggage, it is a great way to get to your hotel, but as New York was part of a multi-centre itinerary we had heavy cases and the subway doesn’t cater for this very well. So I would recommend to get a taxi or pre-arrange your transfer if you have a lot of luggage.

We stayed in a 3 star hotel in midtown Manhattan, which was close to Central Park and Times Square. Most of the main attractions were within walking distance so nothing is too far away. The hotel room was large and it had a great café where you can grab some very quick breakfast and the prices were some of the cheapest in Manhattan. The hotel also had a restaurant if you fancied staying in for your evening meal.

Manhattan is really busy and there are people everywhere, Times Square is particularly colourful with the electronic billboards and is certainly the centre of the hustle and bustle. It is here that you can find actors treading the boards down on Broadway, we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Colourful costumes and fabulous actors - what an experience, truly amazing! I would definitely recommend it.

During the day we took a sightseeing coach which lasted all day and took us around the whole of New York City taking in all the suburbs and the attractions such as the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre and Ground Zero. It also included lunch in Little Italy and a boat trip around the Statue of Liberty – as the sun was shining this was a highlight of the day.

Central Park was amazing; to have that area of peace and tranquillity in amongst the high rise buildings, the hordes of people and the traffic must be like a piece of heaven for the New Yorkers. There is a boating lake, a castle, baseball fields and lots of grass areas to relax and unwind. Everyone is running, cycling and power walking, along with the horse and cart rides if you fancied someone else doing the leg work!

We visited 5th Avenue and did a bit of window shopping in a few of the many designer shops and boutiques. We also visited the FAO Schwarz Toy shop and of course, we jumped around on the ‘Big’ piano, it’s impossible to play a tune, but it was fun all the same!

I bought some fabulous jeans in Macy’s, the shop is huge and definitely worth a visit. I can’t say my jeans were a bargain but they are lovely and fit like a glove!

Grand Central Terminal is a lovely building and it was nice to have a bit more of a traditional English architectural type building as opposed to the many office blocks and high rise buildings.

The weather was lovely in May, I think we were lucky as April was freezing but it warmed up just in time for us. It was jeans and t-shirt weather during the day, apart from one day when it didn’t stop raining but we didn’t let the rain spoil our fun!

One massive tip – get yourself some comfortable shoes so you are prepared for all the walking you will be doing! You have to see New York for yourself to believe it, some of my clients go back year after year for the buzz, the great food and the entertainment. I might just be joining them!