Girls trip to the big apple

With an opportunity for a few days away with my best friend, there was no other place for it - it had to be New York! I’ve been lucky enough to visit NY a few times before but not for a good few years so to be honest I couldn’t wait to return, and it didn’t disappoint!

Flying from London we grabbed a taxi on arrival and headed straight into Manhattan. There is nothing like the view, especially at night, of seeing the skyline you see in the movies!

We stayed in The Parker hotel. We loved the location as it is around a 15 minute walk to Times Square, 10 minutes to 5th Ave and 5 minutes to Central Park. With a Starbucks across the road, what more could you need?

As we were only in NY for three nights, I had already made an itinerary! Don’t expect anything less from a travel agent! My friend laughed actually out loud when I told her I had made a plan of action but on the plane home she said she was glad as you get swept up in the excitement and don’t make the most of your time!

My best advice is to make a list of all the sights you want to see and things you want to do (in fact do this in any city!) Check where they are located on a map and how far they are from your hotel. For example, we did Times Square, Maddison Square Gardens, Empire State and Grand Central all on the same day as they are all within easy reach. We then did Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and 9/11 memorial on another day because they are all relatively close together! Although everything seems close by on the map it can involve a lot of walking, so plan your day so you’re not retracing steps. Your Fitbit may thank you for it but your feet wont! The hop off hop on buses are great to get you around and we also used the hop on hop off water taxi which was great way to see the city from the water and the Statue of liberty up close. I would recommend it!

I booked the New York City Pass as it saved a little bit of money on entrance fees but ultimately meant we had budgeted for our trip as most sights and entrance fees were paid for! We didn’t even start to cover most of what was included in the pass but even for the things we did do it saved us time and money.

Booking a trip to NY you are sure to do your own research, so I’m just going to share with you a couple of things we did that we loved!

First up is Ellen’s Stardust Diner off Times Square! This place is amazing - don’t expect 5-star dining but definitely 5-star entertainment! If you love the musicals, then this is for you. Think American diner with singing servers belting out songs from Moana and Aladdin and loads of other musical Broadway hits! Queues are likely most of the day so we went for breakfast. Not a quiet start to the morning but a great way wake you up for the day ahead!

Another favourite of ours and a must on our list was Serendipity. If you have seen the film, you will know the place I’m talking about (it’s my fave film ever!) If you haven’t you must watch it! It’s the restaurant featured in the film and is well known for their frozen hot chocolate which is huge and amazing and yes, I bought a fridge magnet to remember our trip here!

To finish off we returned to our hotel for this last stop, The Burger Joint. This is one of those places you have to try! Its random as its inside the lobby of The Parker hotel hidden behind a huge curtain but you will know where it is - at lunchtime the queue is 20 minutes long to get in! Once inside this super cool, cosy, dimly lit place with writing and posters on the walls, booths and limited seating is Instagram worthy and possibly the best burger I have ever eaten! Just try it, pretty sure you won’t be disappointed!

My other piece of advice is to do both the Top of the Rock and Empire State, one in the day and one at night! We did the Empire State at night (entrance included on our NY pass) and the views were like nothing you have ever seen. A city full of lights and neon - it truly is a memorable experience. We visited Top of the Rock in the day (again entrance included in our pass). Here you can see Central Park and the Empire State in all its glory! You can get the best photos from here and a selfie or two! I just love NY! I haven’t even talked about the usual top sights, but we did so much I have hardly even begun, and we could be here all day! However, that’s what NY is about - discovering your own experiences and creating your own memories! We tried to fit in everything we could into our brief three nights so I’m sure we will be back for more in the city that’s so good you can understand why they named it twice!