New York Adventures
Booked well in advance meant I got us a great deal on the flights and with a bit of research I found us a fab little hotel in a ‘non touristy’ area (us Wilsons like to be amongst the locals when we’re away!). The trip was my daughters' Christmas presents, aged 13 and 10 they absolutely loved it and totally absorbed the whole experience including the miles upon miles of walking we did.
We stayed in the Gramercy Park area of New York, just a 10 minute walk to 5th Avenue and a 20 minute walk to the Empire State I’d absolutely recommend this area if you like to be away from the hustle, bustle and bright lights.
We managed to tick lots off our bucket lists including seeing a movie being filmed on the streets of New York, eating seafood in the oyster bar of Grand Central Station, taking a horse and carriage ride in Central Park. The delights of a true American milkshake (more calories than you even dare imagine!) the high line, an old disused rail way line that’s now a fab walk way above the city.
As well as a visit to Macy’s, whistled a yellow cab, not that they or anyone else can hear you do it but it has to be done. And of course we visited all the popular attractions including Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Empire State and ground zero.
Two top tips I’d give are
1) on your first day take the hop on hop off bus tour. They’re brilliant for helping you get your bearings and I have to say the guides are all very individual and each know their own little golden nuggets of information.
2) Plan your days with your attraction visits first thing in the morning, We did this on the last day, and hot footed it to the Rockafella for 9am and were straight up to the top of the rock. We all had a snack enroute then had a leisurely breakfast afterwards at a fab little deli.
Every single place we ate and drank, from breakfast to dinner, coffee to a glass of wine was great. With 29,000 restaurants in NYC they’re all fighting to hold their own which means you’d be really unlucky to find a bad place to eat or drink. We experienced your typical American diners to quirky little corner cafes serving delicious healthy dishes and craft beers.
As many of our bucket list items that we as ticked there’s still quite a few not yet done. Would we go back?........... absolutely!!