Heading to the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps and continuing our USA leg of the journey to the east coast of the United States. While I had seen some big cities this was the biggest so far with so much history and so many Hollywood movies made there.
This post continues on the journey I took with my son in 2010 around the world. If you would like to see the story so far you can start it all here.
LINK: My First World Trip : Where It All Started
New York
ARRIVED 10.4.2010
When planning this part of the trip there was a big issue with accommodation as this was in the early days of Airbnb and hotels in New York charged a fortune per night. After talking to our travel agent they could only offer hotels, so after talking with my son we decided to find the accommodation in New York ourselves.
My son was hard to lock down for any conversations at the time between his hectic work schedule, travelling and his social life he was never free for poor old me. Getting him for any length of time on the phone was always difficult but once I had him in person I cornered him until we got things sorted.
I had heard from a few friends who had also had issues with accommodation in New York that this new website Airbnb was the way to go. Me not being so technically minded back then knew this was always going to be one of my sons tasks.
We looked at the website and signed up and were surprised at the price difference and that we could get a whole one bed unit for one third of the price of a hotel. Not only that but we could get it right in the upper east side of town. No wonder the hotels got all excited about trying to shut down or regulate Airbnb when it started up there, as one of the tour guides told us.
We booked the apartment for 3 nights and it was our first ever Airbnb accommodation so we really did not know what to expect. Just out of interest I just checked and the place is still there on Airbnb although no doubt renovated a few times since we stayed there.
LINK: Airbnb in New York
It was a lovely little place on the 2nd floor and very compact but had everything that we needed. As you see in most movies about New York a great view of a fire escape outside the window. This all added to the charm of the place and for 3 days we got to live like locals.
The location was great and very handy to the metro, supermarket and restaurants. Just a quick walk to Central Park and very quiet at night. The host Allison met us as we popped out of the stairs from the Metro and took us straight to the apartment. She was great and answered many of our local questions and gave us her number if we had any help.
As we have often done many times since and no doubt you guys do too, we scouted the local area. No matter how many trips I have been on now it still is the best way to get a real feel for a place, to go out and get lost a little bit in the town you are staying.
For all you young whippersnappers out there this was in the ancient time before smartphones so we did not have google maps on our phones. We did this whole world trip with tourist maps and having to actually talk to people. I know…..shock horror!
The problem with tourist maps is they only had the main roads so when you got lost you may have to pick a direction and walk until you either hit a subway where you can check the stations and readjust yourself back to where you were living. Grab a cab or hit a main street that was on your tourist map.
Needless to say even on later trips with the aid of smartphones and maps I still manage to get myself lost. There was an incident in Barcelona where I almost broke down in tears and had to have my son rescue me after only having to go a single block to pick up the laundry. I will tell you more about that in my France and Spain trip but let’s just say I didn’t live that one down for a long time.
The next day we booked tickets on the big red bus again as we did in most new cities. We stayed on all the loops first and then decided where we wanted to get off. First stop was the Battery, (a park on the upper bay, near the financial district). Got a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, and saw the Merchant Marine and Universal Soldier memorial.
Hahaha love the quality of the Nikon CoolPix 220 with a massive 3x optical zoom. How things have changed in digital cameras.
Back on the bus and passed the Chinatown Markets, saw the Empire State Building and a lot of the landmarks that were on our list to visit. As we travelled around I noticed plaster figures of men on the top of a lot of the tall buildings. Think they were there to draw your eyes up to see how fantastic the city really is.
Tried our first New York Hot Dog from a street cart. Talk about big and a bit messy. Only got halfway through eating mine when I realized that I’d let some of the filling slip out and it was sitting in the scarf that was around my neck. Oh well I thought, that’s a snack for later.
We got off at Times Square and wondered around taking in all the sights and sounds. We saw the M & M World Store and went in to have a look and met a couple of the locals. Who doesn’t like chocolate, am I right?
Broadway in New York is a lot different to the West End in London. The shows in New York are big budget and all razzle dazzle but while impressive they seem to pick pretty people instead of the right person for the role. If you like a believable story that will trigger your emotions go to the West End in London is my personal opinion.
We finally got around to going to the Empire State Building on day three and we were so glad it was not peak season. You think there is only one line and a single lift but you actually have a line up at the bottom of the building, get into the lift and one minute later you’re at the 86th floor then change lifts and go up to the rooftop observatory.
Really windy day check out my hair. It seems to be a never ending task keeping my hair in check everywhere I went. My son would tell you that it was that and always needing a toilet.
We decided to do the night bus trip across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. Of course it had to start raining just after we got on board and we were on the top of the bus with no roof. Those little plastic ponchos are pretty useless when the bus is roaring along the streets flat out. Feels like you’re travelling inside a balloon. You’ve got to hold on tight.
Next day we took a break, got some lunch and wandered around Central Park. All the blossoms were out, it was Spring and so beautiful. Lots of people walking their dogs and exercising. Just like in the movies. Much to my sons annoyance I always stop to smell the flowers like the ones below.
Below is probably one of the most used bridges in Hollywood movies in central park. Some things are surreal when you finally get to see them in person and some don’t. But that is the joy of travelling.
That was all we had time for in New York so we packed our small bags and we were off by bus to Martha’s Vineyard, a place that was on my list of things to see.
NEXT STOP: Martha’s Vineyard