NYC Day 1 Getting there and Phantom of the Opera

[highlander447]

A bit of background on this trip usually we go on two trips a year but this year it was only going to be one as I had lost £500 to Globespan collapsing plus I was paying for both kids and my daughters fiancé to go to Orlando with us and had had to pay Virgin in full for new flights and I plan way ahead for my trips but this trip was booked at the end of January thanks to my brother as he had booked a short break to NYC for his wife as a birthday present and he had got the flights for £305 each, so I had a look and after a little juggling of finances I reckoned me and the wife could go as well, but first I checked with my Brother that he wouldn't mind us going the same time of him, he said go for it and using KLM's best price guarantee I managed to get the flights for £280 each and got our hotel for £210 for 5 nights next day it was £440 and we did worry it was an error but I had my voucher in hand and we got that price and no extras to pay so a 5 night stay in NYC for under £800
Cast of characters
Me Steve (highlander447)
DW Jacquie
DB George (Big Geo)
DSL Joanne

It was an early start today as we had a taxi booked for 3:30am, arrived at airport a little before 4am and waited for check in to open, checked in and through security easily enough. We had a coffee and got a meal deal from Boots for the short flight over to Amsterdam plus one to share for just now we never bothered with duty free too early in morning, our flight boarded on time and everything looked good until the captain advised us that we where grounded due to fog at Amsterdam this did cause us concern as we only had a 2 hour connection time in Amsterdam, we assumed my brother and sister in-law where in same boat in Glasgow, the crew passed out juice and crisps etc after an hour the captain said we would be leaving soon and true to his word we where and despite the hour delay we only arrived 20 mins late. Once we got off the plane we followed signs to our next gate luckily we didn't have to go through security again to get to our gate, George and Joanne arrived at the gate about 15 mins later, we had a look at duty free but not great prices with euro so strong, George did try to get me into the casino but I wanted to keep my cash for NYC, the passport officer processed us all together and we went through x-ray again but no body scanner, our flight boarded on time, the plane was not the newest entertainment was the monitor's that drop down, we stuck to our Ipod, George and Joanne where a few rows in front of us, service was good and food was okay, the crew after serving just let you get the drinks etc from the galley, we arrived on time and didn't wait too long at security although our security officer only took two fingers from me but 10 from Jacquie for the scan. Once through we switched on our phones with the global sims and they failed to connect to a network despite both of us registering them for the US wound me up:angry: but my brother is more laid back and it didn't bother him as much, I called Carmelimo and George called Dial 7 he didn't want to book same car service as we both had same surname and it could cause a mix up,we arranged to meet up at Madame Teussads next morning to exchange our HOHO vouchers, their car arrived first and ours about 10 mins later. We arrived at Astor on the Park a little before 2:30pm not bad going as we had only arrived an hour earlier, car service was $61 incl $10 tip, our room was ready and on 1st floor we used the stairs to our room and unpacked the room was perfectly okay not big but big enough we had a view of Central Park not a great view but still a view,



after unpacking we headed out to explore and find a cash machine, our first stop was the subway about a 10 min stroll I bought our 7 day passes worth every $ at $27 each, we then went a few streets behind us now the area wasn't unsafe but not exactly a tourist area we did find a Bank of America last trip it was commission free but this year it was $3 per withdrawal even HSBC charged the $3 as well we ended up sticking to McD's as it was only 99c per withdrawal, we bought juice and water for the room and then got changed for the Theatre, I called the help line number for the sim card and they activated the sim for US turns out I activated it to early called the kids at home to say goodnight and make sure everything was okay, I enquired at front desk about a local bar for drinks the clerk advised to go further into the city and to drink in the bars around here, got the subway to Columbus Circle and took the wife to the Stone Rose Lounge at the Time Warner Centre we had to check in with the hostess who showed us to a table now this place ain't cheap but the view of Central Park is spectacular we had two drinks $40 incl tip but we did feel very cosmopolitan (no pics didn;t want to look like a bumpkin), we then had a wander through the centre on one floor Kodak where doing a promo shoot as it was Oscars weekend and you could have your picture took with a real Oscar and make a speech on the podium etc, the wife wasn't up for it and I wasn't drunk enough so we passed on it, we then window shopped before walking downtown to the theatre, we visited Times Square and DW had a pic with NYC's finest,



bought a pack of sweets for the show which was Phantom of the Opera we had seen this when it toured a few years ago in Edinburgh but I have to say not sure if it was jetlag or culturally I'm just a yob but I really lived every minute of it DW on the other hand loved it:pop:,

I had a beer at the bar in the interval but it didn't help, show came out at 10:30pm DW was hungry so she got chicken/Brie sandwich from a nearby deli for in the hotel room she assured me it was delicious, we then got subway back to hotel we got back a little after 11pm and we felt pretty safe on train and walking back to hotel asleep by midnight that was a 25 hour day OMG we're on holiday

[Guest]

Result, managing to get so good flight and hotel prices for New York. A long first day - what troopers. Looking forward to reading more.

[sue.o]

Thats a great start! Looking forward to the rest!

[tazman]

Hi.
Great trippy. Do you mean McDonalds for your cash withdrawal at $0.99?

Gary

[jeanwales]

Great price Steve - been looking forward to this one - glad you are doing it just before we go there xxx

[highlander447]

Originally Posted by tazman

Hi.
Great trippy. Do you mean McDonalds for your cash withdrawal at $0.99?

Gary

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Hi, yes only 99 cents max withdrawal was $300 in one go, but at the banks it was $400 but a $3 charge,

[Guest]

Great start and wow well done for keep going on such a long day.

[Guest]

That's a great rate you got for your hotel, where did you book it?

Great first day, i love NYC trippies! Off to read day 2

[highlander447]

Originally Posted by ukdiva

That's a great rate you got for your hotel, where did you book it?

Great first day, i love NYC trippies! Off to read day 2

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Booked hotel via wefly

[voddygirl]

Great price you got there ...off to read more !