Are you taking the kids? - New York August 2013 - Pre-Trippie

Guest · 27 Sep 13, 11:50 AM

The title for this Trippie comes from the fact everytime I mentioned I was going to New York, people asked “are you taking the kids?” and looked surprised when I said yes.

It’s a bit of a long story which for various reasons I can’t divulge yet (one of which I haven’t properly thanked those who made it possible yet), but back in July I found myself with almost $9000 credit with Delta Airlines and only 5 weeks to use it.

No doubt most Dibbers would think “Great, off to Florida” but even though we had all that money with Delta, it could only be used for flights. We didn’t have the Ł3000+ we reckon we needed for accommodation/car/tickets and spending money for the 4 of us for two weeks we had no idea the credit would happen so didn’t save for it.

We could scrape together about Ł1000 at that short notice. So where to go? We decided on New York, a place we loved and had been to before with just the two of us. Now we had a 5 and 3 year old.

First problem was accommodation; everywhere in Manhattan was about Ł1000+ for a week. We found places at JFK, in Brooklyn and New Jersey for Ł500 to Ł600 so was going down that route until Mrs Taz found a hotel on Upper West Side for Ł550 on lastminute.com, booked it.

marrakechhotelnyc/

Looks good eh, then we read this - tripadvisor/ShowTop..._New_York.html

We tried to cancel with Lastminute.com who was totally useless and I think just lied to us about calling us back and systems being down. They refused to cancel because they emailed the hotel who said “We are not illegal” and believed them. They are though; here is the evidence - a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Pr... BD08866A7430E

I will never use lastminute.com again.

So, on the 16th August 2013 we find ourselves leaving the sunny skies of Ulster for the cold repressive clouds of Eire in our little FIAT Panda 100HP. Although we are flying Business Elite with Delta we only have Ł450 spending money for 6 days and staying in a hotel that for as far as we know could get shut down at any second.

What could possibly go wrong?

Jonathan

ChristieK0310 · 27 Sep 13, 12:01 PM

Can't wait to read the rest

Never seen a dibber from my home town before! Hi

Guest · 27 Sep 13, 01:06 PM

Nice to meet you, there used to be a bit more NI Dibbers on a few years ago but there was a bit of a tiff and they left

Jonathan

abiknox · 1 Oct 13, 10:33 AM

Loving the sound of this trip! Cant wait to read about the hotel situation!

Glee Fan · 9 Oct 13, 09:57 PM

Wow, what a start!

Did you not get a refund then? Can't wait to read the rest!

Guest · 21 Oct 13, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

Wow, what a start!

Did you not get a refund then? Can't wait to read the rest!

A refund on the fights or hotel?

The flights... it's complicated but will reveal all one day.

No refund on the hotel, but it didn't get shutdown the week we were there so it all worked out OK

Jonathan

disney owl · 29 Oct 13, 10:44 PM

sounds interesting!

Gill635 · 7 Dec 13, 05:36 PM

OOh I'm intrigued now!

x

27 Sep 13, 11:50 AM	#1
	27 Sep 13, 11:50 AM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Are you taking the kids? - New York August 2013 - Pre-Trippie The title for this Trippie comes from the fact everytime I mentioned I was going to New York, people asked “are you taking the kids?” and looked surprised when I said yes. It’s a bit of a long story which for various reasons I can’t divulge yet (one of which I haven’t properly thanked those who made it possible yet), but back in July I found myself with almost $9000 credit with Delta Airlines and only 5 weeks to use it. No doubt most Dibbers would think “Great, off to Florida” but even though we had all that money with Delta, it could only be used for flights. We didn’t have the Ł3000+ we reckon we needed for accommodation/car/tickets and spending money for the 4 of us for two weeks we had no idea the credit would happen so didn’t save for it. We could scrape together about Ł1000 at that short notice. So where to go? We decided on New York, a place we loved and had been to before with just the two of us. Now we had a 5 and 3 year old. First problem was accommodation; everywhere in Manhattan was about Ł1000+ for a week. We found places at JFK, in Brooklyn and New Jersey for Ł500 to Ł600 so was going down that route until Mrs Taz found a hotel on Upper West Side for Ł550 on lastminute.com, booked it. marrakechhotelnyc/ Looks good eh, then we read this - tripadvisor/ShowTop..._New_York.html We tried to cancel with Lastminute.com who was totally useless and I think just lied to us about calling us back and systems being down. They refused to cancel because they emailed the hotel who said “We are not illegal” and believed them. They are though; here is the evidence - a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Pr... BD08866A7430E I will never use lastminute.com again. So, on the 16th August 2013 we find ourselves leaving the sunny skies of Ulster for the cold repressive clouds of Eire in our little FIAT Panda 100HP. Although we are flying Business Elite with Delta we only have Ł450 spending money for 6 days and staying in a hotel that for as far as we know could get shut down at any second. What could possibly go wrong? Jonathan

27 Sep 13, 01:06 PM	#3
	27 Sep 13, 01:06 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Nice to meet you, there used to be a bit more NI Dibbers on a few years ago but there was a bit of a tiff and they left Jonathan