The Not For Tourists New York City Pre-trip Report

[Ariel88]

Hello all and welcome

The time has come to write the pre-trip report for our upcoming NYC trip. With only 75 days left to go the time is ticking to get everything organised.

So why is this trip called The Not For Tourists? Well, it's actually just named after one of the first guidebooks I purchased (which is excellent by the way) and seemed like a cool name. We will be doing plenty of touristy things and visiting most of the usual attractions but will try and fit in some of the more unusual stuff too.

The background

Since I’ve been to Florida 10 times already now I thought it was about time I visited somewhere else in the States for a change. I’ve always wanted to visit New York and almost nearly went there in 2009 for my 21st birthday but plans had to be put on hold due to illness NYC has always appealed since watching all countless films set there and I'm hoping it's exactly like it is in the movies.

Who’s who?

Rio (25) - That’s me Chief planner and organiser. I like to have everything planned literally down to a t. As I mentioned already this will be my first visit to the US that won’t be Florida or involve Disney. I will be hoping to get my disney fix somewhere along the way though.



John (23) - My wonderful boyfriend of 2.5 years who I've been living with for the past year. He is the complete opposite of me and likes to be spontaneous and just goes with the flow. He hates the fact I like to have everything planned out but I think deep down he secretly loves it as it means he can just relax and not worry about the finer details! He has visited LA and Vegas before we met and recently travelled to Orlando last September with my family and I.



We both work for the NHS at our local hospital (for our sins) but actually meet through Facebook rather than work. This is us together on our trip to WDW last year:



The plan

After researching for weeks to find the best deal for our budget we finally booked just before Christmas last year via BA Holidays. I’ve always previously flown with Virgin but thought we would give BA a try this time around having heard good things about them. It actually worked out cheaper to book a complete package with them than DIY.
Ideally we would have liked to have gone for Memorial Day weekend but as work wouldn’t allow us those dates off so we opted for the beginning of May instead.

Flying on Thursday 8th May at 10:35 from Heathrow and arriving at Newark at 13:15. We are staying in a premier queen room at the Hotel Metro on West 35th Street (one street up from Empire State Building) for 5 nights.



The hotel gets good reviews on trip advisor and continental breakfast is included which is a bonus. It was the location which swayed it for us though and the view from the rooftop bar speaks for itself.



We also included a hotel at Heathrow for the night before so we don't have to worry about waking up so early and will be staying at the Arora Hotel for 1 night.



We depart at 23:00 on Tuesday 13th May from Newark arriving back at Heathrow on the 14th at 10:45. This means we have nearly another full day to experience in the city before going home. Our flight back should be on the new Dreamliner which I'm looking forward to experiencing. I hope it's as spacious inside as it looks.



The total amount for the whole package came to £1908 which included £83 for the 1 night at the Arora. We had budgeted around £1800 so our total wasn’t bad.

As we'd been talking about booking NYC for most of last year our families all gave us dollars at Christmas to put towards our spends. The holiday is fully paid for and it's just the last lot of spending money to save up and then purchasing our tickets. Hoping to have our itinerary sorted by next week when we'll be purchasing the bulk of our tickets.

Update 1: Must sees and dos
Update 2: Broadway tickets booked!
Mini Update: We have our Big Apple Greeter
Food Teaser: The restaurants we managed to do

[mickey68]

Look forward to seeing your itinerary - we fly out on the same day as you for our first visit! So excited! Just putting our itinerary together.

[Ariel88]

Originally Posted by mickey68

Look forward to seeing your itinerary - we fly out on the same day as you for our first visit! So excited! Just putting our itinerary together.

See more...

How long are you staying for? Eek it's all I can think about at the moment I'm that excited!

[jane2211]

Very exciting 😄

[mickey68]

Originally Posted by Ariel88

How long are you staying for? Eek it's all I can think about at the moment I'm that excited!

See more...

We fly home on the evening of Monday 12th so hopefully time to see lots! My DH booked it as a surprise for my Christmas present! It is all we talk about! X

[princessE&G]

75 days... exciting.
We have alot in common...I have been in Florida 10 times (11th coming up in July), this will be our first new york trip... and we both must be fans of a nice rooftop bar

Hope your trip goes well.

[Ariel88]

Originally Posted by mickey68

We fly home on the evening of Monday 12th so hopefully time to see lots! My DH booked it as a surprise for my Christmas present! It is all we talk about! X

See more...

I'm sure you'll get to see lots. Although I'm already thinking we may need another trip to finish off what we don't get chance to do. What a lovely present! You're a lucky lady

[Ariel88]

Originally Posted by princessE&G

75 days... exciting.
We have alot in common...I have been in Florida 10 times (11th coming up in July), this will be our first new york trip... and we both must be fans of a nice rooftop bar

Hope your trip goes well.

See more...

You can't get better than Florida but we do need to see more of the world every now and again. Yes rooftop bars with a lovely view of ESB.

Yours too.

[Ariel88]

Originally Posted by jane2211

Very exciting 😄

See more...

Thanks for reading

[Vikkicat]

I'll be there a week or so before you 😄 and we are staying in the hotel metro! We leave on the 24th April, I'm being taken for my 40th birthday!

This is the second time I'd have been to NY, and like you have been to Florida numerous times.

I ire all need to sort out my plans for NY, I've normally planned everything within a week of the holiday being booked, but for some reason I've not with this holiday