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Old 9 Jul 17, 10:52 PM  
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Fuellady
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What we learned in New York - Tues 20th June 2017 - The High Line, Madame Tussauds, Juniors & home

Day 5 is HERE

What we learned in New York – Tuesday 20th June 2017

The High Line, Madame Tussauds, Juniors & Home time

We woke up naturally just before 7am, showered and started to pack up our things. We left out our toiletries and travel clothes as we would be coming back to the hotel after breakfast. About 8am we headed out in search of a bakery for breakfast. We soon came to Europan and went in. They had a lovely selection of cakes and pastries but we both chose a banana muffin, Neil had a latte and I had a de-caf coffee. There were a few tables to the side so we decided to sit in. The muffins and coffee were both really good here. I think it cost around $15 but the assistant’s English wasn’t very good and I struggled to understand her so I just handed over $20 and hoped for the best!



Next we went back along the street to the Subway to get the train to 23rd Street where we intended to join the Highline. I had it in my head that it was an A train that we needed and we waited about 10 minutes for one to arrive. This was the only time that we had to wait for a train at all. We were a bit perplexed when the train didn’t stop at 23rd Street but carried on to 14th Street, so we got off here. Turns out it was the E train we should have gotten. It didn’t matter anyway, we didn’t find the Highline a long walk so we were happy to walk back from 14th.

When we came out of the Subway there was a food truck by the exit. A man was hanging about and asked if we would buy him some food. We said no, then stopped to check out map and the guy was still hovering about us. It was making me really uncomfortable so we just started walking to get away. It didn’t take us long to figure out we were going the wrong way as having got off at the corner of 8th, we were now at 7th and we needed to get to 10th Avenue. We never did work out how to know which way was East or West and many times went the wrong way before realising our mistake.

It was another hot sunny morning, so we were happy to be out walking about. We crossed the street and headed back the way we had come. We were now passing through the meatpacking district. When we reached 10th Avenue we found the entrance to the Highline and climbed the steps. It was a pleasant walk, nice and smooth underfoot with the path being made of some kind of composite concrete. I liked that the original tracks had been incorporated into the path. There were lots of volunteers along the path tending to the plants.

The first part was lovely with flowers planted all along the sides. We noticed lots of construction going on alongside the Highline. The second part of the Highline wasn’t so nice, there were no plants and the path was rougher. I’m not sure if they are going to do more work on this part or if it’s meant to be more rustic. We passed a yard full of Subway cars that weren’t in service, then a bit further on had some nice views of the river.




It didn’t take us long at all, maybe half an hour, and we came out at 34th Street. We walked up to 9th Avenue, then went along it until we reached 40th Street and our hotel. We freshened up, changed into our travelling clothes then finished off our packing. It was about 11.30am now and we had to check out by 12 noon so we gathered up our things and went down to reception.

We asked if we could leave our bags there and the bellboy labelled them up and took them away for us. We were going to ask at reception if they would be able to call us a cab back to the airport later, but they beat us to it, and as we were checking out asked us if we had transport arranged. They offered a private car service for $70 which we were more than happy with so we booked it for 5pm.

We had one more attraction left on our Explorer Pass to use up, and it was between Madame Tussauds and Intrepid Sea, Air Space Museum. I thought Intrepid would be really interesting but Neil wasn’t bothered which surprised me as he was in the RAF for years, and it was also further away so we settled on Madame Tussauds. When we went in, we were told there were 5 floors of exhibits so we were thinking this would be good and would take us ages to go round. It turns out there aren’t that many exhibits on each floor and it was just ok as an attraction, I don’t think we would go back again. Despite that, we did have a good laugh at some of the characters and it was quite fun posing along with them. The Ghostbusters display had a real person jumping out on people, it was so funny watching peoples reactions. Here we are with some “famous” people…







We decided to try out for President… Neil was going for the stern approach, he said I was too cheery for a serious job like that!




Neil had wanted to get his photo taken with a New York Cop all holiday, this was the best he could do…



When we were finished here, we decided to go to Juniors on 45th Street for a late lunch. We sat inside and we both ordered the chicken breast with potatoes and veg. It was really delicious, my best meal here in NYC next to Scallywags, and a massive portion.



We were so full after we finished, in fact I don’t think either of us cleared our plates, but we really wanted to try a dessert. We weren’t particularly bothered about trying the Cheesecake although that is what they’re famous for, so we ordered the Strawberry Shortcake to share. It was more of a sponge than shortcake but it was very nice. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish it.



We paid up ($55.69 + tip) and headed back out into the sunshine. We ended up in Times Square where we found somewhere to sit and just hung about for a while people watching.



I wanted to get a gift for the girls back home but I hadn’t decided what. We went for a walk about and ended up not far from Macys so we went in to have a look. Neil looked at some Ralph Lauren shirts, but they are much cheaper in Florida! I tried having a look at the make up stalls to see if I could get something for the girls there, but the assistant kept pestering me when all I wanted to do was have a browse and decide for myself so I ended up just walking away, slightly annoyed. This shop is just so huge it would be so easy to get lost. We only saw a tiny part of it.

We started walking back up 8th Avenue towards our hotel and I just went into a souvenir shop there and got them a mug and a pen each. Pretty rubbish gifts, but oh well, it wasn’t really a shopping holiday. When we got back to the hotel, we were still a bit early for our transport to the airport, it was about 4.15pm. We sat inside the hotel bar for a while then about 4.30pm we asked reception for our cases and I popped the souvenirs into mine. The bell boy told us that our car was waiting outside so we decided just to leave then. It was about 4.45pm. We had found all of the staff at the Distrikt so friendly and helpful.

It was a lovely large car that we had all to ourselves. The driver, although he didn’t seem to speak much English (he was Mexican, or Cuban?) he was very professional and polite and drove very safely in comparison to the driver who had taken us here. He only spoke to tell us every half hour or so what time we should expect to arrive at the airport. We wouldn’t hesitate to stay at the Distrikt Hotel if we return to New York in the future and we would use their car service again as well.

It took around 1 ½ hours to get to the airport as the traffic was quite heavy. We were a little disappointed that the route our driver took meant that we crossed the river in a tunnel rather than by bridge so we couldn’t get a last look at the Manhattan skyline. We arrived at JFK at 6.20pm and were directed to the check in screens. We didn’t find this system very good and had a problem with it. When we scanned my passport the screen told us there was an error and we should find an assistant. A man approached offering to help and he pressed a couple of buttons on the screen and told us it should work for us now. However, a slip had appeared from the bottom of the machine saying to go to a desk as there was a problem so we were no further forward.

We managed to get hold of the same guy again, and he said to go to the desk at the very end of the room and they would fix the problem and take our bags. There were quite a few people in front of us in this line for the desk and it wasn’t moving at all. The attendant kept leaving the desk and disappearing for minutes at a time. Time was wearing on now, and we were starting to worry that we wouldn’t catch our flight. There was a security man standing behind the counter so Neil went over and asked him if there was anything else we could do. He told us that we just had to wait, but ended up asking Neil about Brexit! Apparently he was very knowledgeable about it and they chatted for a few minutes.

By now we had been in this non-moving queue for 45 minutes and our flight was starting to board in 10 minutes. I was really worried now and chirping on about how we were going to miss our flight. Neil said instead of moaning about it why didn’t I go and ask they guy who sent us over here in the first place, so I did. I saw him helping someone at the screens and went over and waited nearby until he was finished. When he was free, I explained that he had sent us to the desk ages ago but we hadn’t moved and we were going to miss our flight and could he help?

He took our passports from me and went to the desk and spoke to the assistant there. She started printing our boarding passes and luggage tags but the printer jammed. The guy took our passports and disappeared across the crowded room. I was really panicking now as we didn’t even have our passports. Thankfully, he came back after about 5 minutes with our boarding passes in his hand. He took our bags to an empty desk and put them on the scales and attached the labels. We thanked him profusely and he told us that we still had to run, now GO! So we did!

At passport check we quickly explained what had happened and they directed us to the quickest and shortest security line. We were through quickly and were chatting in line to a poor woman who had spent 14 hours at the airport yesterday due to the storm and her flight had been cancelled so she was flying today instead. We had another lucky break when we realised that our gate was just to the right of security, we didn’t have miles to walk. Our flight was indeed boarding, so we joined the line and were soon in our seats.

As we started to taxi, the sun was setting and I managed to glimpse the Manhattan skyline in the sunset behind the queue of planes waiting to take off.




The flight home was, well, a flight home. Not much to say really, it’s never a pleasant experience. I dozed off and on, Neil watched some films. Of course, we had dinner, I can’t remember what it was then just before landing at Heathrow we got a yoghurt (I’m sure there was more than that!) for breakfast.

We didn’t have long to wait at Heathrow and we were soon flying homewards towards Aberdeen Airport. After picking up our bags there, we had an hour and a half drive home where we went straight to sleep for a couple of hours. I had to set an alarm as my sister had invited us round for tea. Eilidh had been staying there, so after tea and a chat about our holidays we were all glad to get home for an early night as it was back to work for us the next morning.

What we learned today: Private transfer is definitely our preferred way of travelling to/from the airport; Flying out of JFK airport is a nightmare, allow loads of time.
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Edited at 07:36 PM.
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Old 10 Jul 17, 08:33 PM  
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I've really enjoyed reading your trippie over the last 24 hours. It's got me super excited and I'm so very grateful for all the tips. I also want to visit the highline on our last day! It's going to be a fab trip and thank you for your advice.
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Old 10 Jul 17, 08:54 PM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
I've really enjoyed reading your trippie over the last 24 hours. It's got me super excited and I'm so very grateful for all the tips. I also want to visit the highline on our last day! It's going to be a fab trip and thank you for your advice.
Thank you Abby, your comments are much appreciated. I hope you have a really wonderful time in NYC. Come back and write a report to let us know how you got on
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Old 10 Jul 17, 09:21 PM  
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What a great trip report! Ive the Highline on our list then go to Chelsea Market. Ive seen pics of the Highline and the car stacking system which Im intrigued about. If you were to return would you go back at the same time of year. The weather seemed a bit unpredictable. But I think thats just the US weather in general. Thanks for taking the time to do the report
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Old 11 Jul 17, 08:33 AM  
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Great report. Have enjoyed reading along.
Thanks for posting.
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Old 11 Jul 17, 07:21 PM  
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Fuellady
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Originally Posted by Jane71 View Post
What a great trip report! Ive the Highline on our list then go to Chelsea Market. Ive seen pics of the Highline and the car stacking system which Im intrigued about. If you were to return would you go back at the same time of year. The weather seemed a bit unpredictable. But I think thats just the US weather in general. Thanks for taking the time to do the report
Thank you for your lovely comments. The High Line was a nice stroll, it's good seeing the city from another angle.

I'm not sure if we would go back in June. A colleague went a couple of years ago in September and had fabulous warm (not hot), dry weather the whole time so I would maybe try September. The weather was very unpredictable, we couldn't rely on it at all and just worked around it as best we could.

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse View Post
Great report. Have enjoyed reading along.
Thanks for posting.
Thank you for reading and for all your lovely comments
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Old 11 Jul 17, 08:00 PM  
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Thank you for doing a report it was really helpful and has given us some food for thought particularly in terms of restaurants for where we might want to go in October. Think I'd better get in training now for the SOL Crown visit!
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Old 11 Jul 17, 08:47 PM  
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The size of the strawberry shortcake!

Sounds like you had a great time, you make everything sound so easy, (well apart from the airport queue! ) I hope I find it so easy!

Thank you for sharing
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Old 11 Jul 17, 09:30 PM  
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Originally Posted by floridafan101 View Post
Thank you for doing a report it was really helpful and has given us some food for thought particularly in terms of restaurants for where we might want to go in October. Think I'd better get in training now for the SOL Crown visit!
Thank you for reading . I hope you find some great places to eat and are more organised with that than we were!

Haha, yes you better... it's quite a climb!

Originally Posted by i love jack View Post
The size of the strawberry shortcake!

Sounds like you had a great time, you make everything sound so easy, (well apart from the airport queue! ) I hope I find it so easy!

Thank you for sharing
The strawberry shortcake was HUGE, and so good as well.

We had such a lovely holiday, and it is easy really... I'm hopeless with directions and a real panicker but honestly it was fine.

Thank you for reading and all your lovely comments... I hope you have a wonderful trip
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Old 11 Jul 17, 10:09 PM  
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Great trip report, I've really enjoyed reading along. I am hoping to book New York to go Feb/Mar 2019 for my OH's 40th, you have given me lots of inspiration. Will definitely get a private transfer though!
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