Five Trips in Five Years...NYC May / June 2016 - Day 1

[moosha]

Day 1 - Flight to JFK and John's of Bleecker Street

The original plan had been to drive to Heathrow this morning as it's only 45 minutes from home, but our car had recently been parked too close to a car that exploded and was going to be repaired while we were away, so we took a taxi with our usual airport taxi company.

The taxi arrived no probs at 5.15 am and we were off. The traffic was not bad despite being half term because it was so early and I think we arrived on schedule at terminal 5 around 6 am. Unfortunately the airport was much busier than the roads, I've never seen anything like it. We walked all the way along the departure hall past massive throngs of people at each bank of check-in desks as Mat said we needed to go to the priority check-in for silver and gold Avios cardholders (he has a silver Avios card from lots of work travel). I was a bit concerned we might get sent all the way back to the masses, but it was fine. We were checked in really quickly at the priority desks.

Feeling a lot lighter without our cases, we downed our bottles of water and popped to the restrooms before heading to security. Unfortunately our 'priority' check-in did not extend to security today as they were only allowing guests of silver / gold cardholder through the priority entrance (not sure if this was new policy or just because it was so busy as we've always all gone through priority security before).

It didn't take too long though and we were soon in Terminal 5 departures. When we flew from T5 in September 2015, it was lovely and quiet and all very civilised. Unfortunately with today being the start of half term, it was ridiculously crowded. We wanted to grab some breakfast from Pret a Manger. The lines were crazy, and to look at the sandwiches etc you had to squeeze alongside a sea of people queuing for the counter to choose what you wanted, then squeeze back along to the end of the line. It was all a bit stressful but eventually we came away with coffees for Mat and I, water and juices, pastries for the other three, and I had one of those yummy yogurt pots they do with compote in the bottom .

We found some seats outside Boots to eat our breakfast. Unfortunately we were soon joined by two large families who were travelling together and each had about four children between the ages of one and about seven. Nothing against children (I have two of my own ) but this lot (especially the older ones) were really badly behaved and kept bumping into us, landing on our bags etc. We ate our breakfast quickly, grabbed some water and snacks for the plane from Boots and then took the little monorail train thingy to the gate.

It was lovely and quiet over at the gate, we should have brought our breakfast over and sat there. There was also a Starbucks there that was very quiet. Oh well, we'll know for next time. We arrived just in time for a quick restroom stop before we were called for boarding. As we boarded, Mat was taken aside for an extra security check so I took the girls onto the plane while he let the staff rummage through his hand luggage.

Once we were all settled in our seats, an announcement was made that there was a problem with the plane (some sort of seal in the vicinity of the wheels had failed if I remember correctly). They were awaiting a part I believe. Initially they said the delay was expected to be 30 minutes but after that time they told us it would be another 1.5 hours because they had to get the work signed off. They were very apologetic, and the in-flight entertainment was on throughout the delay, plus they brought round orange juice and water for us. Other passengers seemed pretty miffed by the delay but because we had such a long trip to New York, we knew this couple of extra hours wouldn't have a massive impact on our holiday. If we'd only been there two days I'd probably not have been so relaxed about it. A little while before we were ready to take off, the Captain came into the cabin to explain and apologise which I thought was a really nice thing to do. Most people didn't even acknowledge him which I thought was really rude, so Mat and I made an extra effort to listen and thank him.

I think in the end we took off two hours late, but we managed to make up some of the time in the air and only landed an hour late. The flight was ok, I watched The Intern which I really enjoyed and which made me cry (love Robert De Niro) and also How To Be Single which was pretty good. Love watching New York films on the way there to get me in the mood.

Enjoying the IFE:



As usual for BA, they were pretty slack bringing round drinks and snacks a couple of hours after the main meal so lots of people were going to get them themselves. I can't remember what the meal was but I think it was pretty good (we usually find the pre-ordered vegetarian meals are decent on the way out). The dessert we got must have been very good as I took a picture of the packaging.



Finding a creamy, thick vegetarian dessert is quite tricky as these sorts of things tend to have gelatine in (I'm looking at you Gu Puds). I had a glass of red wine with my meal and a couple of Bacardi and Diet Cokes so by the time we landed I was feeling nice and relaxed and ready for the holiday to start .

Immigration was pretty slow unfortunately, it really reminded me of Orlando this time because we ended up joining the queue so far back we couldn't even see into the main hall. Our first few arrivals at JFK had been really quick but for the last couple of years we've had long waits. Some woman tried pushing in just after we'd joined the queue and I told her not to which is not like me as I'm usually quite British in these situations and just do the huffing and tutting thing but I wasn't having any of it today. After eight and a half hours sat on that plane and having already been up for 13 hours yet it being just after lunch in New York I wanted everyone to play by the rules. My husband chose to pretty much look the other way when the rude woman resisted but I told her again that she wasn't pushing in and the lady behind backed me up which was enough to make the woman join the back of the queue properly.

We had a slightly worrying experience when we did finally make it to an immigration desk about 40 minutes later. After taking Mat's fingerprints and photo, the guy told him that the airline had not loaded his details onto the flight manifesto which apparently happens sometimes. It meant the man had to take Mat to the side room to be seen by another officer and then he processed the girls and I as normal. He told me to wait for Mat in the luggage hall, but by the time he'd finished with us, Mat was already out so luckily it was quickly resolved.

We quickly collected our luggage and went through the customs desk into arrivals. The plan had been to take the AirTrain and subway into Manhattan as we had done in 2015 successfully but Mat was now saying he wanted to take a taxi. We'd taken yellow cabs in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and I wasn't a fan as the traffic is crazy, the driving is often worse and it costs about $65. The subway had meant a bit of faffing and waiting but had cost us about $16 and didn't take any longer than it would weaving in and out of traffic of the Van Wyke Expressway or taking one of the drivers' detours through Queens. Still, it had been a long day already so I just gave in and before we knew it we were in a taxi heading for Manhattan.

Mat sat in the front with the driver who was a Romanian immigrant and did not stop talking to him the entire journey. The driver kept asking us which way we wanted to go which got on my nerves as the best driving routes from JFK to TriBeCa was not really our specialty (but should have been his). In the end he took us a very long-winded way past Staten Island as it seemed his plan was to take us on a longer but less-trafficy route. For a moment it looked like he was going to drive us over the Brooklyn Bridge which we were excited about, but alas it was not to be. We did drive right past the 9/11 memorial fountains though which was confusing to us as when we had visited them a few years ago, the whole area was secured and you had to go through airport-style security to visit them. It's much better now that they are open and visible to everyone as they're a really beautiful and poignant part of the whole area.

Our hotel was only a couple of blocks from there. Standing outside the hotel:



We were greeted on arrival and first impressions were good. The small lobby was sweet and stylish, with a little bar. Melissa who greeted us told us that our room was almost ready and if we took a seat she would call us when it was. Ten minutes later we were on our way up to the room. It was nice, and again we liked the style of it, but it was tiny. There was basically a small walkway around the two double beds and that was it. There was a long, shallow desk / unit opposite the beds and a single sized cupboard to hang our clothes in. Storage was definitely an issue. The bathroom was also tiny and there was really only room for one person in there at a time. I was a bit disappointed because of how small it was, but at the same time I knew we were lucky to be here so I tried pushing those thoughts out of my head. Plus we weren't exactly going to be spending much time in the hotel room.

I decided to unpack now rather than tonight when I'd be even more tired. The girls chilled out while Mat gave me a hand. 40 minutes or so later we were changed into more suitable clothes for the 80 degree heat, and were heading out. For the last couple of years it has been a tradition to have dinner at John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street on our arrival day as it's fairly chilled out. It's been one of our favourite restaurants since Mat and I first visited in 2005 and the girls love it too.

Being down in TriBeCa rather than our usual Midtown, we knew the walk would be quicker up to the Village than from Midtown. Three quarters of us were ready to pound the pavements (Seren is not great at walking a long way and does moan a bit but usually distracting her with conversation helps). We found a little Duane Reed a couple of blocks from the hotel to buy sunscreen, water and a little snack each (nuts and energy bars) and then found a bench outside to rehydrate, refuel and slather ourselves in lotion. We were good to go.

Initial impressions of TriBeCa were very good. We really loved the feel of the area around our hotel. The buildings were beautiful, it was lovely and quiet, and there appeared to be loads of great places to eat. We certainly found that to be the case later in the week, and the atmosphere in the evenings with people eating outdoors etc was very festive. A TriBeCa shop window:



The view behind us:













We set off on our walk up the island and I can't remember stopping anywhere on the way to Bleecker Street and neither do our photos suggest we did. I think we walked up Broadway part of the way and Sixth Avenue the other part, and having just had a look on Google Maps, it must only have taken us about half an hour. I remember it was very hot and we were very ready for a sit down with something to eat and drink when we got there.

It was Memorial Day weekend and John's was pretty busy when we arrived.

Our destination:



I think we had to wait a minute or two for an available booth. By the time we left, the line was about six parties long. We always have a large pizza, half just cheese and tomato for the girls, and half with olives for Mat and I. I had a glass of red wine and Mat had a beer.







The pizza was delicious as always. Freya was really tired and was struggling to finish eating. I took her outside while Mat and Seren finished off and paid, and she came back to life a bit once back outside.





We decided to grab an ice-cream each for the walk back from Cones on Bleecker Street. We'd had ice-creams there before and really enjoyed them but I made a poor choice today, going for melon which was way too sweet. I tried to convince Seren to swap her raspberry sorbet for my horrible melon but she wouldn't, so I ended up throwing most of it away as no one else liked it either.

We decided to walk back down the Hudson River Park which we had never really visited before as we're not usually needing to be so far west. As we approached the edge of the island, we could see people doing acrobatics high in the sky at Pier 40. I think it's where Carrie does her trapeze lesson in Sex and the City.



We really enjoyed the walk along Hudson River Park. There was a lovely breeze from the water, the scenery was lovely and it was great not to have to stop at a pedestrian crossing every block. It was definitely a quicker walk down than it had been up. There are tennis and basketball courts along the way so we watched people playing as we walked. There were lots of people jogging and walking their dogs and stuff, and we all really loved the walk back which seemed to take no time at all.















Back in TriBeCa we popped back to Duane Reed to get some more water and then headed back to the hotel to crash out, knowing we'd be up early the following morning thanks to the jet lag.

[sheluk]

Ooh just found this day posted! How exciting!

Delay aside sounds like a lovely first day & that walk back to the hotel looks so pretty.

Looking forward to your other days xx

[Smithkfs]

Fantastic First Day - Can't wait to read your next installment (I've booked to go to NY for the first time in Sept )

[moosha]

Originally Posted by sheluk

Ooh just found this day posted! How exciting!

Delay aside sounds like a lovely first day & that walk back to the hotel looks so pretty.

Looking forward to your other days xx

See more...

Hi Michelle, thanks for reading and commenting. The Hudson River Park was one of our highlights of this trip, it's really lovely, especially when it's hot and sunny. We ended up walking along there pretty much every day xx.

Originally Posted by Smithkfs

Fantastic First Day - Can't wait to read your next installment (I've booked to go to NY for the first time in Sept )

See more...

Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Kath. Hope you love NYC as much as we do, how exciting that you get to experience it all for the first time . We went in early September 2015 and it was still really hot so hopefully you'll get good weather. Good time to go I think! x

Day 2 is now up .

[Goldia]

Shame about the delay, but that pizza looked yummy. Hoping to get lots of tips, we are taking DS and DD for first time to NYC this summer. 😀

[moosha]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Shame about the delay, but that pizza looked yummy. Hoping to get lots of tips, we are taking DS and DD for first time to NYC this summer. 😀

See more...

Thanks for reading and commenting . How exciting, hope you have a fab time. Yep, the pizza at John's on Bleecker Street is very good and I would recommend it for a quick cheap meal, as long as you bear in mind that the place is quite 'rustic' (the graffiti carved into the booths etc.) We love it though

[abiknox]

Lovely first day, TriBeCa looks a lovely area to stay in.

[moosha]

Originally Posted by abiknox

Lovely first day, TriBeCa looks a lovely area to stay in.

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Thanks Abi, yes would definitely recommend TriBeCa as a base, it was lovely and quiet and the food and drink options were excellent .

[codym]

Great first day, can't believe how big your girls are now compared to your earlier trippies!

[RachelM]

Great 1st day x