The Grand Tour...Day 26 New Haven to NYC

charly77 · 11 Apr 17, 01:03 PM

We were up early, had breakfast and checked out. We then walked to the station and caught the 8.25 train to NYC, it cost $16.50 each which I thought was cheap compared to London prices!

The journey took 1h 20m and it was very pleasant, the guard reminded me of the one from Polar Express!

We arrived at Grand Central Station where the fun started!

We wanted to buy the weekly unlimited metro cards so left the kids with the luggage whilst we attempted to do this. So DH and I queue at the machines for 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes! We discover the machine doesn’t offer the weekly ticket… We then queue for a ‘human’ oh he doesn’t offer them either! We head back to the kids who were quite worried by now, then we all head down to the metro in the hope that we’ll have more luck, escalator is broken so we had to carry our luggage, no aircon in the area, and boy it was heaving and particularly humid…

We get into another queue, half the machines aren’t working or only taking cash and we ideally wanted to use our credit card to purchase them. Great we get to a machine, they offer the weekly ticket, fab! Then it says to enter zip code, no worries I remember reading about this, I enter 00000. Nope machine doesn’t like it…Aaaaaaah! Typically no one is around so we had no choice but to cancel transaction. DH queues up for a human again, cash only! This is a nightmare! Just then I spot a worker and grab him, oh just press enter and it’ll override the zip code option! Now why didn’t I think of that…!

Back in the queue, we can only buy one ticket at a time, no probs but only two tickets per credit card! Great, just as well we bought two cards with us then! Eventually we are on our way!

We arrived at our last residence of this trip, Radio City Apartments on W49th St. The reason we booked an apartment type rather than a hotel is solely so we could really chill on our last leg, it certainly wasn’t the cheapest option but it worked for us! Luckily our apartment was ready so we went up, it was great! We booked a two bed and it was massive, the kids had a double bed each and we had a queen bed. There was a kitchen, lounge and dining area overlooking Times Square. We quickly unpacked then freshened up ready to hit the city!

Typical! It was raining…can’t believe it, it’s like being back in the UK! We grab a brolley, jump on the subway and go to Macys as we have a long list. DD has been looking for a certain pair of Adidas trainers for the entire trip with no luck, once we had finished at Macys we headed to the Adidas flagship store in SOHO, sold out! From here we walk up to Washington Square where we chilled for a while soaking up the atmosphere. It was nice to act like a local rather than a tourist!

That evening we went into Times Square which as usual was hell, so busy and full of pushy people, can’t stand it. We had dinner in the Olive Garden as it’s one of our favs as you may remember! Food, drinks and service was spot on and ended our day on a high.

We chilled out that night in the apartment, catching up with emails and social media as you do. I think we even watched some tv, probably RHONY knowing me!

Steps today; 15,812

Floors climbed; 30

*Tip of the day *Don’t over plan as it’s nice to have some free time.

Melbatb · 11 Apr 17, 07:02 PM

It is frustrating about the subway tickets! We were lucky to be able to buy them from a real human with cash

The apartment looks lovely - nice to have the space!

charly77 · 11 Apr 17, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Melbatb

It is frustrating about the subway tickets! We were lucky to be able to buy them from a real human with cash

The apartment looks lovely - nice to have the space!

We normally work in cash but due to Brexit and the sudden drop in the $ rate we were getting a much better rate on the credit card! Very frustrating but we got there in the end!

dozy · 20 Apr 17, 02:24 PM

looks fab

Jake71 · 21 Apr 17, 04:32 PM

The train looked great till you got to Grand Central Station and tried to buy your metro ticket! But you got there in the end and it looks great. I love the apartment idea.

disney owl · 11 Aug 17, 10:14 PM

Apartment sounds great

11 Apr 17, 01:03 PM	#1
	11 Apr 17, 01:03 PM charly77 Very Serious Dibber
charly77 Very Serious Dibber Join Date: Feb 08	The Grand Tour...Day 26 New Haven to NYC We were up early, had breakfast and checked out. We then walked to the station and caught the 8.25 train to NYC, it cost $16.50 each which I thought was cheap compared to London prices! The journey took 1h 20m and it was very pleasant, the guard reminded me of the one from Polar Express! We arrived at Grand Central Station where the fun started! We wanted to buy the weekly unlimited metro cards so left the kids with the luggage whilst we attempted to do this. So DH and I queue at the machines for 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes! We discover the machine doesn’t offer the weekly ticket… We then queue for a ‘human’ oh he doesn’t offer them either! We head back to the kids who were quite worried by now, then we all head down to the metro in the hope that we’ll have more luck, escalator is broken so we had to carry our luggage, no aircon in the area, and boy it was heaving and particularly humid… We get into another queue, half the machines aren’t working or only taking cash and we ideally wanted to use our credit card to purchase them. Great we get to a machine, they offer the weekly ticket, fab! Then it says to enter zip code, no worries I remember reading about this, I enter 00000. Nope machine doesn’t like it…Aaaaaaah! Typically no one is around so we had no choice but to cancel transaction. DH queues up for a human again, cash only! This is a nightmare! Just then I spot a worker and grab him, oh just press enter and it’ll override the zip code option! Now why didn’t I think of that…! Back in the queue, we can only buy one ticket at a time, no probs but only two tickets per credit card! Great, just as well we bought two cards with us then! Eventually we are on our way! We arrived at our last residence of this trip, Radio City Apartments on W49th St. The reason we booked an apartment type rather than a hotel is solely so we could really chill on our last leg, it certainly wasn’t the cheapest option but it worked for us! Luckily our apartment was ready so we went up, it was great! We booked a two bed and it was massive, the kids had a double bed each and we had a queen bed. There was a kitchen, lounge and dining area overlooking Times Square. We quickly unpacked then freshened up ready to hit the city! Typical! It was raining…can’t believe it, it’s like being back in the UK! We grab a brolley, jump on the subway and go to Macys as we have a long list. DD has been looking for a certain pair of Adidas trainers for the entire trip with no luck, once we had finished at Macys we headed to the Adidas flagship store in SOHO, sold out! From here we walk up to Washington Square where we chilled for a while soaking up the atmosphere. It was nice to act like a local rather than a tourist! That evening we went into Times Square which as usual was hell, so busy and full of pushy people, can’t stand it. We had dinner in the Olive Garden as it’s one of our favs as you may remember! Food, drinks and service was spot on and ended our day on a high. We chilled out that night in the apartment, catching up with emails and social media as you do. I think we even watched some tv, probably RHONY knowing me! Steps today; 15,812 Floors climbed; 30 *Tip of the day *Don’t over plan as it’s nice to have some free time. __________________ Whistle-stop Tour Of Copenhagen Feb 2017 The Grand Tour (West to East trip) 2016 The 'Bombshell' Trip to NYC @ Christmas 2014 Trip report, Our first time to WDW Sept/Oct '08;