Xmas s,s & s in nyc 2010 - pre-trip

[disneywiseowl]

PRE-TRIP

Cast
Me – 60 going on 6, travel addict, huge Disney fan, limited mobility
but raring to go, chief planner
DD1 – 27 – travel addict, loves Disney, Sci Fantasy – aspiring novelist
DD2 – 26 – travel addict, likes Disney but not as much as us cos she’s
worked there! laid back, cool,

My DDs had been to NYC during their gap year so weren’t bothered about any sights – happy just to be my escorts (aka bodyguards). DD1 wanted to see Phantom & they both wanted to see Wicked – they’d seen it in London & Australia but had rubbish seats (poor backpackers at the time). DD2 wanted to go to a jazz club that had a saxophonist? No idea why – she couldn’t explain either. Knowing the weather was going to be freezing & considering my mobility & other health issues, we all decided this trip would be more about the shopping & shows & we’d try to fit some sights in, where possible. I really, really wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge but my bodyguards vetoed it

We all agreed that whilst we needed a schedule, we’d try to make it as stress free as possible – not worrying if plans went wrong or had to be changeD. We agreed that we wouldn’t worry too much about budgets (we’re not extravagant anyway) & that we wouldn’t stress about tipping & would give 20% +. Moneywise, we decided to take turns paying for food/drink etc & we’d ‘straighten up’ as necessary.

In summary – we were going to cram everything in but not get stressed about it

From Aug to Dec I spent 100s hours on the I’net researching options & devising a schedule that provided the best touring plan for our wants/needs. Every detail was carefully plotted to hopefully make optimum use of our limited time. Thanks go to all the unselfish Dibbers who post their trip reports – so much useful information. I did bravely venture onto Trip Advisor NYC forum but it was too ‘nasty’ for me.
to the Dibb Moderators

We decided against daily queuing at the booths for cheap theatre tickets as there’s no guarantee of good seats & we didn’t want to waste any time & I can’t queue anyway so I’d be hanging round waiting for the DDs. So, after reading every seat review I could find on the Net, I booked Wicked (full price $361.95) & Radio City (full price $264.75) thru Ticketmaster & Phantom (discounted $254.75) thru broadwayoffers.com.

DD2 had already contacted Continental to request bulkhead seats & wheelchair assistance at the airports & said they were great – very helpful & we were allocated 8DEF, which turned out to be great seats.

I pre-booked the short stay car park at MCR airport – £52.99. It’s lovely to come out of the arrivals door & just walk across the road to your car

I did a lot of research on jazz clubs – it was quite a difficult decision as there are many to choose from but in the end I decided on Smoke – smoke.jazz as it appeared to be less touristy- didn’t book as we didn’t want the commitment.

Didn’t need to research transport as we knew we’d have to use taxis & my lovely DDs had a taxi fund – yeah!

By the time I finished, I had lists of recommended restaurants, bars, shops, delis, bakeries, and opening hours. Taxi costs, liquor stores, museums & lists of lists etc.

Oh yeh & I was paranoid about the bed bugs plague – checked the hotel list daily – Novotel never appeared & we never saw any insects of any kind whilst we were in NYC…..

Packing – we all decided to take the absolute minimum as we knew there’d be a lot to bring back – the only thing I bought for the holiday was thermal underwear – my DDs said they wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it but I’m not proud! I figured that if I got run over & had to go to Hospital, the medical staff would have seen it all before anyway & it wouldn’t have been as embarrassing as the time I had an Xray whilst wearing my Lucky knickers – the LUCKY was spelt out in diamante & visible on the Xray – the staff were in hysterics

I wore my best jeans (NYDJ), wool coat, top, hat, scarf, gloves, crossover bag (DDs insisted on this) & shoes to travel – I’d love to wear boots (rather than pack them @ 2kg) but always get personal security screening (more later) at airports so have to wear slip-ons.
I packed ‘good’ black trousers, cashmere jumper, hiking boots, fur lined socks, underwear, pjs, 3 nice tops. My DDs took less! Course they were used to living out of rucksacks (gap year). We shared toiletries, GHDs, etc. This turned out to be more than enough for 6 days. I had one suitcase & DDs took one case w ith another nestling inside – both cases were only bout quarter full

Day 1 to follow:

[vitfa]

Looking forward to reading more

Lx

[shirley]

Good start.

[DIBBadmin]

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