New York 2011-Bed Bugs & No Seatback TVS

[SammyScotland]

Cast:-

Me (46) - Lover of holidays;
DH (50) - aka Victor Meldrew and
DS (16) - gamer, lover of PS3 and Wii.

This will be our third visit to New York as a family. I have been once on my own with my DF Lisa to celebrate my 40th birthday.

When we decided to go back to New York again I went onto Expedia and found another good deal. Flying from Glasgow via Manchester on the 24th of June, staying 4 nights at The Waldorf Astoria and then flying back to Glasgow via Heathrow on the 28th of June for £1949.00.
Our international flights are with AA. I pressed the book button and then went onto the internet to read about AA and The Waldorf Astoria. Firstly, I learned that the flight from Manchester to JFK is on a 757 with no seatback tvs and then I read that The Waldorf Astoria had bed bugs. Oh well nothing I can do now.

Here is our itinerary:-

24th June - Check in to hotel - check room for bed bugs!
- Early dinner;
- Visit to Maceys and
- ESB.

25th June - Intrepid Museum;
- Walking The Brooklyn Bridge;
- Dinner and
- Show - How To Succeed in Business...

26th June - NBC Studio Tour;
- Nintendo Store;
- Radio City Tour;
- FAO Schwartz;
- Apple Store;
- Dinner and
- either the Night Loop Bus Tour or the Cinema.

27th June - Federal Reserve Bank Tour;
- Federal Hall;
- Century 21;
- Staten Island Ferry;
- South Street Seaport;
- Harry Potter Exhibition and
- Dinner.

28th June - Check out;
- Potter round Times Square and
- Flight Home.

I have tried to make it as interesting a visit as I can for everyone going. My DS is studying American Politics and Economics as part of Modern Studies hence the visit to the Federal Reserve Bank and Federal Hall. We have already visited the United Nations on a previous trip. He wants to go to University to study Politics.

Just trying to work out now whether to buy the attraction tickets and show tickets before we go or not and off of which sites.

[Guest]

It seems that even the most exclusive enclaves are plagued with these lately. It makes you long for the days of DDT (kidding). I would be interested in hearing how you find the tour of the federal reserve - sounds interesting. I always get my show tickets at the discount line in Time Square. You may not want to wait in the line but it is a great place to get a deal. Have a good time.

[SammyScotland]

Originally Posted by loup31

It seems that even the most exclusive enclaves are plagued with these lately. It makes you long for the days of DDT (kidding). I would be interested in hearing how you find the tour of the federal reserve - sounds interesting. I always get my show tickets at the discount line in Time Square. You may not want to wait in the line but it is a great place to get a deal. Have a good time.

See more...

We've queued before at the TKTS booth in Times Square but last year the queue was huge so we ended up just going to the box office and paid full price. That was to see La Cage Aux Folles. The TKTS booth was only offering a 20% discount so we thought it wasn't worth the hassle waiting.

I only came across the Federal Reserve Bank Tour when I was researching Federal Hall. The tours are free. We are already booked in. I'll let you know what it is like.

[jocat]

We did the Federal Reserve Tour last summer. We found it quite interesting - unfortunately the same can't be said for DD and DS. I was also a little disappointed in the vault, but that was just because of the size of our tour. They tagged us on with a separate walking tour, which meant that there were really too many of us to fit in the vault room, and we were stuck at the back. We couldn't hang around to get a closer look when the others eventually moved either as the next tour was due to come down.

You do get an interesting souvenir at the end though - a bag full of shredded dollars!

[SammyScotland]

Pity it isn't a bag full of unshredded dollars! I could then spend them in Century 21.

[Guest]

check out broadwaybox.com over on the list on the left handside they detail the shows that are discounted and it allows you to buy the show tickets in advance. There are some which never appear there and the closer you get to your date of travel then you will see the discounts that are available, but it will save you queueing.

If we dont get tickets this way, we are actually going to go to the TKTS booth at the metrotech over in Brooklyn while we are on our "brooklyn day"

[Jet]

If it puts your mind at ease...we stayed at the Waldorf and did not see any bed bugs! ...infact the bed and bedding is the best we have ever slept on...the bedding is so sumptious that the even sell it in their shop.

Have a good time ... its worth it just for the ambience.

Jean

[SammyScotland]

Thanks. I was a bit freaked out at first about the bed bugs but I've calmed down about them now.

We're really looking forward to staying there. I didn't think we would be able to afford to but Expedia had a special rate.

I go on broadwaybox.com most days. I have found a few UK sites which sell tickets to the Broadway shows. Lastminute.com, Attractiontix, Attraction Tickets Direct and Expedia so I'm keeping an eye on their prices too.

[Guest]

When we were in New York and Boston last year they were saying about bed bugs in hotel, apparently even in Orlando. I would not worry to much as we never saw any evidence in the hotels we stayed in. The shops apparently are not even free of them.

[Pedro]

We stayed at the W Hotel in November. Absolutely no problem with bed bugs. In fact DW hadn't heard of the problem before we went so I never mentioned anything until we came back as it would have freaked her out. No need to worry.

Peter