gals weekend trip to NYC
 

My best friend and I are leaving the hubbies and kids in So Cal and going to NYC for the weekend of 5/18 to 5/22.I need a bit of help with itinerary.

A little background: we are in our early 40's, ever so slighly conservative but tons of fun. We are flying into Philly (gotta love Southwest and their Rapid Rewards, they don't fly into JFK or LG)and will be probably be taking Amtrak into the city. So the 18th is a wash due to travel. We will have to do the opposite on the 22nd to get home.

So that leaves a whole Fri., Sat., Sun. to have fun. We like to shop, want to take in one show and experience fun, moderately priced food and drinks in the evenings. Also, my friend has never been to NYC so she wants to do one or two touristy things like the WTC and State of Liberty or Empire State Bldg.
I bought the book "Going Like Lynn" but found it to be a bit dated and her suggestions were a bit "matronly". Which is why I am posting.
I really love this site and have found years of fantastic advice and ideas so I thank you all in advance for any great thoughts and help now.

Hello - thought you might like some ideas from a Londoner! I am sure that the new Yorkers will give you some great tips!

Anyhow - Statue of Liberty - get there REALLY early as the qs can be long and I found it easier to book on Line - for me the best part was Ellis Island as my family travelled to the US from Ireland - whether you think this is a good use of time on a short trip???? as it will take a couple of hours for sure!

Ground Zero - I go to pay my respects and to recall that I was lucky to have visited them with good friends!

Empire State- again book on line and go in the separate entrance for Pre Booking (dont you mind those touts that say you cant!)

I went up the Rockerfeller Centre at Christmas - I thought it was wonderful and you get a GREAT view of the Empire State.

OK( this is where the New Yorkers will chew my ear off!) I liked the grey line tours - sure they depend of traffic but for getting a overview of downtown they are fun....the half line Circle Line is fun and maybe a good way to see Statue of Liberty??

Shows - leave that to the others to comment but Playbill on line has some deals that will save you q'ing at tkts

Food- Well NYC is awash - my only advise (see how nice I am being to the those who know better!) PLEASE dont eat breakfast in your Hotel - get out and have a great breakfast that will cost you less than your hotel and be more fun.

NYC is such a great place to walk round as long as you look like you know where you are going :) and I found 99.9% of the people SO freindly - there is no place like it on earth(speaking as a Londoner!) and I am sure whatever you do you will have a great time

Rgds from a chilly London!

Jon

If you are interested in a hit show get tickets NOW - if there are any left - weekends are naturally worse. (Check playbill.com for info - also possible discounts if you decide on an older show.)

You also don;t say anything about a hotel. You need to do that NOW as well. You don;t mention your budget - which we really need to help you. Offhand I would go for either midtown east side (Times Square is TOO noisy, garish and mobbed with tourists) or the upper West Side. The latter is a diverse but mainly mid/upscale residential area with lots of good mid priced and inexpensive restaurants, sidewalk cafes etc , Museum of Natural History and is right across Central Park from Museum Mile (with the Met the Guggenheim the Frick etc). Also more traditional designer shopping. The Lucerne has moderate prices and gets good reviews.

Department stores are midtown - you may be interested in the biggest in the world (a 10 story Macy's), Lord & Taylor, Bloomies etc as well as some more upscale places.

I would go for Top of the Rock instead of the Empire State building - I think the lines are not so bad.

Also, I would not bother with the Statue of Liberty - since you can get only into the bottom and lines are very long. You're better off taking the ferry which stops at Liberty Island and then goes on to The Ellis Island Immigration Museum - which is brilliant.

Rather than a bus tour (New York is really a walking town if you want to see much) I would take one of the boat trips to get an overview of the island.

For good places to eat - the city has thousands. What cuisines are your favorites - and are you loking for traditional, elegant, casuale, too trendy for words???

Thanks Jon and nytraveler! Great ideas about taking the ferry around the island-I spoke to my friend and she agrees.
Regarding our hotel, we are in the process of booking. I was going to wait until it gets a little bit closer to departure date to do the Priceline/Expedia thing but I have never used those types of sites before and don't want to risk it. We want to stay 3 star (or better) if possible. I have been doing my research on hotels as well and can get one for about $200/minimum per night. SHould I go the last minute website thing?
Also, regarding food, we are more into casual-elegant dining (does that make sense?). Where you want to dress nice (cute jeans, nice top, heels), not too trendy since we are no match for the Paris Hilton types, but where people are friendly and don't mind being chatted up at the bar while waiting for a table. I am pretty comfortable with winging it for meals, usually I can get a good recommendation from someone I met at a coffee house, museum, etc. And I'm not too shy to ask, which is fun since most people love to give their opinions regarding the city they love.
I hope this is helpful and again, I appreciate your replys!

Hi Jerio:

Just recovered from hosting a very close childhood friend and her boyfriend (up for birthday getaway from Maryland) My feet hurt, but it was well worth the hustle.

They stayed at the Marriot in Times Square & said they enjoyed the brunch on Sunday in the rest. that revolves as u eat? But let me start from beginning.

Traveled via Amtrak & arrived in city at the top of rush hour. They checked in & we made reservations to see a jazz band & have dinner in Harlem at Mo'Bays. Great food (very spicey/caribbean flavor), stiff drinks and good music. She had a good time on her bday.

Saturday. Took them on first subway ride down into Union Square, shopped at Loehmann's, (weather was warm last weekend) and headed over to Union Square Park to have lunch with more friends at the Coffee Shop. Jumped back on train, headed into Soho,(more shopping) then back on train to Ground Zero for them & Century 21 (more shopping) for me. Lots of walking, included Battery Park City, Trinity Church, & Wall Street. Took train over Brooklyn Bridge & then jumped back on to Rockefeller Center.

At this point my legs gave out & I headed home but they continued to manuever thru the streets.

Next day, Marriot brunch & quick trip to Museum before back on Amtrack home.

Hope this helps.

-K

Oops: My bad.

Edit of Post: Took Train over Manhattan Bridge so that they could take pictures of and view Brooklyn Bridge.

here's a great site for hotels - i have had many friends book their hotel stays through them if i couldnt house them for whatever reason - www.quickbook.com
just remember - the hotel rooms in manhattan are not big, so some hotels advertised as boutique on expedia or other travel sites are basically shoe boxes. I

in addition to playbill.com there is also www.theatermania.com. since you are here for such a short period of time you dont want to waste a morning waiting on line at tkts. definately book that now. If you arent thrilled with the ticket options you may want to look into what is going on at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall.

estaurant row is just west of where all the bway shows are making it a good choice for pre-theater dinner (most offer pre-theater dinner prixe fixe)

as for food, go to a source most of new york goes to - www.zagat.com If you are looking to eat at one of the high end restuarants the reservation books open one month to the day before and usually book up in a day or two, at least for normal dinner hours. If you arent interested in that type of dining experience you should probably still make some reservations if you can, as it can be hard to find a table without waiting for an hour or so on weekend nights.

MOMA (the museum of modern art) reopened in midtown after a massive renovation. If you have any time that is a great NYC tradition. This is in midtown. The guggenheim, etc (museum mile) are on the upper east side (just east of central park)

Another fun thing to do is to ride the Staten Island Ferry at sunset. It gives you a great view of the Statue of Liberty and a view of Lower Manhattan (if you sit in the back going to SI, the front going to Manhattan). Best of all, it's free! Takes a good hour round trip from your travels though.

For shopping, definitely SoHo, which is the area south of Houston Street (the Village) but above Canal Street (Chinatown). They have a nice mix of mostly upscale items, but funky stuff as well. MoMA has a store in SoHo on the corner of Crosby and Spring Street.

Speaking of which, I second the MoMA visit. It's one of my favorite places in the city, and a great place for quiet if you want to relax after a day of shopping, though the entrance is $20/person. I'd recommend going on Friday when it's free from 4pm to 8pm.

As for food, depends on what cuisine you like. Sometimes my friends and I just walk down a street, check out menus (gotta do this when you're not THAT hungry), and walk into one that sounds pretty interesting to you. We've found some excellent finds this way, although others here will not recommend this strategy. One find that sticks out in my head is D'Vine on 51 street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues (closer to 2nd), which is a wine bar that serves excellent food.

Do you like cupcakes? The Buttercup Bake Shop is a great place on 2nd Ave, closer to 52nd Street.

If you just want fun sweets, I'd go to Dylan's Candy Shop just for fun, especially if you're near Bloomingdales. It's on the corner of 60th Street and 3rd Avenue.

Hope this helps. Enjoy!

Here is another good site with info for show tickets
http://home.nyc.rr.com/frugaltheatergoe/

once you decide where you are staying - what area - people can help more with restaurant suggestions. In the meantime, if you do look thru zagats or elsewhere and find one you are interested in, you might want to check on www.opentable.com and see if that restaurant is represented there, which allows you to make your rezzie online and save phone calling. Esp if you find a particular restaurant and don't want to wait for a weekend night table.

I would try to book a hotel now that has no penalty for cancellation. As the time gets closer, you can see what is available on the discount sites and make your final decision.

Dear Jerio, Ok being an Aussie and living in London may not sound like I can give you any advice, but girlie weekends - well you just gotta love them. I have been there twice with my mmmm 40 something girls and our favourite place to go is Caroline's comedy club. You will need to book as soon as you get there or before you go, but its worth it. Its a complete hoot. Ok, the food is foul, but the comedy is great, and you just sit there and laugh all night. - So much better than looking after kids and husbands!
I second the entry about SoHo, its heaps of fun, but don't forget Tiffany's that would be a crime against humanity if you didn't go there.
I think that the priceline type websites are fine, we use them regularly without any problems and have also stayed in the Mariott Times Square (in fact we like it so much I am going back there with my family in two weeks) - its really central and the view is brilliant. The way we found this hotel originally is through priceline.
Most important advice I can give? - tell your husbands these rules for contact:
1. Children must have virtually lost a limb before the cell phone is used to call you - a small graze does not- I repeat not count.
2. Relatives must be on the brink of death before you are called.
3. Lost socks/shoes/bags/sports gear, does not constitute an emergency.
4. Lack of food in the refrigerator does not equal a crisis.
5. Children will miss mom and they WILL get over it - they require cuddles and love from DAD - not 4 hour consoling phone calls from MOM...
6. Question like which goes on first, the peanut butter or the margarine? will ensure divorce.

(yes all of them have happened)

Have a truly brilliant time with your girls.

What absolutely fabulous advice you've gotten, jerio. The itinerary nigelsmom mentioned has some fun ideas. Here are my thoughts.

On hotel, I agree quikbook.com is great, but frankly for your dates I don't see much for less than $220/night and that's without taxes. I'm a bit stunned at how high prices are for that weekend. You could book something on there that's cancellable (one of the great things about that site, most don't require prepaying and can be cancelled) and then consider using Priceline or something else. Just a heads up that in NYC, Priceline only guarantees a room with 1 bed for 2 people, so if the idea of sharing a bed is not ok, don't do it. While many of the hotels have 2 bedded rooms, they don't have to give you one with a Priceline rate. I personally don't think bidding for 3* makes sense. There are some "clinker" hotels in that category but more importantly, the prices people pay for 3*s are not that much less than 4*s. You can see prices people are paying on Biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com , 2 websites designed to help you bid successfully. You should read the FAQs and make sure you understand the concept of a free re-bid.

Travelzoo.com is another good way to get "a deal." They feature specials, but usually only 1-3 months ahead of the trip.

My best advice on dining is get out of the Times Square area for nicer, less touristy restaurants. In addition to the info you'll find in the Zagat guide or their online service (which requires a fee), menupages.com is another good resource for finding places by cuisine, by neighborhood and looking at menus.

No girls weekend would be complete without some pampering. Bloomies is a chain of nail salons that's cheap, clean, good and open 7 days a week. The midtown location I like is on 55th st b/w 5th & 6th. A basic man/ped is $35 (tip $6-7). http://bloomienails.com/gallery.html

Or maybe you want more than that. YOu can get a half day or full day of pampering at the Elizabeth Arden salon or many other spas/salons.

For theater, that page escargot posted is terrific. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned broadwaybox.com , a website that gives discount codes are some shows so you can buy them ahead of time (although this is too soon for May). But if you want a particular show, buy them now at full price. The most popular ones will not be available with discounts (although rush tickets for some shows is an option).

Nymetro.com is the website from NY Magazine and has good info on shopping, dining etc. They have a guide nymetro.com/cheap for good ideas on discounts.

Btw, most people using Southwest to NYC fly to MacArthur Islip Long Island airport (ISP). I think your plan of going to Philly is brilliant since you can get a non-stop. If you can't get on the non-stop, you might consider the ISP option. I don't know the logistics of getting from Philly airport to Amtrak etc. To get from ISP, a limo into NYC would cost about $120 each way and take about 1 1/2 hrs. Most people take a shuttle bus ($5/person) to the Ronkonkoma train station of the Long Island Railroad and take the commuter train (about $10/person each way).

jerio, the advice here is great! All I can add is bring a camera and comfy walking shoes. My girlfriends and I just did a NYC girls weekend back in Sept. It was such a blast. We are in our mid-30s and stayed out much, much later than we are used to. But it was a blast. The memories are priceless. Have fun!

You guys ROCK! What great advice.

I will definately book the hotel with no cancellation fee then do the priceline thing later. Also, thanks or the advice on the 4* over the 3*.

Count me in on the cupcakes and sweet treats ideas. And MOMA too. Also, we don't have a certain preference for types of cuisine, we're open to anything but I am going to check out all the websites posted tomorrow when I have more time.

Also, great advice about the kids and hubby thing. I have a feeling that the mother-in-law might have to "stop by" to see how things are going. Oh, they'll be fine!!!

Keep the post coming!
This is great fun!

Thanks!
Jerio

Ah yes, the mother in law stopping by - mine always did that when I was on a girls trip - but my mother gave me great advice about that - she told me not to look at it as indicative of what my mother in law thought about either my going away, or my leaving hubby with it all, but to look at it as her getting some time alone with her child (the grown son) and feeling needed and helpful - like most mothers like to feel from time to time !

And the first time I went she told me not to expect everything to go perfectly the way I would want it to when I was home - that after all, I was used to juggling all this as my 24/7 job and hubby was not, so he would do the best he could and that his #1 job was keeping the kids happy (don't know how old yours are) and when I walked in to greet everyone with a big hug and kiss and tell them how great they all looked and how much I missed them but what exciting stories and photos I had to share - and not comment if the house wasn't exactly as I would want it to be.

After now over 20 years of my annual 'girl friend vacations only' I too found out that it was ok if they ate take out for 4 nights (even though I sometimes left frozen homemade meals in the freezer) or their beds weren't made or they ate ice cream sundaes well after their bedtime....after all, they were sort of 'on vacation' too !! And I even zipped my lip over the sprained arm and missing tooth from the sledding incident....when as my husband said all the other wives/husbands on the sledding hill looked at him and said 'oh oh'.......:) after all, it likely would have happened had I been standing there too.

Have a ball - and let us know when you get your choices down if you need any more input -

If you are going to go shopping at Century 21 (directly across the street from the world trade center site) go first thing in the morning. And I would go Friday morning when it opens. Go like at 8 or 9 when it opens. not 11 a.m. It becomes a zoo later in the day. Though honestly, sometimes, i don't see the appeal.

then I'd take the subway up to SoHo or if you aren't overloaded with bags and are fairly adventurous you could walk towards SoHo. you would cross Canal street which is Chinatown and shop along all the discount stores in China town.

Then north of of Canal and South of Houston is SoHo. You could spend all afternoon roaming around the neighborhood. Do Lunch at Balthazar. the quintessential new york spot.

as far as shows go, I would suggest, Avenue Q, Wicked, Hairspray. If you are going to an evening show, I would suggest a big late lunch, then go to the show, adn maybe drinks and an appetizer after the show. no need for an early dinner. why waste all your time eating. Sometimes that's fun, but oftentimes it just puts you into a stupor watching a show.

I just saw Light in the Piazza this past weeekend and called up the day before and got excellent tickets. It's playing at Lincoln Center. However, it's not a big production number like Hairspray or Wicked, but my whole group liked it.

or you could go the Rainbow room before or after the show and get drinks, it's definitely touristy but always fun and with a beautiful view and you could combine it with a visit to the Top of the Rock.

Then go to one of the museums on your other day. if you are going to go to brunch make sure you go early, before 11 otherwise you'll have to wait at least an hour for a table. Try SaraBeth's for bunch, there's one on both the west side and the east side. actually there's quite a few of them.

I've also had lunch at the Bar Room at The Modern. It was a fabulous meal and right at the MOMA museum if you think you are going to go there. It's also right beside the Folk Art Museum if you are into Folk Art.

Don't forget to hit hte major department stores as well. i think they are always fun to wander around in. I love to go into Bendel's and up the the china/linens/stationery part of both Bergdorfs and Barneys.

oh and after you leave Century 21 and/or SoHo you could hop back on the subway and take it to Union Square to ABC Carpet and Home. 6 or 7 floors of furniture and home furnishings.

if you are into chooclate while in SoHo you could go a few blocks out of your way and dash over to Jacques Torres chocolate factory and pick up some of his artisanal chocolate. it's supposed to be delicious.

Let us know where you end up gettting a hotel room and that may help you decide how to arrange your stay.

I thought SW flew to LGA? No?

no

If you end up walking around Soho, you might like to drop in to this market of young artists, I've often found some cute earrings, jewelry, bags, tops at this fair at very reasonable prices -
It is at St. Patrick Youth Center on Mulberry St @ Prince, from 11am till I think 5 or 7pm, every weekend. and the website gives you a map, etc and tells you about it:

http://www.themarketnyc.com/flashmain.html

there is also a story about how it all began on this link:

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_94...asfashion.html

And I found a similar place in Noho

http://www.edgeny.com/about.php