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JJBhoy Returns To New York!!
Back in March 2006 I visited New York City with my wife, Liz, her brother Eddie & her sister, Anne Marie. We’re from Glasgow in the west of Scotland but rather than spend more time introducing ourselves here’s a link to my report of that visit – if you read it you’ll find out everything you need to know about us, plus plenty more that you don’t. You’ll also see that my report writing style is not exactly brief & concise so if you’re the type who likes their reports to be short & snappy it’s probably best that you look elsewhere.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34778469 The bottom line is that, like Victor Kiam & Remington, we liked NYC so much we bought the Company – or, at least, we decided to revisit as soon as possible (hmmm…not sure if that metaphor worked. Oh well – too late now). This time round, however, we took my two teenage sons along with us too. I’d like to think that the stories of our March visit had entranced the boys so much that they decided they simply had to come & sample the delights of what NYC had to offer. It’s probably closer to the truth, however, to say that they were so sick of hearing us droning on & on about it that they thought they might as well shut us up by seeing for themselves what all the fuss was about. Perhaps more importantly, they probably figured it would allow them to indulge in their favourite pastime – spending Mum & Dad’s money. It might help to briefly describe the boys to you; Paul: 18 years old (actually turned 19 since we returned). Good looking and knows it. Main concern in life is making sure that his hair is right & that everyone knows how expensive his clothes are – labels must be sparkling clean & on display for the world to see. If he saw the same item of clothing in two different stores at different prices he would buy the more expensive of the two – well, it’s bound to be better, isn’t it? After had a hard year lying in front the fire watching daytime TV he started working in a bank just the week before our trip. Christopher: 15 years old (but will be 16 next week). Red hair & freckles. Everyone calls him Diff because when he was small that was how he said his name. Extremely resourceful & will either be a millionaire or in jail by the time he’s 25 – possibly both. “Things” just sort of happen when he’s around. Not necessarily bad “things”, you understand, just, well….“things”. For example, a few years ago when Liz, Anne Marie & the boys were visiting relatives in Toronto (I wasn’t able to go) they had arranged to spend a couple of days at Niagara. Liz had phoned to let me know that they had arrived in Niagara safe & sound & that evening I was sitting happily at home in a nice quiet house having dinner & watching the TV news when it was announced that a man had gone over the Falls earlier that day (and had amazingly lived to tell the tale). I could barely watch for fear that they were about to broadcast amateur video footage which would clearly show a perfectly innocent guy taking just one step towards the edge for a closer look only to receive a quick dunt in the back from a small red haired & befreckled child. As it turned out it appears that the guy made the jump without Diff’s help (or so he says, anyway). If you want another example remind me to tell you the story about how he got us blacklisted on e-bay when he bid £250,000 for a boat & then, unaccountably, couldn’t quite come up with the cash when he won the bid ( I mean, his pocket money is generous, but not THAT generous). Incidentally, if anyone reading this would like to buy a boat get in touch with me at the usual address. I can do you a good deal – say somewhere around £249999? We chose mid October for our visit because it coincided with Diff’s school holiday week and as it happened, it also meant that we would be in NYC for my birthday. Not that anybody was remotely interested in that. Previous readers may recall that Liz & Eddie are not the most adventurous of travellers & when I was organising the trip their prime concern was that we did NOT, under any circumstances, fly out on Friday the 13th. A wee cautionary tale; Back in July I had found a great deal flying direct from Edinburgh to Newark with Continental at £290 & so we all agreed that, yes, we would go for it. Eddie was the only one whose credit card could take the hit of 6 flights & so it was decided that he would come round to ours one night to make the booking online. On the night, however, there was something good on TV and so we postponed our plans for 24 hours. You’ve probably already guessed where I’m going here. When we logged in to make the booking the price had shot up to over £400. As it happened we ended up flying with American Airlines via Heathrow at £370 each. Not a bad deal but when you consider that we could have had a direct flight at £80 a head cheaper, the moral of the story is clear – if you find a good deal that suits your plans, jump on it. It probably won’t be around for long. Oh dear – almost 1000 words in & we haven’t even left home yet. Maybe in the next instalment…. |
JJBhoy - O.K. I am hooked on your latest adventure.
Don't keep us waiting to long for an update. Sandy |
and....????
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Wonderful! Can't wait for more! :D
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Oh good! JJBhoy is back!!! I can't wait to read the rest!
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Can't wait till your return,JJBhoy. Laughed so hard at your previous adventures!
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You sound like fun. Love the ebay story.
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Put down the Tennents Lager and get back to the story!
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Come on, we are waiting!!!!
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Here's the TR I've been waiting for! Can hardly wait for the next installment, Jim! :)
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just bookmarking this as I love JJBhoy's trip reports!
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Your reports are so much fun to read. Please post more! I will be in NYC to celebrate my daughter's 16th b-day and my husbands in 2weeks. Please let us know what you did on your vacation with the boys.
:) Leigh |
looking forward to this one...
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bookmarking
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I'm looking forward to hearing all about this!
((#))Cindy |
waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting!
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Our internal UK flights were provided by British Airways as one of American Airlines codeshare partners & the flight from Glasgow to London Heathrow passed by uneventfully. Although I have flown to Heathrow on several occasions this was the first time I had connected through there & it was not a particularly enjoyable experience. We walked so far just get to the bus connection from T1 to T3 that I half expected to turn a corner & find myself back in Glasgow again. The Flight Connection Centre proved to be a bit of a zoo but I guess the increased security measures can only be viewed as a necessary evil.
When we eventually got to T4 and found the AA gate there was quite a commotion going on. On the way there I had noticed a fellow traveller who was getting quite a bit of attention as he made his way to the gate in front of us. People were pointing at him as he passed but I just put this down to his rather outlandish appearance. He was wearing a white leather jacket which was designed like a deck of cards (he had a pretty good hand across his shoulders although I think I would have folded with what he had on his left arm) & a pair of red jogging trousers which were so baggy & voluminous that he could have accommodated the entire string section of the London Philarmonic Orchestra complete with instruments. Believe me, these trousers were so baggy that they made MC Hammer’s look like a skintight leotard. The most remarkable thing about this gentleman’s appearance wasn’t his jacket, however, nor was it his trousers. It wasn’t even his shock of thick black hair which looked for all the world as though as though someone had just run 10000 volts through him. No, the thing which struck me most about this guy was that he was wearing a clock on a cord around his neck. And I don’t mean a small discreet timepiece – I mean a proper clock about the size of a small inner plate. When we got to the actual gate itself, however, it became clear that the other passengers (or at least the Americans amongst them) were interested in this man because of who he was rather than how he looked. The younger passengers in particular seemed excited to see him & several of them took pictures on their cellphones. I was dying to know who he was but I also knew that if the curiosity was killing me this would be only a minor discomfort, a mere fleabite, compared to how Liz would be feeling. The idea that someone famous was around & she had NO idea who he was would be simply unbearable for her & I knew that if I waited long enough she would eventually crack. Sure enough, although she tried to maintain some degree of disinterested composure it wasn’t long (6.8 seconds to be exact – her personal best) before she dropped the cool façade & begged another passenger to tell her what was going on. It turned out that our flamboyant fellow passenger was Flavor Flav of the hip hop group Public Enemy & those in the know will be aware that the clock round his neck is his “signature”. He seemed very friendly, posed happily for photos & looked genuinely interested in meeting his fans. Although our plane was boarded well on time we seemed to wait an age to get clearance for take-off & we were already almost an hour behind schedule by the time we got airborne. The flight itself was very enjoyable & although we were still behind schedule when we arrived at JFK we were very impressed by American Airlines. All that was to change when we got into the terminal, however…. Jim |
Sorry - that clock was the size of a small <i>dinner</i> plate...
Jim |
Stop watching youtube and get on with the report!! :D
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Hello...anybody out there? :D
Waiting, very impatiently... |
I'm sorry seetheworld.
We had a family wedding last weekend & had visitors over from Canada so my trip report had to be put to one side. They went back home yesterday though so I promise to post some more this week. Jim |
book marking!
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I'll cut you some slack <i>this </i>time, JJBhoy, but try not to let your real-life get in the way of Fodoring. ;) :D
Sincerely, From STW, someone who has not finished her own trip report as of yet. :( |
We had been due to arrive at JFK at around 7.30 p.m. on Saturday Oct 14 & so I had emailed our hotel, the Bedford on E 40th St., the day before we left, advising them to expect us at around 9.30 or so. As it turned out, though, we were already around 20 minutes behind schedule when we landed & it took us another half hour just to get off the plane. By the time we got through all the hoopla at customs & into baggage reclaim it was already almost 9.00 & so I was keen to collect our bags & get into Manhattan as soon as possible. Things didn’t turn out that way, however…..
I’m sure many of you will have experienced this before on your own travels. First of all, a bit of a scrum develops around the baggage carousel while everyone jockeys for position in the hope that they will be able get to their baggage within approximately 2.8 seconds of it appearing into view (has anyone ever, ever, EVER had their case come out first?) Invariably you feel a sharp elbow poking you in the ribs & & you turn round to give them a mouthful of abuse only to find that it’s a little old lady or, perhaps, a nun. Obviously you can’t swear at her or people will notice so instead you just give her a discreet kick on the ankle & a menacing look which says “don’t mess with me, sweetcakes”. As more & more luggage appears there’s a hubbub of activity as travellers swarm around the belt like flies round sh*t, all panicking that someone else, probably that mean looking, shaven headed, muscle-bound brute on the other side, picks up their case by mistake. Eventually cases are collected & the crowd starts to thin out a little. One by one people head off contentedly with their luggage whilst you are left standing trying to pretend that you’re taking it all in your stride. The same sad, forlorn unclaimed pieces of luggage come round on the belt again & again……& again – but of your case there is nary a sign. You become aware that the security staff are grouped together pointing at you & as the cleaners change shifts & the overhead lights in the hall are slowly switched off, one by one, you start to realise that maybe, just maybe, your bag isn’t going to turn up. In our case it was Anne Marie’s case which had disappeared. Out of all our party she was the last person we would have wanted to lose their luggage. I’m not saying she’s vain but she was frantically worried for weeks before our trip that the emergency baggage restrictions might mean that she would be unable to take her make up as carry on. The idea of arriving in New York without being able to reapply her “slap” absolutely horrified her (although my sympathies would have lain more with the poor customs officer who would have to look at her after 5 hours on a plane – but don’t tell her I said that). Now, faced with the prospect of 4 days in New York with only the clothes she stood up in, she reacted in the cool measured way you would expect & screamed the place down On this particular occasion, however, we weren’t the only people off our flight whose luggage had vanished. There were around 7 or 8 fellow passengers in a similar position including one gentleman who had no qualms about making his feelings known regardless of who was in the immediate vicinity. He made sure that any airport employee who passed within a 20 yard radius knew exactly how he felt about the situation by launching a volley of expletives that turned the air bright blue. I don’t agree with haranguing people who are trying their best to do their jobs under difficult circumstances but after a while it was easy to share his anger because, really, the lack of information from American Airlines was appalling. At first we were told, not to worry, there was still more luggage to come through; then we were told there wasn’t; then we were told there was. Eventually, after about an hour of waiting we were told for certain that there was no luggage waiting & that we would have to go the lost baggage office. In addition to the people from our flight there were also some other travellers who had lost luggage to report & so the situation at the lost baggage office was utter chaos. To make matters worse only one of the 3 employees manning the desk (a woman with the longest fingernails I had ever seen) seemed to have any idea what she was doing. The other 2 stood helplessly looking lost & interrupted her for advice so often that in effect she ended up having to process 3 passengers simultaneously, including one Hispanic family whose English was somewhat less than fluent. Despite my dismay at our situation I couldn’t help but admire how she kept her cool while everybody else got more & more agitated. I had read stories in the past both here & on Trip Advisor of hotels letting rooms go if guests showed up late & I was concerned about whether our late arrival might cause any such problems. In their wisdom the authorities at JFK had provided pay phones in the baggage reclaim hall which didn’t accept credit cards & only took coins. I would imagine, however, that most foreign visitors arriving probably wouldn’t have much loose change in U.S. currency – certainly we didn’t have any & there was nowhere to get change until we got landside. So, while Anne Marie was doing her best to make herself heard in the increasingly manic Tower Of Babel that was JFK’s lost baggage office I excused myself to make a phone call. Having bought a ‘phone card from a machine, I ‘phoned the Hotel Bedford & explained the situation to the desk clerk, who was very calm & sympathetic, He told me not to worry about it & assured me that our rooms would be waiting for us whenever we arrived. I got back to the family to find that Diff had completely crashed out & had fallen asleep sitting on a chair. Like his mother he’s one of those people who simply can’t fight sleep – when he’s got to go, he’s got to go. By the time Anne Marie came back with her piece of paper from the baggage desk it was almost impossible to rouse him & we had to virtually carry him upright out to the taxi rank like a scene from Weekend At Bernie’s. With there being 6 of us we had to take two taxis but, thankfully, due in no small part to the driver’s complete disregard for the speed limit, (or indeed for any of the other traffic on the road) it wasn’t too long before we were both pulling up outside the Bedford. By this time it must have been almost 11.00 p.m. local time & we had been up since around 6.00 am.UK time that morning i.e. 1.00 a.m NYC time. As we checked in at the Bedford Liz started her by now customary “charm offensive” on the desk clerk (see my previous trip report for more background). We had booked two 1 bedroom suites & when the clerk advised us that he had allocated us rooms on the 4th floor Liz asked whether it would be at all possible to find rooms higher up. The guy stopped for a minute & then, taking pity on what must have looked like a pretty sorry & bedraggled bunch, he announced that he was going to give us a free upgrade to two Tower Suites on the top (i.e. 17th) floor. I’ll go into more detail on the Hotel later but just now it’s enough to say that we were delighted with it. Although we were all tired we didn’t want to spend our first night in Manhattan by going straight to bed & so we forced ourselves to go out for a brief walk to let the boys see Times Square. Exhausted as they were there was no doubt that they were impressed by what they saw & even Diff found a brief second wind. We debated for a minute whether to find a restaurant but it was now past midnight & we just didn’t have the energy to stay out any longer. Prior to our trip I had envisaged us spending our first night in Manhattan in a nice restaurant somewhere close to the Hotel. Instead, we ended up buying hot dogs & kebabs from a street vendor & eating them as we trudged wearily back to the Bedford – not exactly what I had in mind. Still, we had tomorrow to look forward to….. |
"we had to virtually carry him upright out to the taxi rank like a scene from Weekend At Bernie’s." Thank you JJBhoy, for that very good laugh!
The saga continues. :-) :-) |
Wonderful post. I always hope that if bags have to be lost to "lost bags gods", it would be my husbands :-D. I felt Liz's pain!
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SorryJJBhoy, I meant Anne Marie, not Liz....
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I'm glad to see your report has begun! I was in NYC for a weekend while you were there - we had some nasty weather the first day and I was hoping it didn't dampen your group's visit. The number of families (especially from abroad) visiting NYC in mid-October surprised me. Maybe that October break is common.
We asked directions of one English couple who appeared delighted to be taken for natives. |
More! :)
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Firstly, apologies for the hiatus. We’ve had an extension added on to the house & so we’ve had builders & assorted tradesmen traipsing in & out almost every day since November. To tell the truth I’ve had neither the time nor the inclination to go back to my trip report but things are starting to calm down a wee bit so here goes…
On our previous trip we had stayed at the Best Western Hospitality House on E49th St. & we would have been perfectly happy to go back there again but they would only allow a maximum of 5 people in any one suite & renting 2 separate suites was just a bit too rich for our budget. I checked Travelzoo & Quikbook on more or less a daily basis after booking the flights in July & made reservations at both the Bedford & the Belvedere but, while I fully expected further hotel bargains to crop up these never materialised – or at least not to suit our budget & numbers. As our departure date grew ever nearer I found myself in the position of having to choose between the two original bookings & although the Belvedere seems to be held in higher regard both here & on TripAdvisor the Bedford’s suite arrangements (with their separate bedroom & living room with sofa bed) won the day. We had booked 2 one bedroom suites but, as I mentioned earlier, on checking in we were given a free upgrade to 2 Tower Suites on the top (17th) floor. Judging by the Bedford’s website the set-up of the Tower Suites seems to be essentially the same as the one bedroom – i.e. a living room with a sofa bed & kitchen area, a bedroom with a king bed & separate bathroom with bath & shower. Where the Tower Suite seems to have the edge, however, is the size of the living room – much bigger, with a large dining table & chairs – and also extra windows making the lounge brighter & airier (is that a word). Myself, Liz & the boys took one of the suites & Eddie & Anne Marie the other and the general consensus among the adults was that the Bedford had the edge over the Hospitality House (although it should be noted that the HH does have the advantage of having a separate full size kitchen, while the Bedford only has a sort of “counter” area with sink, fridge & microwave. Perhaps the biggest plus for the Bedford is its location; on E40th between Lexington & Park, it’s literally round the corner from Grand Central Station & so is very convenient for many of the typical tourist sites, shopping & restaurants – not to mention for the subway for those journeys which are a little bit farther afield. When we looked out of our bedroom window we had a clear view of the Chrysler Building, while from Anne Marie & Eddie’s we could see the Empire State so we really felt as though we were in the heart of everything. More to follow... Jim |
ttt
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I just read your complete first report and happily moved on to this one. Since I read the first one complete I did not notice the length of time between posts. Imagine my disappointment when I came to an abrubt halt. Please post more before my first trip to NYC in a couple of weeks.
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