The E train connects to the AirTrain at Jamaica station. No need to travel into Manhattan to Penn Station.

Oops! Forgot they were coming from Newark. In that case, if their LIC hotel is near the E train, then take the AirTrain/NJ Transit from Newark to NY Penn Station. From Penn, take the E train to their hotel stop.

Hate to break this to you, Doug, but Queens (Long Island City included) is on Long Island. So is Brooklyn. The only borough of New York City that is on the United States mainland is the Bronx.

Yes, that's not news to me. But it's not a useful description of Long Island City. Long Island in the NYC metropolitan area refers to Nassau and Suffolk counties, and these are very different places than Queens, which is actually a part of NYC. I'll stand by my original statement.

Hi again
If we are arriving at Queens Plaza late night maybe 11:00 - 11:30pm and have a 6 minute walk over the rail to the hotel - Is this a safe walk at night? Are there taxis around if we need to catch one? And will the hotel still be open for us to check in that late?

It's a very desolate area (looks very intimidating and pretty industrial), but it's also pretty safe. I doubt very much if you'll see a regular yellow taxi at Queens Plaza, but it's possible since some gather just over the Queensboro Bridge.

What you might very well see is a car service (an unmarked livery car) offering to pick you up and take you to your destination for a few dollars; this is technically illegal but pretty common in Queens. I used to flag livery cars all the time when I lived in Jackson Heights and Astoria for relatively short distances since yellow taxis are rarely seen on the streets of Queens. Be sure to verify the fare in advance if you do this.

Believe me, 11pm is not at all late by NYC standards. And hotel check-in desks are manned 24 hours. Just make sure you have booked a guaranteed late-arrival room so they don't give it away to someone else.

Doug's description of the area, particularly at close to midnight, is apt.

The short stretch of Queens Boulevard between Queens Plaza and the hotel crosses over a swath of rail lines (resulting in high steel protective walls), and is, itself, covered by an elevated subway (I know, an oxymoron) structure, making an already possibly intimidating walk even darker and more confined.

Here's a link looking back from your hotel towards Queens Plaza (http://bit.ly/cjYidZ) and one on Queens Boulevard as it crosses over the rail lines (http://bit.ly/bgXoTk) heading toward your hotel. Of course, these are daylight images.

The hotel's website offers [email protected] as an e-mail address to contact the hotel directly. Perhaps they might have a suggestion about how to most safely get from Queens Plaza to the hotel at that time of night. It might sound "forward," but you might mention that you are international visitors unfamiliar with the local area, and even ask them if someone from their Security Department could meet you and accompany you back to the hotel.

By the way, in nosing around the Days Inn website, I notice that they are offering a 15% discount for stays of two days or more at the same hotel. There are cancellation penalties involved, but, if you haven't already taken advantage of this, you may want to have a look at their website and, if necessary, adjust your reservation.

So staying in LIC and crossing rail tracks at night is better than staying in Downtown Brookyln?

What's the reference to downtown Brooklyn? Roses go the advice that staying in NYC just about anywhere was better than staying next to Jersey Gardens shopping center in NJ. Their tour offered them Marriott Courtyard by LGA or Days Inn LIC.

I think they've made a good choice, given the alternatives. Once they have their bearings the walk from Queens Plaza subway station to the Days Inn will seem easy - on the first arrival into NYC, at night, it might seem intimidating. But it is a relatively short walk.

Using maps.google.com street view you can take the walk on the computer - the pictures are taken during the day, but you can see what the walk will be like. The presence of the overhead subway line may make the the walk over the RR tracks on Queens Blvd feel confined. Does anybody know how well lit it is at night? Darkness can contribute to uneasiness. Some people aren't city folk - we're not sure if roses is comfortable in big cities or is more at home in rural areas.

Not very well lit at night - and definitely a mixed use area. Dingy but perfectly safe - and a much better choice than the others in terms of convenience.

We are New Zealanders -been too tied up with raising our kids and never travelled except NZ and Australia so REALLY excited about the trip to New York but expecting to be totally blown away by the size and scale of everything.Thanks for all your advice. Not backwards in coming forward though so will take the advice to contact the hotel for their suggestions.

roses4me2, I live in Nelson NZ, my DD and SIL live in Long Island City not far from the Days Inn actually. It is an industrial area but from what I have been reading and researching about the hotels in the area, LIC is a great place to stay as it is cheaper than Manhattan but only a short subway ride away. We were planning to visit them this year but unfortunately have had to postpone.

We did our first trip to the US in 2007, had a great time, spent 3 1/2 days in NYC. We did the usual tourist type things, Staten Island ferry to see the Statute of Liberty, Top of the Rock, two Broadway shows, the Frick museum which was fantastic etc etc.

Our first impressions of NYC was coming out of Penn Station (We had trained from Baltimore to NYC) and seeing all the yellow taxi cabs and the honking of the horns just like you see in the movies.

Have a great time.