Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Trip Report

We have been to NYC and back!

We left Minnesota Tuesday morning, flew threw Boston and arrived at JFK a little ahead of scheduled. I was excited to put our ground transportation plan into action.

We took the AirTrain to Jamaica - when we departed we bought the $5 only metro card from the newsstand vendor to get out and we also bought a $10 metrocard to use on the subway.
Next we found the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station, bought two tickets and heard the train was right there so ran down the steps to catch it. At Penn Station we took the 1 subway to Port Authority. We weren't fully skilled in our subway exits so went up as soon as we could and had to walk in the rain more than we would have had to, but that was ok - we were in NYC!!

Review of the AirTrain method of getting to midtown - AWESOME!
Do it! It's easy and cheap! - $5 for AirTrain, $6.50 for LIRR, $2.25 for Subway
And it's fast! We landed at 1:30pm and we were in our hotel room at 40th Street and 7th Ave at 3:10pm
We did have carry-on only - if you have lots of luggage it would be difficult

The main reason we were in town was to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live and in person!

We decided to stay down by our hotel to watch - mainly because we didn't get up early enough to travel uptown. We were at our spot on 7th Street between 43rd and 42nd Street at 6am. There were already two rows of people in front of us - they were there at 5am. Next time we will get there at 5am for a front row spot! It says don't bring a chair, but if you are there at 5am bring a chair you can fold and/or blanket to sit on to save your spot... and sit over a subway grid - they produce heat!

Were there a lot of people - YES! But we fully expected that. We didn't expect people to arrive an hour and a half after us and push their way in front of us and our Minnesota nice didn't kick their butt back - we need to get a NY attitude next time! :)

The parade arrived to our spot at 9:30 and was done about 11:30 - so two hours, just like on tv (not including the hour before of Broadway show performances). Being close to our hotel we were able to go back and see the last 15 minutes on tv - which was fun!

Seeing the parade LIVE was a bucket list dream come true - and I HIGHLY recommend it anyone who has the desire. Yes, it's lots of people. Yes, you will stand in one spot for 5 to 6 hours while you wait for the parade and then watch it. No, there are not bathrooms easily available - limit fluid intake that morning - drink later! Yes - it's totally worth it!!

While in NYC we also did the following:
* Radio City Christmas Spectacular - AMAZING! Must do during the holidays! It really puts you in the Christmas mood!
* Martha Stewart Show - we were on LIVE Wednesday before Thanksgiving - my husbands favorite thing we did. He liked watching all the production. We were on tv several times during the show.
* NBC Tour - it was fun to do once - we were most excited to see the set of Saturday Night Live
* Carriage Ride - I said no to every driver we passed, at the end of the row my husband said yes! The driver gave us a deal to take a longer ride and took us through the park up to the balloon inflation
* Balloon Inflation - A must do if you are coming in for the parade - it was exciting to see the balloons ready to go. We were there at night, about 8pm - so they were inflated, draped with netting and sandbagged down. If you want to watch them inflate them go at 3pm - but it was raining then!
* Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - get there EARLY, dress warm, don't drink liquids (no bathrooms) and bring your inner child!
* 9/11 Memorial - moving, heart breaking, powerful. We walked around all four sides of both pools to honor all those lost.
* Staten Island Ferry - how is this free?! the boats are huge! The view of the Statue of Liberty is nice - she's far away and can't get a good photo, especially at night as you are zooming past, but it's nice to see here if you aren't able to get out to the island.
* City Sites Tour - yes, very tourist, but after walking and walking, and walking for three days (two in the rain) we wanted to see the city, but sit! And we were glad we did. We saw so much and learned so many fun facts. Every guide we had was a New York native so they were interesting to listen to. We got on in Times Square and hopped off in SoHo. Got back on and then off at the South Street Seaport.
* City Sites Night Tour - we thought would be the day tour at night - that and then some! We had no idea we were going over the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn - that's 'interesting' on the top of an open air bus!
* Top of the Rock - awesome views of the city - and better than the Empire State Building so that you can see the ESB! If the MetLife building would move over a bit, than I could see my favorite Chrysler Building!

FOOD:
* Patsy's - a facebook friend suggested Patsy's, it was near Radio City, so we went. It was good, fun experience. We read later that it was a favorite of Frank Sinatra
* New City Pizza - good slice and garlic knots
* Street Vendors - Hot Pretzel - good! Raw chicken - Bad! Bagel & Cream Cheese - Dry
* Cafe Lalo - scene from my favorite movie 'You've Got Mail' (Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks). Very small coffee/dessert shop - we had dessert only. I highly recommend the Amaretto Tiramisu
* Sunshine Deli - oh how I missed good Roast Beef sandwich! My husband loved the Peppered Turkey
* Hotel - Four Point Sheraton Midtown Times Square Room Service - Thanksgiving Dinner - delish and in the comfort of our room after a long day!
* Bill's Bar & Burger in Rockefeller Center - good burgers, spendy as sides are not included with burgers

Shopping:
*Macy's - to get parade souvenirs
*Street Vendors - tip: the ones on the street don't pay rent so are cheaper, one vendor in a 'holiday mart' told me they pay $500 a day rent to be there, and the same items were $5 more each
* Duane Reade - we bought 'soda' pop and snacks each night

Transportation:
AirTrain - $5 to get out of JKF
Long Island Rail Road - $6.50 gets you to Penn Station
Subway - $2.25/trip it was easy to take, quick way to get long distances, cheap, safe
Horse & Carriage - just do it, make the memories - we went at night, go during the day or dusk
Walk - wear comfy shoes! I wore ugg boots the whole trip - warm, comfy - you will walk until your feet scream to stop! :)
Taxi - we didn't take one, should have during the rainy night, but thought we were 'close' to our destination
Bus - City Sites is a fun way to travel above the city streets

We didn't get to a Broadway Show - next time I would get tickets before we leave home, we tried to get them at a theatre and at TKTS and couldn't get what we wanted or would have three times more than we wanted.

Museums - just didn't have the time to spend enjoying one. Guess we have to go back!!!

I thought my husband was going to hate New York and I'm HAPPILY surprised that he really liked it! Every NY thing he sees on TV he says 'look honey, New York' and tells me where it's located. I just smile. I <3 NY and I think now he does too!

Thank You to everyone who answered questions and gave tips!