First time at USA - A trip report
Jul 16th, 2007, 08:51 PM
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First time at USA - A trip report
Several months ago, I asked here about how to organise our first time at USA. I received very soon a number of interesting suggestions that catched my attention and make me and my DH be sure that USA was going to be our next travel destination. Along this year, I collected a lot of info from this forum, not only by direct questioning, by also through the experience of those who shared their trip reports. So there goes mine, perhaps somebody might find it helpful, or at least feel curiosity about it.
Some preliminar questions:
A couple of weeks after having purchased the flight tickets, we had good news: I was pregnant. Of course, this had some effects on the activities we planned: no long hikes, no rafting, no risk activities, no street food… No major problem, indeed. At the beginning of the trip, I was 4 months pregnant.
We are from Spain, so our itinerary was quite a rush. We are aware that perhaps we don’t ever come back, for example, to Southern Utah and were willing to see as much as possible. When travelling around Europe, we tend to stay longer on every stop of the travel. So perhaps this report is not going to be very useful for people from the USA.
I am 34 and my husband is 41. He is very fit and active. I try to follow him… (not easy).
ITINERARY (from 30th June to 15th July)
MADRID-NEW YORK-LAS VEGAS-ZION N.P-BRYCE N.P.-CAPITOL REEF N.P- MOAB (CANYONLANDS N.P & ARCHES N.P)- PAGE (LAKE POWELL)- GRAND CANYON- LAS VEGAS- NEW YORK-MADRID.
Day 1 (30th June)
We flight from Madrid to New York with Iberia (the Spanish greatest company). We got quite good priced tickects (about 550$ return), considering that prices are much higher in summer. Arrived in JFK at 7.30 PM, and took the Airtrain, then train A (subway) to 14th street and from there a cab to East Village Bed & Coffee, where we spent our three first nights. The total cost of the trip was 27$, including the tip. EVB&C is a quite good option if you are looking for cheap and relatively decent lodging. We did it like a kind of experiment, because it was more than 10 years since we didn’t share a bath. We only happened to see the other guests once along the stay. What we really like was the location: many nice little restaurants, many bars and an atmosphere best than we expected. We arrived by 9 pm, more or less, had a shower and went for a drink (well, a soda for me…). No dinner, it was by the time 4 am for us (jet lag…). After one hour or so, we went to bed, exhausted but happy.
(it will continue…)
Some preliminar questions:
A couple of weeks after having purchased the flight tickets, we had good news: I was pregnant. Of course, this had some effects on the activities we planned: no long hikes, no rafting, no risk activities, no street food… No major problem, indeed. At the beginning of the trip, I was 4 months pregnant.
We are from Spain, so our itinerary was quite a rush. We are aware that perhaps we don’t ever come back, for example, to Southern Utah and were willing to see as much as possible. When travelling around Europe, we tend to stay longer on every stop of the travel. So perhaps this report is not going to be very useful for people from the USA.
I am 34 and my husband is 41. He is very fit and active. I try to follow him… (not easy).
ITINERARY (from 30th June to 15th July)
MADRID-NEW YORK-LAS VEGAS-ZION N.P-BRYCE N.P.-CAPITOL REEF N.P- MOAB (CANYONLANDS N.P & ARCHES N.P)- PAGE (LAKE POWELL)- GRAND CANYON- LAS VEGAS- NEW YORK-MADRID.
Day 1 (30th June)
We flight from Madrid to New York with Iberia (the Spanish greatest company). We got quite good priced tickects (about 550$ return), considering that prices are much higher in summer. Arrived in JFK at 7.30 PM, and took the Airtrain, then train A (subway) to 14th street and from there a cab to East Village Bed & Coffee, where we spent our three first nights. The total cost of the trip was 27$, including the tip. EVB&C is a quite good option if you are looking for cheap and relatively decent lodging. We did it like a kind of experiment, because it was more than 10 years since we didn’t share a bath. We only happened to see the other guests once along the stay. What we really like was the location: many nice little restaurants, many bars and an atmosphere best than we expected. We arrived by 9 pm, more or less, had a shower and went for a drink (well, a soda for me…). No dinner, it was by the time 4 am for us (jet lag…). After one hour or so, we went to bed, exhausted but happy.
(it will continue…)
Jul 16th, 2007, 09:45 PM
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Hello Filloa, we don't see a lot of trip reports about visits to the USA from travelers from other countries so it is a joy to read yours.
Congratulations regarding the news that you will be having a baby! You must be so happy and excited.
I look forward to the next installment of your time here in the states. Best regards.
Congratulations regarding the news that you will be having a baby! You must be so happy and excited.
I look forward to the next installment of your time here in the states. Best regards.
Jul 17th, 2007, 02:46 AM
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Filloa:
Nice start. What an interesting choice East Village Bed & Coffee a B&B in NYC. Glad to hear the shared bathrooms worked out for you. What was provided for your breakfast?
Congratulations on your expected little one.
Looking forward to more of your trip experience. Thank you for sharing.
Sandy
Nice start. What an interesting choice East Village Bed & Coffee a B&B in NYC. Glad to hear the shared bathrooms worked out for you. What was provided for your breakfast?
Congratulations on your expected little one.
Looking forward to more of your trip experience. Thank you for sharing.
Sandy
Jul 18th, 2007, 03:58 PM
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Thanks for the encouragement!
SandyBrit, EVB&C does not provide breakfast, only free coffee and tea. You have there a whole kitchen, if you wanted to cook, with fridge, microwave and so on, but no breakfast.
SandyBrit, EVB&C does not provide breakfast, only free coffee and tea. You have there a whole kitchen, if you wanted to cook, with fridge, microwave and so on, but no breakfast.
Jul 18th, 2007, 03:59 PM
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DAY 2 (July 1st.)
We wake up very early, but in the end we go out at 9 am. Our plan for the morning is to do one of the walks we have taken from a guide. The first destination will be Tribeca, Chinatown and Little Italy, mostly because this places are not far from East Village (we are staying uptown the last two days of our travel). We took bus 21 from Avenue C to near Canal Street and bought coffee, yogourth and pancakes at a deli for breakfast (in Spain nobody has cooked breakfast) and began our route. We liked Tribeca and shifted to Chinatown, as our walk guide suggested. We didn’t like Chinatown, in fact. Having been to Bangkok’s Chinatown last year, this one appeared to us like a huge fake handbag shop. Then we walked around to Little Italy, and get to Old Saint Patrick Cathedral. At Prince Street, near the Cathedral, we found McNally Robinson bookshop, which we liked very much. DH wanted to buy many interesting book, but he was forgetting that his very little English only allows him to read with a page-per-hour speed, so he only decided to buy a NY buildings book. But we wanted to go on walking and thought it was too heavy to carry it with us along the city. Perhaps any other time… I bought a Kurt Vonnegut’s book that I have always wanted to read.
We had done the walk faster than expected, so DH proposed to see a part of Greenwich Village area. We enjoyed it. There was a street market at Bleeker St. I had John’s written down on the notebook as a very good place for pizza, so we looked for it. However, we didn’t have lunch there: we were too excited with our first day in NY to wait at a line (I must say it was not a very long one). So, we grabbed a couple of slices of pizza from another place in the same street (nothing special, so I can’t recall the name), and go on walking through streets which appeared to be a part of a gay area. We felt it quite interesting, with small independent shops and cute restaurants. After trying (without any success) to call home from a phone box, we found an Internet cafe and sent a mail home.
By this time, I had a very specific plan: I needed pregnant clothes and there are shops in NY a lot cheaper than in Spain. So we took the subway to 42th street, and had our first contact with Times Square… We had different opinions on Times Square: DH enjoyed it, but I felt it crowded and tiring. We went to 57th Str. With Madison, and I bought a lot of clothes at Motherhood. After that, we did a little visit to Niketown, at 57th St, but DH decided that he had already enough sport clothes. By this time, I was tired and we took the subway to 2nd avenue with Houston St. and walked to EVB&C. We rested at our room for an hour and went out for dinner. We tried a vegetarian restaurant, Hummus Place, at St. Marks Place and we loved the food. The menu is really short, so I don’t recommend it if you are not willing to eat Hummus. But if you are, go ahead, we found it delicious and I think it was around 30$ for both, with tax and tip. After dinner, we felt it has been a long day and went to bed.
We wake up very early, but in the end we go out at 9 am. Our plan for the morning is to do one of the walks we have taken from a guide. The first destination will be Tribeca, Chinatown and Little Italy, mostly because this places are not far from East Village (we are staying uptown the last two days of our travel). We took bus 21 from Avenue C to near Canal Street and bought coffee, yogourth and pancakes at a deli for breakfast (in Spain nobody has cooked breakfast) and began our route. We liked Tribeca and shifted to Chinatown, as our walk guide suggested. We didn’t like Chinatown, in fact. Having been to Bangkok’s Chinatown last year, this one appeared to us like a huge fake handbag shop. Then we walked around to Little Italy, and get to Old Saint Patrick Cathedral. At Prince Street, near the Cathedral, we found McNally Robinson bookshop, which we liked very much. DH wanted to buy many interesting book, but he was forgetting that his very little English only allows him to read with a page-per-hour speed, so he only decided to buy a NY buildings book. But we wanted to go on walking and thought it was too heavy to carry it with us along the city. Perhaps any other time… I bought a Kurt Vonnegut’s book that I have always wanted to read.
We had done the walk faster than expected, so DH proposed to see a part of Greenwich Village area. We enjoyed it. There was a street market at Bleeker St. I had John’s written down on the notebook as a very good place for pizza, so we looked for it. However, we didn’t have lunch there: we were too excited with our first day in NY to wait at a line (I must say it was not a very long one). So, we grabbed a couple of slices of pizza from another place in the same street (nothing special, so I can’t recall the name), and go on walking through streets which appeared to be a part of a gay area. We felt it quite interesting, with small independent shops and cute restaurants. After trying (without any success) to call home from a phone box, we found an Internet cafe and sent a mail home.
By this time, I had a very specific plan: I needed pregnant clothes and there are shops in NY a lot cheaper than in Spain. So we took the subway to 42th street, and had our first contact with Times Square… We had different opinions on Times Square: DH enjoyed it, but I felt it crowded and tiring. We went to 57th Str. With Madison, and I bought a lot of clothes at Motherhood. After that, we did a little visit to Niketown, at 57th St, but DH decided that he had already enough sport clothes. By this time, I was tired and we took the subway to 2nd avenue with Houston St. and walked to EVB&C. We rested at our room for an hour and went out for dinner. We tried a vegetarian restaurant, Hummus Place, at St. Marks Place and we loved the food. The menu is really short, so I don’t recommend it if you are not willing to eat Hummus. But if you are, go ahead, we found it delicious and I think it was around 30$ for both, with tax and tip. After dinner, we felt it has been a long day and went to bed.
Jul 19th, 2007, 02:08 AM
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Filloa:
You are in one of my favourite cities.
Glad you were able to purchase your maternity clothes in NYC. You walked and covered a lot of ground on day 2.
Looking forward to more of this delightful read.
Sandy
You are in one of my favourite cities.
Glad you were able to purchase your maternity clothes in NYC. You walked and covered a lot of ground on day 2.
Looking forward to more of this delightful read.
Sandy
Jul 20th, 2007, 12:37 PM
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DAY 3 (2th July)
We get up with the idea of exploring the Financial District. We take the 21 bus and then the subway to City Hall. By the way, one of the things we liked less about NYC was its subway. Having travelled to several European major cities, we did believe that NYC subway would be at least as good as theirs… instead we found the dirtiest, poorly maintained subway we have ever been to. Madrid subway seems a luxury in comparison. We found at NY changes in lines with no written advertisment, stations without elevator or scalator and even stations without a visible subway plan. The only good point we found at subway was the staff: they were really helpful with us and our first interactions with Metrocard machines.
Well, after arriving at City Hall Park, we had a New York breakfast (at least, we were told it was): coffee and bagel, although we added also some fruit to it. It was a beautiful morning, sunny but not very hot, so we had it at the little park opposite the City Hall. We began there to enjoy the view of the skyscrapers. Then, a beautiful walk: St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church and Wall Street. DH got very excited at Wall Street: he has a degree on Economy and another one on Management, so it was quite a mythical place for him. He wanted all kind of pictures near the Stock Exchange Building. After having done that, we were really enjoying the superb buildings and also its location, we didn’t figure out that they were so close one to another, and we decided that it was the moment to enjoy a more distant perspective. We walked then to the Staten Island ferry which was a very good and fast trip. We took beautiful pictures from the ferry. When we came back, it was about 1 pm, so we had lunch (Pasta salad with chicken and natural fresh made juice), rested for some minutes and go on walking around. Then we take the pedestrian path to Brooklyn Bridge. It was a little hot to do it, but the experience was worth the heat. More beautiful pictures from here. When we arrived in Brooklyn, we noticed that we had brought with us no guide to explore Brooklyn!!!! Moreover, I was feeling a little tired with so much walking and my belly began to seem a very heavy load, so we decided to do something absolutely different and took the subway to… Harlem. When we arrived at Cathedral Parkway Station, I was fully recovered and we walked to St. John’s Cathedral and then to Columbia University. We liked to do something which was not planned and after wandering around Columbia, we decided to return to our room and rest a bit before dinner.
We took a bus which travelled downtown through Columbus Avenue and it was nice, although slower than subway to have another view of city life. It seemed to us that there were some nice little restaurants at Columbus, although we didn’t stop to check it. We got quite impressed with Lincoln Center. We stop at 14 street and took bus 14. When we left the bus and were walking towards EVB&C, we met by chance Katz’s Deli and thought it was a good chance for give it a check. Unfortunately, it was only 7 pm (too early for any Spaniard to have dinner) so we only had sodas and a snack. We rested for an hour at EVB&C and then we went out and had dinner at El Cafecito. They serve Cuban food. We were not hungry, so we ordered a platter, with a mix of specialities and it was enough. Not bad, although it had too many fried items (I mean that all the items at the platter were cooked by frying them). However, as I have said, we were not hungry. The evening ended up there, because we had to arrange our lugagge for the day after.
We get up with the idea of exploring the Financial District. We take the 21 bus and then the subway to City Hall. By the way, one of the things we liked less about NYC was its subway. Having travelled to several European major cities, we did believe that NYC subway would be at least as good as theirs… instead we found the dirtiest, poorly maintained subway we have ever been to. Madrid subway seems a luxury in comparison. We found at NY changes in lines with no written advertisment, stations without elevator or scalator and even stations without a visible subway plan. The only good point we found at subway was the staff: they were really helpful with us and our first interactions with Metrocard machines.
Well, after arriving at City Hall Park, we had a New York breakfast (at least, we were told it was): coffee and bagel, although we added also some fruit to it. It was a beautiful morning, sunny but not very hot, so we had it at the little park opposite the City Hall. We began there to enjoy the view of the skyscrapers. Then, a beautiful walk: St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church and Wall Street. DH got very excited at Wall Street: he has a degree on Economy and another one on Management, so it was quite a mythical place for him. He wanted all kind of pictures near the Stock Exchange Building. After having done that, we were really enjoying the superb buildings and also its location, we didn’t figure out that they were so close one to another, and we decided that it was the moment to enjoy a more distant perspective. We walked then to the Staten Island ferry which was a very good and fast trip. We took beautiful pictures from the ferry. When we came back, it was about 1 pm, so we had lunch (Pasta salad with chicken and natural fresh made juice), rested for some minutes and go on walking around. Then we take the pedestrian path to Brooklyn Bridge. It was a little hot to do it, but the experience was worth the heat. More beautiful pictures from here. When we arrived in Brooklyn, we noticed that we had brought with us no guide to explore Brooklyn!!!! Moreover, I was feeling a little tired with so much walking and my belly began to seem a very heavy load, so we decided to do something absolutely different and took the subway to… Harlem. When we arrived at Cathedral Parkway Station, I was fully recovered and we walked to St. John’s Cathedral and then to Columbia University. We liked to do something which was not planned and after wandering around Columbia, we decided to return to our room and rest a bit before dinner.
We took a bus which travelled downtown through Columbus Avenue and it was nice, although slower than subway to have another view of city life. It seemed to us that there were some nice little restaurants at Columbus, although we didn’t stop to check it. We got quite impressed with Lincoln Center. We stop at 14 street and took bus 14. When we left the bus and were walking towards EVB&C, we met by chance Katz’s Deli and thought it was a good chance for give it a check. Unfortunately, it was only 7 pm (too early for any Spaniard to have dinner) so we only had sodas and a snack. We rested for an hour at EVB&C and then we went out and had dinner at El Cafecito. They serve Cuban food. We were not hungry, so we ordered a platter, with a mix of specialities and it was enough. Not bad, although it had too many fried items (I mean that all the items at the platter were cooked by frying them). However, as I have said, we were not hungry. The evening ended up there, because we had to arrange our lugagge for the day after.
Jul 20th, 2007, 12:56 PM
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DAY 4 (3rd July)
We got a combination of bus and train A (and Airtrain) to get to JFK airport (14$ both). The Jetblue flight was quite nice: we had a TV screen on the seat so we were quite engaged with Wimbledon Tennis. It was a pity that Rafael Nadal’s match had to be interrupted several times because of the rain… We arrived in Las Vegas at 2 pm and went to pick up our rental car at Hertz, which was booked in advance. The man at desk on Hertz was from Latinoamerica and spoke Spanish, so he was very helpful about how we had to take our way to Zion (Thanks, Octavio!). On our way to Zion, we made a stop to have a very late lunch at Glendale. Not a good place to stop, indeed… It was 115 degrees, my burguer was horrible and DH sandwich only so-so. It would have been better to stop at Mesquite, with much more places to choose. We arrived at Springdale at 6.30 pm, but we discovered at checking in on BW Zion Park Inn that it was 7.30 in Utah. Good room and nice hotel in Springdale. Well, we liked Springdale, with so beautiful mountains around and a number of trees which provided some shadow (it was also hot, although not so much as it was in Nevada). We went to the park entrance to buy the America the Beautiful card (80$ for both), which was a good purchase, and got information about hikes and free shuttle. At the village we bought also some fruit and milk. I found it quite expensive, but it is a small village with only a couple of minimarkets. We came back to hotel and got asleep very early.
We got a combination of bus and train A (and Airtrain) to get to JFK airport (14$ both). The Jetblue flight was quite nice: we had a TV screen on the seat so we were quite engaged with Wimbledon Tennis. It was a pity that Rafael Nadal’s match had to be interrupted several times because of the rain… We arrived in Las Vegas at 2 pm and went to pick up our rental car at Hertz, which was booked in advance. The man at desk on Hertz was from Latinoamerica and spoke Spanish, so he was very helpful about how we had to take our way to Zion (Thanks, Octavio!). On our way to Zion, we made a stop to have a very late lunch at Glendale. Not a good place to stop, indeed… It was 115 degrees, my burguer was horrible and DH sandwich only so-so. It would have been better to stop at Mesquite, with much more places to choose. We arrived at Springdale at 6.30 pm, but we discovered at checking in on BW Zion Park Inn that it was 7.30 in Utah. Good room and nice hotel in Springdale. Well, we liked Springdale, with so beautiful mountains around and a number of trees which provided some shadow (it was also hot, although not so much as it was in Nevada). We went to the park entrance to buy the America the Beautiful card (80$ for both), which was a good purchase, and got information about hikes and free shuttle. At the village we bought also some fruit and milk. I found it quite expensive, but it is a small village with only a couple of minimarkets. We came back to hotel and got asleep very early.
Jul 20th, 2007, 01:54 PM
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Thanks for this report, Filloa!
I live in the US and it's really nice to hear about a trip to the US from a European point of view.
I was in your beautiful country a couple months ago. And you're right, the metro in Madrid is so clean & easy to use - it was great! And every Spainard I met was so kind and helpful.
I hope you liked the US as much as I liked Spain!
I live in the US and it's really nice to hear about a trip to the US from a European point of view.
I was in your beautiful country a couple months ago. And you're right, the metro in Madrid is so clean & easy to use - it was great! And every Spainard I met was so kind and helpful.
I hope you liked the US as much as I liked Spain!
Jul 20th, 2007, 02:01 PM
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Lolly, it is great that you have enjoyed your trip to Spain. We both loved USA: National Parks were such a superb experience that we presently dream of doing more of them.
We also found USA people generally nice and friendly. Although they speak too fast!
We also found USA people generally nice and friendly. Although they speak too fast!
Jul 20th, 2007, 02:09 PM
#18
I am really enjoying reading about your trip to the US. You took a fine approach to seeing New York, stayed in an interesting neighborhood and explored widely. And it sounds like fun to combine a city adventure in New York with the national parks out west.
I will be spending two nights in Madrid next month and am really looking forward to it.
I will be spending two nights in Madrid next month and am really looking forward to it.
Jul 20th, 2007, 03:28 PM
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I am also enjoying your report, both for your perspective on our country, and because we are going to southern Utah in a few weeks.
I also really, really hope that you were able to watch the Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer. Classic!
I also really, really hope that you were able to watch the Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer. Classic!
