Where to stay in New York, New York

[Aussie Gal]

tobbikvinna,

 

Thanks for those great tips. I have printed them out and will take carry them with us. Any tips for making our trip enjoyable are welcome.

 

Jennie

[Aussie Gal]

tobbekvinna,

 

Thanks again. Yes we will be in NYC on a Saturday and intend to visit Cental Park on that day. I have already read up on the MetroCARD and the City Pass which we will purchase as soon as we arrive. We have booked our Ferry tickets and tour for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We also have our Broadway tickets but other than that we will just take each day as it comes and see what we can achieve. There is just so much to see and so little time to do it in.

 

Jennie

[carol louise]

Yellow taxi tip: when the CENTER of the light on the roof of the taxi (it will be a combination of numbers and a letter, like 42N6) is on, the taxi is free. If that center light is off, it means there is a passenger in the taxi already. When it's heading right toward you, you just can't always see if the taxi is occupied, so look at that light mounted on top.

I want to mention this because I feel so bad when I see tourists waving their arms like crazy at taxis that are already occupied and they just whiz on by. Just raise your arm when you see that the light is on.

You see, when the driver turns on the meter, the light goes off. When the ride is over and he turns off the meter, the light goes on again.

If the two lights at the sides of that light on top the taxi are lit (they say OFF on one side and DUTY on the other), it means the driver is going off duty because it's the end of his shift and he's heading back to the garage and not likely to pick anyone up.

 

For a cheap tour of a section of the city, just take a bus. For example, take the Madison Avenue bus from 34th Street all the way to 86th Street on the day you decide to visit the Metropolitan Museum. Or just walk, walk, walk. There's such variety of life everywhere here. There's a wonderful walking, bike-riding, roller-blading pathway with flower plantings and a park-like atmosphere all the way from Battery Park City, along the Hudson River, to far uptown, maybe up to the 70's by now? They've building and landscaping it for several years and I live downtown so am not sure how far up it goes.

 

Hope you all have a great stay in our city.

[Aussie Gal]

Carol Louise,

 

Thanks so much for your tips. This Board is such a wonderful font of information. What did we use to do before we found it! :D

 

Jennie

[tooalto]

For what it's worth in this discussion, we are going to be in the city Aug.29-31. Since this is a weekday stay and the start of the US Open Tennis Tournament, I was having trouble finding a room rate where we could actually afford to eat as well as sleep.;-). Following the wonderful advice on biddingfortravel.com, I bid a 4* Midtown East for $135 and won ! Our hotel - The Waldorf-Astoria! Even if we get a broom closet, it will be a thrill.

[carol louise]

Good for you, tooalto! The hotels that cater predominantly to business customers sometimes offer great deals on the weekends when the businesspeople are not as likely to be staying there. If you're looking to save a little money on meals, you might venture away from the hotel restaurants (though those in the Waldorf are lovely) for breakfast. Head up Lexington Avenue from the hotel, or go over to Third Avenue and look for a coffeeshop. Can't give you a specific one, but there are many in Manhattan, mostly owned by Greek-Americans, and with names like Acropolis, Venus, Athenian, etc. Great deals for breakfast: eggs, toast, and coffee for half (or less) of what you'd pay in the hotel restaurants.

[General Max]

Very good tips on places to eat. Thank you all.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[General Max]

How much should a hot dog be from a vendor on the street in case we are really, really hungary.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[General Max]

I would think $2.00 would be a good price in New York City. Actually are these guys on the street in wintertime pushing hot dogs?

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[kelly-NYC]

Max-

I think it is 1.50 for a hotdog, but it could be $2. I will check when I venture outside for lunch... if I venture outside for lunch. We have a heat advisory here today. It's hot enough, but I am almost 8 months pregnant, so it makes it even worse! I hope it cools off soon!!!

Kelly

[General Max]

Kelly, congratulations. Is this your first child? I can't imagine being in New York City, during a heat wave and 8 months pregnant.

 

With ours, Mrs Max always had air conditioning for her pregnancies and she wasn't working.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[kelly-NYC]

General Max

Yes, this is our first. Luckily I am only working part time since the pregnancy. I have been too sick to work much more. Had we really thought this through, we would not have had a baby in the middle of the summer in NY. August can be brutal here with the humidity. I'm just hoping we don't have another blackout. :eek:

Kelly

[General Max]

tobbekvinna, I will honor your request and stay away from the cart hot dogs. Thanks for the pricing info though.

 

Kelly, Mrs. Max worked full time prior to the birth of our first child and that was it. We have a total of three children and she has done various short time part-time ventures when the children were grown up. She had two May births with the youngest being born in December during a snowstorm in Wisconsin.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[General Max]

We received our tickets in the mail yesterday for the February 19, 2006 performance of Spamalot.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[xpcdoojk]

Have fun General Max. We saw it in Chicago before it opened on Broadway, and Hank Azaria was funny as heck. I hope the original cast is still performing next February when you go.:)

 

jc

[General Max]

Thanks jc. I was just glad to get good tickets for next February.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[Aussie Gal]

tobekvinna,

 

Tell me about the "knock off" fix in China Town. Does "knock off" mean copy and if so where in China Town does one go for these.

 

Jennie

[x lindsay x]

tobekvinna,

 

Tell me about the "knock off" fix in China Town. Does "knock off" mean copy and if so where in China Town does one go for these.

 

Jennie

 

Street vendors on Canal St. are famous for having "knock offs". They are indeed copies of the originals, some better than others, and you should try to barter with the sellers, you can usually knock off a few dollars that way. You'll be able to find all the Louis Vuitton bags and Chanel sunglasses you can carry.

 

Ps- Be sure to visit Central Park at some point during your trip. You won't be able to cover the whole place in one afternoon but it is definitely worth a stop. And no, I am not just saying this because I am employed there... it really is a great place to visit.

[Aussie Gal]

x Lindsay x,

 

We sure are going to visit Central Park in fact we are going there either on the Saturday or Sunday of our visit. I know we will only see a small area but even so we are looking forward to what we see. Can you tell me the temperatures at the moment over there.

 

Is it extremely humid as well, or is it just hot! We are used to hot weather and had a vacation in April up north in Far North Queensland where it was over 30C (90F) every day with 90% humidity. I hope it is not going to be quite as bad as that. We leave here in 2 weeks time for N.Y.

 

Jennie

[Vic The Parrot]

Is it extremely humid as well, or is it just hot! We are used to hot weather and had a vacation in April up north in Far North Queensland where it was over 30C (90F) every day with 90% humidity. I hope it is not going to be quite as bad as that. We leave here in 2 weeks time for N.Y.

 

Jennie

 

 

 

Hmmmm....

 

It depends what kind of system we'll be clobbered with.

Right now, it's 64F, and humid .. but you can't tell since it's nice and cool.

 

So it'll either be HOT, or just cool and clammy. LOL

Best thing is to be prepared for anything.

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks Vic,

 

I would be happy with the cooler temps but we will be prepared as we are travelling with summer clothing as well as winter clothing. We will be going to Greenland, Iceland, Scotland and Norway plus Switzerland and Singapore after leaving NYC and Boston so we will be well prepared!!

 

Jennie

[Vic The Parrot]

And Jennie...

 

 

Keep a brolly handy ... ya just might never know if you'll be trapped in those famous N'East thunderstorms.

 

 

:D

[Vic The Parrot]

BTW

 

 

I couldn't help noticing the other posting of using a cab to get to Battery Park. Get a MetroCard, and take the subway.

It's faster, and won't cost an arm and a leg.

 

Some food for thought....

 

 

:cool:

[x lindsay x]

Well early last week it was in the mid 90's with high humidity making everyone slightly sticky for a few days, but then towards the end of the week it got much cooler, around the mid-70's with almost no humidity at all making life without an air conditioner much more tolerable.

 

Things have a way of changing drastically around here with very little notice.

 

I would expect it to be in the 80's with the possibility of humidity. You should check a site like weather.com a few days before your visit, just enter a random NYC zip code like 10023 and it will give you an extended forecast for the area.

 

By the way, your trip sounds fantastic. If you have room for a stow-away please let me know... :p

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks Vic and x lindsay x,

 

For all the info re weather and also Vic for the tip about using the Metro. We are going to buy a MetroPASS so we will try and use public transport as much as possible.

 

It is going to be a great trip with lots of excitement - seeing New York is just so hard to believe - and then of course we have the lovely cruise to exciting ports on top of our first trip to the U.S. :) ;)

 

 

Jennie