Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NYC (long)
Has anyone been?
We weren't planning on doing much for our anniversary next month because of the "paying off all debts as quickly as possible" kick we've been on, but we've decided to treat ourselves and do something special. Our honeymoon wasn't all that great (Ryan got sunburnt the day we got to the beach, then we hated the cruise), so we figured we should do something special.
We were considering going back to the Caribbean, minus the cruise ship, but then we thought maybe going to NYC would be more fun. (We're also trying to do something we couldn't do once we have a baby, which isn't in the immediate future, but coming soon). If we go to NYC this year, we'll just take a small beach trip to Pensacola or something next year.
We're considering 2 hotels:
Fairfield Inn Long Island City
The first is right next to Times Square and is about $400 more expensive for our 4 night trip, and the second is in Long Island City and is convenient to a train station for a 20 min ride to Times Square. I'm not sure if we should splurge on the closer hotel or not. It's not super nice, but it does have great reviews and an awesome location. The cheaper hotel also has great reviews, btw.
As far as entertainment, we are planning on the TV & Movies, Sopranos, and Sex and the City tours, as well as seeing either Avenue Q or Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. That pretty much fills up our 3 days in the city, since each tour is at least 3 hours long. Any recommendations on other/better things to do? We're not really that interested in the traditional landmarks (Statue of Liberty, etc.). We've seen Phantom before (I have several times), but not on Broadway. Neither of us has seen Avenue Q, but I've heard that it's funny.
Also, any recommendations on restaurants? I've made a list at home of ones with good reviews on TripAdvisor, but if we stick to all those, that means spending $40-$50 each meal (minus breakfast, which is free at the hotel). I'm fine with that if that's just how it is (I assumed it would be), but maybe someone knows some great cheaper places...?
Sorry this was so long -- TIA for any advice!
All Dressed Up
Re: NYC (long)
Karyn,
I've been several times, but to be honest, I don't know the areas well and I was always with locals who live there and stayed with them, etc.
I would def go see something on Broadway and get tix early off the streets (the REAL vendors) as you will get them cheaper. You just won't know til the day of if you get tickets if the prob (I think the vendor is like TIX or something).
I would post this on the NYC local board and get more info from there as they will be the "experts".
Also, just "grab" something for lunch that is lite and then splurge on dinner. You'll need to make reservations ahead of time for most places. So plan around where you'll be.
HTH and GL sounds like a great vaca!!!!
I have been to NYC once before when I was in high school and it was planned through the school. But I did want to say we saw Phantom on Broadway while there and it was an AWESOME experience!
I agree with Katie on the food...just grab something light for lunch and then splurge on dinner.
Also try posting on the travel board. They are pretty helpful over there.
Good luck! Sounds like a fun trip.
All Dressed Up
I have been quite a few times....and I would splurge and get the hotel in Times Square..that way you can walk to several things and not waste as much time.
I have never done the official tours, but I did look online for some of the famous locations for SATC and ended up just going to some of those places on my own--Carrie's Stoop, etc. to save money.
There are SO many things in the city that you can do for "FREE" and I would take advantage of those things.
It is also fun to try to write in to some of the shows (Good Morning America, David Letterman, Regis and Kelly , etc.)...Free tickets if they pick you and REALLY neat to experience.
I would Splurge some on food and then go cheap other times...pizza is always a cheap but good eat. John's Pizza is really good and there are Rays which is basically fast food counter pizza everywhere--and SO good.
As far as broadways-I have seen several and I think that Disney produces some of the best....Mary Poppins and Lion King are WONDERFUL IMO.
All Dressed Up
I've been 3 times and I would definitely splurge and stay at the place close to Times Square. There are so many things to do that are within walking distance (Empire State Building, NBC studios, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Letterman, Macy's aren't that far). Taxis add up fast! We stayed at the Doubletree in Time's Square and it was awesome.
One thing that I would recommend to anybody is the double decker bus tour... I don't remember the name of the tour or whatever, but you see the red buses all over the city. They have an uptown loop (Harlem, Lincoln Square, Central Park, The Plaza Hotel), and a downtown loop (World Trade Center, Empire State Building, China Town, Little Italty, Wall Street, Soho, Greenwich Village) that are hop on hop off.... you pretty much get to see everything that way. You can get off at any of the stops, sight see, then hop back on the next bus at the stop and continue the tour. They run continuously all day and pickups are every 10 minutes or so. It saved a ton on cab fares and we didn't have to hassle with the subway. We only took the downtown loop because of time, but I think there are more fun things to see downtown than uptown, for tourists, anyway. That's just me!
If you have any specific questions I can look up some of the info I used for our trips!
All Dressed Up