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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.
travel help
Hello ladies!
So DH and I are planning a trip to NYC in July for our anniversary. This will be the last "big" trip before we start TTC. We know there are certain things in NYC we absolutely want to see...Ground Zero, a broadway show maybe catch a baseball game...but what I am looking for is a way to plan it. Do you think that we should contact a travel agent or would we be better planning it ourselves.
Or do you ladies know how or where to find the deals for NYC? It would be cheaper to not stay in the city but we are going to take a train to NYC so we will not have a car...will be depending on cabs and subway to get around. Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks
Re: travel help
I didn't realize you were planning on having another one, congrats! I wouldn't think you'd need a travel agent for a NYC trip. We went several years ago for a long weekend, and did fine just planning on our own. We stayed at a best western that was off of Times Square that was pretty reasonable in price, although a super small room. But it was clean and relatively quiet (given where it was) so it wasn't bad. I just booked that through travelocity or one of those. We just made a list of everything we wanted to do, and just planned out a little itinerary and did it. It's so easy to get around and there's so much to do, that if you know what you want to do, it's very manageable to plan on your own. We did some shopping, did China Town and Little Italy, Empire State Building, a couple museums, and a show.
What type of stuff are you looking to do there? I would not use a travel agent personally. There are plenty of museums and things to see like Chinatown, Empire state building, Ellis Island ect. I hear the Brooklyn Brewery tour is great (if you are a beer lover). I would just google things to do in NYC or maybe pick up a guide book at a bookstore. Also, get a map of the transit BEFORE you go so you are not looking as touristy standing around aimlessly at the subway station.
Have a great time!
That's so exciting you guys are going to TTC (and that you're going to NYC)
). We went right after 9/11 when NYC was having great vacation packages to try and increase tourism again.
I remember we planned lots of the things we wanted to do w/ a travel book (like Fodor's or something like that) and we made a prioritized list of things we really wanted to do. We also starred them all on a map and then figured out how to plan each day based on that. We definitely had less time than we thought we would, but honestly just standing in the middle of Times Square is amazing, so you won't be disappointed! While we were there, we went to see Chicago on Broadway, went to some fun restaurants, and did touristy stuff like Chinatown, Little Italy and Canal Street (where you can get fun knockoff stuff for cheap). I agree on looking at tripadvisor.com too - it was awesome when we planned our honeymoon and wanted to know where to eat.
We both went to college in downtown Boston and still found NYC to be enormous and totally different than anything we ever experienced. You'll have an amazing time!!
Jake blowing out the candle at Katie's coming home party
Katie Belle
Kristen, Chad, Jake, Katie & Sadie the Wonderdog, est. 6/17/06
Jill, I lived there for four years, so feel free to drop me an email with any questions. You don't need a travel agent and can probably get the best deals on hotels online. Depending upon how long you are staying, it may end up being cheaper to see if you can rent an apartment for a week. That way you could cook meals or have breakfasts in the apartment instead of eating at a restaurant.
Definitely get a travel book. I think they have them at the libraries. You can make a list of the things that you definitely want to do from there. There is so much that it can be overwhelming.
I LOVE the subway. Try to educate yourself on the lines beforehand and remember that subways mostly run uptown and downtown. Buses run crosstown. Cabs are mostly easy to come by depending upon where you are and what the weather is like. You can walk EVERYWHERE!
Restaurants change daily there so I can't really provide much help. When I was there two summers ago, we went to Five Napkin Burger and it was AH-MAZING!
I am heading to a wedding there at the end of August and I am excited to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. If you have never been, you may want to do one of those bus tours. I have found them to be an easy way to see a city in a short amount of time. Other things to see are Central Park, the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, MOMA, etc.
I'm originally from Long Island, so I've spent a ton of time in NYC. I agree with the other gals...a travel agent isn't necessary.
Public transportation is super easy to use and any decent hotel will have staff on hand to point you in the right direction. Cabs are pretty reasonably priced and easy to find (unless the weather is awful) AND they take credit cards and the subway is usually pretty convenient to most popular sites.
There's tons to do - if you're looking to be touristy (which I think is best, since it can be overwhelming if you've never been before), buy a travel book for the area and definitely use www.tripadviser.com. My husband and I went on a cross-country road trip last year and used Trip Adviser for help with everything. Also, try sites like Working Advantage (which you have to sign up for, but is free) for discounted City Passes and stuff of that nature, for museums, tours, etc.- they often have great deals on Broadway shows and stuff, too, if you're interested in something like that. Also, consider purchasing some restaurant.com gift certificates to save cash on eating out. And don't forget to get a hot dog and a soft pretzel from a cart and some Nuts 4 Nuts...yum!
You can usually save on hotels by staying in areas like the financial district on weekends, which are further from what you want to do, but you can stay in a fancier place for less money (we usually use Priceline/Travelocity for hotel stays in larger cities, but call the hotel directly, too...my parents recently spent $35 more per night booking through Priceline for a hotel in Boston!).
Ahhh, I'm getting homesick thinking about it all!
Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions...have fun!