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  • Help planning a trip to New York

    Well my wife is 30 in feb and she has always wanted to go to New York at Christmas. So I’m looking to book for the first weekend of December 2020.

    Now I have a few questions as I have never been to New York.

    Is there any hotels you recommend.

    I’ve been looking at midtown area on virgin holidays.
    A lot of the rooms are room only and then you have a few bed and breakfast. Is It worth paying the extra for bed and breakfast or shall I just go room only?

    Also apart from shopping and visiting the twin towers memorial could anyone recommend other things todo.

  • #2
    Went a couple of years ago for my 40th. Main part was watching the New England patriots at met life stadium v the New York Jets which i suspect your wife won’t care about but we were there for about 4 days so did get plenty done. Will post a full list of things tomorrow when I’m on my pc not my phone!!

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    • #3
      We've been a couple of times and went room only as eating out is cheap.
      But you've gotta go out and find something that's suits you but that's not a problem.

      We've stayed twice at the Howard Johnson Plaza near Times Square and it's been more than adequate.

      As I'm a Beatles fan, then Central park with strawberry field was a must for me along with The Dakota, basically across from it.
      Grand Central Station....yeah u hear you all saying.....a bloody train station but it's much more than that .

      Liberty Island, China Town for shopping,
      Empire state building viewing platform.
      This is the couple of things we did.
      There's so much to see and do but so little time to see and do it all.

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      • #4
        Don't forget to check if the Visa Waiver program is still valid for UK citizen when the Brexit happens, otherwise you might face an unpleasant surprise at the USA immigration officer.

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        • #5
          So there is plenty todo. I know she would love Central Park so that is on the list and Times Square.

          With the visa you just apply online from what I’ve read. I’m going to start booking this end of November because we have never flew premium so I’m going to for out for that. I’ve been told to book standard then keep checking closer to the day because the prices for premium seat change.

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          • #6
            been a few times lucky i stayed at my wifes uncles each time . as said eating out is cheap and lots off different kinds off food to try .
            I recommend the boat trip which takes in a lot off the big sites , 911 site is also good if a little moving to the heart , shopping off course , we took empty suitcases and came back full . ( tip take things out off the boxes )
            this may help

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Happypostie View Post
              been a few times lucky i stayed at my wifes uncles each time . as said eating out is cheap and lots off different kinds off food to try .
              I recommend the boat trip which takes in a lot off the big sites , 911 site is also good if a little moving to the heart , shopping off course , we took empty suitcases and came back full . ( tip take things out off the boxes )
              this may help
              https://www.getyourguide.co.uk/-l59/...wE&utm_force=0
              Someone said if we go shopping remove all tags and boxes because they can charge you tax on them or something. Thank you for the link I’ve just had a quick look

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Samyam View Post
                Someone said if we go shopping remove all tags and boxes because they can charge you tax on them or something. Thank you for the link I’ve just had a quick look
                You indeed have to pay import taxes when you return home, the UK customs can charge you for everything they expect has been bought on your trip. In theory you need to prove you've to prove you didn't bought the item without taxes.
                In all my trips outside Europe, I've seen this happen only once to a friend of mine. Too bad it was about a camera lens he actually bought in Las Vegas, that cost him a lot of extra money.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Samyam View Post
                  Someone said if we go shopping remove all tags and boxes because they can charge you tax on them or something. Thank you for the link I’ve just had a quick look
                  It helps .
                  Have a look at this.
                  Bringing back goods from New York? You are allowed to bring back goods worth up to £390 duty-free per person. Read more about it here.

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                  • #10
                    As mentioned back with some details on our trip, we went back in 2016 and really enjoyed it. We did room only at a hotel called Shelburne Hotel & Suites by Affinia which is on Lexington Avenue and only about 10mins walk from Times Square. We did room only and on thing you wont struggle to find is somewhere to have breakfast, we found three different places and all we're great. One in particular was opposite Grand Central Station and was really good. Dont get put off by queues outside at these sorts of places as normally you are in very quickly.

                    Ahead of time we'd booked a trip to Ellis Island which is the old immigration centre and very interesting and heading out there and back you go past the Statue of Liberty. By all accounts the trip to that isnt that great but definitely recommend Ellis Island. We also booked to take the trip to the top of the Rockefeller Center which gives you great views out over Central Park and back the other way to the Empire State building, we booked that at the airport waiting to fly out as you can do mobile tickets and it lets you check the weather fairly late on so you book on a day when its not going to be cloudy!! We also bought 48hr tickets for the open top buses run by Big Bus company which are hop on\hop off which are great to get around on. From memory there are three routes and we did the main one which was handy for getting around the main Manhattan bit but we also did the one out to Yankee Stadium and back which takes you through Harlem which was interesting. We didnt do the Twin Towers museum place but did go down to the memorial and site of the new world trade centre and then had a walk down towards the Stock Exchange area. Also whilst walking around keep an eye out for parking restrictions that are due to things being filmed....we stumbled across an episode of Blue Bloods being filmed whilst walking around and outside our hotel was blocked off dated a few days after we had left due to them filming Elementary.

                    Food wise would definitely recommend the steaks at Wollensky's Grill which is at the corner of 49th & 3rd and there were some very good italians in the italian area.

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                    • #11
                      Some great info there guys really appreciate it. I’ve started to look but I’m going to book it in January (January Sale) hopefully.

                      We was talking about it last night and she wants to stop in Central Park/close by so going to see how much it is for around there.

                      Also I’m going room only off the advise of you guys so will enjoy that.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Samyam View Post
                        Some great info there guys really appreciate it. I’ve started to look but I’m going to book it in January (January Sale) hopefully.

                        We was talking about it last night and she wants to stop in Central Park/close by so going to see how much it is for around there.

                        Also I’m going room only off the advise of you guys so will enjoy that.
                        This could be worth a look, some cheaper flights with BA from Heathrow I think it is. Not sure on flight times etc though. BA get some stick these days but I’ve used them twice in recent years, flights to Boston and back then we came back from San Francisco with them a month or so ago after we should have been flying back with Thomas Cook, and both times they were excellent.

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                        • #13
                          Forgot the link!!

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by bransoj View Post
                            Thanks I didn’t think to look for just flights then book a hotel. It may work out abut cheaper!!

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Samyam View Post
                              Thanks I didn’t think to look for just flights then book a hotel. It may work out abut cheaper!!
                              I think when we went to New York flights\hotel were booked via Expedia but when we did Boston prior to that we booked flights and then hotels separately as we did a bit of travelling about. I used a combination of Booking.com and one direct i think it was. We also did this for California as we stopped in three different places. It does work pretty well as you get a bit more flexibility and options for where you stop.

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