It’s up to you New York!

New York is a fantastic destination at any time of year. It is great as a destination on it’s own or as part of a twin centre with another city in America, a Caribbean Island or maybe a week in Orlando.

Lisa was there in September to discover it’s delights.

Lisa in New York

When I found out that I had won 2 flights to New York with Delta airlines at a travel agents promotion evening I was over the moon. I hadn’t been to New York for about 30 years and my husband had never been so we were both very excited to be going.

We picked a weekend at the end of September and the weather was fantastic – 31 degrees! Apparently this was about 15 degrees above average for the time of year.

Despite most clients wanting to be in the busy Times Square area of New York, I decided to choose a hotel in Greenwich Village. This was a great choice as there were plenty of really nice bars and restaurants within walking distance of our hotel, many of which had an outdoor seating area which was very welcome considering the heat. I do recommend that you get away from the main ‘chain restaurants’ in the tourist areas and do try some of the independent eateries a bit farther out.

On the first day we walked to Times Square in half an hour, stopping at The Empire State Buiding on the way to collect our sightseeing tickets. After that we just hopped on the subway a couple of stops. The subway is easy to use, once you have worked out which direction you are going, and costs $2.60 per journey, no matter how many stops you are going.

We purchased the 72 hour Gray Line hop-on hop off bus ticket, which was well worth it. We used this to get around the city and see the sights in the process. We also used it to get across to Brooklyn and then walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge. I highly recommend you do it in this direction as you get a fantastic view of the New York skyline this way.

John on Brooklyn Bridge

Before we went over to Brooklyn we got off at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. The 8-acre park is composed of a grove of nearly 400 white oak trees, and the largest manmade waterfalls in the United States. Set within the footprints of the original Twin Towers, each pool is approximately 1-acre in size. It was quite moving to see the names of all the people who lost their lives, honored in bronze around the twin memorial pools.

Lisa with the Statue of Liberty

We also got one free hop-on hop off cruise included in the ticket which we used to get from Battery Park, where we had just got off the Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty ferry, up to towards the Meat Packing District. My husband is a real ale fan and he was happy to discover that there were quite a few bars around here serving craft beer. After lunch and a sample of the local ale we went to find the High Line, which is a converted historic freight rail train track elevated above the streets. It is about 1.45 miles long and is fully accessible for the disabled. It has many points where you can access or leave the line along the way but we walked the whole way, finishing up in Chelsea, not far from our hotel in Greenwich Village.

Our last day was spent discovering the northern part of the city, taking the Grayline bus around the Upper West side and seeing where all the very rich live, as well seeing Harlem and finally getting off for a stroll around Central Park. As it was Saturday the park was very busy with a music festival going on, lots of people jogging, strolling, riding horse & traps and we also saw a couple of wedding parties having their photos taken.

I am not a shopper but I had to go into Tiffanys. I thought I might like to buy a keyring to add to my lifelong collection, but at $275 each I decided against it!

All in all it was a fabulous weekend that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Why am I writing about New York on a Caribbean Holidays website? Well because it is a fabulous city to twin with a holiday in the Caribbean. A few hectic days and nights enjoying the hustle and bustle of New York followed by maybe a week chilling out in Antigua, Barbados or Mexico. What could be better?