Posted in New York 2016, tagged New York 2016 on April 21, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
So it’s 4:30 am and I’m wide awake – because my head still thinks it’s 9:30 am. Which it is in the UK of course. (I know this because, risking everything, I texted Val at home – and she confirmed she was already at work.)
Ah well – time to turn over and count some more sheep….
Posted in New York 2016, tagged New York 2016 on April 21, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
So here I am in New York – State that is, not New York City (yet). I’m in a Holiday Inn near the town of Middleton, NY, which is about 70 miles or so from Newark Liberty International Airport. I picked this place because it seemed a reasonable place to aim for, for the first night.
It’s been a long day. I was up at 5am this morning at the Clayton Hotel at Manchester airport. Checking in and getting through security both went very smoothly at Manchester so I was hanging around for quite a while for my flight at 9:25. It was about 9:35 before we took off and there must have been a good following wind, because we landed at Newark at about 4:35, just 7 or so hours later. That was 11:35 local time. Then things got even slicker – I was through US Immigration in about 5 minutes, waited about 10 minutes for bags, and then took just a few minutes to get through US Customs. So by 12:15 at the latest I was safely groundside at Newark.
I’d arranged to collect a hire car at 2pm but in the event I was at the hire car company before 1 o’clock, even after sitting in the airport sorting myself out. So I was at least an hour early getting on the road to Middleton. This part of the journey had been worrying me a bit – the roads around Newark are very busy and some of them are toll roads – so I’d researched them thoroughly, with printouts from Google Maps and Rand McNally State Maps of New Jersey and New York. (more…)
Posted in New York 2016, tagged New York 2016 on April 19, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
So tonight I’m starting my trip to New York – in the evocative surroundings of the Clayton Hotel, Manchester airport. (Regular travellers from there may remember this hotel under its former name, Bewley’s, although I think it’s been enlarged since the Clayton takeover.)
The trip really starts tomorrow. I shall be flying with United to Liberty International airport, Newark, New Jersey, then moving on to a small town just over the New York State border for my first night. Then I’ll have a day or so in the Hudson valley, with a night in Poughkeepsie before three nights in Ithaca, the campus town of Cornell University. Then I’ll have three nights in New York City to finish.
I’ve been to NYC before – Val and I visited about 14 years ago – and I did a lot of the obligatory sights on that visit (Empire State building, Ellis Island, Central Park, etc) and I don’t feel any need to repeat them. I’ll be looking for other things this time – the Highline is one, and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge will be another. I’ve never been to upstate New York before and I’m looking forward to that as well.
I’ll be blogging, so call back regularly. I’ll be on US time, however, so posts may appear at odd intervals from a UK perspective.
Posted in Airbnb, New York 2016, tagged Airbnb, New York 2016 on April 5, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
In a couple of weeks’ time I shall be getting to leave for New York. As with last year’s trip to DC and Virginia, I’m spending some time on a road trip as well as having a few days in the city. This time I’m starting with five nights in upstate new York: a couple of nights in the Hudson valley, followed by three nights at Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region. (Ithaca is also the home of Cornell University, one of the so-called Ivy League schools.) Then I will have three nights in New York city.
I’m mixing up the accommodation this time. For the two nights in the Hudson valley area I’m staying at two separate Holiday Inn hotels. The first is at Middletown NY, about 75 miles or so away from the airport where I shall land (Liberty International, Newark NJ). I’ve chosen this first stop as a location that gets me away from the Newark/NYC area on the first afternoon but won’t require too much driving straight after the flight. Then the second night will be in Poughkeepsie in the Hudson Valley itself. In Ithaca I shall be staying at the William Henry Miller Inn, an upscale B&B. Finally, in NYC I’ll be staying at an AirBnB, close to Times Square. Of all these the two nights in the Hudson valley will be slightly the cheapest, at around $130 a night or so. The three AirBnB nights will be about $160 to $170 a night, while the nights at the Miller inn will be about $230 a night. Although the AirBnB isn’t cheap per se, it’s definitely cheaper than a hotel – even a budget hotel in New York city (e.g. a Comfort Inn) was coming in at up towards $200 a night, and a Holiday Inn was a bit more than $300 a night.
As with last year’s trip I’ll be flying from Manchester on United. It’s another 20-years-old 757, unfortunately. If I want anything newer and more lavish I’ll have to fly from Heathrow.
The trip starts in a couple of weeks, so check for updates about it from 20 April onwards.