Yesterday I came back from an amazing trip to New York, it was my first time in the city therefore I was really excited to see what it was like. I have to say New York exceeded my expectations and was even better than I imagined it would be. I went with my mum for her 50th birthday and we really enjoyed it. We flew from Newcastle, UK to Newark direct with United Airlines who just started doing direct flights from Newcastle to New York the day before we went and I have to say the service was AMAZING, the food was delicious and I'm not usually a fan of plane food but even I thought their meals were divine. We were also given complimentary soft drinks throughout the flight and a pillow and blanket were placed on every seat when we boarded the flight. Every seat had a TV screen on the back with the latest films as well as TV programmes, I watched the new Annie film, Taken 3 and a few episodes of Friends on the way there and on the way back I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service and had a sleep because it was an over night flight, the seats were so comfy. We also booked transfers to get us from the airport to the hotel, I stayed at the ROW NYC and I thought it was amazing, all the staff were really friendly and helpful. When we checked in we were upgraded from a Superior room to a Deluxe room which was amazing as the room had a lovely view of the city!
Our view from our room the 23rd floor
View from our room at night
The hotel had a food hall called the City Kitchen with about 7 or 8 stalls selling different cuisines such as Mexican, American, Japanese. One of my favourite stalls was Dough which sold about 7 different doughnuts, my favourite was the Plain Glazed Doughnut or the Lemon Poppy Seed Doughnut, these were absolutely delicious and I had a doughnut for breakfast most days. We also visited many of the other stalls such as Gabriella's where we bought tacos for lunch, Whitmans where I had the most amazing Cheese burger and fries and Box where I had a delicious Pressed Chicken sandwich and Phoenician Fries, these fries were absolutely incredible, I would even say they are the best fries I have ever tasted. I also went to District M in the hotel which also served breakfast and I had a blueberry muffin and my mum had a croissant.
Breakfast at District M Salted Caramel Doughnut at Dough
I wanted to do loads when I was in New York so I suggested to my mum that we buy New York City Passes before we go and I'm so glad we did as we saved a lot of money and time as we got fast tracked when we went to places therefore we didn't need to stand in the long queues. On the Sunday when we arrived, me and my mum visited the Top of the Rock which was amazing! Top of the Rock is brilliant because you can see a lovely view of New York City as well as the famous Empire State Building. After we went to Top of the Rock, we visited Alforno Hell's Kitchen which is a traditional rustic Italian restaurant which served the most amazing pizza, I loved it! I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who likes Italian food as it was delicious.
View of the Empire State Building from Top of the Rock
View of Central Park from Top of the Rock
Alforno Hell's Kitchen which was opposite my hotel
On the Monday we woke up early and headed off to the Empire State Building which was amazing!! I was so excited to go to the Empire State Building as it's such an iconic building where some of my favourite films have featured scenes such as Sleepless in Seattle which is an amazing film! The view from the Empire State Building was great as you could see the whole city, it was brilliant! I would say the view from Top of the Rock was better as I loved being able to see the Empire State Building in the view, so if you're on a budget then I would recommend you visit Top of The Rock if you wanted to see more. After we visited the Empire State Building we did a bit of shopping then went for lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner which I have to say is amazing!! We really enjoyed it as at Ellen's Stardust Diner all the waiters and waitresses perform songs as they are all professionally trained in singing, dancing and acting and have to audition before they get a job there so they are amazing performers! My mum and I really enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend Ellen's Stardust Diner to people who want a Broadway experience.
View of New York from the Empire State Building
My meal at Ellen's Stardust Diner
A waitress performing at Ellen's Stardust Diner
On the Tuesday, my mum and I did a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise which was amazing, there are lots of different cruises to do but we chose to do the Landmark one as it suited what we wanted to do. The Landmark Cruise was amazing we saw all the sights such as the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the new World Trade Center and Ellis Island. The cruise was so much fun and it was a great way to see some amazing landmarks. We then went back to the hotel for lunch and then headed out as we really wanted to visit Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial Museum. We got the subway from 42nd Street to the World Trade Center Stop. I was a bit scared getting the subway, I don't know why but I have to say the subway was really clean and safe therefore I would definitely recommend using it when in New York. Ground Zero was so moving and seeing all the names was so sad. The 9/11 Memorial Museum was devastating, I got really emotional as I just thought the images shown were heartbreaking. I would definitely recommend the 9/11 Memorial Museum and Ground Zero as I think its a must see attraction. I also went to Times Square on the Tuesday night which I loved, we visited Times Square many times during our stay in New York. Times Square is amazing as its so buzzy as there are loads of people.
View of New York City from the Circle Line Cruise
Statue of Liberty
Picture of the 9/11 Attack which is displayed in the museum
A quote by Virgil displayed in the museum - No day shall erase you from the memory of time
Ground Zero
Times Square
On the Wednesday we decided to do some shopping so we went to all the famous shops, Tiffany's, Bloomingdales and Barney's. We then went to Central Park which was amazing. Central Park is huge so next time we go to New York we want to spend more time there as we only saw probably 1/4 of the park. We went to Central Park and sat and sunbathed in the sun as the weather was amazing. We bought a hot dog from a Street Vendor in Central Park and it was amazing. When we got back to the hotel at night we went to the Box for some food and I have to say the food was amazing. My mum and I ordered Phoencian Fries and a Pressed Chicken sandwich which was amazing, the fries were the best fries I have ever tasted. They were absolutely delicious. We also did some last minute shopping in Times Square, we visited Sephora and Levi.
Central Park
Central Park Zoo
On the Thursday before we left we visited Times Square and sat on the red steps in Times Square and took some amazing pictures. We also had one last doughnut before we left, I chose to have the Salted Caramel Doughnut which was lovely but a bit sickly.
Thanks for reading my blog, my mum and I really enjoyed New York.
This trip was amazing.
We booked all of our trip with Expedia and I can't recommend them enough. Expedia was about £500 each cheaper than our local travel agent so I would recommend you check Expedia if you are thinking of going on a city break. If you are thinking of visiting New York, definitely go because its amazing!
