Cherry Blossoms In New York's Central Park

I love New York and I already sound like a broken record saying that. Everybody who knows me too well know for a fact that I am quite fussy when it comes to traveling and I have my set criteria for me to like a certain place. And New York has that charm that draws me to it like moth to a fire.

We've been to New York a number of times already. Most of our travels are during autumn and spring and never on winter. Why not winter? It is because, you'll never know when you'll get stuck because of a blizzard. We have had the misfortune of getting stuck in New York during Hurricane Sandy and we wouldn't re-live the fear by exposing ourselves to inclement weather system during winter. It can be brutal. So, we prefer the not-so-cold seasons of Spring and Autumn.

We spent few days last April 2012 in New York City. It was only 3 nights and 4 days but I made sure to check another bucket item in my bucket list - to see Cherry Blossoms regardless of country or city. And April was the perfect time to view the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom.

We went straight to Central Park because they have lovely Cherry Blossoms there. We had fun with the photo op under the Cherry Tree branches filled with lovely pink blooms. I feel bad though that our daughter couldn't come because her passport was being renewed. So, I took these lovely snaps for her to view and enjoy virtually.

This is my favorite photo, the jump shot! :)

Seeing these pretty flowers in the flesh is a dream come true! Next goal is to see them in their country of origin - Japan!

Reasons Why It's Fun To Visit New York City During Thanksgiving Holiday

New York City is one of my favourite cities in the world. There are plenty of things to see, do, try out, and definitely worth coming back for.

Last year, hubby and I had the opportunity to spend the Black Friday Season but have missed the Thanksgiving and the Macy's Parade by 1 day. It was a last minute decision because I thought my vacation leave wouldn't get approved. I am glad I was allowed to go but it had derailed a lot of plans in the process. Still, the last minute decision paid off even if we didn't get a chance to take the flight our of Dubai on Thanksgiving.

Getting around New York City especially at this time of the year when it's getting cold and there are plenty of chance to experience the Thanksgiving time is an experience I lover reliving.

Here are some reasons why I find visiting NYC during Thanksgiving fun:

1. It's Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the US. It has been around since the early 1800s and is considered an official holiday in the US. Experience the hospitality of your family and friend when you visit during this time of the year.

Aside from your relatives and friends' hospitality, you can smell home-cooked goodness from a mile when you're around during the Thanksgiving holiday. What's good about that? A lot! If you have family and friends to visit, you will be entertained endlessly and fed with delight to showcase their home-cooked turkey dishes and other staples during Thanksgiving.


2. Watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

This is one parade that I have not watched yet in the flesh. It is in my bucket list to watch the live parade but when we visited last year, we didn't get to watch the parade because flights were full. We could only fly to the US on Black Friday which is another reason why it's nice to visit NYC during Thanksgiving holiday.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade has been around since 1924 and is one of the most watched and attended parade in the whole of US. You can watch plenty of colourful participants walking down the famous thoroughfares of Manhattan.  You can expect to see musical numbers, dancing and singing, colourful costumes and floats,  and the famous and humongous helium-filled balloons that the marchers hold while the walk in the parade.


3.  Visit the Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park

Bryant Park is one of our favourite park to hangout when visiting Manhattan. I like the laid back feel of sitting there, watching the birds being fed, enjoying a hot cup of coffee on a cold day, reading my mails in my gadget using the free public wifi available around NYC, and most especially, during this time, check out the Winter Village set there.

The ice-skating rink is open and buzzing with lots of skaters especially towards the afternoon until evening where the place is alight with plenty of Christmas lights.

Aside from the free ice-skating rink, there are more than a hundred shops to visit selling Christmas wares and other crafty stuff and when you get hungry, there are numerous food kiosks to choose from.

The place can get very crowded towards weekend and after school and office hours. So, if you want to enjoy the place sans the crowd, go there during off-peak hours. The shops will be open until first week of January only.


4. Black Friday shopping

Another favourite past time of mine! I love shopping so this will come as no surprise because Black Friday deals are my thing.

If you don't dig going out of town then retailers and shops in Manhattan are open to cater to the discerning tastes of the consumers a.k.a. the savvy shoppers.

Can you guess what's inside those bags?

Enjoy huge discounts during the Black Friday sale but be sure to get ready to work your way through a throng of people just to get a certain item. Hubby and I avoided that scenario so we opted to visit the outlet mall. However, we anticipated the difficulty that we would encounter if we had to head back to Manhattan so booking a hotel for a night nearby was the best decision. Traffic was horrible and it was difficult to grab a cab. Good thing, the hotel was just 10 minutes walk from Jersey Garden. We got it all covered.


Thanksgiving Holiday in the US is one experience I will never forget. You can skip the shopping if you are not into spending money but because the deals were too nice to resist, we took advantage while we were there.

Review - Hotel St. James in 45th St. in Manhattan

We spent the weekend in Manhattan last 7 to 10 February, 2014. I am very happy with the choice of hotel this time because it was smack in the center of Manhattan, near major attractions on foot and groceries and deli shops are everywhere.

Hotel St. James is a rustic hotel in the center of Manhattan and has been in operation since 1972. It is located at 109 W. 45th St. between Broadway and 6th Avenues. It is housed in a pre-war 12-storey building. It has 145 guest rooms and has gone through major renovations.




What I like:

• Location! I can sometimes overlook the price of the rooms per night as long as the location is well within the areas where we will usually frequent like Broadway, Times Square, St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Rockefeller and many more. All of which are walking distance from this hotel. There is a nice delicatessen beside the hotel called Cranberry. Nice place to buy your food or dine without breaking the bank.

• Free wi-fi on all floors and you can connect instantly without the need for password.

• The price is very reasonable as I got a good deal from Hotels.com.

• The staff on duty allowed us to check-in even before 11 a.m. and check-in time is not until 3 p.m. That's good customer service for you!

• The customer service is commendable. The folks at the concierge are very accommodating of my queries and courteous too.

• Our room was big for the three of us and it has 2 full double beds.

• My daughter (15 yrs old at the time of check-in) is still considered a child so no extra fee collected and no need for extra bed.

What I don't like:

• The lifts are very slow considering the age of the hotel. We were given a room on the 11th floor and getting there take a while. The waiting time to get in a lift is slow.

• I didn't see any aircondition duct. I may be wrong but I looked everywhere in the room for an a/c duct. We're glad it was winter when we booked our room and the temperature was -8 Celsius on most nights but what if it was summer?  I only saw a small radiator.

• The carpet was not cleaned properly by the housekeeping. The small pieces of paper we left from the previous night were still on the carpet even if the housekeeper already cleaned the room. On the last day of our stay, the housekeeper even left the bundle of small blankets on the fireplace mantle below the tv. Who ever it was who cleaned the room didn't bother taking them out of the room. The 2 long maroon pillows for each bed were found on the side of the dresser and they housekeeping left them there twice. I had to pull them from the side of the dresser next to the bed. I just don't get it why they have to leave the pillows there. 

• The bed was not properly done. It was just fixed but the blankets were not tucked tight like how other housekeepers do in the other hotels we have stayed at before. I find the housekeeping a bit lousy and yet, we left tips inside the envelope they left on the dresser each time we wanted the room cleaned.

• The window blinds didn't go all the way down. It was not the right size for the window.

Room type: Standard double bedroom with two full beds

Meal plan: No meal plan included  in the room rate

Price: US$ 309.99 with taxes for 3 nights (I saved 49% on this booking via Hotels.com)


Nearby attractions:
Times Square
Broadway
The Rockefeller
Grand Central Station
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Central Park (less than a mile and you can take the subway. There is a nearby subway in this hotel.)


Facilities:
24-hour concierge
Business center
Library
Left-luggage facility
Accessible bathroom
Tours/Theater tickets assistance
Limo or town car service assistance
Climate control / air conditioning (but I didn't see this in our room)
Premium TV channels
Hair dryer
Pressing board and iron
Daily housekeeping



My recommendation and rating: (5 stars being the highest)
I considered 2 important factors in my recommendations and rating for this hotel: location and value for money.

I can overlook the issues with the housekeeping because I can always suggest from the management to improve that aspect but location and price per room per night are important factors I consider when booking a hotel. I do see myself booking in the same hotel when we visit New York in the near future.

Yes. I recommend this hotel for families and business travelers. I'm giving it

 

You can find more information about this property by visiting their website.

Disclaimer:
I was not compensated to do this review. My opinion is 100% mine and may vary from yours.

To book this hotel or other hotels in NYC, check out great deals here: Booking.com

NYC This February 2014

I posted my travel goals for 2014 and I mean all that. I know, serious money issues will be taken into consideration. So, all the more I have to work hard in blogging. LOL!

Well, the first trip this year is in one of my favorite cities in the world - New York City! We never get tired going there. Everything is  convenient. You can walk around the block, ride the subway, take a cab or even use a bike. It doesn't matter how you go around the NYC but it's easy.

I have already booked our hotel in 42nd St. in Manhattan near the Port Authority bus area since we will be heading to New Jersey as well on Feb. 7.

My daughter is praying for a nice snowfall (not the blizzard one please!) so she can enjoy the last hoorah of winter. I don't mind. My boots will come in handy!

So, NYC again this time and hopefully, the next trip will be either in Florida or San Francisco by spring. If not, Tokyo, here we come again; just in time for the Sakura festival.

Travel Packages From NYCtrip.com

New York City offers unique attractions that make it a great travel destination any time of year. The only challenge is to have a schedule that allows you to see as much of this great city as possible during your stay.

New York City Vacation Packages has many packages that let you create an itinerary that is ideal for you. NYC travel packages from NYCtrip.com can help you find the best hotels, entertainment and other attractions when you visit. You can plan weekends where you see the New York Yankees, visit the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero or see a popular Broadway show. You can plan a romantic weekend in the city, a shopping tour or a holiday themed getaway. If you want to travel to New York with friends, family or co-workers, you can also set up a group tour with NYCVP. Packages help you save money and ensure that you experience as much as possible during your trip.

A city like New York has so much to offer that it's hard to know what to see first. NYCVP helps you organize your trip so that you don't miss anything that's important to you. Packages include popular destinations such as the Empire State Building, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Top of the Rock Observation Deck. New York can be expensive, especially when it comes to hotel rooms. Getting a package deal is the best way to get great value. Rather than having to pay for everything separately, you can get your hotel room included with many of the attractions and amenities New York City is famous for.

Dream Hotel in Manhattan

We stayed in upper Manhattan the first time we visited New York City. It was a very small and quaint hotel within a stone's throw away from the subway station and 2 blocks from the upper part of Central Park.

This time around, my husband got a very good deal at Booking.com. It was the flash deal of the day which was almost 50% off the rack rate. So, my husband booked our accommodation at Dream Hotel along 210 West 55th Street, between Broadway & 7th Avenues. I was excited because the hotel is very near the front area of Central Park and other famous areas in mid-Manhattan. The subway is also nearby so we can use the train if I get tired. The location is perfect! We found the hotel as soon as we got out of the subway station. It is at the corner street and there is a famous restaurant in the same place called Serafina. The lobby is a bit eclectic with a floor to ceiling tubular aquarium in the middle and a big bronze statues at the end of the lobby. It was hard to miss. It was a bit dark inside. I think it has a more modern gothic look and feel in the lobby. We were given a room at the 5th floor but there was hardly a view. I could not complain because we were barely in the hotel the whole time. In fairness though, the deluxe room was clean and tidied everyday. The bathroom is just right for us and there are amenities like mini bar that has a sensor, flat iron and board, iPod docking station, alarm clock and radio and a flat screen TV. Here are some of the pics I took on the hotel. It was a nice experience and I will recommend this hotel to everyone. On normal days though, it is a pricey hotel because of its proximity to famous places in Manhattan. We were lucky to get that deal!

I give my thumbs up on this hotel and will consider to stay here again on our next visit.