#we made it into the LA pic last time and now we’re in the Columbus pic

[maggieisalarrie]

YOU GUYS THIS IS ME WITH THE FLAG!!!

[bethjordan-321]

NYC trip

NEW YORK CITY on a budget

I’ve  been plagued lately by the mid life “this is it?” feeling.  The grind, the progressive aches and pain, the jaded outlook.... were all becoming way too familiar. I knew I needed to open my mind to all there is in this wonderful world. Travel is my elixir.  I love it. Seeing different walks of life, tasting different food, all the while reminding myself that there is more “out there.”  

I love an adventure. It stimulates my mind.  I love the planning of it and the plotting of itineraries. I don’t mind getting lost and I don’t mind going off the beaten path.    

Long story short, I woke up on Friday am and decided I was curious what it would take to make a trip to NYC happen.  I had 4 days off and I was itching to go.   Renne was home with me while Campbell and Scott went duck hunting for the weekend, so it was time for a plan.    I started by googling train schedules to NYC and found the schedule from Camden wouldn’t work with mine and the cost was still pretty steep.  I found that a round trip for us both was 600 or so.   But, I knew there had to be another way.    I thought if I drove to Washington DC maybe the train would be cheaper.  No dice.   Well heck.  How do the commuters get in to NYC?   I finally stumbled on the New Jersey Transit site and called them up.  Low and behold, you can catch at train in Trenton, NJ which is an hour outside the City for 16 bucks.   Parking?   18 bucks a day.  

HMMM.  Brain starts running.   Wonder if I can find a budget hotel that would work for us?   Googled up Bookings.com and found rates that were shockingly low.  25 a night?! That can’t be right.   Actually it is…. there are hotels that host people in hostel style with several beds or bunkbeds in a room.    That gave me hope, but really, I’m just too old for that.  (BUT, in the future, when I go again, I’ll go with a group and book a room that way.)    So, a further search found a hotel for 210 for the weekend!  It was centrally located by Columbus Circle, Central Park and Carnegie Hall.   Shoot. Let me book this and see what happens.   Oops.   I didn’t read the fine print.   I can’t get out of it.   If I don’t go now, I’ll lose 100 bucks!   That does it.  We’re going to NY! 

“Renne!”  It’s noon now.  “Grab a backpack. Find a backpack for me! “ We both packed everything we needed in each of our backpacks – and that’s all we took.   Yes, I wore the same jeans for 4 days!  

I was scared to death. Really.   But, I liked my fear.  I wasn’t sure if my car was up to par for the trip, I don’ t have a lot of emergency funds and I had no idea if the train or the hotel would be safe. Nonetheless,   I needed to prove to myself that I could do this.   So, we hopped in the car and filled up and drove straight up I-95 forever.  I was ok. The adrenalin kept me motivated.   We stopped several times for a break here and there.   I almost turned around in Wilmington NC.    I stopped for a long while and thought it out a little more and then kept driving.  

At 2 am, I holler “uncle” and had to stop in Delaware to sleep.   That was part of the plan to stay somewhere along the way and then be in Trenton early to catch the train to give us a good chunk of the day in the city.  

Sleep was expensive. But,  Cie la Vie.   Onward and Upward…. We drove to Trenton arriving pretty early and parked the car in the almost empty overnight garage then walked 100 yards into the train station.   There, I easily bought the train ticket out of the kiosk , walked to the platform,  got on the train and left.    Somehow I timed it that good.    

The train ride through the “countryside” of Jersey is just a sad reminder of where all our trash and crushed vehicles and graffiti  live, but we had comfortable seats and had time to plot out our trip.   We arrived in Penn Station well before noon.   Here’s where it gets tricky.   I’ve been to NYC multiple times, but the last time was about 25 years ago.   I know the city is laid out in grids and that once you catch on, getting around is fairly easy,  but I hadn’t yet caught on.    So there we were, with our little backpacks, and Renne looking at me to solve our way to the hotel.   Course, there’s really no one there to help.   So I stood there as If I knew what I was doing, at a kiosk for a subway ticket, and just couldn’t figure it out.    The guy who was loading the kiosk next to mine helped punch in what I needed and pointed me in the right direction.  Shew.   We were on our way.   Renne’s first ride on the subway...   She was nonplussed.  Like she does it all the time.    Throughout our trip, I repeatedly found people to be mostly helpful.   Sometimes I’d get ignored, but I think they may not have spoken English, so they are forgiven.   

We arrived at Columbus Circle which is on the south east corner of Central Park and after a minute of getting oriented, we walked 3 blocks to our hotel.  Lovely walk.  Safe. Typical hotel in NY.   Small elevator holds 4 people after you open the door to get in.   The very basic room had hot water, a bed, 1960’s furniture,  and a tv.  We would be just fine.   I told Renne that we were “city camping”.   I’m not sure if I coined that or not, but my point is that our objective was to see the sights.   The room wasn’t the important thing.    The hotel was the Savoy Park Hotel at 158 West 58th street and I would stay there again because of it’s location and budget price.    (210 for the 2 nights).   My only complaint was that the bed was like sleeping on concrete. Even Renne noticed.  It was bad.  Maybe that’s how New Yorker’s like it? LOL!  http://www.parksavoyny.com/

We only had from noon on Saturday though Sunday evening to see the sights.   I needed to be efficient if we were to get bang for the buck.   So, I looked up the bus tours.   We decided to go with the Big Bus, one of those double decker clear  roof ones because it had two great routes, a tour guide, and we could hop on and off for 24 hours.   Boom! We were off.  

Walked to the Big Bus stop at the corner of Central Park and it began to snow.  We hopped on and rode down towards the Natural Museum of History and got off the bus there to see the snow and just get the feel of the City.   We took some pics in the snow in Central Park, walked into the Natural Museum of History (which was being guarded by police in what I call riot gear, Ak-47s and all).      At this point, I realize that the bus route we are on takes us up towards Harlem.   I didn’t really want to do that at this time because I wanted to focus on the “biggies” for Renne.   Although, I’d love to see Harlem.  

So what does that mean?   That means, I’ve got to figure out the Subway right now.    We go down the steps at the nearest stop and jump on a train that seems to be going somewhere.    Oops.   The numbers are going higher, What?  I need to go lower.    How do you do this?!  

We were never afraid. Not once.  We rode the Subway, walked a lot, went to Times Square, etc.   I was generally aware of areas to be more mindful in, but I never felt we were in any danger.  Although we did walk into a drug deal in the stairwell of a Subway.   They just moved over as we passed.  Renne saw the baggie…with white powder in it.   Rolls eyes.  

Tip 1.   At each stop there’s a button box for either an emergency (the red button) or information (the blue button).  In desperation, I pushed the blue button.    A nice voice comes on who knows exactly where I am and told me how to get to Times Square.    

Tip 2.  I should have had a laminated Subway map because my phone died and I was sol.  Subway maps weren’t just available on the street or in the substations.   I understand I could have asked for one where there was an attendant, but I didn’t know that and they didn’t post that anywhere.  

Tip 3.  Carry as little as possible.  Wear great shoes.  I had on Ariats that are very good for walking but by day two, I had blisters.   Concrete is just hard.  I don’t know what shoes I’d use next time.   I guess running shoes.

So, We wondered around Times Square. Looked around the Nike store and Sephora.   It was around dusk and we were starving.   Hard Times Café seemed like a good idea…. We got our beepers and waited for about an hour before we were seated.  It was pretty cool inside and we had a great waitress who I finally was able to ask about directions on the Subway.    

Tip 4.   The subway is easy if you know where you are going.   You are generally either going “uptown” or “downtown” from the platform you are on.  You have to know which way you are going.   So, it got much easier once I got this tidbit from the waitress.

Caught ZZZZ’s on the very hard bed.   It taught us discipline.   We were ready to get the hell out of it early!  

A continental breakfast was included with our stay and you got that at the cute little pizzeria next door. They must have an agreement with the hotel and we got coffee and bagels before tackling our only full day in the City.

In summary, using both the “Big Bus” tour and the subway, we were able to see:

*World Trade Center Memorial Park and the new building Oculus- which was built in the style of a dove – pretty amazing and held shops, etc.   It’s to be a new transit hub like Penn Station etc. http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/6/11168484/inside-the-oculus-new-yorks-insane-looking-4-billion-train-station

*Lovely lunch at Brookfield Place (https://brookfieldplaceny.com/)    which is where I made my first Live Facebook video. Brookfield Place is right behind the WTC Memorial and has views of the harbor.   Restaurants/shopping.

*Walk through SOHO /got lost.  

*Walked past FDNY Engine 7, Ladder 1/  Closest responding fire fighters.  Said a prayer.

*Macy’s- 11 stories/ a full city block.  “If you can’t find it there, you can’t find it anywhere” 

* Shopped at H & M. Renne spent 114 dollars of Christmas money on a nice coat with a furry hoodie that made her feel like a New Yorker and sweatshirts that appeared to me like you could buy them anywhere, but she digs them.  So be it.

*Went to the top of the Empire State Building (set me back 100 bucks, but hey, it’s a once in a lifetime).    It took a while to get through the line and my trusty pocket knife was confiscated from me in the metal detector.  I got it back after we came down.   I was prepared to gut someone if they messed with us on our trip.    Big talk:)    

Tip 5.  Our tour guide suggested that a very similar and less costly view could be achieved from the beautiful Chrysler Building or from  “Top of the Rock” .   30 Rockefeller Center- that would have cost me 60 bucks.   I’d do that instead on hindsight.  

After some quick research I’m realizing that if I had 3 + days in the City, I might buy a Citypass which includes multiple sights for 116 bucks.    Would think on that some to figure out value for dollar and ability to achieve all the sights factoring in energy and transportation……

Had dinner at http://www.trattoriadellarte.com  - directly across the street from Carnegie Hall.  We enjoyed sitting at the oak bar and had an antipasti dish  and we split a pasta dish with lobster.  We loved the zucchini parmigiana.   I’m looking for that recipe online.  It was fancy and gave us the opportunity to see how the “other half live”.     The waiter was a sweetie and “comped” my house Chianti (which was cool because it was 13 bucks!)- Don’t worry, I tipped him.

I’ll try this recipe soon… tomato season.  http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017523-zucchini-parmesan

*Saw where John Lennon was killed.   Saw where Yoko lives.  

Tip 6.   Definitely plan to take a pub tour.   Our tour guide dude told us fascinating history about NYC including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McSorley's_Old_Ale_House - notable patrons- Ulyssess Grant, and Teddy Roosevelt.  

One of the highlights for me was the night tour on the Big Bus.  We had a fantastic tour guide (John Harkins) who was just loaded with fascinating information told in story style.   We crossed the Manhattan Bridge on this trip only to loop around and return. Unfortunately,  Renne was sitting in the window seat and it was truly scary looking down where there appeared to be no rails and a drop of a few hundred feet into the Hudson.    But the view….. was just breathtaking.  

That was basically it..... we woke up around 6:30, evacuated by 7.  Caught the train back to Jersey by 9:15.   Then I drove and drove until 11 pm when i arrived back in Camden. 

would I do it again?  Heck yea.  It was exhilarating!  

Hope you enjoyed my travel blog and I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have.