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Getting to the Big Apple ...........
Flying to New York with Air Canada meant we had a 'brief' transit through Toronto before the onward journey. Firstly, the check in process at Dublin airport had to be the most frustrating of the whole trip to date. It started the previous evening with the Air Canada online check in 'crashing' in the final stage of the process, followed the next day, by there being only three check in staff processing the passengers of an entire boing 767-800. We finally boarded the plane with minutes to spare before scheduled take off, only to be told the flight was not only over booked but three seats had been double allocated. After a voluntary call for three passengers to off load and a further wait while their luggage was located and removed from the plane we were finally on our way. Secondly, our plane had to be the oldest plane in Air Canada's fleet. The carpet was thread bare, the seats worn, there was the remains of either chewing gum or food engrained in the carpet near where I was sitting and there were no screens, either in the seats, overhead or at the front of each section, if you wanted to watch a movie you had to rent an iPad. Take off and landing were both pretty wobbly, however the crew were very pleasant, the food passed and more importantly seven hours after take off we safely, although the somewhat bumpily, landed in Toronto. Our onward flight to New York had been re-scheduled due to our late arrival, giving us more than enough time to clear American customs, which was oddly done before leaving Canada. It did however mean that on arrival in New York we just walked off the plane and other than collecting our bags, just walked out of the airport.
New York, New York
-Do go and ask at the information desk at the airport about city transfers, the staff were extremely helpful and booked us a shuttle.
-Don't be surprised if the hotel lobby is so busy at eight o'clock at night you have to stand in a small queue to check in.
-Don't expect your hotel room to look as big as it did in the picture, this is New York and space is at a premium.
-Even if you arrive in New York late in the day, do venture into Times Square, New York truly never sleeps and it will be as busy at midnight as it will be at midday.
-Don't be surprised if there are police everywhere in the city. You will see them in cars, on horseback and just milling around on street corners and down avenues.
-Do buy a hop on hop off bus pass, it's at great way of seeing some of the highlights of the city and the onboard tour guides give an informative commentary as well as pointing out apartment buildings where some of the 'stars' live.
-Don't be surprised if you get stuck in traffic on the bus, progress can be really slow and one of our drivers got a little frustrated with a taxi attempting to 'push in' entertaining the passengers with a display of road rage. He got off the bus stood in the middle of the road in front of the taxi yelling abuse at the driver before kicking the taxi window as he jumped back onto our bus.
-Do walk the 'High Line' city walk. It used to be an elevated railway that having been disused for many years was converted into a 2.5 kilometre green-space in the middle of Manhatten.
-Do take the free ferry to Staten Island, you get to see the Statue of Liberty from the water for free, unfortunately you don't get to go very close so not great for photos. You do however get fantastic views of Manhattan Island and the chance to take that perfect New York City photo from the water.
-Do take the free cruise included in your hop on, hop off bus pass. You go really close to the Statue of Liberty as well as going under the Brooklyn bridge. We had a very entertaining guide on the one hour cruise who pointed out many buildings and landmarks and shared interesting facts about New York and New Jersey on the opposite side of the Hudson River.
-Do go on a bike ride through Central Park, you get a free one hour bike hire with the hop on, hop off bus pass and it's a great way to see the park. There is a one way road and cycle path around the park, but you do need to walk your bikes on pedestrian paths. Don't be tempted to ride your bike on the footpath in the city, apparently you get fined.
-Don't be surprised if you see 'honest' beggars around Times Square holding signs that say 'need money for weed'!
-Do go and see a Broadway show. We saw 'Lion king' at the Minskoff Theatre, which was a convenient two minutes walk from out hotel. We had previously seen it in Sydney ten years ago, but second time around it still had the same wow factor.
-Do go and visit the very sobering 9/11 memorial. The area is planted with white oak trees and there are two large square waterfalls that sit on the footprints of the original Twin Towers. Around the top of each waterfall are the names of all those who perished in the terror attacks.
-Do take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as it being a very famous landmark you get great views of the city.
-Do go on the night bus tour of the city, you get to drive through Manhattan as well as Brooklyn and our driver stopped for photos looking back towards the twinkling lights of Manhatten.
-Don't be surprised if you see some very cheeky squirrels in the parks in the centre of the city. We saw one being given peanuts by a local having their lunch, the squirrel then proceeded to bury it before literally begging for more.
-Do have dinner at 'Carmines' an Italian restaurant very close to Times Square. It was recommended to us and the food was superb. Don't be surprised however at the size of the portions, they are 'one size' and our very delicious lasagne was almost enough to feed a family of four.
-Do take a taxi to JFK airport on your departure, there is a fixed price of $52, which is only $12 more than the cost of a shuttle you get to enjoy two extra hours of sleep.
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