Trip Report - Part 1

At long last I%26#39;ve got around to doing a trip report from our Christmas %26amp; New Year trip to NYC. Apologies for the huge delay - I%26#39;ve been so busy since getting home and then I was ill so this has been my first real chance to get the report done. It%26#39;s quite long so I%26#39;ve broken it down into sections - hope you enjoy reading it!

Day 1 - December 23rd

Boarded our 9am flight with Continental from Manchester to Newark. Had to wait a while once we were on board due to a bit of fog. Our flight was OK but the food left a lot to be desired. It was chicken of some kind but didn鈥檛 taste of a lot and was a bit rubbery. We arrived on time at Newark and got though immigration and baggage really quickly. I then tried calling Carmel for our stretch limo. It took me several attempts to even get through and then I was transferred and put on hold several times. We went outside to wait, 20 minutes passed and still nothing so I called again and was told the next SUV that arrived would be ours. I pointed out that we hadn鈥檛 ordered an SUV but was told an SUV is basically the same as a stretch limo only bigger. Cars are not my speciality but I know the difference between an SUV and a stretch limo! We were both tired from the flight so I accepted defeat and got into the SUV that arrived for us. We arrived at The Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Terminal, check in was quick and efficient but not overboard on friendliness! The Hyatt was a nice modern, clean and comfortable hotel. Our room was a pretty good size, clean and comfortable with a decent size bathroom. The only difficulties we experienced was trying to get a constant temperature, one minute it was really warm then next it was quite cool. Also, the walls are thin so you can hear everything going on next door.

We dropped our cases and headed to the NY library only to find it was closed which was pretty disappointing. Instead, we looked around the holiday market stalls in Bryant Park which we both really enjoyed - it had a great atmosphere. We were both hungry by this point so headed into Grand Central Terminal and tried pizza from Two Boots - it was really good and we鈥檙e looking forward to going again! Next, we headed for TOTR which we had tickets for. There was no delay with queuing - the system seems pretty good and much quicker than ESB. We then got stuck in the elevator going up to the top - we were in there for about 20 mins which was horrible for me because I hate elevators. After that though, we got to the top to enjoy the great views. We were getting pretty tired by the time we came away from TOTR so we decided to go back to our hotel - via the hotel bar. My husband had a Brooklyn Beer which he didn鈥檛 enjoy and I had a Manhattan. It was the worst Manhattan I鈥檝e ever had and it was very expensive so we didn鈥檛 bother with another drink and went to bed.

Day 2 - December 24th.

Got up and left our hotel and headed to Pershing Square across the road for our breakfast. I had bacon, eggs, sausage, home fries, toast and juice and hubby had eggs benedict. The service was good and the food was really nice - big portions though and we didn鈥檛 feel like moving! We then set off walking to Bloomingdale鈥檚 where I bought a little brown bag and some Christopher Radko tree baubles. Then it was off to Tiffany鈥檚 to spend Birthday and Christmas money. I got 2 gorgeous pairs of silver earrings which were beautifully wrapped and tied with festive red ribbon and the service (like our last visit) was excellent. . We then just walked along 5th Avenue browsing and soaking up the fantastic Christmas Eve atmosphere. We then cut through into Madison Avenue to find a little restaurant we had visited on our last trip to New York only to find it was closed which spoiled our plans for the evening. Instead we headed back to Grand Central and went to Juniors where we had a great burger, fries and the nicest pink lemonade we鈥檝e ever had! We bought some devils food cheese and carrot cake cheesecake to take-away which we ate back in our hotel room but the slices were so big we couldn鈥檛 finish them!

Day 3 - Christmas Day

Woke early and opened the few presents we had taken with us and then ordered room service for our breakfast. The service was really quick and the guy who brought it was really friendly. The breakfast, however, was not the best we鈥檝e ever had. The eggs were undercooked and we were served asparagus - we鈥檝e never been served with this before or since - odd breakfast item but we weren鈥檛 too concerned.

We then headed out for a walk to the United nations Building. I sat and called relatives back home while my husband took some photos. We then carried on walking along 1st Avenue and passed a small church that had bells chiming Christmas songs - it was really lovely but we never did find out what church it was. We then walked along 3rd Avenue and saw the Lipstick Building and Citicorp Building. We decided to head back to the hotel to rest for a while and I was pleased to find 鈥楢 Christmas Story鈥?on TV. We got ready to go out for our Christmas meal only to find it was pouring down with rain. We got a cab quickly so didn鈥檛 get to wet and headed to Tavern On The Green. We had a drink in the bar before being shown through to the crystal room for our meal. It looked beautiful with all the Christmas lights and decorations and we decided to pay for a photo of us by the Christmas tree. The service was efficient and the staff were helpful and friendly. My husband had crab cakes for his starter and I had a salad with roasted cherries, walnuts and a champagne dressing - they were both gorgeous. Our main course was roast turkey with sweet potato mash, cranberry sauce and creamed peas with onions. The main course was average - nothing to get excited about. Then we had apple cobbler and chocolate torte for dessert which was beautiful. We had been concerned about going to Tavern on The Green because of the bad reviews we鈥檇 heard. It鈥檚 not as bad as everybody says. We were there on a very busy day and the service was excellent and the food was fine if a little expensive but you have to expect that on Christmas Day.

We then headed back to the hotel exhausted and very full.

Trip Report - Part 1

Don%26#39;t apologise for your report being late - I%26#39;m just pleased you%26#39;re posting it, I%26#39;ve been crying out for some more trip reports!

Thanks for the info on Continental, we%26#39;re flying with them next week. Looks like we%26#39;ll be arriving hungry! How was the in-flight entertaintment?

Your Christmas day sounds magical, there have been a couple of good reports about TOTG on Christmas day lately.

More please!

Trip Report - Part 1

Glad you are feeling better, great start to your report and looking forward to more.

Thanks for the restaurant reviews, they always come in handy for visitors.

Hi ange

The in-flight entertainment wasn%26#39;t the best to be honest. On our first trip we had tv screen in the back of each seat but on this flight there were just a few screens dotted around the aircraft. Also, on our first trip you could watch what you wanted - loads of channels to choose from and there was a little games console but we had none of this - it was a much smaller plane and i guess the facilities aren%26#39;t the same on all their planes.

It was fine though - we were shown a couple of films - one was a kids film about a snowman (I don%26#39;t rememner the title I%26#39;m afraid) and The Devil wears Prada.

going straight on to part 2......!

Cheers manicsfan, we%26#39;re flying out of Gatwick so hopefully we%26#39;ll get some good entertainment. And I%26#39;ve heard a couple of people say that the food on Continental is good - maybe its the luck of the draw. Fingers crossed!

it was a shame about the food on our most recent flights because on our first NY trip the food on the plane was great! hopefully it was just a one-off!

Ange....as for continentals food,might be worth having a big breakfast at the airport!!!

Great start. I did notice that most of the car services say SUV OR stretch limo and that seems like a real con. They are NOT the same, as we all know. ;) Glad it didn%26#39;t ruin your spirits.

it was a TOTAL con nywhiz. I%26#39;ve tried e-mailing them, writing to them and still they won%26#39;t reply to me. I dont see why we should pay so much when we didnt get what we ordered - i%26#39;m so annoyed i%26#39;m considering claiming all my money back through my credit card company!

Hi Manicsfan.

Thanks for postign the report. I%26#39;ve got a question - what%26#39;s the lipstick building?

Thanks.

Now, off to read part 2....

Mez.