New York City Guide – How One Blogger Did the Big Apple!

Lorna Jane Campbell is one our favourite lifestyle bloggers. Find her at her website where she writes about fashion, beauty, travel and more.

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New York, New York!

Lorna Jane chose Cassidy Travel to book her trip to the Big Apple in December and we’re delighted she did!

Lorna had this to say about us:

We booked through Cassidy Travel & it was super easy, there was an offer at the time for 3 nights in New York & 4 in Las Vegas for €1800 which was perfect for us. Another amazing thing about Cassidy is the fact you can pay it off over time, there’s usually a deposit of €100 but then the balance is due about 2 months before you fly out. They post out all your hotel vouchers & flight info the week you’re going & you literally have everything taken care of for you.

After a 6 hour flight, Lorna landed in Newark Airport and then it was just a short hop on the train to Manhattan!

We took the air train from our terminal to Newark Airport Station & then the train onto Penn Station, in total it costs $12-$13 & the great thing is there’s no traffic so it’s around 30 minutes into Manhattan.

The Edison Hotel scored good marks for how close it is to the main attractions:

We stayed in the Edison hotel on 228 W 47th Street, literally just 2 minutes off Times Square. The hotel itself is in an amazing location, so central to pretty much everything & is surrounded by great restaurants & bars… The Edison also has an ‘Edison hour’ every Tuesday & Friday from 5pm with wine & snacks for free for all guests which is a nice touch.

Despite being a bit intimidating at first, the famed subway became Lorna Jane’s first choice for navigating her way around the city’s sights:

Please don’t be afraid of using the subway guys , the first time we went to New York we just used the hop on hop off bus to get around, total traffic nightmare. The subway is so easy to navigate once you get the hang of it; we used Google Maps & the NYC subway map to figure out what stop we needed to get off at.

As for budgeting – New York is one of the shopping capitals of the world, but that’s not the only kind of holiday you can have there. Lorna Jane found that most of her budget went on sampling NYC’s many food options!

You could spend anywhere from €500 to $3,000 . We brought about $2,000 each but we were flying into Vegas so all in all I spent about $600 in New York & we literally drank & ate everything, there was no holding back.

Obviously if you’re going to shop in Jersey Gardens or Woodbury Common then you’ll need to budget accordingly but we didn’t shop at all in New York. I really wanted to just spend the 3 days taking everything in & not in the shops.

Lorna Jane took in some of the city’s many iconic sights:

So we checked into our hotel around 2pm & basically freshened up & then heading straight out to Times Square.

We headed to Rockefeller to see the Christmas tree & to ice skate; it was so magical, literally like a fairytale. The ice skating cost about $84 for both of us, it’s the most expensive ice rink to skate on in New York but it was definitely worth it for us.

We headed to Battery Park to catch the boat to Liberty Island & Ellis Island, we booked the pedestal tickets which we amazing, definitely book really early as they sell out so fast. The views were incredible & you get so close to Lady Liberty & you can go onto the museum to learn all about her construction & why she’s green.

We actually didn’t stop off at Ellis Island but there you can visit Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. It’s located in the Main Building of the former immigration station complex and tells the moving tales of the 12 million immigrants who entered America through the golden door of Ellis Island.

She also took in a Broadway show – an unmissable part of any trip to New York City! She has this great tip for getting your tickets on a budget:

There are a few ways to get tickets discounted if you’re working on a budget, so you can enter the digital lottery Here , pop in all your details & cross your fingers. Another way to secure cheaper tickets is to queue for rush tickets. Rush tickets are sold on the day of the performance as soon as the box office opens, unless otherwise specified. Seat location varies with different shows. For more popular shows, anticipate a wait. Also note that some box offices only accept cash for rush tickets & usually you can buy these at the box office of the theatre. A third way to score discounted tickets is to download the tix today app & check out the discounts there. Lastly you can visit the TKTS stands , theres 3 in New York.

And Central Park proved a hit too.

One of my favourite places in New York is definitely Central Park, we spent hours just wondering around, it’s so beautiful. Definitely dedicate some time to see all the sights here , Alice in wonderland, the friends fountain, the bridge in home alone , bolt the dog & so much more.

Lorna Jane’s Top Tips

• Don’t forget to sort out your ESTA Visa ahead of time – apply about a month beforehand just in case there are issues. An ESTA costs about $14 each, don’t get caught by unofficial websites charging way more!
• Tipping is pretty much mandatory in the US no matter how good the service is! Make sure to take this into account for budgeting purposes.
• If you’re a fussy eater, take your own food onto the plane as in-flight meals don’t suit everyone!
• Be aware that your flight might be delayed – leave plenty of time for changes. Lorna Jane experienced delays during her travels!

You can read Lorna Jane’s full breakdown of her NYC trip right here. It’s a great read full of inspiration for your own New York holidays.

About Cassidy Travel

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