After Friday's snafu what with the WTC subway station not having an elevator (as advertised), we swapped our days around a bit - another great development - SUN! And HEAT! I was beginning to wonder if NYC was taking a page from the Vancouver playbook for late spring and bathing everyone in drizzly warm downpour.
Saturday we trekked up the 6 blocks from our hotel to Central park on an absolutely gorgeous day - 77 degrees and a light breeze. We walked from the corner of 5th avenue and Central Park South, past the little vendor booths, caricture artists and cheap paintings of NYC sights. We realized early on that it was both too hot and not enough time to see such a great park but we figured we'd walk until we got hungry/tired, or until we got to Museum Mile (5th ave from roughly 81st to 110th), whichever came first.
Turns out, it all happened at once. We passed the Central Park Zoo, the children's petting zoo, the Conservatory Water (and people sailing their r/c boats), several buskers, and several hundred thousand people sunning themselves, playing, picnicing and walking their pets. S&P keenly noticed that this city is LOUSY with pregnant women - as she put it, "every uterus, like every living space, is full in this town!" Interestingly, every woman we saw pregnant was married - verified by either an incredibly expensive rock, or the presence of a doting husband/partner/spouse/daddy/other. Central park was simply the proof - we've seen this phenomenon in every neighbourhood we've been in since we got here.
We came out of the park briefly at 81st ave seeing the white stone walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) rising up out of the greenery. It was enormous, and S&P, who has traveled to Russia and visited the Hermitage, said that it seemed almost as large. It was beautiful, very classically designed, and the steps and square were overrun with people, vendors, entertainers, and tourists. We took a time out to get food (which has gradually become more difficult as our trip goes on - I'm sure we'll fill you in in another post on this). Happily today we stumbled on the decadent grocer Dean & Deluca, and we feasted on yummy sandwiches, fruit, yogurt and (gasp) a raspberry cupcake split in two. We debated the finer points of gourmet cupcakery as we sat on a shady bench by the Met and ate our lunch.
The Met is hard to describe. Almost every major piece of greek sculpture that pops readily to mind seems to be in their Greek and Roman Antiquities section. The architecture of the building is phenomenal and lends itself to a wild sense of size, grandeur and glory. The light itself is beautiful. I was anxious for the Egyptian wing (having seen the amazing collection in the British Museum), however it was very crowded. I don't remember much of it at the moment, but S&P sure does! and unintential part of the museum's attractions that day was pop star and actress Mandy Moore and her husband Ryan Adams (whom if I had known was there I would have mobbed him and made a fool of myself. Good thing I didn't notice). My favourite part was the Temple of Dendur hall, with an ancient Egyptian burial temple and archway reconstructed in the midst of a stunning wall of windows and pond.
Another highlight for both of us was the traveling exhibition, Model as Muse (sponsored by Marc Jacobs!). Buffy, you should have seen it. It was fantastic, and featured a century of classic fashion art pieces and the models who inspired them. The 60's Yves St. Laurent dress, for example, featuring vivid cubist (?) squares in red, blue and yellow on a white background; the Dior gown from the golden age of Haute Couture, seen on the model posed between two elephants.
Our flight is about to be called, so we'll continue this in another post. We are tired, really dirty, and glad to be coming home - though the consensus is that New Yorkers are much friendlier than anyone gives them credit for, New York City needs at least two weeks to do it justice, and we are both now looking for graduate programs at NYU.
Now, talk amongst yo'selves....
(Oh and S&P says that we have also agreed that we are pretty much at our end and are looking forward to some sleep - despite Mom's admonition from earlier this week - we walked an estimated 30 blocks today alone, on average 3-4 miles a day. S&P's feet hurt. Mine, not so much.)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Jazz Hands!!
I wanted to see a show with JAZZ HANDS! and West Side Story did not disappoint, as there was an entire song with jazz hands, there of course was a full collection of familiar songs, high kicks and young love. We had been a little concerned after overhearing a conversation in the Village about the faults of the musical. She profusely apologized and promised us that we would enjoy the show. She was right, we enjoyed it, and I found myself so consumed with the story, that I was tearing at the end of it all, it really was as magical as the jazz hands promised they would be.
Yesterday had started with the intention of going to see Ground Zero and the Financial District and related sights and then with us returning up to Broadway for the show. However the WTC Subway was not accessible and so we back tracked and changed our plans spending the day in Greenwich Village and eating at Gobo - a wonderful vegan/vegetarian restaurant that made me (S&P) realize how much I miss vegan food, and yet how much work goes into the whole process. After a day of perusing the shops we wandered over to NYU and found ourselves wondering what our lives would have been like if we like Felicity had perused our undergrads there or if some how we could somehow justify the debt and get out masters or PhD's respectively just so we could spend more time in the magic of the city.
Yesterday had started with the intention of going to see Ground Zero and the Financial District and related sights and then with us returning up to Broadway for the show. However the WTC Subway was not accessible and so we back tracked and changed our plans spending the day in Greenwich Village and eating at Gobo - a wonderful vegan/vegetarian restaurant that made me (S&P) realize how much I miss vegan food, and yet how much work goes into the whole process. After a day of perusing the shops we wandered over to NYU and found ourselves wondering what our lives would have been like if we like Felicity had perused our undergrads there or if some how we could somehow justify the debt and get out masters or PhD's respectively just so we could spend more time in the magic of the city.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
J&J Phone Home
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your comments and views! Rest assured, we will come home, eventually. Meanwhile, we've set the comments settings to "anyone" so you don't have to sign up with a profile to comment.
See, we do love you!
J & S&P
Thanks for your comments and views! Rest assured, we will come home, eventually. Meanwhile, we've set the comments settings to "anyone" so you don't have to sign up with a profile to comment.
See, we do love you!
J & S&P
Shopping, Shopping, Rain and more Shopping
Today dawned, or rather drizzled, with the best of intentions to go downtown to Lower Manhattan to see the WTC site and memorial, the financial district, City Hall, Staten Island Ferry, and Wall Street... but after getting off the subway (we took the subway!! On our own! And it smelled like PEE!) at the nearest accessible stop to Broadway so we could by tickets to the theatre, we got a little stuck.
In Sephora.
Maybe it was the rain, maybe it was the fatigue, maybe it was just the reality of two girls and unfettered access to shoes and cosmetics, but we came to a mutual (and easy) decision that we would swap our shopping day (scheduled for Friday) so we could wander around Midtown, Times Square, 5th avenue (yes, THAT 5th avenue) at a leisurely pace.
We waded through the crowds of tourists and hawkers with pamphlets for comedy shows, tapings and bus tours. We got stuck in Sephora (a cosmetics candy store), frustrated in Macy's shoe level, giggling in Victoria's Secret (at the rows of husbands and boyfriends stuck waiting at the front of the store - see pic - in eager anticipation of purchase)...
...and people-watched in starbucks, where the absolutely shocking lack of fashion sense kept us amused and hoping that Stacy and Clinton would show up any minute.
We finally have crashed (and are exploiting our allotted 2hrs per day of internet usage) in Starbucks, our home away from home, and are trying to figure out where to drag ourselves next. The weather is terrible, but would you believe we are currently in the Starbucks INSIDE the Empire State Building. It's fabulous and very Art-Deco-y, and has fantastic metal artwork dedicated to the captains of industry and resource. Despite the terrible weather, there are scads of yuppie-types here in the Sbux chilling out and trying to look fab.
Food: I know you are all dying to find out what nationality of cuisine we will be enjoying tonight. Well, if S&P has her way, we will be having pizza from Lombardi's, noted as the first pizza joint in the whole nation (and that's saying something, considering that pizza was pretty much invented here).
S&P & J
Day 2
(Jocelyn) Getting up was physically painful – and we spent a leisurely morning waking up, watching music videos and getting on J up to date on the Hills drama, on the hotel television, and trying to get the Internets to work at Starbucks around the corner from our hotel.
When we discovered a few weeks ago that our hotel was right by the FDR expressway, we were worried that noise would be a problem. Strangely enough, the highway is the least of our worries. Turns out that the intersection in front is the louder, with at one point 19 yellow cabs in a row. Honking, yelling, screeching and generally creating an urban cacophony. S&P I know found it difficult to sleep due to the honking, waking slightly every little while to respond with a bleary, “Oh Hush!” when the noise got particularly bad.
We discovered after our long morning drinking coffee and staring at the subway map, that the UN building was a straight shot from our hotel down the street about 20 blocks, so we set off on a mostly overcast but mild day. We were almost on the property before we realized we were there, and it was, well, awesome. A little anti-climactic because a new building was under construction and half the property was hidden behind it.
Once inside, we took a 1 hour tour around the eavesdropped on a diplomatic conversation in front of the Khofi Annan tapestries, and spent a small fortune in the UN bookstore. Enjoyed walking around in the tacky gift shop and spectating on the internationals bartering with the gift shop clerk. Walked up 42nd street (yes, THAT 42nd street) to Grand Central Terminal. It was as beautiful as everyone says (and as pictured in every other episode of Law & Order), but by that point we were dead tired and more than a little jet lagged. Despite this, S&P couldn’t resist the lure of Banana Republic, which the charged through with fervor.
(S&P) Dinner was a hard decision as we were trying to figure out Subways and which direction we were prepared to go in. We decided on Dawat, Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian restaurant. Now if you don’t know who Ms. Jaffrey is I urge you to run out to your nearest bookstore or try and procure her videos off the Interwebs because she is a wonderful guide person to Indian cuisine. Dinner was wonderful; we had onion pakoras for an appetizer and shared lamb curry for dinner and the managed to celebrate one of our birthdays with their specially reserved coconut and mango ice cream dessert. My only complaint being that the Cosmo was very weak, which I will attribute to new bartender who it appears they were in the process of training.
When we discovered a few weeks ago that our hotel was right by the FDR expressway, we were worried that noise would be a problem. Strangely enough, the highway is the least of our worries. Turns out that the intersection in front is the louder, with at one point 19 yellow cabs in a row. Honking, yelling, screeching and generally creating an urban cacophony. S&P I know found it difficult to sleep due to the honking, waking slightly every little while to respond with a bleary, “Oh Hush!” when the noise got particularly bad.
We discovered after our long morning drinking coffee and staring at the subway map, that the UN building was a straight shot from our hotel down the street about 20 blocks, so we set off on a mostly overcast but mild day. We were almost on the property before we realized we were there, and it was, well, awesome. A little anti-climactic because a new building was under construction and half the property was hidden behind it.
Once inside, we took a 1 hour tour around the eavesdropped on a diplomatic conversation in front of the Khofi Annan tapestries, and spent a small fortune in the UN bookstore. Enjoyed walking around in the tacky gift shop and spectating on the internationals bartering with the gift shop clerk. Walked up 42nd street (yes, THAT 42nd street) to Grand Central Terminal. It was as beautiful as everyone says (and as pictured in every other episode of Law & Order), but by that point we were dead tired and more than a little jet lagged. Despite this, S&P couldn’t resist the lure of Banana Republic, which the charged through with fervor.
(S&P) Dinner was a hard decision as we were trying to figure out Subways and which direction we were prepared to go in. We decided on Dawat, Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian restaurant. Now if you don’t know who Ms. Jaffrey is I urge you to run out to your nearest bookstore or try and procure her videos off the Interwebs because she is a wonderful guide person to Indian cuisine. Dinner was wonderful; we had onion pakoras for an appetizer and shared lamb curry for dinner and the managed to celebrate one of our birthdays with their specially reserved coconut and mango ice cream dessert. My only complaint being that the Cosmo was very weak, which I will attribute to new bartender who it appears they were in the process of training.
JandJinNYC -Day 1
J and I (S&P) have decided that the way to tackle the food issue in NYC is to do oatmeal breakfast in room, lunch where we can find it - Maureen, our fellow shuttle buser, recommended we visit whatever deli is closest to us at the time and see what's in store. And for dinner? We've decided that we are going to try and eat through the various ethnic cuisines our general area has to offer. Last night being that we were completely exhausted beyond our comprehension, we picked the Thai restaurant across from our resident Starbucks haunt, since we knew it wouldn't require navigating the Subway exhausted and hungry or paying an exhaustive amount for a cab.
Luscious Thai - 60th Avenue and 1st Ave
Not that I'm an alcoholic, but I must say their Guava martini was probably the best martini I have ever had, the glass was rimmed with sugar, salt and chili, giving a wonderful combination of 3 of 4 flavour profiles central to Thai cooking (salty, sweet, sour, spicy). We followed it with Som Tom (Green Papaya Salad), fresh, crunchy and a perfect combo of salt from the fish sauce, sour from the green papaya, sweet from the tomato and cane sugar, and spice from the chili. Pad Thai was our entree of choice and while it wasn't perfectly authentic it was fresh and a large serving. We splurged for dessert - deep fried ice cream and I finished the whole evening with an amazing cup of coffee. I cannot say it enough, I am sure it was probably the best cup of coffee I've had in a restaurant and maybe ever.
In total in worked out to be $48 + tip.
Luscious Thai - 60th Avenue and 1st Ave
Not that I'm an alcoholic, but I must say their Guava martini was probably the best martini I have ever had, the glass was rimmed with sugar, salt and chili, giving a wonderful combination of 3 of 4 flavour profiles central to Thai cooking (salty, sweet, sour, spicy). We followed it with Som Tom (Green Papaya Salad), fresh, crunchy and a perfect combo of salt from the fish sauce, sour from the green papaya, sweet from the tomato and cane sugar, and spice from the chili. Pad Thai was our entree of choice and while it wasn't perfectly authentic it was fresh and a large serving. We splurged for dessert - deep fried ice cream and I finished the whole evening with an amazing cup of coffee. I cannot say it enough, I am sure it was probably the best cup of coffee I've had in a restaurant and maybe ever.
In total in worked out to be $48 + tip.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Our first day in pictures
Sorry - we know some of these require explanation but we have more fun things to do at the moment! We'll fill you in in later posts.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
J and J meet J
Well we chickened out after the ordeal of flying and the concerned expressions on all the faces of those when we indicated we were taking the Subway. We took a shuttle bus which while it was suppose to drop us off at our hotel, dropped us at Grand Central for a while, during which time we met J, specifically Jose, we also met Maureen, and a music director for the Fully Monty at the Playhouse and gawked at a young lady wearing a crinoline for a skirt. Jose tried to help us lighten the exhausted mood, as J like I (S&P) worked yesterday, and then bordered what was to be a red eye, but turned into something altogether different, though still red inducing. The redness was more in our faces as we fumed with the frustration of an incredibly cold cabin, overhead lights and screaming, running, shrieking children. Now don't get me wrong, as most days I come across like a child hater, it more the parents who believe that at 12pm PST your child should be jumping up and down on their seat screeching like a little banshee. Maybe I'm just tired, yes you know that would be accurate, wake for 26hours and I've had maybe 2 hours of interrupted sleep. However, the city is beautiful, it's hopeful and positive as J has noticed and it is cultured, because we currently sitting in a clean, safe and lovely Starbucks. We made it to NYC baby, now can I please have a shower?
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Breathe
I'm caffeinated and I'm ready to bs my way through a 500 word "assignment" before I start and finish that... I feel I must add that after reading J's post I realized that I do really and truly need a vacation, not a running trip a VACATION. And this is my theme song at the the moment, I am even tempted to print the lyrics and tape them to my computer screen so when my staff thinks about calling me this week, they can re-evaluate that idea. On that note, take comfort J, I am smiling, it's slowly forming, but it's coming...
Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/gogator/2146025506/
T-minus 42 hours
I can't believe this whimsical idea I came up with back in February actually happened, and that it's here already! I have been looking forward to it, but I guess it wasn't really real until now. Every time my supervisor would take out his palm to schedule something in this week, he'd look up and say, "What's this I have here, you're going to be away? Where are you going?" and I'd explain patiently that it's my 30th birthday, and I'm going to New York City to celebrate with my best girl friend, take in spring in New York and just enjoy myself after a deadly brutal four months of craziness at work. And he would nod thoughtfully, affirm that I needed a vacation, and file the knowledge away for the next time he asked me why I had booked the week off.
Now whether that absent-mindedness on his part was subconscious denial that I was actually planning to leave him to his own devices for a week, I'm not sure, but either way, it's here and there is a sh*tload of stuff to do (sorry mom, and S&P, you CAN swear on your own blog - so there.)
So I'm up super late tonight - partly because my sleep schedule's been out of whack for several months now (but really, has it ever been "in whack?"), and partly because there is so much to be done I'm really not sure what to do first. Yesterday was a flurry of family-ness as we gathered to celebrate Sister and Nephew's birthdays, eat barbeque and watch the little boys play like oversized puppies on sugar cubes. Hence, nothing otherwise productive was achieved.
So here's what's on the docket for Sunday:
- do laundry
- pack bag
- drive down to greyhound station to pick up toiletry bag I forgot on the sunshine coast last weekend and someone had to... oh forget it. long story.
- buy some new jeans and at least one top that doesn't make me look like a fat granny with a penchant for bad business attire/find a top that could be worn in the type of NYC nightspot I couldn't tell my mother I went to.
- Check that I have all of the requisite toiletry type business for the flight
- charge camera battery
The one really smart thing I've done in preparation for our imminent departure is get my chair tuned up. I woke up on thursday morning and the casters were locked up tight. Believe me, the thought of that sort of resistance training wheeling around NYC is not my idea of a great vacation, and the idea of leaving my chair in the hands of a stranger in New York makes me feel a little nauseous. My chair is all greased, tightened and de-hairified, and so I can at least say that the most important form of transportation on our trip is officially booked.
I keep thinking of when we'll finally meet up at the airport (S&P and I haven't traveled together before like this, mostly just road trips to my parents' place), what that will be like. I live to travel. It is my absolute favourite thing in the world, and I'm so excited to be going somewhere to just do that. The fact that I get to have someone smart and fun whom I'm close to to share it with, that's even better.
S&P and I have both had a rough few months at work - S&P is more on the "I hate this job and you can all go screw yourselves" side of things and I'm more in the "I just cant sustain this craziness for one more second" realm, but suffice it to say that both of us deserve a good massage by my husband, Chris Martin, and to be custom fit in the Christian Louboutin factory.
So now - before I keel over and fall asleep on the floor, I will conclude this post by wondering exactly how I'm going to survive the next few hours without a meltdown? How lame is that, to have a stress breakdown about your own vacation. Truly LAME.
Now whether that absent-mindedness on his part was subconscious denial that I was actually planning to leave him to his own devices for a week, I'm not sure, but either way, it's here and there is a sh*tload of stuff to do (sorry mom, and S&P, you CAN swear on your own blog - so there.)
So I'm up super late tonight - partly because my sleep schedule's been out of whack for several months now (but really, has it ever been "in whack?"), and partly because there is so much to be done I'm really not sure what to do first. Yesterday was a flurry of family-ness as we gathered to celebrate Sister and Nephew's birthdays, eat barbeque and watch the little boys play like oversized puppies on sugar cubes. Hence, nothing otherwise productive was achieved.
So here's what's on the docket for Sunday:
- do laundry
- pack bag
- drive down to greyhound station to pick up toiletry bag I forgot on the sunshine coast last weekend and someone had to... oh forget it. long story.
- buy some new jeans and at least one top that doesn't make me look like a fat granny with a penchant for bad business attire/find a top that could be worn in the type of NYC nightspot I couldn't tell my mother I went to.
- Check that I have all of the requisite toiletry type business for the flight
- charge camera battery
The one really smart thing I've done in preparation for our imminent departure is get my chair tuned up. I woke up on thursday morning and the casters were locked up tight. Believe me, the thought of that sort of resistance training wheeling around NYC is not my idea of a great vacation, and the idea of leaving my chair in the hands of a stranger in New York makes me feel a little nauseous. My chair is all greased, tightened and de-hairified, and so I can at least say that the most important form of transportation on our trip is officially booked.
I keep thinking of when we'll finally meet up at the airport (S&P and I haven't traveled together before like this, mostly just road trips to my parents' place), what that will be like. I live to travel. It is my absolute favourite thing in the world, and I'm so excited to be going somewhere to just do that. The fact that I get to have someone smart and fun whom I'm close to to share it with, that's even better.
S&P and I have both had a rough few months at work - S&P is more on the "I hate this job and you can all go screw yourselves" side of things and I'm more in the "I just cant sustain this craziness for one more second" realm, but suffice it to say that both of us deserve a good massage by my husband, Chris Martin, and to be custom fit in the Christian Louboutin factory.
So now - before I keel over and fall asleep on the floor, I will conclude this post by wondering exactly how I'm going to survive the next few hours without a meltdown? How lame is that, to have a stress breakdown about your own vacation. Truly LAME.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
J says I can swear on my own blog
But I don't think that's the case for this one, so I will do my best as I drain the little bit of interwebs time I get from Bell at SBucks, no to do that. We are at like T minus too close right now. I still have a day of surgery to book, a newish sort of employee to train, a suitcase to pack and 3 papers/assignments to complete fully and submit before 7pm on Monday. Oh and of course get travel insurance, get American money, try and reconvince myself that us taking the subway from the airport isn't crazy, and figure out why our schedule doesn't seem full enough - we're missing the Gugenhemim, Empire State Building and other things right? Like Jacques Torres chocolate shop, Dean and Deluca and all that fun stuff right? Well it's here J, it's really here and we will be going regardless of whether I figure out how to pack everything in my suitcase or not. Woot! As J would say, and all I have to say is mumble mumble mumble.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye/1222063706/, from the New York City Library
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Melt Down
J and I (S&P) are headed for respective work melt downs - I having just worked 10 hours yesterday and headed for something like that again am about at my intellectual whits end, we passed all the other whits ends long ago - the sanity, the common sense, emotional and so on and so forth ones. Employees aren't helping, actually they're making it worse and I'm about ready to just, I don't know, call it all off? No that's really crazy talk, but it sure feels in this moment the saniest thing to do. To just throw my hands up and say fine, you all get your way I'll stay, I'll stay and make sure that your asses are covered, that the office doesn't fall apart. But you know what while that would show my boss that I do a lot to hold the practice he seems determined to sink afloat... my blood sugar is shot and I need some coffee. Just sending up a mutual SOS to all our lovely readers - we're tired. I guess the timing is just right, vay-cay here we come, if we can make it to you in one piece...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Vendy Awards
I (S&P) read the New York Magazine once a week for the Fug Girls weekly column and more during fashion week. Sometimes I stumble upon other videos and articles - and I happened to in the fall stumble upon the Vendy Awards. Little did I know several months later when discussing food for the upcoming trip I would say hey they do a best of the vendors, ack what's it called courtesy of Google, I was reminded it's the Vendy's.
We will be tracking down a Vendy in each burrow if we can - the ice cream truck is huge on the list. Check out the video from the New York Magazine:
We will be tracking down a Vendy in each burrow if we can - the ice cream truck is huge on the list. Check out the video from the New York Magazine:
Monday, May 11, 2009
Meeting People
J and I both seem to have people we have yet to meet in real life that are in the NYC area. J has a pen pal of sorts and I guess E would be the same for me. We met via a dating site and while we were completely inappropriate for each other in a romantic sense we were able to have some amazing conversations. E was going to try and come up here to visit but it never panned out, so we're are trying to now see if it's going to work out this way. I know this is news to you J, he just FB'd me... ah the wonders of FB. So we will see it would be very cool if I could put a voice and person to the pictures and the emails. And I think that J feels likewise. It's funny given the structure of our lives, being behind screens and such like, and yet we just want to see the real thing... We are also planning on meeting lots of other people - single rich bachelors with huge hearts for foreign aid work are right at the very top of the list J, no?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Some Like it Hot
And some don't quite like it that way. People like me for example. I have been to Texas in the summer and I have to say I'm sure the red horned one would even find it intolerable. Thankfully NYC will not be that temperature when we arrive, however I am a little concerned because the weather seems like it's going to be on the cold side, like well the rest of the country seems to be and I don't want that either... Oh well regardless it is forecast to be beautiful and I'm sure it won't disappoint.For May: Average Precip: 4.5in and Min/Max Temp C: 12/21
Sunday, May 3, 2009
New York Minute: Reminders
Most likely to derail my workday? New York.
As seen in my workbook last week....
As seen in my workbook last week....
Hotel, check. Flight, check. New York, here we come...
At long last, we've found our hotel.
S&P (the other "J" of JandJmeetNYC) and I have wasted countless hours on the clock looking for the optimum hotel balance of price, distance, livability, access and cleanliness. Believe it or not - the latter was the hardest to satisfy!
Those of you who know us likely also know that S&P has some issues in the germ department. Specifically, she has declared a jihad on dirt, particularly the type that lives in hotel bathrooms. We had contemplated staying in the Beekman Tower hotel, one with such a fancy website and art deco-era stylings - plus every room is a suite with kitchen - that I couldn't pass it up, but S&P's worry was that the added square footage of cupboards and potentially moist countertops would mean bugs, mould and cockroaches. I can just imagine her nuking the vermin in her dreams. Originally, she nixed the Beekman out of hand, back when it was one of the best rated hotels in our "under $200 CDN/Night" price range, but as we drew closer to the day, and fewer and fewer hotels had elevator access, private bathrooms, and a reasonable price with availability when we wanted to be there, I guess her heart softened to the idea of getting something with a kitchenette. We reconsidered the Beekman.
We compared a variety of hotels, all verging on or surpassing our nightly rate budget... and we had access to a wide variety of booking deals - expedia.ca, hotels.com/.ca, travel411, and a special booking service available through my employer. Of them all, it turned out that Expedia.ca had the best offers all round, and was the most overtly trustworthy.
[side note: we had a bit of a close call with a rather confusing website we had been looking at for our flights. S&P had been comparing rates on hotel/flight packages online, and one of the sites had shown an impossibly cheap rate for the hotel - confusingly called cheaptickets.ca. Go ahead and compare cheaptickets.com and cheaptickets.ca, and you'll see what we eventually found out: the .ca website was a poor knockoff of the .com company, and a scan through the web for BBB listings found that others had been fooled by the .ca company, apparently based out of india, a bulk liquidator of travel tickets known for selling at impossibly competitive rates then recouping the costs through misleading fees, "mistakes," and fraudulent transactions. Buyer beware - always check the background of the travel website you are using. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.]
So for the last two weeks, S&P and I have been passing furtive emails and text messages back and forth to each other at work, trying to agree upon a place to lay our heads on our vacation. The "NO list":
- no shared bathrooms (as in, with strangers) - eliminating hostels and most cheaper hotels
- no super-small hotel rooms (famous in NYC, the "boutique" and traveller hotels tend to have impossibly small, railroad sleeper coach style rooms, with one "double bed" being equivalent to a child's twin size.
- no "walkups" - specifically precluded by my wheelchair - it's picky like that.
- nothing below 3 stars - Actually if I'd let her, S&P would have chosen 4 stars. In fact, maybe she did. The one we ended up with was 3.5 stars, so hopefully it will suit.
- no bugs, no dirt: this is harder to evaluate, but a report of bugs or dirt on TripAdvisor was enough to nix it.
- No nasty, uncooperative or dodgy staff: when I took the time to read the TripAdvisor ratings, I tended to rule out those with repeated reports of bad staff. In my book, even the worst of amenities can usually be fixed with good house staff - a recent terrible experience at the Hotel Metropolitan in Toronto has me convinced of this.
The YES list:
- in Manhattan proper
- Under $200CDN/night (incl fees)
- reasonably close to transportation
- private bathrooms
- double or queen bed
- must have a functional elevator
- S&P wanted it to have a gym, but I kept saying that we could just run around central park. we'll see!
I'm reluctant to post specifics on our trip on the very public interwebs, but we are staying at what looks like a reasonably nice Upper East Side hotel near Bloomingdales. It could be dangerous.
S&P (the other "J" of JandJmeetNYC) and I have wasted countless hours on the clock looking for the optimum hotel balance of price, distance, livability, access and cleanliness. Believe it or not - the latter was the hardest to satisfy!
Those of you who know us likely also know that S&P has some issues in the germ department. Specifically, she has declared a jihad on dirt, particularly the type that lives in hotel bathrooms. We had contemplated staying in the Beekman Tower hotel, one with such a fancy website and art deco-era stylings - plus every room is a suite with kitchen - that I couldn't pass it up, but S&P's worry was that the added square footage of cupboards and potentially moist countertops would mean bugs, mould and cockroaches. I can just imagine her nuking the vermin in her dreams. Originally, she nixed the Beekman out of hand, back when it was one of the best rated hotels in our "under $200 CDN/Night" price range, but as we drew closer to the day, and fewer and fewer hotels had elevator access, private bathrooms, and a reasonable price with availability when we wanted to be there, I guess her heart softened to the idea of getting something with a kitchenette. We reconsidered the Beekman.
We compared a variety of hotels, all verging on or surpassing our nightly rate budget... and we had access to a wide variety of booking deals - expedia.ca, hotels.com/.ca, travel411, and a special booking service available through my employer. Of them all, it turned out that Expedia.ca had the best offers all round, and was the most overtly trustworthy.
[side note: we had a bit of a close call with a rather confusing website we had been looking at for our flights. S&P had been comparing rates on hotel/flight packages online, and one of the sites had shown an impossibly cheap rate for the hotel - confusingly called cheaptickets.ca. Go ahead and compare cheaptickets.com and cheaptickets.ca, and you'll see what we eventually found out: the .ca website was a poor knockoff of the .com company, and a scan through the web for BBB listings found that others had been fooled by the .ca company, apparently based out of india, a bulk liquidator of travel tickets known for selling at impossibly competitive rates then recouping the costs through misleading fees, "mistakes," and fraudulent transactions. Buyer beware - always check the background of the travel website you are using. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.]
So for the last two weeks, S&P and I have been passing furtive emails and text messages back and forth to each other at work, trying to agree upon a place to lay our heads on our vacation. The "NO list":
- no shared bathrooms (as in, with strangers) - eliminating hostels and most cheaper hotels
- no super-small hotel rooms (famous in NYC, the "boutique" and traveller hotels tend to have impossibly small, railroad sleeper coach style rooms, with one "double bed" being equivalent to a child's twin size.
- no "walkups" - specifically precluded by my wheelchair - it's picky like that.
- nothing below 3 stars - Actually if I'd let her, S&P would have chosen 4 stars. In fact, maybe she did. The one we ended up with was 3.5 stars, so hopefully it will suit.
- no bugs, no dirt: this is harder to evaluate, but a report of bugs or dirt on TripAdvisor was enough to nix it.
- No nasty, uncooperative or dodgy staff: when I took the time to read the TripAdvisor ratings, I tended to rule out those with repeated reports of bad staff. In my book, even the worst of amenities can usually be fixed with good house staff - a recent terrible experience at the Hotel Metropolitan in Toronto has me convinced of this.
The YES list:
- in Manhattan proper
- Under $200CDN/night (incl fees)
- reasonably close to transportation
- private bathrooms
- double or queen bed
- must have a functional elevator
- S&P wanted it to have a gym, but I kept saying that we could just run around central park. we'll see!
I'm reluctant to post specifics on our trip on the very public interwebs, but we are staying at what looks like a reasonably nice Upper East Side hotel near Bloomingdales. It could be dangerous.
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