Travel : United States

[MMM]

verykiasu2010:

MMM:

Hi,


Anyone with good tips on what to do, see and especially stay in NY?

Will be doing a biz trip to NJ in end May and dh thinking of joining me after my meeting. We intend to fly to JFK and do a 1 week NY. Any recommendations on logistics aspects eg. from airport and subsequent travels ??? Feasible to drive in NY??? Always see/ hear about those robbery at petrol kiosk sort of puts me off.

For sights, both of us have never been to NY before so were thinking of niagara fall, statute of liberty, times square, empire state, of course not forgetting outlet malls. What else???

What about hotels? I think we need a hotel as our base? What would be one that is of reasonable price, ok location and reasonable standard? Any recommendations?

various museums, broadway theatres, ma ma mia still showing, some hotel offer $30 dinner pre-theatre package, very worth it

ground zero, 5th avenue (shopping), central park, statue of liberty @ staten island, time square ..... steak at spark (where the godfather was murdered)...the steak is not bad......Hardrock cafe at time square - eat, and see the exhibits

and don't drive in NYC, take the metro and / or the famous yellow cab.....

for airport transfer to / from manhattan downtown / hotel - go internet pre-book seat-on-coach per person basis, about $20 each, http://www.goairlinkshuttle.com/JFK-Manhattan; can also take the LIRR (long island rail road linking JFK to Penn Station in downtown Manhattan, at around the 34th street.

rockerfeller centre, nbc studio next to it - live broadcast

NYC/Manhattan is easy to navigate : north-south roads are 'avenues' -- 1st, 2nd, .....5th,.....etc with in between Lexington Avenue, Park Avenue etc ; east-west roads are numbered streets ..... time square is around 39th - 42th street and between 6th Avenue - 8th Avenue ....with Broadway in between

for niagara, you can time it in such a way that your flight from Buffalo to reach JFK around 3 to 4 hours before your departure flight from JFK to S'pore .... less hassle on airport transfer

for hotels, inexpensive ones like Holiday Inn Express offers free breakfast and free internet. They have very good bagel and cinnamon rolls (they claimed theirs is the best in NYC) - free whole day coffee and tea

:thankyou:

I fully agree with your comments on the \"next time round\". I've been travelling to US twice yearly for the last 5 years and it's usually go there for meeting only despite taking the 18 hours flight. Have some kind colleague who drove me to outlet. But shopping to me is already a plus This time round, we finally decided to go to NY. Who knows my last yr in this role???? Sometimes timing must match. Eg. meeting beginning of school hols.

Have you been to \"The manhattan at times square hotel\" or \"Radisson matinique on broadway\"? These are our corp hotel and seems cheaper than holiday inn.... Wonder which to choose though. But accom is really ex. I will digest your info on the transport from JFK. Thanks a bunch.

Oh yes... what about outlets???? Do they have local tours to outlet??? While we were in Boston, we did a local tour to outlet. Not sure if we get that in NY.

[KSP]

You can take a 2-3 days tour from NYC to Niagara Falls on Canada side.


If u are watching broadway shows u can get some discounts from TKTS Discount Booths at Broadway 47th Street.

You can also visit the Statue of Liberty if u haven’t been there.

[verykiasu2010]

MMM


I am not familiar with the hotels you mentioned, so no advice / comment. If you are happy with the hotel & price and is convenient, eg, short walk to metro station, then go with it

Of all the hotels I stayed before in Manhattan, I like the Crowne Plaza Time Square the best. Partly because I have the highest tier of their loyalty program, I usually book the cheapest room but ALWAYS upgraded to the best room, with free internet, complimentary breakfast, drinks on the house whole day....etc and that hotel is super covenient to everything in Time Square & metro station just round the corner

try this if you have not done before : http://www.sparkssteakhouse.com/ - not bad for a summer evening, reasonable price

Sorry I have no idea on outlets ...

[hsm]

Hi


What’s the best way to move around? From
Lax to LV to SFO besides self drive? We have a group of 16 pax. Can charter a coach to drive around? Any recommendations?

Thanks

[Dnls_mum]

hsm:

Hi


What's the best way to move around? From
Lax to LV to SFO besides self drive? We have a group of 16 pax. Can charter a coach to drive around? Any recommendations?

Thanks

16 people is practically one tour group! I think even SG travel agents can arrange something specifically for your group.

[MMM]

Planning for our US trip in end May.


Does any one know if it is easy to find a local tour in NY to other parts eg. Philadelphia, washington D.C., Niagara fall, etc…? I tried to search on line and Gray line only do those 1 day trip to Niagara by air.

Any consideration is if we only get a local tour in NY… the hotel reservation is going to be a pain and accomodation is not cheap in NY.

Online, we can’t seem to find any decent local tour operator. Saw some that looks interesting but read very bad review on tripadvisor.

Right now, we are contemplating if we should take the land tour from Singapore tour agents…

Any suggestions?

[verykiasu2010]

MMM:

Planning for our US trip in end May.


Does any one know if it is easy to find a local tour in NY to other parts eg. Philadelphia, washington D.C., Niagara fall, etc...? I tried to search on line and Gray line only do those 1 day trip to Niagara by air.

Any consideration is if we only get a local tour in NY.... the hotel reservation is going to be a pain and accomodation is not cheap in NY.

Online, we can't seem to find any decent local tour operator. Saw some that looks interesting but read very bad review on tripadvisor.

Right now, we are contemplating if we should take the land tour from Singapore tour agents...

Any suggestions?

hardly any local tours operating from NYC to Niagara, Washington DC etc

seem some flyers before in the NYC hotels but not much choice

you can try this one : http://www.nyc.com

best option is organise your flights and hotel and then join local tours upon arriving at the destination hotels - lots of options locally

if you plan to cover Niagara and Washington DC and NYC, that is quite a bit of flying and cheap fare always require a stop over

[thebusybee]

MMM:

Planning for our US trip in end May.


Does any one know if it is easy to find a local tour in NY to other parts eg. Philadelphia, washington D.C., Niagara fall, etc...? I tried to search on line and Gray line only do those 1 day trip to Niagara by air.

Any consideration is if we only get a local tour in NY.... the hotel reservation is going to be a pain and accomodation is not cheap in NY.

Online, we can't seem to find any decent local tour operator. Saw some that looks interesting but read very bad review on tripadvisor.

Right now, we are contemplating if we should take the land tour from Singapore tour agents...

Any suggestions?

I'm also going NY end of May.

Did some research and found this tour operator.

http://www.taketours.com/new-york-ny/4-day-tour-to-canada-montreal-ottawa-toronto-niagara-falls-472-408.html

Reviews from the customers not so bad. I believe it's operated by Chinese. If you have more days you should join the longer tours which I think it won't be so rush. At first I wanted to book 4 days 3 nights to Niagara Falls but changed plans as we decided to drive.

I checked with SG tour agency before, they charge much higher and they too engage the tour operators in NYC.

For accommodation, I booked from airbnb.com. Mid town Manhatten apartment with 3 bed rooms and 2 bath rooms (we have 6 adults) costs us$ 2500 for 5 nights. This is my first time booking from this website so no comments till I return from this trip. Even hostel private rooms in good locations like Times Square cost around the same price as accommodation in NYC is very expensive.

The above serve as reference for you. Hope it helps with your planning.

Cheers!

[MMM]

thebusybee:

I'm also going NY end of May.


Did some research and found this tour operator.

http://www.taketours.com/new-york-ny/4-day-tour-to-canada-montreal-ottawa-toronto-niagara-falls-472-408.html

Reviews from the customers not so bad. I believe it's operated by Chinese. If you have more days you should join the longer tours which I think it won't be so rush. At first I wanted to book 4 days 3 nights to Niagara Falls but changed plans as we decided to drive.

I checked with SG tour agency before, they charge much higher and they too engage the tour operators in NYC.

For accommodation, I booked from airbnb.com. Mid town Manhatten apartment with 3 bed rooms and 2 bath rooms (we have 6 adults) costs us$ 2500 for 5 nights. This is my first time booking from this website so no comments till I return from this trip. Even hostel private rooms in good locations like Times Square cost around the same price as accommodation in NYC is very expensive.

The above serve as reference for you. Hope it helps with your planning.

Cheers!

Hi,

Great to know someone going around the same period :grphug:

Thanks for sharing. We saw this company and another tours4fun or something like that. But the review on tripadvisor was quite bad. So I was alittle hesitant. I am actually asking my ex-US boss who is now based on NYC if there are any reputable operators.

We were also looking around for local tour operators eg. SA tours, Chan bros, Asa, hong thai and their land tour is around $2288 - $2988 pp. It includes washington D.C, boston, niagara falls, parts of canada and NYC. I compared that against Cosmos, insights, globus and tralfagar and the Singapore operator price is quite reasonable and it captures the area that Singaporeans like to go. So might go for that provided we find something which fits well with the timing. Frankly... the thought of lugging the luggage around doesn't gel well with me.... I am combining my biz trip with a extended holiday so I still have to carry my laptop around....

For accomodation, i actually booked Radisson Martinique which seems to be in a good location (near/ next to the biggest Macy store in NYC). GG at US$250 per nite before tax. It was corp rate and seems reasonable for the price and location. We intend to stay in NYC for a couple of days after the land tour.

The flight thing was a headache too..... Fortunately finally managed to confirm my dh's redemption flight. So I think we are all set to go :rahrah:

Can you share your driving plans? We hasn't really explore this option yet. But I read that Niagara fall is like a 8 hour drive from NY. But if you break it to various stops like the tour operator. That should be do-able. My hubby wanted to get the most out of the 14 days there.

[serenasgreenhouse]

Hi, just to share one DIY travel tip. If you have a Singapore Science Centre membership, do remember to take the membership card along with you when you go on your vacation. Admission to participating Science Centres is free My sister who is in the US for half a year has visited a number of Science Centres there with her kids. The kids love the trips!