Cheap hotel recommendations in New York City – Part 6

Finding good but cheap accommodation in New York City can be a daunting task. Often the words good but cheap don’t flow in the same sentence. What’s even more daunting is if you’re traveling to the city that never sleep around the Christmas and New Years Eve period. Most hotels double or triple their rates over the 2-3 days surrounding New Years Eve and with over a million people making the trip to Times Square for New Years Eve, it makes finding that good but cheap hotel close to impossible.

Fear not, I have some tips for you. Plan ahead, especially if you’re planning a trip around Christmas and New Years Eve as you will need to book 6-8 months in advanced to guarantee good accommodation. A little research goes a long way, ask yourself what you really want to see and then decide on the best location for your stay.

I will be one of those people in New York for New Years Eve 2008 and I found well priced accommodation at the Edison Hotel (228 West 47th Street Times Square Area) and it will be my second time staying at the Edison. The staff are very friendly and it’s at a great location (within walking distance of Broadway Theaters, Rockefeller Plaza, Empire State Building, Penn Station). Why I’m so impressed with this hotel is because they gave me a room rate of $240 per night (2 twin beds) without increasing the cost over the New Years Eve period. Now some of you may think $240 a night is expensive but keep in mind that this is over Christmas and New Years Eve, a time where rates are at their highest.

Most of the time booking online gets you the best rates but I have discovered numerous times that this is not always true. Contact the hotel directly just to compare the rates.

Keep in mind that you’re going to be in the city that never sleeps and if you’re making the most out of your trip to New York, you won’t be spending a lot of time in your good but cheap hotel room.

Great attractions for kids in New York City

Parents often assume that the boroughs of New York City are too dirty, cramped or crime-ridden to visit with young children. And to some extent those issues do pose some logistical difficulties that exist anywhere there is such a large population center, and certainly are not absent in New York’s over 10 million residents and many more visitors. But it is worth the effort for families to overcome these challenges in order to mine the trove of education and entertainment in this bustling, exciting and historic city for all ages. After all, to play it easy and safe we would never take the kids from the house or the suburb. Most parents, though, aim higher than the familiarity of the Nintendo or play place!

As a mother of four young children that has traveled extensively in New York City, I have had a chance to compile a list of the things that work best for traveling there with my family. I have chosen the following categories with some eye to both the types of places in the city that can have appeal to children both in themselves while specifically emphasizing those that have made special effort to have child-friendly features. I have discussed things like museums and history first because in my experience traveling with children it is often best to do more educational things first and save more ‘inherently’ fun things like zoos or amusement centers for later in the trip when attention and energy are flagging a bit.

HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS

Statue of Liberty

Few things say either ‘New york City’ or ‘American History’ in a more strikingly visual way than the Statue of Liberty. And with kids, the more visual, the better. Hugely impressive Lady Liberty can be just the magnet for the child’s attention that parents need to be able to sneak in a few of the many lessons she has to teach. While she looms in the background and perhaps as older children climb her steps they can absorb some crucial facts about the story of our country and the immigrant experience. Tour guides there are often experienced at catching children’s attention at just the right intervals, and in my experience it is often best to plan ahead by calling a tourist office or the attraction’s information center to ask what tour guides are best at this.

Children may enjoy the trip to and from the attraction the best, as it is by boat from southern Manhattan. Practical suggestions would be that as warm as it is, it is always cold on a speeding boat, so to be able to stand on the

Best areas to stay in New York City

When in New York City, the best place to stay is NOT in New York City. I grew up in Westchester County, some 20 minutes away. My advice for staying in New York is making friends with people that don’t live in the city and staying with them, this saves you time and money. Hotels are around in the Westchester area, but if you find a hotel to stay at in New York, look for names like Holiday Inn, Marriot, etc. They will give you the best offers. I have never stayed at a hotel in New York City, so I can’t really tell this from experience, but from what I undestand, deals are easy to find when you look for big name hotels like the ones I listed above. If you are looking to have a lot of fun in the city (which you’d have to really try hard not to) you should look to find a hotel or probably even a hostel near time square. Time Square is where all of the theaters and specialty shops are. If you are into chocolate, Hershey has a factory that is in Times Square, which is really cool to stay. Most of the theaters in Time Square have easy access that is in walking distance. The reality is, you could walk around and find stuff to do all over the place in Times Sqaure. My only warning is not to be there on New Year’s Eve, it is like the most impossible day fo the eyar to get around, and people are the rowdiest, and drunkest you could ever imagine. You don’t want to be there around that time, believe me.

I hope that my advice helps. I haven’t lived in New York for almost 10 years, but I remember all of the amazing things it has to offer. I hope that my view can help anyone who is going to New York.

Places to see before you die: Reasons to add New York City to the list

If you are answering that you don’t need to see New York before you die, it is because you have never been there! If you have gone to New York once in your life, you just want to repeat the experience over and over again. I rarely met people that did not care for New York. It is probably one of the more exhilarating places on earth. New York to me is like an addicting lover…you just have to get more from him!

The moment I stepped foot in New York I was hooked! I took the overnight bus from Montreal and arrived around 7 o’clock in the morning. I had hardly slept, trying to sleep on a Greyhound bus is an experience all by itself, and arrived at Port Authority. I went outside to grab a cab. From the second I stepped foot on 8th avenue, I knew that I would love this town. I was going to a friend’s apartment from Port Authority, he was living just beside Bellevue Hospital, and I was mesmerized by the city while I was in the cab. I arrived at my friend’s place and he asked me if I wanted to take a nap and immediately I wanted to go out and walk around. I could not fathom being inside and not outside discovering this beautiful city.

New York may not be the city where you find the greatest museums or restaurants, other towns like Paris or London fit the bill more perfectly, but you find an energy in New York that you don’t find anywhere else on earth. I never feel tired when I am there. I always feel invigorated! I sometimes get up in the morning in my hotel room and feel tired but at the instant I step foot on the street, I only want to see everything there is to see. My routine when I am in town is that I get out for breakfast around the hotel, come back to the room to freshen up afterward and head out for the day. Even when I am dead tired, I find myself walking everywhere and never coming back to my hotel before 4 in the afternoon. I take a shower and dress a bit better and go out for a drink. I then decide where I want to have dinner. I don’t go to New York to go out clubbing, I come back pretty early after dinner…drop in my bed so I can start again the next day.

I wish I could recommend an exact restaurant or a precise location but everything in New York is fun. I went 14 times and plan on going back as soon as possible. Even if you don’t go up the Empire state building, visit the Statue of liberty or go to the MOMA, just breathing in the atmosphere is enough for me. I traveled to a couple of places in the world but nothing comes close to New York for me!

LQs NEW YORK CITY