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Post by kasthor on Jul 5, 2007 2:17:00 GMT -5
Hello everyone, My family and myself are considering spending 10 days in NYC for Christmas this year and here is my question... How do I get from LaGuardia to my hotel in the upper east side?? Just kidding... I found pretty good deals on flights, assuming one would book now of course, 540€ pp RT with LTU departing in Düsseldorf, Germany and we are thinking about renting an appartment and I must say, the prices are far worse than in Paris, mind you that Soho penthouse with 360° view was beautiful and for sure worth the 5000$/week... Does anyone know anyone who has an appartment to rent in NYC?  Altogether it seems that 1500$/week is the minimum to spend (thank god I'm converting to Euros!!). Atually I have no specific questions, I'm just getting excited about the whole thing (that doesn't happen all too often) and wanted to share it and maybe someone has some suggestions... For all the tourist stuff I have my girlfriend and my step dad who either lived or have visited NYC in the past, so that is not the problem but if I want these four people to come with me I need to bring up a very solid plan (yeah I'm more into logistics). So there you go after 30 years on the planet I might make it to the US! |
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Post by Shoesy on Jul 5, 2007 3:21:29 GMT -5
Good for you, Kasthor ! Everyone should visit New York at least once in a lifetime. (Do you hear that, Gitte? ) Make sure you see a Broadway show or two. Enjoy planning your trip.  |
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Post by sistereurope on Jul 5, 2007 7:22:05 GMT -5
Yes Kasthor - since you love Paris I have no doubt that you will love New York! I'm going to Paris in December - the hard part is the long wait.
Where did you look for apartment rentals? Maybe Geordy could recommend one since she lives there. NY is the one place where I usu sally stay in a hotel rather than an apartment so I would have no idea how to help you there. Otherwise I agree with Shoesy - go to a show. And if you like art there's the Met and the MOMA, which are 2 of my favorite museums in the world. Yea! I'm happy for you!
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Post by geordy on Jul 5, 2007 10:05:55 GMT -5
Yes, you must come to the USA....esp. NYC!!  Particularly in the Winter Holiday Season...it is truly beautiful and so much to see and do! Unfortunately I'm not much help in the apartment rental area..most of my visitors stay with me(in my tiny little studio apartment!  ) or hotels. I'm sure you can find some agencies however and I'd to happy to advise on the immediate area or even building if I can. |
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Post by holger on Jul 5, 2007 10:18:15 GMT -5
;D As another former New Yorker--left at age 17 to go to college, I have either stayed with family , friends or in hotels. Over the years, I have come to prefer the West Side near the Museum of Natural History to the East Side. You get more of a neighborhood feel. If you don't find an apartment, would recommend the Lucerne Hotel. When I get back from the wilds of Vermont, I will check with a friend who has rented an apartment in NYC and post the details. There are many great museums in New York, Fifth Avenue is fun at Xmas, the skating rink is also fun. There are a number of smaller museums as well. |
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Post by Ray(aka) tripnebraska on Jul 5, 2007 11:35:49 GMT -5
Kasthor,
It is always nice to laugh the 1st thing in the morning. Thanks for the "how do I get to my hotel" quip.
New York lit up for Christmas is a sight to see. Have fun planning.
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Post by trechic on Jul 5, 2007 19:25:05 GMT -5
Get tickets to see the Nutcracker! As a young girl my mother took my sister and I into the city to see the Nutcracker and then we would have a special dinner at the Waldorf! I remember all my special outfits I would get under the tree each year. My sister and I were dressed identically always. My very favorite was a champagne colored peau de soi (sp) skirt with a black velvet short sleeved top with pearl buttons.....ohhhh...those were special times!!(Sorry for the reminiscense...I just got carried away in a long ago memory)
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Post by thehatlady on Jul 5, 2007 19:40:38 GMT -5
Now THAT was funny, Kasthor! Seriously, as others have mentioned, NY at Christmas is a sight to behold. Spend a couple of evenings just strolling around looking at the displays in the store windows. Go to Rockefeller Center and see the tree lit up and watch the ice-skaters. And it's worth repeating everyone else's advice to go see a show ("Spamalot" comes to mind, but you may have seen that elsewhere by now.) As for apartments, it truly is different than Paris. Because of the expense, most apartments are rented to residents rather than tourists, who usually stay in hotels. However, if you have your heart set on an apartment, you might try looking on craigslist - here's the link for vacation rentals: newyork.craigslist.org/vac/ Just be forewarned that there's also a lot of junk listed in here, and there are no warranties as to the honesty of any of the listings! You will really need to do your due diligence if you go this route. Personally, I'd stick with the hotel (and they'll even hail your taxi back to JFK!!) I'm up here in the mountains, (90 miles northwest of NYC), but if there is anything you need help with, just let me know. |
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Post by Shoesy on Jul 5, 2007 21:49:13 GMT -5
Trechic - I too was going to suggest seeing "The Nutcracker" because I can't imagine anything more Christmasy (is that an adjective?) than that. However, when I did a Google search, I saw the price of tickets  , and I decided to keep my mouth shut. |
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Post by kasthor on Jul 6, 2007 3:29:55 GMT -5
Good morning, thank for the suggestions! The idea of an apartment is rather simple to explain, there is going to be 4 adults and 1 child, so after my calculation it will end up cheaper and we'll be more flexible, this one here looked great www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/33484.htmlNow things are very complicated, everyone is very excited about the idea but Christmas time is always a pain... Everyone wants to spend Christmas with everyone, which obviously is not possible, so there will be people disappointed in the end, which is another thing we'll have to deal with. The good surprise though is that we can get tickets from Düsseldorf for half price through a journalist friend! ;D Oh well, a lot of mental work in perspective... |
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Post by Anne on Jul 6, 2007 3:49:36 GMT -5
The appartment looks nice Kasthor . What made me smile is that they call it a "large CLEAN townhouse", as if the clean part was really something special ...
That brings a question for me : hubby and I went to NYC in 1990, and several friends who had already been there told us to be extra cautious with our choice of hotel because they said that most hotels have a lavish lobby, and then when you go to the rooms you find them to be dirty and infested with cockroaches . So we decided to play it safely (I am terrified of bugs) and chose to stay at the Hilton hotel, ave of Americas, which by the way was quite over our financial means at that time . Since we plan to maybe go back to NY next summer, I was wondering whether this thing about hotels being mostly bad is still true (or if it has ever been true BTW, maybe our friends just happened to be unlucky by picking up the worst hotels ...) .
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Post by sistereurope on Jul 6, 2007 7:39:20 GMT -5
That's a GREAT price, Kasthor!!! We go to NYC fairly often, and usually stay in a hotel - $225 a night will get you a tiny room in the equivalent of a 2 star hotel in NYC. So I'd say go for it! Anne, I've found two hotels that I've liked. The first is a "budget" hotel called the Cosmopolitan in the Tribeca neighborhood (downtown near Soho and the village). It's a really great value for the $ (about $175-200 per night for one bed). It's not fancy and the rooms are pretty small, but it's clean. www.cosmohotel.com/The second is where I stay when I take my daughter on our Broadway bus trips. It's called the Affinia Dumont and it's on E 34th street - the same street as the Empire State Building and Macy's. It's a little more money, around $250 - $275 for 2 beds, but it's REALLY nice and the management is great - I love it there. The rooms are a nice size, the bathrooms are big and they even have a galley kitchen. It's super CLEAN and considering that comparable hotel rooms in NYC are usually a lot more, again it's a value. (There are other Affinia hotels in NY but this one gets the highest ratings) www.affinia.com/reservations/index.html?sa_campaign=reservationLink/redBoldColor/topRight/homepage |
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Post by geordy on Jul 6, 2007 8:16:03 GMT -5
The apartment looks nice and the price excellent...a little far uptown, you'd be relying on the subway alot and it will most likely be cold! Anne, no most hotel rooms in NYC are not dirty or bug infested! But they are expensive and the options not as varied as say Paris. Most of them are larger, the boutique idea having caught on later here, and with real estate prices being what they are.... though there are some Bed and Breakfasts. Research and the idea that you get what you pay for really apply here! I think alot of folks want to be near Times Square( ) and get swayed by as you said nice looking exterior shots and whatever but check reviews and ask Friends ! There are nice options centrally located. And Shoesy I haven't checked but the prices on The Nutcracker can't be that bad...? Compared to Broadway?? For 2 hours of glorious entertainment in a lovely setting...? And the Angel tree at the Met? Musical Instrument tree at Lincoln Center? Oragami Tree at Museum of Natural History? THE TREE at Rockefeller Center? Radio City? Store windows? Tree lighting ceremonies all over town? Concerts? Holiday Teas? I could go on and on! |
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Post by Becky (Berkeleytravelers) on Jul 6, 2007 8:48:06 GMT -5
My last several trips to NYC I've used hotels.com to get a room, and have had very good luck. They seem to have a better selection available in NYC than many other cities, and sometimes you can get into really great places for a very modest charge -- well worth a look.
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Post by Anne on Jul 6, 2007 9:04:01 GMT -5
Thank you for your advices and I have written down Holger's and Sister's hotels for (hopefully) next year .
I checked these three hotels' websites and was very interested to find out that the Cosmopolitan hotel has got rooms that can accomodate up to 5 people (that's me+hubby+the kids), which is quite uncommon . That would be also nice for Kasthor since his party would be of 5 people too .
Unfortunately Becky, I found out that I cannot use hotels.com or other such websites when looking for family rooms or suites, because these websites only offer standard rooms for 1 or 2 (maybe 3 ? cannot remember . But certainly not 5) people . The only way to find out whether a hotel has got any such rooms and to book them is to use the hotel's own website .
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Post by sistereurope on Jul 6, 2007 9:17:21 GMT -5
Anne, For a family you also might want to look into an apartment rental. The Cosmo is a great value (and definitely clean), but it still is a "budget" hotel. I definitely recommend it, but you also could look at vrbo and price some apartments www.vrbo.com/When we took our 3 kids to Paris we got an apartment. It was so nice to have the space, and we definitely saved money!! We had a huge 4 bedroom duplex apartment in the 15th (on the rue du Commerce) for 1550 euros a week...there's no way we could have stayed in one hotel room with 3 teenagers, so that was a bargain. |
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Post by Anne on Jul 6, 2007 9:42:25 GMT -5
Thanks Sister, actually I found out that the Affinia Dumont (which looks indeed much more glamorous than the Cosmo) also has suites for 5 people, provided apparently that one of the 5 is a child . How old max is a "child" supposed to be, that is always the question ... Re your remark about staying in one hotel room with three teenagers, we did that most of the time during our 1 month trip in the Western USA last summer (in hotels like Holiday Inn Expresses and such) . I was dreading the crowding and promiscuity but it went surprisingly well ! Only had to remind the girls after two or three days that NO, they couldn't spend half an hour each in the only bathroom for their shower when everybody else wanted to have one too, and everything was fine . |
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Post by sistereurope on Jul 6, 2007 10:28:44 GMT -5
Well, I do have to say that I prefer the Affinia Dumont over the Cosmo for sure. So if you can get a suite then I'd say yes, definitely go for it!!
My family is a "blended" family - my husband had 2 boys and I had a girl when we met, so having them share a hotel room just really isn't something that I wanted to do. Thankfully they get along just like related siblings (meaning that they get on each other's nerves just as regular siblings do but no more or no less!), but still...
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Post by Shoesy on Jul 6, 2007 10:39:47 GMT -5
So Sis, Is your family like The Brady Bunch? ;D
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Post by sistereurope on Jul 6, 2007 11:05:42 GMT -5
Oh yes Shoesy, we're just like the Brady Bunch, minus 3 kids and the maid ( I always wanted that house by the way!) But lately with my husband's ever-growing garden, the chickens and his talk of wanting to move to a place with more LAND, I feel more like Green Acres!! ;D  Which gets us back on topic (New Yawk is where I'd rahter be!) |
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Altogether it seems that 1500$/week is the minimum to spend (thank god I'm converting to Euros!!).
Particularly in the Winter Holiday Season...it is truly beautiful and so much to see and do!
) or hotels. I'm sure you can find some agencies however and I'd to happy to advise on the immediate area or even building if I can.
, and I decided to keep my mouth shut.
hahahha