And We are Off to New York

We finished our shifts at work Thursday and drove down to Seattle.  We got to the border in record time and thankfully because of our Nexus cards we had no wait at the border at all.  Traffic coming into Seattle was heavier than normal and added about a half hour to our travel time but we were fine with that.

We checked into the TowneSuite Seattle Airport hotel website which we have stayed at before.  They had a great rate and it included parking for the time we are away.  They offer complimentary breakfast and shuttle to and from the airport. 

We had a good night’s sleep and woke up at 4 am to get ready for our flight which was at 7 am.  The shuttle run on the hour and took only 15 minutes to get to the airport.  Once again thanks to having Nexus we got to clear security in the TSA priority line.  This means we don’t have to take our shoes off, we don’t have to remove our laptops or any approved liquids from our bag.  This alone saved us about 15 minutes as the security line up was long!

Our flight to JFK was on time and we love the plane we were on.  It was really new and had all the amenities that I am use to when I fly Air Canada.   Great entertainment and even games.  Bernie played chess for a few hours!

We landed on time but the terminal was very busy and we sat on the tarmac for quite a while waiting for traffic to clear.  Even once we got off the plane it was still quite a wait for our bags to show up.  But thankfully they both did.  We landed at 3:20 but didn’t actually get out of the airport until 4:15.

I had prearranged for Carmel Car Service to pick us up at the airport.  In order to get them I had to call them.  Since I don’t have an international plan with my cell phone I looked for a pay phone somewhere.  Now this was difficult.  I know that most people have a cell phone but at the airport it really should be more available since travellers often can’t use their cell phone if they come from out of the country.  I had to ask someone where a pay phone was.  I was directed outside and at the entrance to the parkade. 

So Bernie and I lugged the bags out and over to the pick up area and I quickly went to phone Carmel Car Service and was told the car would be there very soon.  And sure enough it was, and a nice car too with lots of room.  The traffic was heavy heading into the city but this is normal the driver said.  I will never complain again about traffic in Vancouver. 

Our hotel was in Upper Manhattan near Times Square.  The Sheraton New York at Times Square was right on 7^th Avenue and close to many things.  We booked this hotel on Priceline and was glad we did cause after chatting with a few others I see that we got a deal compared to those that booked directly with the hotel.

We dropped off our bags and headed out.  We knew our time in New York is limited so we wanted to get out to see as much as we could.  

We headed towards Times Square and saw  the discount ticket for Broadway shows.  The show I really want to see is Kinky Boots but it isn’t  being discounted tonight and they recommend we head to the theater to see if they have full price tickets still. 

We make our way to the theater – should add we kept gaulking at everything around us, so much to see!  When we get to the theater we scoop up some great tickets in the Orchestra section.  I am so excited!  We have an hour and a half to kill to the curtain so we turn the corner and find a nice restaurant to eat at.  Il Forna. This is their second night open and there are clearly some bugs to work out, but we are all given a free glass of wine for dining there tonight so we are happy.  In the end the meal was fabulous, the ambiance even better and wow I am in New York.

The show starts and from the get go I am enthralled.  I love live entertainment and am so glad my honey loves it too.  I even bought a Kinky Boots t-shirt. 

We walk back to the hotel and quickly crawl into bed and we are out for the night.  And shockingly we sleep in until 9 am, which is 9 hours sleep!  But it is good because with the time change it really is 6 am and hopefully our internal clock has adjusted.

Planning for Canada New England Cruise

What is different about this trip is we have never done this itinerary before.  We have never been to any of the ports (except Halifax and St. John).  We are sailing out of New York and neither of us have been there before.

So the first thing we had to do was some research.  I read thru some of the Cruise Critic boards in the port section on advice on where the pier was and good location for hotels and took notes.

After checking flights it was very obvious that flying out of Seattle (3 hours away) was much cheaper than flying out of Vancouver.  We were able to scoop up a very good deal on a direct flight for $325 each.

Now search began for a hotel for one night.  Where to stay?  Oh my New York is so big and so many options.  And since we are only there one night where should we go?  

After some discussion we ended up agreeing we need to stay downtown and do a bit of exploring since we have never been and we do get in rather early.  

Check out Priceline for hotels and decided to try my chances and book with the option of naming our own bid.  We bid on four star, Manhattan West for one night and got the Sheraton Times Square.  Looks good and close to lots and we got it for $170 for one night.  Which was very good because when I go to their site I see that the same night booked thru them is $270.

Now for car service.  At first we weren't sure, do we take transit, shuttle with others or a reserved private car.  Again we went to Cruise Critic to check out what they would recommend from the boards.  We check some shuttles and then some private cars and since the price for a private car was really not that much more we decided to book a private car.

In the end we reserved a private car with Carmel Limo.  They can be found at www.carmellimo.com 

For pick up at the airport to the hotel in Manhattan the price is $44 and they have some free coupons on their web page too and we have a $4 off coupon we can use.  We then decided why not just reserve them again for transportation to the pier the next day and we got that for $38 plus there is a $3 off coupon on their site.

Now that Flights, Hotel and Transportation are reserved we can sit back for a bit and relax.  

We are hoping to see a show downtown on Broadway while we are there.  We will make our way to Times Square and the Tickets Tonight booth http://www.nyctourist.com/broadway_tkts.asp  We will see what we can get.