I have wanted to go to New York for as long as I can remember. Not going to lie, I invited myself on this trip, and I am so glad I did because I had the most amazing time. I don’t think they minded, haha. The only thing that would have made it better is if it hadn’t been so cold and rainy.
We went for 5 nights and saw A LOT, so I decided to break up my posts so this one wasn't forever long. This first post will be about traveling and our hotel. I will also share some travel essentials down below in case you have a trip coming up soon.
Our flight left from Nashville and we flew direct into JFK. If it’s available and reasonably priced, I would try to fly into LaGuardia. That airport is closer to Manhattan, so you can see all the buildings when you fly in. That may not be a big deal to some people, but I thought I would point it out just in case. If you are staying in Manhattan I bet an Uber or car service would be cheaper as well. We did an Uber instead of the trams and subway, which I highly recommend! I believe the Uber was cheaper when we booked it that same day. Before you book an Uber though, I would call your hotel and see if they have a shuttle or car service and how much. When we were leaving, our hotel said a car with them would have been cheaper than our Uber.
Now for our hotel. If you don’t have a Hilton Honors account, you need one. We were able to stay at our hotel for free using my husbands points! He does stay in hotels a lot for work, but the account is free and you get points every time you stay in any Hilton hotel. That includes a lot of different hotels now, so definitely get one. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Manhattan/Times Square Central. 220 West 41st Street New York, NY 10036-7203. Check in is at 3:00pm and check out is 11:00am. We arrived in New York before check in, but they have a place to store your bags until your room is ready, which is what we did so we didn’t have to tote our luggage around while we explored. If you plan o getting an early flight so you have a full day, which I recommend, double check with your hotel before you get there if they do have a luggage check.
In my opinion this hotel was a good location because it was walking distance to Times Square, the subway, Broadway, shopping, and restaurants. There were places we wanted to see where we had to take the subway, but there was a lot right there that we could walk to since we didn’t really want to be on the subway too late. Speaking of the subway, if you are going to be in New York for a few days I would go ahead and buy a metro 7 day unlimited pass. It was $33 and you can ride it as many times as you want within the 7 days. A one time pass is $2.75, so you have to pay that every time you ride. They do have Apple Pay at the gates, so you can just tap your phone if you wanted to pay each time. I think you might also be able to get an app to pay with as well, but I’m not sure about that. To be honest with yall, I wanted a metro card, haha.
I am no New York expert or travel expert by any means, but if yall have any questions about the travel part or hotel definitely reach out to me or comment below and I’ll try to help! Now I wanted to share some travel essentials for traveling on a plane or just traveling in general. I plan on doing a detailed travel essentials post too, so be on the lookout for that!
The number one thing I used most and recommend is the phone charger. Several of the ladies with me used it as well because they loved it too. It is lightweight and you can still use your phone. So it is perfect if you still want to use your phone for videos and pictures.
Be sure to follow me on the LikeToKnowIt app if you don’t already for links to things I share. The app is completely free and it does not charge you extra to shop those links. It just helps out my business and I always appreciate it! I will post my first New York vlog down below as well if yall want to check that out next! Keep a look out for more NY vlogs and more NY blog posts! I hope yall are excited to see my trip!
