So after the wedding of the year, what better than the honeymoon!! Now as we’ve already done a fair bit of travelling, and seen some incredible sights, it was always going to be difficult to decide where to go on this particularly special trip.
So we decided to take the plunge and explore uncharted waters, with our first ever visit to America. And where better to start than with the frenetic, melting pot of the USA that is New York!
Or more specifically Manhattan, known by locals as The City. The city so good they named it twice – New York, New York.
We flew with BA and it wasn’t too bad at all. Nice vegetarian meals and good choice of new films kept me occupied for the seven and a half hour flight from London Heathrow.
On arrival at JFK , don’t waste money getting a taxi into Manhattan, the skytrain services JFK airport and gets you seamlessly onto the connecting metro system for a mere $5 instead of the $60 plus that taxis will charge you. Just do a little forward planning about which line will get your to your hotel.
We stayed for eight nights in the Marriott Residence, Downtown, World Trade centre district.
Perfectly positioned, just five minutes walk to the One World Observatory, ten minutes to the historic South Street Sea port and about 15 minutes walk to Battery Park where you can cruise to the Statue of Liberty or grab the free Staten Island ferry.
The hotel is also close to Fulton Street subway which gives you easy access to the whole of Manhattan. We chose to get a 7 day metro pass, which at around $32 was good value as we hopped on and off several times a day.
We dropped off our bags and headed out to explore the nearby area. First up we headed to the South Street Sea Port. This is a historic area that was badly damaged by hurricane Sandy in 2012 and is gradually being renovated.
We can see over the East River towards Brooklyn and the first of our many views of the majestic Brooklyn Bridge.
This towering edifice is an iconic sight – a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge and one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States.
It’s all rather exciting for us small town folks!
From our vantage point on Pier 15, along with views of Brooklyn, if we turn around we also get our first glimpse of the towering highrises of Manhattan. When you are actually in the city you can’t quite get a sense of it all
Then we have a potter along Pier 16 – the Street of Ships, and a nosy at just one of the old boats moored up there.
A good start to what will be an amazing, whirlwind trip of one of the world’s most exciting citys.
