Final Thoughts on NYC

Lodging:

We stayed in a studio apartment on the border of Brooklyn and Queens.  Our lodging was clean and comfortable.  We stayed four nights and brought a couple of towels as only one towel was provided per person for the stay, and we did not have laundry on site.  Our hosts actually live upstairs, and they have small children.  We could hear the children from time to time, but we never heard them at an unreasonable time.  I could see where some might be bothered by that, but child noise does not bother us at all.  We are more bothered by people who are completely intolerant of children.  I understand being bothered by out of control child behavior, but normal activity and noise is not a problem.

Someone asked, so I will share our process in choosing lodging.  We went with HomeAway which was recommended by a friend.  This is the actual link to our apartment: 

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p193339

I looked at several places and read the reviews before making my choice.  The difference between a hotel and a private apartment is that when you book an apartment, you put down a deposit  and commit to the stay.  It is not like a hotel where you can cancel and likely be refunded any money you already paid.  I found the apartment to be more affordable and the reviews to be consistent.  When I looked up hotels, the reviews were often all over the place especially for those that we could afford.

We had a basement entry.

comfy bed

I had no intention of cooking, but we had a fridge for leftovers and dishes for when we split a salad, all very handy.  Some of the hotels had these things, and some did not.  We also had free, safe street parking which was offered at some hotels, but when reading the reviews I found that the free parking was in the lot and there were maybe 9 spaces - a gamble I did not want to take.




I woud stay in NYC this way again.   It worked out very well.  The owner was reasonable and told us that he should never count the money when he is paid by his guests.  He has never had anyone pay too little but often had to give money back to those who paid too much - a nice commentary on humanity.  The only downside to this process was that we had to meet the owner and pay in cash for our lodging which did not happen until our last day.  Other guests indicated that they got great tips from him on where to eat and things to do.  I was not crazy about carrying the cash with me.

Cheesy Tourists:

We left home early on Tuesday morning, and the first time we heard from the kids, Julia called to request that we bring something back for her.  Wyatt called shortly afterward with the same request.  We really thought we would find some fun trinkets in Chinatown reflecting Chinese culture, but we did not.

We ended up finding a reasonably priced NYPD shirt for Zach in Chinatown, and he loves it.  For Savannah, we purchased the classic NYC jersey worn by John Lennon in his most famous picture.  Andy bought the shirt with said picture on it for himself.  For Wyatt we found a cool snow globe (he's a collector of trinkets such as these).  Julia loves purses and shoes. Initially, we were going to give her the purse I bought to use while in NYC but decided it was too big, and I ended up really liking it.  We bought a small cross-body purse for her, but she is trying to take my NY purse.  We always buy magnets for our fridge when we travel, so we got one for us and one for a co-worker of Andy's.  One of the reasons we had to return to Manhattan the last night was to get Julia something.  Of course, I also bought a charm for my bracelet to commemorate both our trip and 20th anniversary.

Surprises:

The thing that surprised me the most about NY was the prices. I really expected everything to be outrageously expensive and found that prices were actually fairly reasonable.  When we arrived to the blistering heat, I thought we would be spending $3 a piece on water bottles, but they were $1 just like at home.

Our meals were very inexpensive especially considering that we ate out for every meal.  Nothing was more than we would have paid at home and often was less.  A slice of NY pizza makes for a full meal for me, and we could find that for $2.50 or less a slice.

ATM machines were available everywhere, and I was surprised at how many places only took cash.  That was a bit of a problem as we needed our cash for tolls on the way home.  We stayed close enough to a grocery where we could get cash back on purchases that we were okay on that since we were not about to pay ATM fees.

I did not expect such pricey tolls.  I knew when we flew tot he Northeast a few years ago that the truck carrying our supplies paid $60 in tolls one way, but I assumed that was because it was a big truck.  The toll roads were the worst we drove, so almost $40 in tolls each way for less than stellar roads seems like robbery.

I expected to walk to the point where my feet hurt.  I walk and run enough at home that I didn't expect that to be a big problem.  I went into the trip knowing my tennis shoes should have been replaced but did not expect the blisters.  By the end of the first day,  my feet were blistered in three places, and the number increased on the second day.  Lovely.

The heat really got to me. Andy was surprised by how much water I drank.  I was surprised by the fact that Andy did not seem as bothered by the heat.  Usually, I can take the heat, and he cannot.

Final Thoughts:

I really wrestled with whether or not to take this trip as it was expensive and far away.  We have traveled more than usual this summer, and summer is going crazy fast as a result.  This may be our last normal summer with Zach, so it was hard to leave the kids. However, over the last few months, I have felt convicted that we should celebrate marriage.  With the staggering divorce rate and the number of people choosing not to marry in our culture, I felt that a strong marriage should be cause for celebration.  Instead of bemoaning the negative, we should embrace the positive.  Our children should see us celebrate and see that we enjoy each other's company.  They should leave our house with a positive image of marriage as should our friends and our children's friends.  

When Savannah and I attended the wedding in Kansas City a few weeks ago, I witnessed a really neat idea for the wedding reception.  Married couples were asked to celebrate their marriages with a danceto kind of have an anniversary celebration at the wedding. As the dance went on, the DJ asked couples to leave the floor if they had been married less than 10 years, then less than 20, and 30 and so on.  Finally, he got to 60 years with one couple left on the floor.  While I know that divorce and death can make this wedding tradition painful, I thought it was beautiful and a great reminder that we really need to celebrate marriage.  I hope to someday plan weddings for my children, and I would really like to include this neat addition to the reception.

Andy has put up with me for 20 years.  I married up.  Here's to the next 20!