My sis and I planned a birthday trip to NYC for my Mom's birthday (I ruined the surprise), and hoped to live out some of our favorite Christmas movies. We had an absolute blast, and had no traveling hiccups (on time flights, never took the wrong subway). We flew in Thursday mid-day and flew home Sunday evening. It was the perfect amount of time! Below is a photo dump and some info on must see sites/food/etc.
Hotel:
- Salisbury Hotel - A modest and affordable hotel with large rooms and an AMAZING location (2 blocks from Central Park, 1.5 blocks from 5th Ave, 7 blocks from Rockefeller Center). We walked everywhere and only had to take the subway a couple of times.
- Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Rockettes)
- The Plaza Hotel (where parts of Home Alone 2 were filmed)
- Rockefeller Center
- Top of the Rock *Booked our tickets ahead of time and had about a 30-45 min wait
- Battery Park/Statue of Liberty
- 9/11 Memorial
- Grand Central Holiday Fair
- Bryant Park
- Columbus Circle Holiday Market
- Central Park/Wollman Skating Rink
- Times Square
- 5th Avenue Shopping (FAO Schwarz, Bloomingdales, Macy's)
Favorite moments of the trip:
- Seeing Mamma Mia (this was a last minute surprise, and I'm so glad we went...we laughed, cried and danced!)
- Witnessing two public weddings & both of the brides then finding me on Instagram and reposting my photos (it's a small world)
- My Sis posing w/Mickey in Times Square and then Mickey asking for $20 (seriously?!)
- The Rockettes show (specifically the Christmas scene at the very end)
- Witnessing SantaCon 2014 - lots of drunk slutty Santa's running around, quite entertaining
Food:
- Wafels and Dinges Food Truck
- By Suzette Crepes
- Brendan's Bar & Grill
- La Bonne Soupe (had the best authentic French onion soup *Tip* - head there in the early afternoon for no wait or reservation, it's a small restaurant so it fills up quick)
- Atole Pizza (right next door to our hotel...amazing!)
- Morton Williams Supermarket (this grocery store was right across the street from our hotel, and was the source for a super cheap breakfast...69 cent bagels, and snacks for dinner when we were still full from lunch)
- Serendipity 3 - we tried the famous frozen hot chocolate and the ice cream chocolate crepes
The mass amounts of people were a bit overwhelming at times, but it was totally worth it. I don't have a desire to ever go back to NYC during the winter (I had to take a bath every night to defrost), but it was a check off my bucket list for sure. Another great part of the trip is that we all stayed under budget (we saved a lot on food by not eating out 3 meals a day, but rather snacking here and there). I love creating memories of a lifetime like these, and I already love looking back on photos. I can't wait for my next travel adventure!
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