ELTIPS AV R T
Well, it was my job to find out and the first task was getting there for as little as possible.
Iceland’s WOW air is not the quickest way to go but with fares from £139.99 one way, I was prepared to drop in on Reykjavik from Gatwick.
Created by Icelandic entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen in 2011, WOW flies to NYC daily from the London airport, three times a week from Edinburgh and twice a week from Bristol.
The detour means the trip takes about three hours longer than a direct flight – and the plane’s cabin is strictly no-frills. But that was s no problem for passengers who hadad a book or tablet for entertainment. nt.
Once in New York I checked into the Arlo NoMad Hotel, which h is just a few steps from the Empirere State Building.
This is a luxury boutiquestyle hotel but keeps the price down by offering micro guestest rooms that combine flexible, le, modern furniture with efficientent storage space. There was a playfulful touch too – a handheld steamerr to iron out crumpled clothes.
Its 31st-floor rooftop bar – The Heights – had great views and delicious cocktails. The ground-floor floor restaurant, Massoni, offered what they called “inauthentic” Italian food by American TV chef Dale Talde, featuring dishes inspired by Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Korean recipes. Getting around New York’s five boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island – is easy due to the city’s mass transit system of buses and subway. I used an unlimited MetroCard that cost only £ 25 for seven days and it covered almost all of my travel in the city. I also braved the streets on two wheels by buying a pass for the 10,000 Citi Bikes that are locked up at 600 docking stations. Access to the bikes costs £9.50 a day or £20 for three days. To get the ultimate sky-high view SAVE some cash when visiting the 9/11 memorial and One World Observatory by eating like a local. Nip to Tartinery at nearby Brookfield Place, known as Hudson Eats. It sells open sandwiches on rustic bread and meals cost from £6.40. For great food in Times Square you can’t beat City Kitchen, a market counter-style restaurant featuring classic ramen soups, edamame and pork buns, plus glasses of Japanese beer and traditional sake. of NYC I visited the One World Observatory on top of the One World Trade Center – the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Words cannot really describe how spectacular the view is up there.
But if heights make you feel queasy you can get an incredible view from sea level by hopping on the Staten Island Ferry. It is free and leaves every 30 minutes, seven days a week, between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan.
You will get a good look at the Lower Manhattan skyline, the New York Harbour, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Priority
New York has been described as the cultural capital of the world but that too can be done cheaply.
The New York CityPASS is £107 and provides entry – and sometimes priority entry – into attractions such as the 86th floor observatory at the Empire State Building, the AmericanAm Museum of Natural HistoryHi and The Metropolitan MuseumMu of Art. CityPASS holders can also visit the Top of the Rock Observation Deck at the Rockefeller Centre, the Guggenheim Museum, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
To get a flavour of the city’s rich history make sure you also visit the Museum of the City Of New York.
It was founded in 1923 to preserve and present the history of the city and its people.
The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, also attracts great exhibitions.
As Sinatra pointed out, this is the city that never sleeps so I decided Times Square was the place to burn some midnight oil.
Adorned with huge neon billboards it is the centre of theatre land with Broadway running right through it.
I went to see the Tony-winning musical Avenue Q – a hilarious and heartfelt story of a bright- eyed college graduate who arrives in New York with big dreams but little money in his wallet.
That sounded a bit like me – so it was a fitting and brilliant end to my fairy tale in New York. FACTFILE: Rooms at the Arlo NoMad start from £160 per night. There is also NoMad’s sister hotel, Arlo Hudson Square, on the edge of SoHo in Lower Manhattan. Both hotels have shared spaces to relax in. arlohotels.com. citypass.com, citibikenyc. com, wowair.co.uk, mta.info.