So, when telling two of my dearest friends about it, they mentioned that they had both always wanted to go there, I jokingly suggested: Let's go!!! I'll leave this minute!! Hehehe.... No really, I would have gone that minute!! I didnt expect them to take it as seriously, but they did. OhMyGoodness...my mind started spinning immediately at the thought of another trip!!
My first trip to NYC, as you have read in my other notes was a 4 day bus tour, basically a day to drive down, two days in Manhattan, and a day to drive back. I don't know how I thought I was going to cram in all the things I wanted to see and do into two days, but I tried my best. There were only a few things that got missed, but Charlene and I did all of the things that were the most important to us. It was spring, and so the weather was definitely not on our side, but we didn't let it stop us from doing the things we wanted to do. We were wet, and the fog took away our spectacular views, but we still had a fantastic time!! I wouldn't have changed anything about my last trip, except I would take more Advil for my aching feet, instead of leaving it in the hotel room. Duh...
This time around, we are driving there ourselves. Or, I should say, Brent is driving us there...lol! Being a non-driver, I feel bad about not being able to help out with the 9 hour journey, but I will lend my excellent navigational skills in exchange for that. We are looking at a 9 hour trip, plus extra time for resting and stretching, fuel for the car and for our tummies. We will be crossing the border at Gananoque, driving down through New York state through Watertown, Syracuse, and Binghamton. Then, we will cross into Pennsylavania, down to Scranton, then start heading east into New Jersey. Our destination is Newark, New Jersey. Wayyyyyy cheaper for hotels in Newark, and also easier to drive to. The search for a hotel was my first task as "Trip Planner Extraodinaire" Well....it took a few days of research, but I narrowed our choices down to the top 10 in my opinion, and the consensus was to go with choice #2 on the list- the Robert Treat Best Western. Apparently Robert Treat was the founder of Newark, and so the hotel is over 100 years old. It's very close to Penn Station, where we will take the train into Manhattan every day.
This trip is also a little bit longer, we are having 4 days in Manhattan, and 2 days of driving. Its a little easier to fit everything into 4 days instead of 2.
We are opting to take a bus tour on a double decker bus with no roof, so we can see all the main sights in clear view, with a tour guide explaining things as we go. I am looking forward to this, as the other bus tour I took was in a covered bus with raincovered windows. Didn't make for very good pictures, but still better than nothing! The price of the tour is amazing, in a 48 hour time frame, we get-
* tour of Lower and Midtown Manhattan- we can get on and off the bus at any stop to stay and look around
* tour of Upper Manhattan and Harlem- also hop on and off
* fully guided bus tour of Brooklyn
*fully guided boat tour of the harbor, including Statue of Liberty
* fully guided night tour of Manhattan, to see all the sparkly lights!
* free ticket to the Museum Of New York
Pretty good for $50!!!! We would likely spend that much just in cabs and subways and buses to get to all of those things!!! I love the fact that we can get off the bus and explore, then just get back on whenever we want- they run every 15-20 minutes or so. Awesome. Friggin Awesome.
One of the things I am anticipating the most is the 9/11 Memorial pools. These are two reflecting pools built in the footprints of the Twin Towers, where people can go and read the names of the souls lost that day, and to reflect. These pools and surrounding park space have been under construction for at least 5 years, and are stiill undergoing construction, as is most of the World Trade Center site. As a result of the construction, we had to book our timeslots, because they can only let a certain number of people onto the site at any given time. So, we were lucky enough to get spots on our last day there, as the timeslots are filling up very quickly. The general public has not been able to set foot on the grounds of the World Trade Center for 10 years, since that horrific day. I am honoured that I will be among the first to set foot there again. The memorial has only been open for 10 days as of today, and when we go, it will have been open for only 24 days. We are also going to visit the WTC Tribute Museum, the one run by the families. I visited this museum in April, and it was very moving to see the items on display- a crushed briefcase, a lone dust covered shoe, mangled hunks of steel beams, a piece of one of the planes, and of course, the walls and walls of photos of the victims.
As part of my navigator/tour director duties, I have been studying maps of Manhattan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. I've gotta say, New Jersey has the coolest names of cities and towns anywhere!!! Parsippany...Secaucus...Orange...Kittatinny Mountain...Poconos( I know they are in Pennsylvania...close enough)...Rahway...Netcong...Whippanny...Hackensack...Weehawken....ok, this could go on until I clear the whole map...hehe
More to come....stay tuned!!
