Shall we go to New York on Boxing Day? Why not? Travel home :(

We had a lazy morning packing and watching HGTV before we left our room just before 11.

We dropped our bags with bell services (cost $12) and checked out, our bill for the destination charge and bag fee was $206.

We got coffee and a muffin for a light breakfast in Grand Central before wandering up 5th Avenue.

We met Emma and Chris and were planning to have lunch at Ellen’s Stardust Diner but the line was way too long so we went to Applebees instead.

Rob and I had burgers and Rob had a chocolate dessert, our share of the bill was £65, which was probably a little expensive.

We walked up to Rockefeller and back down 5th Avenue leaving Emma and Chris to try to visit the Lego store (they were staying an extra night). 

We popped in a few shops along the way and then went into Grand Central to get a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery.

Rob decided to buy an Omega vs Swatch Mars watch, he wanted a different one but they only had the Mars version and they all appear to be sold out online.

Mars Watch

We left the hotel just before 1600 and walked to Bryant Park where we caught an E train towards Jamaica. We had decided to try the public transport option…..

We got to 71st Ave and there was an announcement that there was an issue (something about a collapsed ceiling somewhere - the announcement was not very clear) and so people would have to get off and walk to the air train. 

Rob googled later and this was apparently at least 10 blocks!

We got off and grabbed a cab as we were now later than we had planned this took us about 20 mins and cost $42.

We arrived at about 1730 (so not too bad in the end) and bag drop and security were pretty easy - although I got a mega grumpy TSA agent who was just rude!

The journey was very stressful though  and with hindsight we should have just got a cab. We had to stand for the whole journey and then we had the whole issue with the train not going to the station as planned.

We ended up getting pizza before we departed which was just ok - definitely not the best NYC pizza.

We were onboard by 1925 waiting for the rest of the passengers to board - we were in economy but in group 7 for some reason.

The flight was very short - arrived at 0730 - so about 6.5 hours!

We had a man coughing for the whole flight so I will be surprised if we don’t get ill.

We wizzed through passport control via the e-gates and our bag followed quickly. We took a pod back to the car park and were driving out at 0830, getting home at just after 1030.

I was expecting more traffic on New Year’s Eve but the roads were very quiet!

Shall we go to New York on Boxing Day? Why not? 29th Dec

This morning we were awake at about 7am, we decided to get breakfast at Pershing Square Cafe again as we had enjoyed it the previous time.

I had strawberry pancakes and Rob had an omelette it cost $67 inc tip and again was really good.

We spent most of the day walking along 5th Avenue popping in a few shops along the way but most were very busy.

We walked as far as 85th Street then headed down Lexington Avenue.

We got cake and a drink in the Paris Baguette and then continued along Lexington. I bought a new decoration for my Xmas tree. 

At about 60th we headed back to 5th Avenue and walked down the opposite side of the street until we reached Rockefeller where it was mega busy so we diverted to Ave of the Americas.

We ended up at Times Square and wanted to go into the M&Ms store but the line was crazy so we didn’t bother.

We made our way back to the hotel and picked up some snacks on the way.

We rested for a while then headed to Grand Central to get dinner. 

We selected Prova Pizzabar, the pizza was crispy which I like 😁

We popped across to Bryant Park market to meet up with Emma and Chris. 

We had a look around for a little while and checked in for our flight home tomorrow securing seats together for free which was a bonus.

Once we were done we popped to CVS on the way back to the hotel where I got some Ghirardelli dark chocolate peppermint bark.

Shall we go to New York on Boxing Day? Why not? 28th Dec

This morning we were awake at 7am, we got coffee and a muffin at Grand Central before meeting Emma and Chris at 9am at their hotel.

We took the subway to City Hall and then walked halfway across the Brooklyn bridge and then back to Manhattan.

Next we took the Subway to Union Square and explored a few shops along the way including Lego, Best Buy, Bath & Bodyworks!

We got lunch again at Wholefoods, Rob had pizza and we both got boxes with Chicken tenders, mac n cheese plus I had a spring roll and Rob had some wings.

We also got a few cookies before we left and went back to the hotel for a rest. 

We said goodbye to Chris and Emma as they had plans for the afternoon/evening.

We headed out for a walk to Peloton Studios New York which is located on 10th Ave and 32nd St, the studios are currently closed but we wanted to have a look as we are hoping to get to a class next year!

For our evening plans we took the subway to Brooklyn to see the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights. 

This took a little while as I thought we were going the wrong way and so we got off, turned out I was wrong and we had to wait what felt like ages for another.

We eventually got to 86th St and walked a few streets to get to Dyker Heights. We wandered around taking photos for a little while. It was very busy with people on foot and also driving!

We finished up and took the subway back, we got a train back to Grand Central with only one change so that was good.

We picked up snacks on our way back to our room and then watched some HGTV before bed.