Florida and New York

[Floridafriend]

I have just returned from a short break to Florida and New York
Five of us travelled on this no husband,no kids break just mums and thier mums, Two of us are from the South and two from Sheffield and so the 'northeners' travelled on BMI from manchester to Heathrow on Wed eve. We then all met up and stayed in the Holiday Inn Heathrow. We departed to NY with Virgin next morning and arrived in NY JFK at about 12.10 on Thursday. We then took an internal Delta song flight to Orlando which took 2 hours. After a day in Universal, half a day in gator land. meals in the Olive Garden restaurant(very very good)n and lots of shopping we set off back to NY at 11.10 on Mon am. We arrived in NY at about 1300 I found a limo company that only charged $83 dollars plus tip for the special trip to NY from JFK and stayed overnight in The New York Helmsley. We were very pleased with the NY Hotel as four star and only £108 for a double or treble room and right on 42nd street even had an excellent deli next door for breakfast.
I can recommend the Gray line bus tour. It cost $70 and this included a 2 hour narrated night tour of NY. Entrance to Empire State building, Ellis island immigration museum, seaport Museum and boat trip out to Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty. It also gives you 48 hours of hop on hop off bus journeys all over NY with a constant excellent narrated guide and reductions for children. We then returned from NY to Heathrow on the 2100 flight. Everything went very smoothly and main benefit was as we had checked through customes in NY we had no hassle at all in Orlando straight out in about 10 mins. Cost of Internal Delta flight was £52 and flights to NY £235. Internal return flight Manchester to Heathrow was £50 and only took 40 mins! We enjoyed it so much we are taking the kids to NY flying direct to Orlando but returning from NY staying 2 weeks in Florida first.

[Ray&Sarah]

We are going to NY in August, having been once before with no children, we decided they would enjoy the NY experience. We have booked over the internet, flights hotels, car hire and a rental in Annapolis for the second week. Fingers crossed all will go well, just as long as we don't have another panic about where we put the documents we printed off again like yesterday.

We are considering an indirect flight through NY or Chicago when we visit Orlando in October. Clearing customs somewhere other than MCO does sound tempting!

[chrisj]

We had a 4 day weekend in New York a few years ago, just wifey and me. It was fantastic and
we want to go back one day, then fly to Canada from there or something like that

[george]

We went to NY in march for 4 days then flew down to Orlando on Spirit Airlines. We have now done NY 3 times in the last year. Great place to visit. Very safe as major cities goes.(No jokes please). left NY hotel at 6.45 to the Airport. Got to Orlando at 10.45. 15 minuites to get cases and car.

[Ray&Sarah]

George,

Must agree about the safety aspect, we felt alot safer than when we have visited London in the past. Didn't feel that there was a constant threat of having your bag pinched. Just a perception I suppose![msnsmile]

[fiona]

We were there between Christmas and New Year and had a great time. Felt totally safe walking around, everyone very friendly and helpful, food good. We did the bus tours for 48 hours, and you can use it the night before as well when you buy it, so excellent value, if darn cold in December! But what a way to see NY. We have tons of photos and loads of memories.

What I would say is do not go and see the Empire State Building at about 11.00am! Took us 4 hours to get in and more or less blew the day. Fabulous view, but would I have queued that long - no!

Taxis are cheap - we used to get one to go down to chinatown and eat in the evening. We stayed at a boutique hotel - Bryant Park hotel overlooking the park. Excellent rooms, but we were out all the time! Can strongly recommend the Bryant Park Grill - we had our last meal there and it was soooo good and lovely setting. Would I go back? In a flash, and see the things we didn't have time for! And see the museums in more detail. We were there when the Greco show was on, incredible.

[Ray&Sarah]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:[i]

What I would say is do not go and see the Empire State Building at about 11.00am! Took us 4 hours to get in and more or less blew the day. Fabulous view, but would I have queued that long - no!

[/quote]

The Empire State Building is the only place that we've queued to get out of almost as long as we queued to get in!

[steph_goodrum]

We must have been lucky although it was a few years ago, on both occasions we went to Empire State we walked straight in. We were staying mearby and as soon as we arrived at hotel and checked in after the flight we went as dusk and then went a couple of days later in the morning for a different perspective. We're going back in Sept. for a few days and will definitely do the Circle Line Cruise again round Manhattan island.