Four Days in NYC

After having our little girl we decided it was time for mom & dad to get away for few days for a bit of adult time so we booked a trip to the city that never sleeps for last November after our little girl turned one. A friend told me when I was beginning to chicken out of booking as didn’t want to leave my little lady, the best gift you can give your kids is a good marriage so off we went 😊

We went to New York mid November for four nights and had an absolute blast, spent a fortune, drank & eat at delicious bars & restaurants and shopped until we dropped, believe it or not hubby is a bigger shopper than me!!! 😆🛍

I flew out Norwegian Airlines as they were super cheap (save the $$ for the shops!!) and also my husband was working upstate New York so worked out perfectly, we stayed in a Holiday Inn up close to Woodbury Common on the Thursday night which is half hour drive from Stewart International Airport & hubby had a car so was perfect! With jet lag I was awake from dawn which was a pity as first night with no baby to wake me!! But it helped us get up & out early so we could get a good run of the day at Woodbury Common.

We LOVED the place it was massive and had nearly everything, we literally shopped until we dropped getting lots of sportswear, makeup & face creams, kids clothes & most importantly a designer handbag!!! 😁👜

I was delighted we had the car as we could bring our shopping bags back to the boot every few stores!! Definitely worth considering hiring a car for the trip to WC.

Woodbury has amazing outlet discounts in all the stores, click here for their website to download the discounts. You can get the bus to WC from Port Authority, the back of the ticket has a coupon for the discount book you can pick up at reception. If you get the bus there are lockers where you can store your shopping & one tip would be bring or buy a suitcase to help bring everything back to city & home!

✨ TIP: One thing we did do and I’m delighted, was pick up clothes for our little girl for next few years so we’re still taking down new bits and it’s like the trip that’s keeps on giving & we got great deals in Hilfiger & GAP for kids and such good quality!

🌟 Overall Woodbury Common was defo worth the trip with sooooo many great stores with amazing offers we didn’t even get to them all & great onsite facilities with WIFI, restaurants etc!

We drove into NYC for 6pm ish on Friday evening…….very romantic to drive into all the skyscrapers all lit up but also a recipe for a divorce 😆 let’s just say navigating on a highway can get stressful especially if the battery on your phone with google maps dies as you are about to go into Manhattan!!!!!! 🙈 Eventually got to where we should be going to drop our hire car off (was delighted to see the back of it!) and walk around the block to our hotel!

We stayed in The Lexington Hotel which is on Lexington Ave & 48th Street. It’s a fab newly renovated hotel with great facilities- bar & Starbucks ✅✅😆 But it’s location was so central, it’s just two blocks off 5th Avenue so meant we could walk most places!

🌟 Would definitely recommend this hotel as it’s a great price, not too small as far as New York hotels go & super central!

As we only had 4 days in the New York I wanted to be super organized so we could see as much as we could #noregrets and I love to be organized!!

Friday night – I had dinner booked at Beauty & Essex for Friday night at 11pm, knew we would conk after with jet lag so wanted to do drinks first & we got to the city so late! So after a quick turn at the hotel we ventured down 5th Avenue taking in the sights & lights, absolutely breathtaking! We stopped off at a wine bar for a little bubbles & then went to 230, a rooftop bar on 5th Av not far from the Empire State Building, we didn’t know what to expect but it was fab, we sat outside all snug on a terrace with heaters & blankets sipping bubbles & beer over looking the Empire State Building, it was another ✅ off our list!

We got a cab downtown to Beauty & Essex, it is the coolest restaurant, perfect for a lovely Friday night dinner! From the front it’s just a pawn shop but then as you step through the door behind the pawn shop it’s a total different world it’s so hard to explain but must be seen! There are a number of different floors & each one different, we had a drink on the ground floor in a really cool bar, I popped to the ladies & didn’t want to leave it 😆 there was a Prosecco bar in the toilet!!! 🥂 My kinda bathroom!! 😃 We has dinner upstairs, they serve delicious tapas & cocktails, the music kept my jet lag at bay.

🌟Verdict: loved Beauty & Essex so much it’s so different it’s hard to explain but lively drinks & food in a really cool setting but it’s kinda like a night club so if you don’t want something upbeat maybe give here a miss but it’s really worth a visit!

On Saturday we got up and went to Times Square which was only few blocks away, it was super cool stepping into the craziness of it, we went for lunch in The Hard Rock Cafe for the American experience.

I was so glad I had bought a new pair of Nikes in Woodbury Common we walked half of Manhattan but loved every minute, we were hoping to walk the High Line but it started raining so we took cover at The Standard Hotel.…..we had a beer in the Biergarten, it had real Oktoberfest vibes. We then went up to the rooftop at The Standard and fell in love with the city all over again, you can see uptown & downtown Manhattan as well as the river depending on what way your looking! We got a few glasses of bubbles & sat back and watched the sun set over the city in both directions it was just fabulous we didn’t want to leave! The bathrooms even over look the river & city!

We tried to book dinner in The Spotted Pig as I had read so many great reviews but you can’t book & the wait when we got there was too long so we got drinks & went around the corner for dinner. The Spotted Pig is cool it’s like a funky pub and not too dissimilar to pubs here so we didn’t mind not having dinner there. We had dinner in The Left Bank on the corner of this block & the food was delicious.

On Sunday morning we woke up & strolled up to upper east side for breakie all the while taking in the streets, we found a diner just around the corner from The Plaza exactly what we wanted to enjoy the American diner experience. We tried to get into Sarabeths but the wait was too long would recommend booking!

We strolled Central Park up to The Boathouse for a drink I had tried to book brunch but it was booked out, would definitely pre-booking online. The setting is just magical & felt like I was in a movie!

We got the subway down to Brooklyn to walk the Brooklyn bridge but first we wanted to experience Brooklyn, we went down to The River Cafe for a drink but it was closed but looked like a fab place, have heard great things so would be worth a visit! Dumbo is also another cool spot there too!

Walking back towards Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge at sunset was class just so surreal walking into the tall skyline, you can see the Statute of Liberty in the distance too ✅

We did Broadway on Sunday night, we went to see The Lion King it’s was brilliant, a fabulous production & one of our favourite Disney stories! We went to a steakhouse after off Times Square which was delicious just quite.

Monday was our last day so we made the most of it by doing some last minute shopping 🛍 love LuLulemon so stocked up in their 5th Avenue store and got some Christmas gifts!

We also had to squeeze in some last sights so got the subway downtown to Wall Street, it was great to check out what you see in the movies & we went to the One World site – the memorial to the twin towers which was very peaceful but sad.

We got the subway back to Grand Central Station which was pretty magical as I’ve seen it in the movies lots! We got brunch in Pershing Square it was just delicious & lovely New York style diner, I had actually been 10 years previous with my mum & was delighted to stumble across it!

Here are some restaurants & bars we never made it to but were on my list;

• Balthazar

• Tao

• Rue 57

• 21 club

• Magnolia Bakery

• Buddakan

• Il Cantanori

• The River Cafe

• Hudson Hotel 58th st – rooftop

🌟 Top Tips 🌟 we realised you don’t just walk out of hotel and find cafes/restaurants so having a list of places mapped out is definitely recommended & I would prebook what you can in advance on OpenTable as the good place book up fast!

Can’t wait to go back to try more of my list of places to go! Would definitely recommend New York for a weekend away for shopping, sights and food & drinks!

Aisling x

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