Lisa and I picked up the holiday off of ITV's Teletext, the third time we've booked holidays using this method, which I now find to be a reliable, easy and cheap method of booking, although frequently you'll have to put up with dodgy chartered flights (like Monarch or Air 2000) which can at best be extremely tiresome (I resent having to buy headphones on an eight-hour flight and then having to crane my neck to see over the passengers to the front row screen only to be watching some family-friendly film like Rugrats: The Movie or the latest lame Adam Sandler effort). Luckily, New York's based more around scheduled flights and we have an extremely good flight from United Airlines.
There's no denying that holidaying in New York is not cheap for a comparable length of time anywhere else. Although due to their regularity the flights can be obtained reasonably cheaply, accommodation hikes this up incredibly, and the trip ends up costing us £450 for the return flights and four nights in the hotel. Not cheap by any standards (especially for a long weekend break), but compared to prices quoted by travel agents (generally at least £100 more), not too bad. Plus we did go in the peak Christmas shopping period.
Arrival
The flight from Heathrow on United Airlines was incredibly painless, enhanced
massively by the wonder of scheduled flights that is free booze. Plus we had
individual TV screens, and I enjoyed the luxury of an emergency exit. Sheer
bliss. However, we did not have transfers included in our deal (as seems the
norm), and had to make our own way from JFK Airport into Manhattan. Whilst the
taxi is relatively cheap, the patient wait in line for a cab took over an hour,
never the sort of thing you want after a long flight (while suffering from the
inevitable dehydration from a little too much booze). Outside the airport it's
chaotic, noisy and frustrating having to wait so long for a taxi. Being novices
here does not help as you're never sure whether you're in the right queue or
whether there's a better way of getting a lift other than endlessly hanging
around chain smoking. As in London there are a few obviously unlicensed taxis
driving slowly past, touting for custom (and obviously not allowed to stop in
the main taxi rank). We're certainly not comfortable enough upon arriving to
hail one of these.
Straight away after getting into the cab, one of the famous New York clichés was disproved. All the officially licensed taxi cabs have mission statements in them, one of which is the promise to give you peaceful journey without endless nattering from the driver. And indeed he did not speak to us at all, except for one point asking me whether our cyclists in London were as mental on the roads in cities (they are). Still, at least he knew where we were from, which is more than can be said for the receptionist at the hotel, who accused me of being German...
Nothing quite prepares you for your first sight of Manhattan. It was dark and the sight as you cross one of the bridges, seeing all of the skyscrapers lit up against the night sky is unlike any other view I've experienced. Either you like industrial views or you don't, but it certainly did it for me, and the level of excitement it raised in me made my hangover induced jetlag and tiredness lift. Because of the endless exposure we've had to New York from every angle it feels like stepping on to a very familiar film set. But bloody hell, an impressively large one indeed.