frugalist
Lead Service Attendant
My dear wife and I just returned from an amazing, incredible, fantastic week in The Big Apple. Our train trip was on the Silver Meteor from Sebring, FL to Penn Station and return in a bedroom, courtesy of AGR. We spent five nights at the very nice Four Points hotel on Chalmers St. just off Varick (7th Ave.) in the SoHo area of Manhattan courtesy of the Starwood Guest Rewards program. We also went out to Suffolk County on Long Island for a day where we spent one night at the LaQuinta in Bohemia courtesy of the LaQuinta loyalty program. My son and his girlfriend joined us for the week, coming up from Atlanta in a bedroom, returning in a roomette (bedroom was not available when they booked their trip), also courtesy of AGR.
I was raised on Long Island and worked in Manhattan for almost 20 years, but this was my first time back in 18 years. My wife is a Florida girl. For years, I've been telling her I wanted to take her to NY. Finally, earlier this year she said she wanted to go, and she wanted to go at Christmas time to see "The Tree", all the lights, the store window decorations, and everything else wonderful in NY this time of year.
What can I say except that it was magical? We walked a lot. Probably about 10 miles a day. Would've walked even more if it hadn't been so cold. Up and down the avenues. We ended up taking the subway a lot more than I thought we would, but the $27 7-day MetroCard is a bargain. Ducked into a store here, a hotel there. The Plaza Hotel is beautifully decorated for Christmas. Outside FAO Schwarz, there was a line around the corner just to get in! The window decorations at Bergdorf Goodman are incredible. Rockefeller Center is like no place else in the world this time of year. Took the Staten Island Ferry for the first time since I was a little kid. Walked the financial district, where I spent most of my working career. Walked to Washington Square. Unfortunately, the park is closed off, but the walkway to the iconic arch is open. Took the newly-renovated Roosevelt Island Tram. What a view of the city! Took in a show at the Cafe Wha in the Village. Saw a taping of The Daily Show. Went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park to remember the 30th anniversary of the slaying of John Lennon. Took the subway out to Coney Island for Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. Ate dinner at Katz's Deli (one sandwich is a meal for 2). This week, I saw New York City in a way I never did before. When I was working there, I would commute into the city from Long Island, do my job, then commute home. This week, I was a tourist, showing off the city to my wife, my son and his girlfriend.
Our day on Long Island was one of reliving old memories. We took the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, rented a car, then drove around the neighborhoods where I grew up. We ate at some of the old places I used to enjoy. Again, very magical. Saturday morning, it was back on the LIRR to Penn Station. Walked into the ClubAcela, got our tickets printed for the trip home, checked a couple of bags, then went for one last walk up and down 8th Avenue before it was time to board our trains. My son had some White Castle belly-bombers (around 35th St.), my wife and I each had a dog at Gray's Papaya (around 37th St.) and we each had a very good $1 slice of pizza at a corner walk-up counter (around 38th St.). Walked across 42nd St. to get one last look at Times Square before it was time to head back to Penn Station.
The ride on Amtrak was very nice. So much better than flying, but then again, you guys all know that! It's so nice to relax in the peace and comfort of our own compartment. Plenty of room to move around in. I was really surprised at the size of the bottom bunk. My wife and I are both, shall we say, fluffy. But we managed to get into the bottom bunk very nicely and snuggled up to one another all night long. Neither one of us was looking forward to trying to climb that ladder to get into the upper!
Climate control worked great. Meals were very tasty, although my wife's steak on the return trip was way over-cooked and she ended up leaving about half of it uneaten. This is the way to go! The trips were pretty much uneventful. We were about an hour late getting into Penn Station, and about 30 minutes late getting into Sebring. No big deal. Our SCA on the northbound trip was one of those guys who just did the minimum. Even still, I gave him a small tip, and when I did he looked at it, fanned it out to see if there was any more, then slightly shook his head in disappointment. If there weren't half a dozen suitcases between him and me in the car's vestibule, I would've grabbed the money out of his hand and put it back in my pocket. On the other hand, our SCA on the southbound trip, Ray, was excellent. He popped his head in several times to see how we were doing or if we needed anything. He brought us the Sunday Times in the morning (I had forgotten we were entitled to a morning paper, since our northbound SCA neglected to give us one). And he brought our lunch to us in our room at our request (extra tip for that service, of course).
The only negative came at the very end of the trip, when we got back to our house. We had an outside water pipe burst and it was shooting water out like a volcano. We asked around, and apparently there was a deep freeze Tuesday night. So this thing was spewing since Wednesday morning. Luckily we were able to get a plumber out right away (on a Sunday evening) to fix it. We just add the repair bill to the cost of the vacation, which wasn't very much anyhow.
In case you couldn't figure it out, we all had an absolutely wonderful time.
Next up: an Alaska cruise roundtrip out of Vancouver in July. The train trip from Sebring to Vancouver, roundtrip in bedrooms all the way, has already been booked, again courtesy of AGR.
I was raised on Long Island and worked in Manhattan for almost 20 years, but this was my first time back in 18 years. My wife is a Florida girl. For years, I've been telling her I wanted to take her to NY. Finally, earlier this year she said she wanted to go, and she wanted to go at Christmas time to see "The Tree", all the lights, the store window decorations, and everything else wonderful in NY this time of year.
What can I say except that it was magical? We walked a lot. Probably about 10 miles a day. Would've walked even more if it hadn't been so cold. Up and down the avenues. We ended up taking the subway a lot more than I thought we would, but the $27 7-day MetroCard is a bargain. Ducked into a store here, a hotel there. The Plaza Hotel is beautifully decorated for Christmas. Outside FAO Schwarz, there was a line around the corner just to get in! The window decorations at Bergdorf Goodman are incredible. Rockefeller Center is like no place else in the world this time of year. Took the Staten Island Ferry for the first time since I was a little kid. Walked the financial district, where I spent most of my working career. Walked to Washington Square. Unfortunately, the park is closed off, but the walkway to the iconic arch is open. Took the newly-renovated Roosevelt Island Tram. What a view of the city! Took in a show at the Cafe Wha in the Village. Saw a taping of The Daily Show. Went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park to remember the 30th anniversary of the slaying of John Lennon. Took the subway out to Coney Island for Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. Ate dinner at Katz's Deli (one sandwich is a meal for 2). This week, I saw New York City in a way I never did before. When I was working there, I would commute into the city from Long Island, do my job, then commute home. This week, I was a tourist, showing off the city to my wife, my son and his girlfriend.
Our day on Long Island was one of reliving old memories. We took the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, rented a car, then drove around the neighborhoods where I grew up. We ate at some of the old places I used to enjoy. Again, very magical. Saturday morning, it was back on the LIRR to Penn Station. Walked into the ClubAcela, got our tickets printed for the trip home, checked a couple of bags, then went for one last walk up and down 8th Avenue before it was time to board our trains. My son had some White Castle belly-bombers (around 35th St.), my wife and I each had a dog at Gray's Papaya (around 37th St.) and we each had a very good $1 slice of pizza at a corner walk-up counter (around 38th St.). Walked across 42nd St. to get one last look at Times Square before it was time to head back to Penn Station.
The ride on Amtrak was very nice. So much better than flying, but then again, you guys all know that! It's so nice to relax in the peace and comfort of our own compartment. Plenty of room to move around in. I was really surprised at the size of the bottom bunk. My wife and I are both, shall we say, fluffy. But we managed to get into the bottom bunk very nicely and snuggled up to one another all night long. Neither one of us was looking forward to trying to climb that ladder to get into the upper!
Climate control worked great. Meals were very tasty, although my wife's steak on the return trip was way over-cooked and she ended up leaving about half of it uneaten. This is the way to go! The trips were pretty much uneventful. We were about an hour late getting into Penn Station, and about 30 minutes late getting into Sebring. No big deal. Our SCA on the northbound trip was one of those guys who just did the minimum. Even still, I gave him a small tip, and when I did he looked at it, fanned it out to see if there was any more, then slightly shook his head in disappointment. If there weren't half a dozen suitcases between him and me in the car's vestibule, I would've grabbed the money out of his hand and put it back in my pocket. On the other hand, our SCA on the southbound trip, Ray, was excellent. He popped his head in several times to see how we were doing or if we needed anything. He brought us the Sunday Times in the morning (I had forgotten we were entitled to a morning paper, since our northbound SCA neglected to give us one). And he brought our lunch to us in our room at our request (extra tip for that service, of course).The only negative came at the very end of the trip, when we got back to our house. We had an outside water pipe burst and it was shooting water out like a volcano. We asked around, and apparently there was a deep freeze Tuesday night. So this thing was spewing since Wednesday morning. Luckily we were able to get a plumber out right away (on a Sunday evening) to fix it. We just add the repair bill to the cost of the vacation, which wasn't very much anyhow.
In case you couldn't figure it out, we all had an absolutely wonderful time.
Next up: an Alaska cruise roundtrip out of Vancouver in July. The train trip from Sebring to Vancouver, roundtrip in bedrooms all the way, has already been booked, again courtesy of AGR.
