We almost couldn't get the sunshine through Customs...

New York is an amazing city! We had a few adventures before settling down to enjoy our holiday; namely not being able to get into our guesthouse for 24 hrs (avoid the East Village B&B. I won’t bore you with everything they fucked up, but suffice to say we had a great holiday despite of them, not because of!) I also lost my bag which contained my MP3 player, camera, money etc. Hopefully I can claim the bag back on insurance. Regardless of this, it truly was a fabulous holiday and I’m so glad my partner and I got to go. We met some lovely people. Far from being brusque we found New Yorkers to be warm, chatty and charming.
What did we do: Coney Island; Central Park (I took my partner on a horse drawn carriage ride with a bottle of champagne); Grand Central Station; Times Square; New York Aquarium (loved the sharks and the turtles, and saw a sea lion show that had me laughing my head off); Ellis Island (found some of my ancestors and had to go through Quantanamo-like security clearance to get on the ferry over to the island. Good job my trousers didn't fall down when I removed my belt!); New York Public Library (where they filmed Ghostbusters); Staten Island Ferry and we paid our respects at Ground Zero. And we ate so well: Italian, Latin American; Thai; Mexican…!
We did a lot of shopping as well. Let’s just say I’m OK for underwear for a while… as well as trousers, tops and trainers.
The rugby wasn’t bad either! Randall’s Island wasn’t the best place for a sporting competition simply because the pitches were so horrendous – full of rocks and glass. I sat down and cut my hand quite deeply on some glass so consequently spent most of my time standing and got very, very sore knees. But we caught the sun and saw some great rugby action. My team was knocked out of the competition which was disappointing. Ironically they played their consolation game against the LA Rebellion with flair and imagination setting up good passages of play and putting in hard tackles – so at least we left with our heads held high and a 30 – 3 scoreline in our favour.
We flew with United who upgraded us on the way out (and gave us a free bottle of champagne) and upgraded us on the way back. We got back on Thursday feeling pretty shagged it has to be said. Since then we’ve been DIY’ing and gardening and trying to adjust to (a) not being on holiday anymore (b) going to bed and getting up at sensible times!
Pluto was delighted to see us (I missed him so much!) and loved the toys and treats I’d got for him.
Anyway, I’m writing this on my lunchbreak so I need to get back to work. Would thoroughly recommend NY for a holiday though and we will definitely being going back soon…

TOP TIPS
Travelling around NY is dirt cheap. It’s $24 for a weekly unlimited travel metro card (it’s the equivalent of a weekly 1 – 6 travelcard - except at a fraction of the cost!) Yellow cabs are good value too: don’t forget to tip. There are some private cab companies, one of which approached us in the street. Maybe this is just me, but I would stick with the Yellow’s. I couldn’t see a licence or ID in this particular private cab and frankly I just didn’t think it was worth the risk. Yellow cabs also have huge boots (or trunks) and lots of leg room!

Getting from the airport to anywhere in Manhattan is $45 plus tolls. However for some reason this price is not advertised for the return journey. Make sure you ask whether you have the option of being on the meter or whether you can do the flat fare though. Traffic is really, really bad getting to the airport and if you get stuck in a jam, your fare could shoot up. At least asking for - and hopefully getting - the flat fare means you can sit back and relax…

The subway is a bit crap if you have any mobility issues, but the buses are fully set up for wheelchair access – much better than our own buses. And before you disappear down a subway, check which side of the street you need to be on! Different platforms are often served by different entrances and once you are underground, you have to come up, cross the street and go down again to access the correct platform. You can also only use your metro card once every 18 minutes!

We felt very safe in NY but obviously it pays to have your wits about you and always try and plan journeys in advance - especially in the evening / night.