The Finale - Trip Report 5.

Let鈥檚 start with a quick recap of the trip so far鈥?/p>

Arrive at JFK, taxi to Grand Hyatt, sleep, wake up, taxi to Battery Park, ferry to SOL, Ellis Island, and back to Battery Park. Walk back to hotel stopping at WTC site, Union Square for a beer and Time Square then sleep. Wake up, walk to and around Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown and Little Italy, meal at Da Nico鈥檚, walk back to hotel. A few beers in the evening and then sleep. Wake up, go to MSG to watch basketball, look at shops, back to hotel, back to MSG for ice hockey game and back to hotel to sleep. Wake up, walk to and explore Central Park, back to Rockefeller Centre for TOTR, back to hotel and sleep. Wake up, walk to City Hall, walk over Brooklyn bridge, explore Brooklyn, see traffic argument, cross back over Brooklyn bridge, get told off by police woman for reasons unknown, explore financial centre and South Street Seaport, have a few beers, taxi to Time Square, meal at HRC, back to hotel and sleep.

If you want the full and unedited version, go to the link below for Part 4 where you will also find links for Parts 1 to 3.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k376698-鈥?/a>

Right then after that quick recap and for those who have lasted the course, we now enter my last day in New York.

Tuesday 29th November

Our flight home wasn鈥檛 until 6.30 pm so by the time we left the hotel, so we had about 5 hours left. As some of you may have noticed, I had not yet been to the Empire State Building and although I had been to the Top of the Rock, there was no way I couldn鈥檛 come all the way to NYC and not go to the top of the ESB.

Walked over to the ESB, and as we had already purchased out tickets online, we skipped the queue for tickets and went straight to the lifts. Thankfully, there wasn鈥檛 any queues and so we only had a short wait for the lift. Got the lift up to the 80th floor (I think that鈥檚 the floor number) and picked up our audio guides which we had also prepaid for online. Got the final lift up to the 86th floor. Made our way through the gift shop to the observation deck. The first thing I noticed, well it was very hard not to have noticed, was how windy it is up there. I don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 always windy up there but at times it was a battle to walk around. It certainly wasn鈥檛 that windy at TOTR .

The audio guide was very useful as you were told about the buildings by Tony, a genuine New Yorker with the accent to match. The views from up there are great and you get better views of downtown and the Chrysler building than you do from TOTR but equally not as good views of Central Park. We must have spent about an hour up there and took loads of photos.

Finally, came back down to earth and walked over to Grand Central station as we hadn鈥檛 taken any photos of the inside yet. I love the old ticket windows and the information desk that are still there and have not been replaced with their modern equivalents. Headed up to Lexington Avenue to have a look in Bloomingdale鈥檚. Didn鈥檛 buy anything as I鈥檓 most probably the world鈥檚 worst shopper and plus some of the prices were out of my range :). Headed back down to 42nd Street for a muffin and a cup of coffee in a local caf茅 and then headed over to see the UN building and to take photo of all the flags outside. We didn鈥檛 have the time to go to the Visitor鈥檚 centre so headed back to the Grand Hyatt where we had a final coffee, picked up our luggage and got a taxi to JFK.

We left at about 3 pm and got to the airport at about 3.35. We were flying with AA and there was already a long queue when we got there and it seemed they didn鈥檛 have enough staff on as it took us almost 90 minutes to get checked in. It wasn鈥檛 helped by them moving people to the front of the queue so they wouldn鈥檛 miss their flight. By the time we checked in and dropped our luggage off with the TSA mob, the queue had doubled in length from when we had arrived. Thank God, we decided to leave Manhattan a bit earlier than originally planned.

I won鈥檛 bore you with the details of the flight home because it was a boring flight as there was no decent films being shown and plus I slept most of the way. Thankfully, I had convinced my boss to let me have the Wednesday off work as I had worked the odd weekend (despite the fact I had no more days left to book) so when we landed at Heathrow at about 7 in the morning, my mate went into work and I went home to relax.

Well, that鈥檚 finally the end of my trip report. It鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e done a trip report and it鈥檚 been fun as it鈥檚 like an extension of the holiday and helps keep the memories alive that bit longer.

Thank you all for staying the distance and taking the time to read these reports. I will be publishing my photos on to a suitable website and will let you know when they are ready.

The Finale - Trip Report 5.

Mick,

Sounds like you had a fab time in NYC. Fab reports. It wasn%26#39;t windy when we went up the ESB - must have been a no wind day!!

Looking forward to seeing your photos

Cathy C

The Finale - Trip Report 5.

Oh Mick, is it really all over?

I have enjoyed your trip reports so much. Glad you went up ESB. It certainly wasn%26#39;t windy the last time I went but the first time I thanked the Man Upstairs for the barricades because it was so windy that it was scary being near the edge. I%26#39;ll have to do TOTR next time to compare.

What a great boss but I%26#39;m sure he%26#39;s working you hard now to make up for the extra time away.

Thanks for finishing this before our office closes for Christmas/New Year tomorrow.

Have you started watching flights and accommodation deals yet?

Have a great Christmas and 2006.

lol

Helen

A fine finish to a great report.

Hi Helen,

No, I haven%26#39;t looked at prices yet mainly because I have already planned other trips for next year including a trip down to your neck of the woods for 3 weeks in May. We%26#39;re going to Adelaide, then driving to Melbourne, then flying to Cairns and then Brisbane. I imagine if we take the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne we will pass through Geelong or does the GOR bypass Geelong. Is Geelong worth seeing?

Anyway back to NYC, if the finances work out next year, I would love to go back to NYC but I might perfer to wait until spring 2007 when the weather is a bit warmer.

I%26#39;m glad you all enjoyed reading the reports and would just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I%26#39;m sad that it%26#39;s the final instalment as I%26#39;ve enjoyed every single one. I have to agree that writing about the trip brings it right back to life.

Thanks for so much fun.

They were great Mick - I%26#39;m glad you enjoyed writing them cause I sure loved reading them :) Have a great Christmas.

I had a great time reading your reports. If you remember, please post a link on the NY forum when you write your Oz report. I%26#39;m sure it%26#39;ll be a fun read too.

See you back in %26#39;07!

Bettina,

Now that i%26#39;ve got into this trip report lark, I shall have to do one for my trip to Oz next May. I shall let you know the link sometime next June once I%26#39;ve got the first part done.

You%26#39;ll all be pleased to know that I%26#39;ve started the process of putting the photos on the web so will let you have the link once that%26#39;s completed.

Good oh..I%26#39;ll be watching for the link. Thanks Mick

Hi Mick,

To get to or from the Great Ocean Road, you have to drive through Geelong.

Of course, I have to say that Geelong is worth seeing! We have beautiful beaches and I am just 20 minutes walk from the bay beaches and 5 minutes walk from a trendy shopping strip with plenty of good restaurants and bars.

I would love to meet up with you and yours in May. I have a small house but a pull-out sofa bed which you are welcome to use.

The weather in May is not too cold but rather chilly! Let me know your dates as I am looking to go North to Cairns for a week or two in May/June.

Have a great Christmas.

Helen