New York - Midtown a good place to stay?

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Another car option... Cheap Car Hire. Book online today at Cheap-car-rental.com!

Like the other suppliers mentioned so far.. ALL INCLUSIVE! The critical factor IMO with US car rental is the "CDW/LDW" (Collision/Loss damage Waiver) It is NOT insurance.. it is a fee paid for the rental company to waive its right to charge YOU all the costs related to loss/damage to the vehicle.. including "loss of use" charges...

My American friends generally get cover through houshold insurance (as already mentioned) or by paying for the rental with a CC that offers same...

I even tried to get a B of A CC to take advantage of that feature!!:D

You must REALLY like driving to plan to drive right across the US!! Atlanta to Baltimore was enough for me!!
 
alien said:
just looked at the entertainment book website and noticed that all books are not $9.99USD instead of about $32USD

New York City- Local - Restaurants, Hotels & Travel, Shopping & Grocery - Entertainment Coupon Book

Yeah, I noticed that. $5/book shipping world-wide too. We ended up buying an NYC and LA book today (thanks for the kind offer anyway Mal). Figured we'll easily get $30USD worth out of them. :) Looks like all the coupons expire in November, which suits us fine.

trooper said:
You must REALLY like driving to plan to drive right across the US!! Atlanta to Baltimore was enough for me!!

Indeed. :)
I usually do a road trip with my dad once a year - covering ~4,000km in ~4 days. Last one was slightly less - Sydney to Broken Hill to Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney in just under 4 days. I love driving on open roads (looove the Barrier Hwy), and we still have plenty of time to stop and see things along the way. :)

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
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Wow! I'm doing Canberra to Broken Hill and back for the long weekend and that will "do me" for a while!!

Enjoy the trip... hope you can find a decent one way hire.... those drop off fees can hurt!
 
trooper said:
Wow! I'm doing Canberra to Broken Hill and back for the long weekend and that will "do me" for a while!!

Enjoy the trip... hope you can find a decent one way hire.... those drop off fees can hurt!

I take my hat off to you guys who enjoy driving. I found driving OK in Hawaii, but here in Australia, I hate it! When you have to contend with the Pacific Highway or the Bruce Highway you soon start to think - why drive when you can fly and rent at the other end?

My son is learning fast - He had a drive up the I 405 in LA to Beverly Hils to go to work each day. He solved that problem by moving to West Hollywood.
 
Thanks Maca44 - I had a quick look at that site before but lost the URL (and Google turned up everything but :)). I'll keep an eye on it.

Robert Barlow said:
When you have to contend with the Pacific Highway or the Bruce Highway you soon start to think - why drive when you can fly and rent at the other end?
I guess it all depends. I hate traffic as much as the next person, but I once had the choice between driving/flying to CBR at night. I decided to drive (needed my car that weekend for racing at Wakefield anyway so it worked out perfectly).

I actually worked out that, door to door, it was quicker to drive than to fly! I live about 10min from the Padstow M5 entrance...and with good traffic and a clear run, it was quicker than driving to the airport, checking in, waiting, boarding, flying, then catching a cab to my destination. It was even double demerits, so I sat right on the speed limit. :) Oh, and then there's the mileage $$$. :cool:

But to each their own. I may fly down next time, just for the QFF points. Or I may drive and make another slight detour to Wakefield on the way home. ;)

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
FOR FEBS - check your rate for the hotel includes all city/state/bed taxes as on your USD$225 per night this will add just under USD$40 per night to your bill making it around AUD$323 per night OUCH!!

We go to NYC every year for 2 weeks plus and sublet an apartment. Depending on the time of year it costs us no more than AUD$200 per night. The company we use is New York Habitat - Accommodation in New York, Paris, London & South of France. We prefer to stay in Chelsea, great neighbourhood, good food, and no tourist prices but last year we spent one week on the Upper West Side - apartment buildings are much bigger and area not as 'cosy'.

Food in the tourist precinct 42nd Street up to say 52nd both sides of Broadway is pretty shocking and very expensive. One exception I would recommend for a quick casual meal is PAX - various locations throughout Manhattan, first one that springs to mind is on 42nd Street just off Broadway opposite Maccas - great sangers, soups, salads and (pizza) slices.

Can't help with the car hire but I am envious of your cross country trek. I would suggest that you would not have to travel far from Manhattan to get a better deal on your hire - say Long Island.

As far as safety is concerned - look for trouble and you'll find it in any city - but my partner and I (both female) use the subway at all hours which usually means a walk back to our apartment and we have never felt uncomfortable or threatened. NYC is 24/7 and there is always heaps of people around.
As others have mentioned, look outside the square of Midtown and go up to the Upper West, Upper East, Lower East, Chelsea, Soho, Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens - so much to see, so little time.

FOR ROBERT BARLOW - Dress code for NYC is pretty much smart casual unless you are eating in fine dining establishments such as The Four Seasons, Per Se which will have a dress code.
The revolving restaurant and bar that your daughter mentioned is called 'The View' and it is worth going. We went after seeing a show for a nightcap but they do dinner and also a chocolate dessert buffet. If you are just going for a drink there is a cover charge (I think we paid $7 pp) but the drinks were no more expensive than anywhere else - a martini translates to a pitcher of martini - so the equivalent of 3 glasses - good value in my book!!! The view is spectacular and as mentioned the room revolves.

The best and cheapest tourist attraction in New York is the city itself. The architecture, the people, the parks big and small (don't miss Paley Park E53rd between 5th & Madison Aves, if you blink you will miss it) and it's all free.

Have a great trip.
 
ditto said:
FOR FEBS - check your rate for the hotel includes all city/state/bed taxes as on your USD$225 per night this will add just under USD$40 per night to your bill making it around AUD$323 per night OUCH!!

$40USD? How much are bed taxes? The rate I've got says an additional 8.37% for state taxes and 5% for city taxes...so all up a bit under $310AUD at the current exchange rate.

I had a look at that site (thanks for the link) but apartments in the area we're looking at all seemed to be more expensive (cheapest was about $270USD/night), and to be honest for that kind of money, I think the hotel would just be easier.

I agree ~$310AUD/night is a crazy amount to pay for a 4star hotel, but this is NYC I guess. As I said - the average rate for the same hotel online seems to be $440-$500AUD/night....pre-paid! :shock:

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
Febs said:
$40USD? How much are bed taxes? The rate I've got says an additional 8.37% for state taxes and 5% for city taxes...so all up a bit under $310AUD at the current exchange rate.

I make your taxes etc out to be the following:
5% NY City tax
8.375% NY State tax
$US1.50/Night Javits Centre Fee tax (This helps pay for a convention centre!)
$US2.00/Night Unit Occupancy Tax (Not sure who this goes to)

Febs said:
I agree ~$310AUD/night is a crazy amount to pay for a 4star hotel, but this is NYC I guess. As I said - the average rate for the same hotel online seems to be $440-$500AUD/night....pre-paid! :shock:

NYC hotel prices are crazy. Next time I go there (assuming I do!!), I'll be looking at an award stay, or perhaps staying somewhere outside of the tourist area...
 
Sorry to hear you haven't had much luck with getting a reasonably priced apartment.

The bed tax or as it is known in the US 'occupancy tax' is currently $3.50 per person per day.

I have checked the two bookings we have for NY this December at two different hotels and both have the tax listed seperately to the 13.375% state/fed tax.

Regards
Ditto
 
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trooper said:
Another car option... Cheap Car Hire. Book online today at Cheap-car-rental.com!

Like the other suppliers mentioned so far.. ALL INCLUSIVE! The critical factor IMO with US car rental is the "CDW/LDW" (Collision/Loss damage Waiver) It is NOT insurance.. it is a fee paid for the rental company to waive its right to charge YOU all the costs related to loss/damage to the vehicle.. including "loss of use" charges...

My American friends generally get cover through houshold insurance (as already mentioned) or by paying for the rental with a CC that offers same...

I even tried to get a B of A CC to take advantage of that feature!!:D

You must REALLY like driving to plan to drive right across the US!! Atlanta to Baltimore was enough for me!!
Going back (quite) a few years, 2 friends and I did the drive from LA to NYC, but took the scenic route just to make it interesting :) . We took the fairly standard route through to about Memphis (where we had xmas and a mate's wedding), but then headed south to New Orleans for New Year (now that's a party :D ). Then across to Miami and down to Key West (as far south as you can get in USA I believe), then north through Georgia, S and N Carolina etc to Washington. Then headed up to Niagara Falls, before finally back down to NYC. It was a decent drive, over a 6 week period, which gave plenty of time to sightsee. We hired a Lincoln Town Car, which was huge :shock: .

In NYC we stayed on Governor's Island (which is a Coast Guard base) through Defence contacts, which was very convenient. Regarding safety, we visited the base office and they took our city map and marked huge slabs of it in red and said don't visit these areas at night. However, we ignored this and walked around everywhere, often quite inebriated :rolleyes: and sometimes alone, without any issues at all. It really is a great city, so enjoy it those that are planning to visit :) .
 
I'd love to read a "trip report" of that drive!!! :D

Will be in NYC for the first time in a coupla months.... and am looking forward to it.....but then escaping back to visit friends in "small town Arizona".. which is ALSO sumtin to treasure!
 
trooper said:
I'd love to read a "trip report" of that drive!!! :D

Will be in NYC for the first time in a coupla months.... and am looking forward to it.....but then escaping back to visit friends in "small town Arizona".. which is ALSO sumtin to treasure!
The trip was back in 1986/7, so a bit long ago to put together a trip report, but it was a lot of fun. A really good way to see a lot of the country, which has plenty of very interesting places to visit.

You will love NYC is my guess. It is just so much bigger than cities in Aust :shock: . We did not spend long in Arizona, really just a short visit to the Grand Canyon, which is amazing. I am back in the US with my family in Sept, doing LA (Disneyland etc), Vegas, Grand Canyon and SF. Really looking forward to it :) .

I would bet you will have a great trip.
 
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