New York City has been on my bucket list since I can remember. Like with our Turks and Caicos trip, we planned to go in 2020 on easter weekend but the universe had different plans. We always knew we wanted to reschedule for sometime soon so what finally made us go for it was a wedding we were invited to in New Jersey. We figured why not make a trip out of it?!
One of the things I was nervous about was getting from NYC Times Square all the way down to where the wedding was in New Jersey. The transportation system David and I were so not used to definitely proved to be the biggest obstacle of the trip. I’ll touch on that later on, but all of it was beyond worth it for the most beautiful wedding ever and all of the memories made that day!
The Cost
As with basically all of my travel blog posts, I like to show a breakdown of the cost or our total number. I do this mainly so you can see what a realistic budget would be and have an idea if you plan a similar trip in the future. I also like to look back on it for myself and reference it whenever we plan other trips and use the numbers as a guide on whether or not it’s something we’ve done before or if it was a good deal.
This is the cost breakdown of our trip:
- Costco Travel Package (flights, hotel, and transportation to/from airport): $1,926.19
- McDonald’s breakfast at Chicago airport: $28
- Big Bus Sunset Tour: $158
- Virgil’s bbq dinner: $61.24
- CVS water and snacks: $38.07
- Room service breakfast: $87.69
- Bus M104 for 2 people: $5.50
- Bus 116 for 2 people: $19.50
- Uber back to the hotel at 3 am after the wedding: $86.07
- Papaya King meal for 2: $16.67
- Water from cart stand: $1.25
- Water from another cart stand: $2
- Snow cone from snack stand by Central Park: $5
- Target umbrellas and snacks: $48.41
- Lululemon clothing in upper eastside: $222.30
- Footlocker walking shoes for David: $85.05
- Gyro and pretzel from food stand: $12
- Premier Café cheesecake and donut: $13
- Tshirts and magnet souvineers: $29.35
- Large chili cheese hotdog: $8
- Empire State Building tickets for 2: $178.56
- Panera lunch: $31.30
- Ansel Bakery cronuts: $14.15
- Steve Madden Lawrence Loafers from Macy’s: $99
- Premier Café 2 drinks and an entree: $22.26
- Serendipity buffalo wings, cheese fries, and a cocktail: $61.78
- Serendipity pullover: $36.05
- Subway card reload: $11
- Two t-shirts: $20
- Room service yogurt parfait: $15.87
- Room upgrade: $160.64
- Bag hold at the hotel for 3 bags: $15
- Premier Café brunch: $25.59
- Premier Café drinks and snacks: $15.08
- Airport tacos: $15.03
- Room credit: -$120
Trip total: $3,454.60
The Hotel
We stayed at the Sheraton in Times Square, which you can read about here!
The Food
Virgil’s BBQ
Once we checked into the hotel, we started wandering around Times Square to see where it took us. We walked about 20 minutes past countless restaurants, but kept saying “let’s see what else there is”. As we were walking past Virgil’s, a host asked if we wanted to come in so we went ahead and went with the flow.
This is me just being one of those people that takes everything as a “sign” because when we sat down to look at the menu, we looked down and they had little placemats with a map of the US and KCMO was pinned as one of the hot BBQ spots in the country!!! Rightfully so, we felt at home. 🙂
The service was incredibly fast and friendly and the food was even better.
Papaya King
Scrolling through youtube before our trip, we saw Papaya King was recommended multiple times. The combination of a papaya drink along with a hotdog sounded interesting so we added it to our must-see list.
I really don’t think I’d recommend it though. The shop is extremely small and narrow. I didn’t even remember to take a picture of the food cause everything felt so rushed and we were all crowded in the corner trying to eat and leave. There were even some investigators that went in after us trying to get the employees to give them the owner’s info so they could get some questions answered about a shooting that happened by the shop. 🤭
Quick Trip or Costco hotdogs are better in my opinion and the papaya drink tasted like one of those fake fruity drinks instead of the real thing freshly made. For the price point, you kind of get what you paid for, but Youtube really overhyped this place.
Dominique Ansel Bakery
Home of the famous Cronut (croissant + donut), we thought we’d be in line for a while or that they’d run out of cronuts, but we were able to just walk right in and order. It could have been the rainy day or maybe the Youtube video we watched on it was outdated.
The seating was extremely limited but it worked out because we got to sit in an outside covered area by ourselves and some birds that kept coming up to us. It was sweet. 🥲
I think this was a little bit overhyped as well, kind of like with Papaya King. The cronut was good, but I’d probably try something different from the menu next time.
Premier Café
Hands down the BEST place to eat any meal or just grab a quick snack. We happened to walk by one day when we wanted dessert so we grabbed a piece of cheesecake and a donut. From then on out for the rest of our trip, it was our go-to for drinks, snacks, and breakfast. It’s always the most unexpected places that end up being the best!
Serendipity
If you’ve seen the movie or like going to overpriced restaurants then I’m sure you’d enjoy it here. At the entrance, they had A BUNCH of little nicknacks and fun souvenirs, but you’re really just paying for the name.
The table we sat at was SO FREAKING TINY. I was the only one ordering food but I’m not even sure how 2 people’s meals would’ve even been able to fit on that table. David got a cocktail and I got water, cheese fries, and boneless buffalo wings all for around $62. No better than Sonic quality and I would honestly not be back. 🥴
Room Service
I touched on this one in my post about staying at the Sheraton NYC Times Square. (Spoiler- it was a lot like Serendipity…basic and expensive af.)
The Activities
NYC is obviously full of endless possibilities when it comes to places to see, food to eat, and everything in between. No matter how badly I wanted to jump from place to place, it’s just not possible to see everything in one trip, but I guess that’s just another reason to go back one day!
Big Bus Tours
We booked the sunset tour last minute to make sure it wasn’t going to rain on us, but I couldn’t recommend this company more!!! We used them when we went to Miami last year and it’s the most convenient way to get around town and get to know the different areas.
Central Park
My toxic trait is thinking I could walk all of Central Park in 2 hours. 😂 I knew it was big but couldn’t really comprehend it until I was actually there. Definitely don’t try walking all of it just to walk it. Enjoy the views, and the nature, and move on to all the other exciting things to see in NYC!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The line to enter the museum was astronomical, so we took pictures outside instead. 🥸
The Apple Store
According to TikTok and firsthand experience, this apple store has public restrooms and is open 24/7! (Very important to note if you’re a tourist cause public restrooms in NYC are hard to come by.)
Our taxi driver from the airport to the hotel raved about this apple store, but for the few things I was interested in, I felt like I could order online from the apple store as well. With my limited luggage space, I decided to skip any purchases from here and just order them later.
Upper Eastside Shopping
We only went to a few shops around here, two of them being Target and Lululemon. Clothing under $115 is tax-free FYI!!!!! I believe this is the case for any clothing in NYC, but it was a nice surprise when I was checking out at Lululemon. 🥲
Empire State Building
Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it), the day we went it was raining lightly so the lines to get in were non-existent. 🙂 In my opinion, this worked out perfectly, but if it had been raining any heavier then it would’ve been too uncomfortable to try to view the city from up top.
Statue of Liberty
I’ve heard people will take the ferry to Staten Island to get a free closer view of the statue, but we didn’t have time so we just looked at it from Battery Park and then went to the 9/11 Memorial Pools.
9/11 Memorial Pools
You can’t come here and not feel some sort of way. It’s hard to put into words, but the memorial area really makes you stop and take a moment. We didn’t have time to go into the museum portion so I can’t really speak too much on that part.
Times Square
Times Square is of course a must-see and especially at night! I didn’t really see this during the day probably because it’s so packed and you have to move quickly but beware- the number of girls trying to take the typical Pinterest picture at night with all the billboards is comical. (Yes, I was one of them.)
Macy’s Herald Square
It may not seem significant, but this is the largest department store IN THE US and among the largest IN THE WORLD!!!! When we drove by it on the Big Bus Tour, the tour guide spoke about how it’s 2.5 million square feet and worth $3 billion-$4 billion. I thought “ok…” but once I was inside I was speechless. I got a pair of Steve Madden Lawrence loafers from there (also tax-free).
Transportation
Our rides from the airport when arriving and from the hotel when departing were included in our Costco Travel package, but other than that we were on our own.
For the most part, we walked everywhere we went, but thanks to my sister-in-law, we got more comfortable with the subway system and that was our #2 most used.
On our way to the wedding, we used 3 different modes of transportation which was quite the experience. We actually arrived at the church for the ceremony with only 5 minutes to spare. All I have to say is leave with plenty of time if you have somewhere important to be (thankfully we left with an hour of buffer room).
Summary
NYC is overcrowded, smelly at times, confusing, and chaotic, but I absolutely love it all. Throughout the entire trip, David had to keep listening to me talk about how fascinating NYC was to me and how I couldn’t wait to be back. 😆 With that said, I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think everyone should experience this city at least once in their lifetime!
