New York City

[rics]

you can hop on one of those boats for a guided tour of the hudson river (you get the ticket same place where you get the tour to the statue of liberty/ellis island), nice din yon. it gives you nice picture backdrop of the statue and the manhattan skyline.

nice din to visit pala fao schwarz store and the apple store, magkatabi lang yan. enjoy! 

[nicaa]

thanks girls! may affordable hotel ba around Manhattan? or talagang $200+ na yung cheapest? nag tingin kasi ako sa expedia apartments yata yung mura pero dapat yata 7 nights stay

[gnela_21]

^mahal talaga hotels sa NYC, specially around the Manhattan area. Check hotwire and hotels.com. Baka may makita kang better deal. Goodluck! When are you planning your trip sis?

[rics]

you can get affordable hotels outside of manhattan. the transport system is very efficient in NYC so its easy to commute.

[nicaa]

^mahal talaga hotels sa NYC, specially around the Manhattan area. Check hotwire and hotels.com. Baka may makita kang better deal. Goodluck! When are you planning your trip sis?

thanks talaga! sa end of October. iniisip ko nga baka mahal that time kasi Halloween. 

you can get affordable hotels outside of manhattan. the transport system is very efficient in NYC so its easy to commute.

kahit saan bang borough accessible pa rin yung transpo? iniisip ko nga sa Bronx mag stay since yun yung mga nakikita ko na medyo mura ang hotel compared sa Manhattan

[rics]

^yes sis, very efficient and transport system ng NYC and makakarating ka sa other boroughs kahit commute lang.

i suggest huwag ka mag hotel sa bronx, sa iba na lang baka di mo ma-typan ang ambiance sa bronx . try mo yung mga budget inns like best western, comfort inn, etc. most times they have less than $200 may free breakfast pa, pero make an early booking. but if the price is bet $250-300 kahit sa ibang hotels specially if in the city mismo, ok na rin yan para pwede na lakarin ang attractions.

sa chinatown area siguro medyo mura lang mga hotels diyan. but dont expect much kasi nga well, its in chinatown. good point lang is that madami ka mabibilihan ng food.

[nicaa]

^ talaga? grabe hindi pa kasi ako naka punta sa NYC ewan ko ba. hehe. how about Brooklyn? okay ba environment dun? mahal kasi talaga mga hotels sa Manhattan, e wala naman kami sa hotel the whole day. thanks so much for the info!

[junetwentythree]

^ nicaa, the only downside to you not staying in Manhattan is the ease of accessibility to the tourist spots you had wanted to go which are all in Manhattan. Since you only have a few days, I would go with others' recommendation of staying in closer proximity to your target spots.

That being said downtown Brooklyn is a good area for you to stay in.

[nikki]

im going to nyc too for a week during my 3-week stay in the US.  and i agree all hotels in manhattan are really expensive considering corporate rate na yun mga tinanong ko.  so i booked a hotel in Elizabeth, NJ very near Newark Airport which offers 24hr free shuttle to the airport.  i asked and somehow the 20-min train ride from EWR to manhattan is worth it-- the few bucks savings i get rather than pay $200++ hotel per night in manhattan i can use for shopping or food tripping 

[gnela_21]

We too stayed at Elizabeth, NJ when we visited NYC last year. We have a friend who lives there, and he just drops us off the train station going to Penn Station in NYC to go around the city and then pick as up again at the train station in Elizabeth at night. Enjoy your stay at NYC!

[gnela_21]

thanks talaga! sa end of October. iniisip ko nga baka mahal that time kasi Halloween. 

I think it doesn't matter kung anong season ka pupunta ng NYC sis, expensive talaga ang hotels in the area. Maybe mas mura lang ng konti ang rates nila ng wintertime, say January-February pero if icocompare mo with other places in the country, mas mahal pa din. Enjoy your NYC trip.

[nikki]

^thanks sis!  that's exactly our plan. get off at the Penn Station in nyc.  but i'm still doing a lot of research on the subway.  it looks a little complicated than Hong Kong MTR and Singapore MRT. haha

any website u can recommend that i can look at?  i'm a little intimidated by it haha.  i don't want to end up riding a cab and spend all our money there.

[gnela_21]

Truth be told, the NYC subway system has a life of its own. It's so complicated when you looked at it and compared to the train system here in Chicago, Boston or HK, it's does look like a tangled mess. BUT, after a day or two, you'll get used to it.

You can check this, I just Googled: http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm. What I would suggest, do a trip planner, just so that you know how to get a specific place as a starting point, and then once you're there, if you have an iPhone, you can use the map app, go to any starbucks or panera with free wifi so that you can get around the city.

That's what we did when we were there. I hope this makes sense.

[nikki]

^thanks sis!  i found the same website before but i guess there's nothing really less convoluted or more "user-friendly" lol.  i might just try the iphone map app in case.

hay, i hope i can start na with my itinerary this weekend.  whenever i start i feel discouraged na when i look up the subway map.  haha.. 

[rics]

you can use the trip planner to make your commute easier. just make sure you make a detailed itinerary per day so sulit ang lakad all the time.

[nicaa]

^ nicaa, the only downside to you not staying in Manhattan is the ease of accessibility to the tourist spots you had wanted to go which are all in Manhattan. Since you only have a few days, I would go with others' recommendation of staying in closer proximity to your target spots.

That being said downtown Brooklyn is a good area for you to stay in.

Originally, we were planning to stay in Manhattan but now thinking of staying in Brooklyn. Thanks so much for the advise!

[mooncake and leaves]

question: how long is the drive from nyc to niagara falls? thanks thanks

[rics]

^around 7hrs depending on traffic and number of stops you make. and if you want to cross the border add another hour (more or less, its worst during long weekends where wait times can go as long as 4hrs+).

[mooncake and leaves]

^ thanks! nyikes, patay. baka we'll skip nyc kung ganun.

[gnela_21]

question: how long is the drive from nyc to niagara falls? thanks thanks

Sis mooncake, kakagaling lang namin ng Niagara last weekend! We went and stayed at the Canada side. San side kayo magpupunta sis? From the reviews and friends, mas maganda sa side ng Canada, mas maganda yung view ng 2 falls. Yung American Falls kasi nasa side sya ng US, so kung andun ka, katabi mo yung falls, sideways yung view. Unlike sa Canada na across the falls ang view.

From here in Chicago, it took us 8-9 hrs to Niagara. Medyo matagal nga kapag nagcross na ng border lalo na yung going back to US. Mga 7 hrs nga yata from Niagara going to NYC! Laki din pala ng New York.