New York New York, I have saved for years please help me make this a great trip

[womanintrousers]

I have saved for 3 years to take lovely DS to NYC when he finishes his GCSEs . I am so excited.

He will be 16, he is very academically minded and loves reading, science, good food etc. I need my own bed (lots of the hotels seem to have 1 small double and DS is very tall and I have arthritis and throw myself around a lot at night). Any ideas very much appreciated.

He has wanted to go since he was 5 and has NO IDEA I have saved up.

I am so excited. Can anyone help? I have travelled extensively but never been to NY, it's all new to me.

Any advice

I am travelling with a teen to NYC next year (only 3 days) and hope to visit this pinball museum if we have time: www.modernpinballnyc.com/visit-us.htm

Don't forget tipping in restaurants - it's assumed a 20% tip even in a grotty pizza joint with appalling service!

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. Ive made a note of when I need to buy the Statue of Liberty tickets etc. I'm researching and planning :)

Do you really think Brexit will impact flights to the US? This is months later but I thought only Europe would be effected.

We are just back from our second trip to NYC and had a great time!
My tips would be:
Don't fly Norwegian - flights are cheap but they have the most delays of any airline. We were delayed by 12 hours with no explanation. A fellow passenger said his last 4 flights with the airline had been sigificantly delayed.
Consider an Airbnb for accommodation. You can either stay in someone's home with them, or rent out someone's spare home and have the place to yourselves. We always do the latter and much prefer it to a hotel as it's nice to have the space of an actual home, including kitchen, living room etc . And often cheaper than a hotel.
Contrary to JoanFrenulum I'd say walk as much as possible - it's a great way to see the city and you notice lots of little things you wouldn't otherwise see. Unless you're very unfit (that's not a dig at Joan; I get that some people also just don't enjoy walking) it's not excessively tiring to stroll around a city, stopping at intervals to eat, drink, look at something etc.
Best museum I've ever been to was the Cooper Hewitt. Loads of interactive exhibits, but not overly kiddie-themed. (We went as two adults and loved it.)
Another vote for the High Line.
For some things you will need to use the subway. If you're used to the London tube the NYC subway is a little confusing IMO. Not every train stops at every stop on the line so it's easy to watch your destination whizz by outside the window! The "local" trains stop everywhere; the "express" trains don't. There aren't many staff at the stations to ask for help.
It's a wonderful place to visit. Nearer the time, when you know what area you'll be staying in, check back in and I'm sure lots of us can recommend particular things in that area.
Excited for you!

Oh and very cheap clothes at places like Penny's and Target - great for socks, vests and pants! Sad I know but we always replenish out underwear

Just scrolled back and re-read some posts. I think you can definitely do 5 days on £2000. We spent significantly less than that for our 4 days. Lots of famous NYC landmarks are free - Central Park (though agreed if you're into films a themed tour would be worth paying for), the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge, a walk down 5th Avenue and mooch about the shops (if you have good impulse control when it comes to shopping). Museums are usually paid-for, but they sometimes have free or cut-price days. Eating out can become expensive due to the 20% tip (which I don't suggest skimping on) but there are lots of inexpensive places if you look for them. Lots of $3/slice-type pizza places (where 1 slice would do me for a meal). Lots of little local diners will do a breakfast omelette / bagel for about $5. We sometimes had breakfast in the Airbnb before heading out, though, to keep costs down. Sometimes we ate dinner in a restaurant and sometimes we went to Whole Foods and bought one of their "fill up a box for $10" deals from the salad / hot food bar, then ate it outside and people-watched.
We didn't feel like we were missing out at all, but we also didn't come back feeling stressed that we'd overspent.
It's like any city - you could spend $10,000 in a week if you wanted to, but you can also have a wonderful time on $2000

Oh and always double check places like restaurants of they are in guide books. We had a brand new book but 2 restaurants we wanted to try were closed when we got there! We also found a lot a places needed booking for dinner.

We found that quite a few places mentioned on TV shows existed - restaurants and shops. That was fun!

Decent rucksack and pick up food as you go along.

You don't need to eat out every meal. Wholefoods is good for nice fresh food and bread. Small grocery stores further down are good too. We have so many small supermarkets here but there are much fewer there (so no M&S, tesco, sainsburys on every street!).

We had a week there earlier this year ( got married) and loved mooching round Greenwich village and Chelsea. Have a wonderful time!!

I found a site that had walking routes and lots of details and history. I printed them out, marked out my map and dragged my lot the length of manhattan doing my tour guide impression. It was fun

Daughter number 2 and I went in May. We stayed at the Walcott just off 5 Th Ave, 1 double bed and 1 single in co joined rooms. Free muffins in the foyer for breakfast.
We walked everywhere. MET, Central Park, Times Square and ferry tour around Statue of Liberty. Hotel was very close to Empire State Building and we did that at sunset.
Matinee to see Anastasia, which was wonderful.
I hop you both have as much fun as we did.

In the hotel we used the ice bucket (ice machines on every corridor) to store a half pint of milk overnight . Also they gave a kettle on request. Then bought single pot breakfast cereals from local store (pour milk in) or larger packet and used NYC mugs bought in tourist shop .

Uber is useful too. Download the app.

Agree about walking over the subway. But, a few times, when we were puzzling over the subway map, people just came over and offered to help. Really friendly city. Get a subway Metrocard on your first day. You can top it up for rides. I think we only bought 2 and passed them between us as it's based on rides not person?

I'd be a bit wary of booking an airBNB quite far in advance as the NYC authorities are trying to massively crack down on subletting like this.

Brilliant thread. Don't pay for breakfast in the hotel, go to a local coffee shop and pretend you're in Seinfeld.

This is such a great thread! We’re also going post GCSEs next summer - we’ll see you there!!!! Hoping to find a good behind the scenes film studio tour if anyone knows of one (production side rather than stars/locations). I think 30 Rock maybe do one but interested to know if anyone has done it or another one, given they are more a west coast thing really.

I agree with FogCutter Airbnb rentals are not legal in Manhattan (short term rentals in buildings with more than 3 apartments or something along those lines) and the authorities are cracking down. There’s a real risk that you wouldn’t have accommodation when you arrive - have a look at the warnings on the Trip Advisor NYC forum.

I’m staying in an Air B&B in New Jersey. Reviews say the travelling in is fine.

@GulliverUnravels for the short time we are still in the EU, you can claim more compensation than your flight cost, likely another trip to NYC to make up for missing a day

When we went we booked fast track/priority tickets for the Empire State Building- it was definitely worth it. I also loved Crif Dogs hot dog place - even better if you can drink as they have a 'secret' bar you enter through a telephone booth in the shop.

Every so often on mumsnet I come across a thread and I think God I really love this thread and I love the OP.

This is one such thread! I hope you remember to keep us updated.

Yours,

Sadly Overinvested

I am so so so happy at the moment - all because of this thread - walking on air.

I think we will fly virgin and stay at Radio City Apartments that look amazing value :D

You are all so kind and lovely. Thank you

I know of someone who stayed in Radio City apartments some years back and was very happy with their apartment.

You can book a tour of the U.N. really interesting insight into history, politics and even art. They have a restaurant there as well, you can eat next to diplomats. Free attraction, N.Y. public library, he can even get a library card and borrow books. We stayed at the Hyatt midtown, it was fine and had a great view of the empire state.