Weekend in New York

[Mandarinaduck]

Has anyone done literally just a weekend in New York and would it be totally crazy? It's actually a family visit (special occasion) so no particular wish to do sightseeing though we would do a little nonetheless. Flying out on Friday morning and back Sunday night on the overnight flight.
Also wondering what the queues are going through passport control at JFK.

Not great for the environment.

Indeed but no worse than flying there for a week or two (and I don't particularly feel like going there for longer). We actually don't fly much.

Sounds pretty exhausting tbh but you can certainly enjoy a weekend in NYC IF don’t try to do too much.

I haven’t been there for a while but in your shoes I’d try to do proper brunches, Central Park, shopping, a
show, nice dinner and drinks on Saturday.

I couldn’t think of anything worse tbh. The price for the flight and the tiredness from the overnight flight is a killer. It took me about 4 days to catch up on sleep etc and I went for 5 nights. You’ll basically have a few hours on the Friday, all of Sat and you won’t be able to relax on the Sunday as you’ll be clock watching. The two times I’ve been to NY both times the flights have been delayed there, once 4 hrs so those are things to consider.

If you’re the type of person that has bounds of energy it could be ok but I wouldn’t

We went for four nights in December and the jet lag was horrific ( much worse than ordinary tiredness).
We were up and awake before 5 am then exhausted and ready for bed by 7pm .
It was great though !

I would go but not try to adjust to the time. It depends what time you usually sleep until at home, if you’re able to stay in bed until 9-10am that means you’ll easily sleep until 4-5am which is not too bad. I would get to all the places you’d like to visit bright and early, beat the crowds. 6am diner breakfasts, matinee shows on broadway. Back to the hotel for early dinner and bed around 7-8pm… why not. Stay on your home timezone and it won’t be too bad. The flight is 6-7 hours, not that tiring…

But then, I travel a lot so this wouldn’t seem like madness to me. Nor would I be clock-watching on the last day like a PP said… I would go about my day until the time I had previously calculated I need to leave the city to reach the airport.

Yes I was thinking along these lines, if we do go. We are night owls and perfectly able to sleep till noon when at home!

I wouldn't for 2 nights. We went last November. The flight was fine but there were huge security queues at JFK and then our cab to Manhattan took forever because of the traffic. I think it took us 6 hours from landing to get to our hotel. Same going home too.

OK that's helpful. I did wonder about the security queues. The flight in itself is OK in a way - you can make use of the time or just relax.

We did 4 nights in December about 10 years ago, I remember feeling hungover with jetlag that took a couple of weeks to settle.

Besides jet lag, I don’t think 2 nights is enough at all unless you literally want to do 2 or maybe 3 things? We did 4 days, 4 nights and flew home on 5th morning there and we did everything we wanted to do so Empire State, Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial and a good bit of shopping but we were bloody exhausted and felt like we needed a 2 week beach break to chill after 😂

I would go back in a heartbeat though, amazing city and it really feels as magical as it looks around Christmas. We did the Central Park horse and carriage ride on our last night and snow started falling. Just amazing!

Thanks for sharing your experience! We are not bothered about sightseeing - we've been before - it's mainly to visit family. I also think it is lovely in autumn and the run-up to Christmas - really magical!
Jet lag and security queues are putting me off the idea... I don't mind the long flight or having little time there.

I've done it. Lots of fun. We rarely go for more than three days.

I've never had a bad security queue. No more than 45mins. They have new machines now, it's just like coming into Heathrow.

Or fly via Dublin for the pre clearance.

Also much easier getting into manhattan on the train. Significantly cheaper.

We've always had warm autumns there. We landed on the first of November once and it was 28degrees. Though by the end of the week we were in coats and gloves!

Used to sometimes do 48 hours rather then 24 in NYC when working as crew and agree with the comment @ChiasMarineras made about "I would go but not try to adjust to the time."

A genuinely early departure from UK/Europe (from about 0800 onwards) should get you into somewhere like JFK early lunchtime (local time), from memory traffic into Manhattan isn't usually that bad at that time of day, so you stand a good chance of a decent chunk of Friday PM and early evening in town.

Given the time change you'll be up early on the Sat AM, so maybe an early diner visit and rest of the day to sight see.

Similarly early start Sun, but just watch the timing for heading back out to JFK (again from memory I don't think heading out of town Sun evening is generally that bad, but there's always scope for delays.

BTW another airport option is Newark (EWR) but I don't know if it is served by many early flights from UK/Europe.

Not everyone gets jet lag. I haven’t had it for years

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.dhs.cbp.pspd.mpc
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mobile-passport-control/id1520656722

Yes, have a look at flying via Dublin. The pre clearance is worth its weight in gold, and the US Customs staff actually crack a smile most of the time! Land in JFK and out the door you go. I know it means a connecting flight which probably negates the benefit, but I wouldn't do it any other way now. Mind you I haven't been to the States since the Orange one was elected, and won't until he's gone.

A weekend is very doable. We used the MPC pass and it made immigration much faster.

Well that’s good you don’t and I wish I could say the same but I need my sleep and being absolutely shattered ruins my day 🤣

The flying via Dublin idea has become a bit fashionable these days but IMO only really makes sense if you are having to get a short haul flight to connect somewhere like LHR anyway.

I know JFK can be a PITA sometimes but it's rare for processing there to take so long it makes a DUB connection time efficient, and I certainly wouldn't choose via DUB over an early non-stop/direct to JFK or EWR out of one of the UK airports.

My friend did this and didn’t have a great time. The flight out was delayed which ate into some of their time, and they were wiped from the travel. They saw their show and spend the rest of the time in the hotel room.

I’ve been to NYC 3 times - for 5 nights, 4 nights and 2 nights and all were good. Admittedly my 2 night trip was the last time so I already knew the city a bit. Our intinary was land late afternoon JFC and taxi to hotel in Williamsburg with a view to city. Freshen up then went to Meat packing district for dinner and mooching. Next day we borrowed bikes from our hotel and cycled across to Central Park had a brunch near by then cycled throw midtown stopping at sites and finishing with a drink up a tower in financial district at sunset. Then over Brooklyn bridge back to hotel. Dinner in Brooklyn. And we were straight to airport next morning as it was a stopover for us on way to Central America. My DP had never been and he loved it and honestly it was a fab way to experience city. Biking highly recommend.

I waited for 3 hours on the immigration queue at JFK so get your arse off the plane as fast as you can. It was the guy in our aisle seat, he refused to get up till after everyone else. Might have been fine for him but I have a mild disability and felt like puking after 3 hours standing and our cases had also been chucked in a pile next to the belts!