THE ORIGINAL NEW YORK ‘HOLIDAY PLANNER’ EMAIL 0

This email was written by me forever ago and apparently has circulated a little further than was originally intended! I still get requests to this day for it so I thought I would randomly include it on the blog! It’s not as though it’s particularly well written or anything – but it kinda does cram in the basic must-dos – hoorah for NYC!

I am crying as I write this email. I am so jealous, yet who knows?! Maybe I will be living there by June and can show you around myself – not likely though!!

Not sure if you know this, sorry if I am telling you something you are already aware of, but New York is a GRID, made up of STREETS running East to West and AVENUES running North to South 

Read the below info and let me know if you have any questions!

Woodbury Common Outlets

• Catch Bus from Midtown – not sure what station but near 47^th street and 8^th Avenue?
• Buses leave every ½ hour or so starting at about 8am and also leave from the outlets until late at night
• I suggest you definitely catch first bus out (8am from station) and last one home (around 9pm from Woodbury)
• I suggest you go to Woodbury early on in your stay , like day 2 or 3, for two reasons, firstly, whatever you don’t find there then you know you can buy from the expensive places, but if you go there at end of trip you would have already spent a fortune at the mainstream places and you will kick yourself….the other reason is, you may want to do 2 visits to Woodbury, one at beginning and one at end as they might be getting new stock within a week of you being there and it is worth going twice

Bergdoff Goodman 

• 5^th Avenue and 59^th Street?
• Exclusive department store – will prob not buy anything bc WAY expenny but is worth a look and if stuff is on sale you will get a serious bargain
• Worth a look just to see the American Ladies that shop there – great people watching!

Saks 5^th Avenue

• 5^th Avenue and West 49^th Street?
• Still very exclusive but slightly more affordable. Looks like DJ’s in city with marble and big plants but feel sick even comparing it to that. Prob my fave NYC department store! Again – too expensive to go SHOPPING – but definitely worth a browse and if there are sales you can do very well. Cosmetics on ground floor and almost half price of Australia – I bought my Laura Mercier there for $40 and here it is $75…also Juicy Tubes are $42 here and $17 there.

5^th Avenue and Madison Avenue from about 49^th street to about 80^th Street.

• Tiffany and Co – 9 floors – you will CRY
• Tods
• Gucci
• Prada
• Fendi
• Abercrombie and Fitch – even if you don’t love there all American style of Clothes – this is probably one of my fave stores in New York – it is like a 7 storey nightclub – all the men and women who work there are like models – ARE Models – they are drinking spirits and taking their clothes off!!! Ok – maybe this appealed to me more as a single girl as opposed to you guys the married couple!
• H and M – AMAZING Like London
• Zara
• Cartier
• Trump Tower – go in here and eat a Godiva Brownie dipped in Melted Chocolate!
• FAO Schwarz – you have to go and dance on the giant piano like Tom Hanks in Big
• EVERYTHING
• American Girls Place – on 5^th Ave I think – it is like a build a bear but with LIVE LIKE Dolls – rich American NY kids go and buy a doll that looks exactly like them , then they take it to the hair salon to get a cut, then to the doctor for a check-up and then to the therapist – all in the one building – worth a look – you will be shocked!!!!!!!

Macy’s 

• 34^th Street and Broadway
• Probably the most AFFORDABLE department store – it is also the largest department store in the world – but kinda boring – just like a myer or david jones but you have to go there to say you went to Macys new York

Other Tourist things you Must Do 

• Empire State Building
• Central Park
• The MET – Metropolitan Museum
• MOMA –  Museum of Modern Art
• Guggenheim – Amazing….Met, Moma and Guggenheim are all on 5^th Avenue, starting at 58^th?? Street (MOMA) SO from Midtown you can walk to all of them – put aside 1 day to do the 3 of them- depending on how much of a museum person you are – if you are “not much of one” you could even do the 3 in half a day – be sure to check what days they close though bc I think Guggenheim is closed on a Thursday!
• Rockefeller Centre
• Dean and Delucas – DELI – there are a few in NYC – But go to the one opp NBC Studios on West 49^th Street and maybe Avenue of the Americas?? – you must eat the Turkey Club and the Chocolate Cupcake – you will CRY
• Madison Square Garden
• Sex and the City Tour
• Chrysler Building
• Red Bus Tour – Covers many of the main tourist attractions
• NBC Studios – line up for Conan O’Brian!!!
• Broadway – I am biased bc I am OBSESSED with Rent – have been for 9 years since I first saw it – it is on my top 5 fave things in the world – so seeing it on Broadway was a MUST for me for sentimental reasons – but ANY of the Broadway shows are Amazing – if you are happy to buy tickets ‘on the day’ you can get them half price or cheaper from the Marriot Hotel in Times Square (I think it is Marriot?? – ask your Hotel – everyone knows about the half price Broadway tickets)
• World Trade Centre Site – you have to go there – we only spent 15 mins there but it is just something you need to do – overwhelmingly large site with amazing graphics up on the wall etc
• Staten Island Ferry – flys by the statue of liberty – stay on the ferry and take pics
• Wall Street and the Lucky Bull
• Radio City Music Hall
• Times Square
• Fashion District
• Meat Packing District
• Waldorf Astoria Hotel
• The Plaza – now residential!
• Central Park Zoo
• There are a zillion other museums and galleries – but as I said Met, Moma and Guggenheim are your basic 3 MUSTS!
• There is a wharf – I think Pier 17 – which has amazing views of the Brooklyn Bridge – it is a bit darling harbourish apart from the excellent view of the bridge  

SOHO

• Bleeker St – Marc Jacobs Accessories Store (a MUST – amazing gifts for friends and stuff for you guys too for RIDICULOUS PRICES THAT YOU WOULD NEVER GET HERE!!!!), Magnolia Bakery (cupcakes from Sex and City – AMAZZZZZZZZZZZING – limited to 12 per customer!!), tonnes and tonnes of boutiques and shops, vintage, trendy beyond belief – when you get there – get the SOHIO SHOPPING MAP and then go nuts!
• Amazing famous restaurant/café called Balthazaar – go there for lunch and have chicken club and fries!!!! – keep a look out for Sara Jessica Parker!
• There is a store called Anthropolgie – another of my faves – it is like a MASSIVE ORSON AND BLAKE – but with mainly clothes – one of the most beautiful items I bought in NYC was from here ON SALE of course as it is also VERY expensive – like Orson and Blake prices

CHINA TOWN

• Canal Street – all the fakes – but PLEASE go to Woodbury Common first and get yourself some real stuff – don’t go to China Town get excited by the fakes and then realise you could have got real stuff for a similar price!!!!
• Note – in China town there are GOOD fakes and BAD fakes – I THINKKKKK it is Number 262 Canal Street or thereabouts where the Good Fakes are sold – and the shops around 262 – as you head away from there – facing 262, to the left, the fakes get worse (a few to the left of 262 are ok but then as I said, worse ) – still not bad though – they sell everything from the WHOLE range of tiffany jewellery to DVD’s to Handbags, pashminas everything!!!!

Mayfair Boutique Hotel or Radio City Apartments

• Both in Midtown – where as a first time you MUST stay
• I stayed at Mayfair and the others stayed at Radio City – both much of a muchness – best value and best position – when I go back I will be staying there again 100%
• Both are walking distance from SAKS, 5Tth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Times Square, Broadway – you really should stay Midtown.

Bars / Restaurants / Food / Drink

• My Fave rest in WORLD is Asia De Cuba – went there for dinner in London at St Martins Lane – well Morgans in NYC also has an Asia De Cuba and it is a must for dinner – make sure you book!
• Smith and Wollenskys – the lord Dudley style trendy upper class steak pub on East 49^th street – HAVE THE BURGER AND CRY
• Sbarro – like pizza hut but good for a cheap dinner when you are in a rush – there is one about 30 secs from both of the hotels I mentioned to stay at – there is also one in the middle of china town – a good shopping break stop
• The Bar at the W hotel is also cool – on East 49^th I think
• Go to the Hudson Hotel for a drink or dinner – it is on West 59^th and 9^th Avenue – approximately- the design will make you cry and you might spot a few celebs there too – they have a cool restaurant called the Cafeteria as well as prob the best bar in NY – The Upside Down bar.
• M and M’s world and Hersheys World in Times Sqaure are also a must!
• There are loads of other places but you will see them on the street as you trapse around – heaps of bars in Soho and also around Midtown
• Dean and Delucas – I definitely ate here at least once a day breakfast or lunch – sometimes both!!!! It will become your ‘regular’ haunt

I am sure there is so much more that I have forgotten but for now – that’s it!!! 

I AM JEALOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS BUT SO HAPPY FOR YOU – SAVE NOW – DON’T SPEND A CENT – YOU WILL EASILY GET RID OF ALL OF YOUR CENTS WHEN YOU ARE THERE!