NYC April 2012 - Trip Notes

It's been a while on the blog front, but sadly not because I've been on the road all this time.  I did make it down to NYC for what seems like my annual Easter pilgrimage (to appease the shopping gods of course, I can't deal with the crowds to attend the Easter Day Parade)

As I mentioned in previous posts, I decided to try flying via Buffalo this year and even spent half a day in Cheektowaga hunting for bargains at the Walden Galleria mall.

The trip began early Wednesday morning, the Greyhound bus from Toronto to Buffalo Airport was a reasonable $14 each way.  Delays at the border got us there a bit late, but since I wasn't actually flying anywhere until the next day I wasn't too concerned that I had to each lunch an hour later.  First lesson learned was that Buffalo isn't a pedestrian-friendly place. Though Google Maps showed that my hotel was only a 20 min walk away, I had to choose my path wisely to ensure I had a sidewalk to walk on and pedestrian traffic signals only changed when you physically pressed the button to cross.  At first I attributed this to the airport proximity, our own Pearson International is not situated in a neighborhood that favours crosswalks over highways either.  I soon learned that it wasn't a localized issue.  Also Cabs aren't readily available to flag down in the streets at all.  While at the Galleria mall, I asked which way (meaning which exit doors) to the Olive Garden, the guy told me "it's just across the street" followed by "where are you parked?" implying that I should drive from one parking lot to another.  This horrified me on both a physical and environmental level.  How can it not occur to them to walk across a street?  Perhaps if they didn't build roads that people feel like they are risking their lives just to get across safely.  Despite my best efforts, I'm never going back to Buffalo without a car, it is simply too hard to get around.

That is not to say I had a bad time in Buffalo, on the contrary, I really enjoy shopping at the Galleria Mall. Macy's had coloured denim jeggings on sale and I chatted a long while with the guy at Teavana, who not only sold tea but has also lived in Ontario/Quebec and brought up the topic of TIFF and the Lightbox building (if he hadn't just reached legal drinking age I would say I'd found my soulmate).

The hotel we stayed in was the Best Western Inn at Buffalo Airport, it's a very basic 3-star with comfy beds, spacious room, CRT TV, good showerhead and complimentary continental breakfast.  For $80/night I considered it a bargain, next time I come back (with a car!) I'd stay there again.

Buffalo Airport is a pretty small operation, but still enough traffic on an early Thursday morning that we had to queue up (sorry, we're in US...line up...) to get scanned and x-rayed.  Regretfully the coach stop does not have a shelter or enclosed waiting area, not a problem arriving at the airport but it was pretty brutal waiting in the cold for the bus home at the end of the trip.

The flight was short and blissfully free of children.  Though I originally booked Continental Airline flights, their recent merger with United meant a few changes and in the end it became a UA flight.  Your carry on baggage size allowance is the same as with all other flights, but beware that the overhead compartments will not actually fit a standard carry-on sized wheelie.  They will tag your luggage at the gate and stow your wheelie during the flight, so be ready to pull out the items essential to your flight.  Luckily I've been thru this song and dance before and was ready to pluck my tablet and magazine out at a moment's notice.

I usually take Coach USA from Newark Liberty Airport into Manhattan, but this time I thought I would try taking the train.  On other travel sites & blogs it's described as a train that goes from the airport to Penn Station New York in approximately the same amount of time as the bus (less if the bus gets stuck in traffic), for a few dollars less.  All of which was true, but what they neglected to mention was that it's actually New Jersey Transit - aka a local train.  I was a little surprised to set foot on the train to find a bunch of Mets fans heading into NYC is all.  Going from Penn Station back to the airport was a little more problematic with a broken train that couldn't leave the station.  We had to get up en masse to switch trains, it was a nightmare where I almost left my ticket behind if not for a very respectable young thug (perhaps I'm getting older but it was some pretty cliched hip hop gear he was wearing) who called me "m'am" and handed me the ticket I'd left behind.  It was unfortunate, but it could happen to any train service.  Luckily I'd given myself some extra time so I was not late for my flight.

My accommodations in NYC were booked through AirBnB.com, my second time using the site.  I don't think I could've picked a better location if I tried, I am utterly in love with life in the East Village and my host, Jordan, was on E 12th St. and 3rd Ave.  That's right on the northern edge of the East Village and 3 blocks from Union Square (which I can never stay away from either).  Jordan's pretty nice and responds quickly via text, he met us at the apartment but unfortunately his last guests were late checking out.  So he took our bags and we were *forced* to go to Whole Foods Union Square, Forever 21, Strawberry, Forbidden Planet, Best Buy, and the DVD Funhouse for a couple of hours (oh, the horror! ;)) For the record I only bought 8 movies (6 Blu-ray, 2 DVDs) this year, which is actually one less than last year.  When we finally did get into the apartment, what we got was a decent-sized ground floor studio.  It had all the essentials, nice living/bedroom decor, good mattress, basic kitchen, but older bathroom (I wasn't in love with the tub but I've definitely had to deal with much worse).  It's a little thing, but Jordan had the foresight to plug a powerbar into one of the outlets, which made it much easier to plug in my devices without having to crawl under a table/unplug other things.  More renters/guesthouses around the world should do this.

Next was the quest for theatre tickets.  I had my eye on 2 shows, including Death of a Salesman starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols, but there had been no discounts online (prob thanks to the great reviews), plus a $15 online booking fee.  So I decided just to head to midtown and go up to the box offices (I did walk by Times Square to see how long the line for discount tickets were, one glimpse and I said forget it!)  Death of a Salesman was playing at the Ethel Barrymore where they informed me the only available show was the Saturday matinee, with either single seats in the Orchestra or partial views, with prices starting at $140.  I decided that wasn't worth it and moved onto the Imperial for Nice Work If You Can Get It, which was in previews.  They had much better options there so I bought a pair of rear mezzanines, going straight to the box office also meant no additional service fees.  Turned out the show wasn't anywhere near sold out, our entire row shuffled up in the dark/during intermission and I wound up in the front mezzanine with an excellent view.  Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara and Judy Kaye were terrific, plus Estelle Parsons makes an appearance.  The show is fun and the laughs are genuine, even if the story is a little contrived (hey, it's a musical).  I wanted all the chorus girls' dresses (the story takes places in the 20's).

Can't be in NYC without eating some really good food, sometimes this doesn't align with my wallet's plans, but luckily Gordon Ramsey isn't the only person/place to turn to for delicious food in the city.  We celebrated my friend Carrie's birthday with tapas and sangria at Boqueria in Soho, I recommend the Espinacas a la Catalana, Croquetas Cremosas, and the churros with chocolate dipping sauce.

Another afternoon I cut through Little Italy, Chinatown and veered off until I found myself in the Two Bridges neighborhood.  Don't think I'll be photographing that area extensively but I did find a hand-pulled noodle shop just off East Broadway that served a delicious bowl of noodles and steamed dumplings for dirt cheap.

My favourite discovery had to be Jing Fong Restaurant in Chinatown, which is on many food critic/blog lists for best dim sum in NYC.  They serve it up the old-fashioned way with pushcarts and featured desserts and decor that I haven't seen since the 80's in Hong Kong (think red decor and neon lighting). It brought back fond memories of living in Hong Kong in 1986, when my grandparents took my cousin and I to dim sum almost every day.  A large selection of dim sum and delightfully kitschy atmosphere all for a very low price.  I am never going to NYC without stopping at Jing Fong again!

One of my New Years' resolutions for 2012 was to venture into one of the boroughs for a change and I did just that on this trip by subwaying to Queens to visit the Museum of the Moving Image.  On this trip I learned (re-learned perhaps) the hard way that while the MTA has extensive routes, should you miss a stop or go the wrong way even one stop, it can take you a lot of time and effort to turn yourself around.  I hopped on a downtown train by mistake, got off one stop later but it so happened the stop did not have access to the other (uptown) platform unless I went out onto the street and paid my fare again.  So I went one stop further where I was able to get to the uptown platform, however they had switched the tracks for the local/express trains and I didn't notice the service sign right away, therefore let a couple trains go by without realizing there would be no express.  Finally got on a local train...making every stop to Astoria, so you can imagine what that was like.  Luckily MOVI was worth the effort, I spent a few hours geeking out amidst endless rows of antique films cameras and film-making equipment (some of which I was actually taught to use in school - a sure sign that my education is dangerously outdated!)

As usual, I packed as much into every day as I could while in NYC, here is a quick run-down of some of the places I hit, a blend of favourites and new finds:

• Macy's - go to guest services to get your discount card first thing, then be prepared to lose hours of your life
• Desigual - is Desigual.  I prefer the midtown store but I will go into any one that I walk past.
• Uniqlo - my first time at the midtown store, they were featuring a line of Andy Warhol t-shirts and $20 capris that are perfect for the office.
• SuperDry Store - another Japanese innovation, found a great biker jacket on sale but my credit card wouldn't cooperate.
• Canal St. - isn't what it used to be, I've lost the desire to seek out back alley sweatshops and the stores right on Canal have lousy knock-offs.
• Custo - did not have any sales this year and the sales people seemed less friendly, guess they're established and can be snooty too, like they are in Barcelona.
• Yellow Rat Bastard - is still the best place in the world to buy t-shirts.
• Top Shop - you can't always be in London, this is a fine consolation.
• Eataly - is a hard place to find a seat!  For a market eatery it's a little pricey but the quality is good.
• Random Accessories - a tiny little space packed with some pretty awesome knick-knacks.
• DVD Funhouse - has moved across the street from it's former location but still packed with marked down blockbusters and B movies.
• Best Buy Union Square - it's a Best Buy...but with US-priced blu-rays!
• Chelsea Market - remains one of my favourites, The Filling Station is the cheapest place to get truffle salt.

I didn't even get through half the stores I'd marked down to visit in the East Village, but on the flipside stopped in at some independent coffee shops, Chinese fast food joints, and Asian movie/music stores that I'd recommend but failed to record their names.  All I know is that I'll never tire of New York, I'm already trying to figure out when I'll have an opportunity to go back.