British Ryanairways...

[McSwede]

For “flowers”

See below. And quite correct (as an example)

I’m well aware of what goes in it just found the way the advert is trying to be obvious without being obvious quite amusing

that's a "doh!" from me

[jamcg]

This has got me wondering if gavsters game can be expanded to service station, cheese or weed

[dinny_g]

Quick Holiday Review..

• New York is a pretty cool place, I'm glad I went but to be honest, I wasn't as blown away as some people seem to be. I wouldn't be rushing back

• There's too much to see and do in a lifetime of trips so whatever your plans are and whatever you do is just fine.

• I knew it would be expensive but I wasn't quite prepared for what that meant ($5 bottles of water). However, by day 3, we had figured out which places had good value.

• Americans (in America) are lovely people - everyone we met was universally nice (and not just due to the Service Culture). Stopping and asking directions on the street was met with interest - "Where you from? Don't go to that place, this one is better!" etc . Within this, I found the Hispanic community especially nice.

The Holiday Booking

• BA Flights were rubbish. 777 but 2/3 of the plane was not economy. Seats were very uncomfortable and not much more room than a Ryanair 737. Entertainment was good but food awful. I wouldn't go with them again ( or at least stump up for the World Traveller Plus seats which looked better)

• Hotel, also booked as a "BA Holiday" was also very short of expectations. Room itself was fine but the hotel was being upgraded so there were Zero facilities. Bar didn't open till 18:00 so you couldn't even have a coffee or a coke in the afternoon when you come in from a morning out and about (No kettle in the room etc.) But worse, there was only 1 lift ( which holds perhaps 10 people) serving almost 600 rooms on a 20 floor hotel.

What we did

• Empire State building - both in the day and at night

• One World Trade Centre Observation Deck - Which was better. If you do now, do this one

• Ground Zero Museum - Massive so give yourself at least a few hours. Very sombre. It was strange seeing some of the actual foundations still in place

• Central Park, Dakota and Strawberry Fields - somewhat of a personal pilgrimage

• Knicks v Celtics at Madison Square Gardens. Great night out. NBA use Ticketmaster.com for sales so you can sort tickets before you go

• Natural History Museum - again mahooosive. Give yourself 3 hours. The Planetarium is worth is ($6 extra each). Sit on the near side by the door for better experience

• Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island - a must if you Irish.

• Harbour Lights Cruise - on our last night. Great Views of the city

Plus lots of other stuff...

Getting Around

• Use the Subway - £2.90 per ticket and tap in with you card. There doesn't seem to be any additional charges appearing on my statement

• We walked a lot - 150k steps in the week

All in, flights, hotel and spending came in at about £8k for a full week for 3 Adults.

[Jobbo]

Some very similar views to mine there, Dinny - just echoing these:
- When I went in 2019 I loved it and couldn't wait to go back. Going back this year I felt it had lost something. Not sure that's just me disliking the smell of weed. I also won't be rushing back; in fact, my wife and I were talking about it this weekend and agreed that it had been a bit of a dampener after a fantastic time in Boston and Cape Cod beforehand.
- Empire State Building; again my wife and I were talking about it. She'd been up before, just to the observation deck not the very top which we went to in June, and when she last went up there weren't miles of cordoned off sections and rooms to pass through; you just waited and got in the elevator. We may have been very fortunate not to queue this year but it was still fucking expensive and not particularly memorable so I wouldn't bother except to say you've done it.
- BA 777 on the way back, the big chap in the seat next to me was virtually on me all the way. Really poor.
- Subway - I think like the Tube in London it is cheaper to use your contactless card, not just more convenient. Since the ticket machines disliked the majority of my credit cards anyway it was a no brainer to use contactless or phone. In both NY and London that is one of the biggest improvements I have seen in recent years.

[dinny_g]

One other thing I forgot to mention.

We got a City Pass for the main attractions we visited:

https://www.citypass.com/new-york?mv_so ... gJqkPD_BwE

you can get a number of days or a number of attractions which is a better choice - we opted for 3 attractions and saved ourselves about 40% on paying at the door.

But check the individual prices as it makes more sense to pay into, for example, the 9/11 museum (at $20 per ticket) and use the pass for Empire State Building for example at $45/$50 per ticket.

[16vCento]

Boston/Mass has always been a lot better to visit than NY for me, the general vibe of the place, the bars, Fenway, Faneuil Hall, Treehouse, Bissell Bros, there's so much to do that's not always over busy.

The best day out I've ever had in NY was when we went Buffalo hunting, and tried Buffalo wings at all the places in Buffalo, that was fun. I'm very fortunate my uncle lives up at Lake Winnipesaukee in NH so I have local knowledge (and a free place to stay ) as he's been there 25 years now.

In all the places I've been in the world, I'd only live in two places other than where I am, Glasgow or Boston.