Hi Guys!

I can’t believe I’m writing this blog! It still seems surreal that I actually just spent two weeks in the states! Honestly it’s like a dream at this stage and I’m only home a week ! Anyway I wanted to get it up as soon as possible while I still remember everything in depth and because I know some people have trips booked to NYC so you can read this before you jet off! I’m  going to do another blog or two on New York in the coming weeks because there’s too much to fit into one post so keep an eye for more to come.

Getting there!

We booked our flights in October with Aer Lingus and we actually got them fairly cheap- as American flights go! Aer Lingus were great to fly with and we had no hassle thank god! I watched a few movies on the way over so I didn’t feel the eight hours going at all but definitely bring some snacks because if you’re a peckish person like me, you’ll want food in between the meals!

Where we stayed.

We actually stayed with my friends family for the first week in New Jersey which was amazing! We got to experience New Jersey life while being 40 minutes away from New York on the train so we went into the city a few days too. But before we flew home, we checked into the new Irish Merrion Row Hotel and Public House for a few nights! We were also upgraded to a Deluxe King Suite which was fabulous and a great way to end the trip. The hotel is only open about eight weeks so I was excited to try it out while we were in New York. They have some great offers if you’re planning on going to NYC in the next few months so definitely check out their website! It’s literally only a 2 minute walk to Times Square so the location was excellent and it was really near a subway station too.

We had a huge King bed and a small living area- which was quickly submerged in our suitcases and coats as soon as we arrived! And I absolutely loved the bathroom décor, it actually reminded me of the interiors in Milan with the black and white tiles and gold hardware.

The décor in the hotel in general was really cool, very sophisticated and modern. It would definitely suit the young generation and had some great insta spots! We had complimentary continental breakfast each morning and we also got welcome pints which was a nice surprise! I of course asked for a Smithwicks shandy and they didn’t know what it was!

Getting Around.

For the most part, we used the subway to get everywhere in the city. We bought Metro Cards when we arrived and then just topped them up by $10/$20 at a time and kept using them. It’s around $2.25 for any subway so it’s definitely the best way to get around the city. We also used Uber a few times which was handy and when we were really late for a dinner reservation one night, we flagged down a yellow cab! They’re not actually as expensive as I previously thought, you just get stuck in traffic so that’s what makes it expensive! And of course, walking. Walking is the best way to see the city and honestly you will do a huge amount of it, so I can’t stress enough how important it is to bring comfortable shoes. I think we did around 17,000 steps a day on average- for two weeks!

Things to do!

As you can imagine, this blog could actually be endless if I were to go into detail on everything we did, so I’m going to try and condense it and obviously as I said, I’m going to do another blog or two, on where to eat etc so check back for those for the complete NYC guide!

Probably the best advice I could give, is to plan your days. As you can imagine, the city is huge and things are not as close to each other as they look on the map but you can fit loads into one day if you plan it out and figure out your transport routes. It’s definitely best to try and focus on one area per day or figure out what attractions you want to see and map them out so you don’t end up going around in circles!

Midtown.

• Grand Central Station
• Empire State Building
• Bryant Park.
• Times Square
• Radio City
• Carneige Hall
• Madison Square Garden
• Chrysler Building

Lower Manhattan.

• 9/11 Memorial
• One world trade centre
• Oculus – Shopping Centre
• Irish Hunger Memorial
• Brooklyn Bridge

Chelsea.

Chelsea was probably one of my favourite areas in the city. Lined with fab townhouses, cute restaurants and lots of interior stores, it was my kind of vibe!

• Chelsea market
• The Highline
• Starbucks Reserve

Central Park

You could actually spend half a day walking around the park! There’s always something going on and there’s so much to see, especially famous movie locations.

• Loab Boathouse
• Bethesda Terrace and fountain
• Bow Bridge
• The carousel
• Alice in Wonderland statue

Upper East Side/ 5th Avenue

Also a cool area to explore, but it’s also more of a ‘window-shopping’ zone!

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Lotte New York Palace
• St. Patricks Cathedral
• Rockerfeller Centre
• The Plaza Hotel
• MoMA

Others.

• Flat Iron Building
• Washington Square Park
• Statue of Liberty
• Staten Island Ferry
• SoHo
• Greenwich Village
• American Museum of Natural History
• Little Italy
• Dumbo

So that’s a basic area guide to NYC. Honestly there’s so much more, but most people only have a few days in the city so you’ll never fit in everything you want to see! I was lucky to have nearly two weeks there but there’s still a few things I didn’t get around to- it’s going to be a great excuse to go back some time!

Another thing I didn’t add in was the Wearing Irish event we attended on one of our nights in NYC. It was the New York premiere of Snaithe and a fireside chat presented by the Origin Theatre company so it was cool to have an event while we were in New York. I got to meet Erika Fox on the night- aka Retro Flame and honestly it was one of the highlights of my trip!  She was so lovely and chatted to me for about 10 minutes so as you can imagine I had a serious fan-girl moment. She also loved my blazer which really made my day🙈 And we were actually wearing the same River Island top but in different colours!😂

So as I said I should have the NYC restaurant guide blog up in the next few days because I have two days off so I’m trying to get on top of things!

If you have any questions or comments, please drop me a line, I would love to share more and help if I can!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this blog! New York is one of the most amazing cities in the world and it was one of the best trips I’ve had yet. I’m so lucky to have been able to spend two weeks of (grim) January on holidays so I’m supposed to be laying low for a while now, but we’ll see how long that lasts!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Eva