Travel Day

We were all up pretty early in order to get to the airport for 8am and the family had elected to have breakfast at the airport because that costs money. Giraffe at Terminal 5 was pretty good though.

The flight itself was of course pretty uneventful and we watched several films between us (Oblivion and The Company you Keep). The plane landed pretty much on time and we were treated to 1h15m queuing to get through immigration. We made our car service cut off time (after which they charge $54/30m) by 3 minutes. The ride into Manhattan from Newark was pretty spectacular and afforded the boys their first views of the famous skyline. For me, the absence of the twin towers was quite striking as was the appearance of a new skyscraper which turned out to be One World Trade Centre.

Our hotel – the Millennium Copthorne on 2nd Avenue and 44th/54th Street – felt a bit run down but the room itself was plenty big enough and the view from the 37th floor was absolutely amazing. Helen & I had a corner room with a view of downtown Manhattan as well as the East River. The boys were two doors away and had a view of downtown Manhattan.

After unpacking and checking out the swimming pool and gym we ventured out towards Grand Central Station. En route we stopped at a bar which had a tiny garden hidden behind its facade where we picked up a recommendation for a diner for breakfast. Grand Central is a phenomenal structure – from the outside its really just another building but inside its huge, dramatic and has massive character. Our itinerary called for lunch in the food concourse which was like an upmarket food court in a shopping centre. Tom & Harry has chilli con carne burrito, Joe a chicken wrap, Helen chilli con carne with rice and I had a beef Philli sandwich.

We had expected to crash out about 8pm and were surprised we lasted until 10pm – not quite sure where the 5-6 hours in Manhattan went but they say it’s the city that never sleeps.