"The Moneyhoon"

We have always wanted to go to New York City so that is where we chose to go for our honeymoon. We stayed in SLC the night of our wedding since we had an early flight and we were so tired from the wedding anyways. Our flight left at 8:30am and we were supposed to arrive in NYC around 3pm because it was a non-stop flight. We get right about Pennsylvannia and the captain tells us that they have closed JFK because of hurricane Bill. We circled in the air 5 times and then ended up having to land in Syracuse, NY because we were running out of fuel. We didn't even leave Syracuse until almost 6:00pm and then we got into NYC (FINALLY). Our luggage took 45 minutes to even come out and we were the only flight arriving at that terminal. While we waited for our bags I went over and had the ground transportation clerk call our shuttle company to come get us. After 30 minutes of waiting (they were supposed to be there in 15-20), the ground transportation clerk told us he didn't know where I was and the shuttle guy left us! So he called back and said "oh he'll be back in 10-15" and 30 more minutes goes by so Andy called the shuttle place himself. Finally after waiting for an hour and a half for a shuttle the guy comes and we drove around the airport for yet another hour picking up other passengers. Then they dropped all the other passengers at their hotels and dropped us off last which left us in the van for well over an hour. We were so livid by the time we got to our hotel, Andy just grabbed our bags himself and we left. Our hotel room was nice, we had an amazing view of the Empire State Builing and New York Times building. We were right around the corner from Times Square. Hotel staff was great help in finding places to eat and how to get around.

The next day we decide to go explore the city. We walked down to 5th Ave, halfway through Central Park and to the top of the Empire State building then all the way back to our hotel. It was a lot of walking! People were not the nicest, if you pissed them off they would take their sweet time doing whatever you needed them to do. They were not afraid to tell you that or that you needed to tip them. Most restaurants would add tips to any party at any time. You would pay for a drink and not get a refill. Water even cost you! Applebees for example, was way pricey. Here you could get a cheeseburger, a chicken wrap and 2 drinks for less than $25-30. It cost us $50. It was insane! The only place we found worth eating at was John's Pizzeria which was the best NYC pizza you will find! Yummy!

When we book our trip we had booked a all day tour that included a harbor cruise with it. So Andy and I decided to do that on a different day than our actual tour so we went to the place to exchange our voucher for our tickets. We went to the pier to exchange that ticket for a boarding pass and was told that it was only good for one person. I mean WTH?! So we had to make our way back to the company and I yelled on and off with them and Expedia for an hour which ended me with a $25 credit to my Expedia account....Whoo hoo. After that we just did more exploring and whatever else.

We finally took our all day tour which took us all over Manhattan. We saw Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Rockafellar Center, Brooklyn Bridge, Harlem, Central Park, places where TV and movies were filmed, where famous people lived, and a lot of churches with cementeries.

Our last day we decided to take a subway (which we wish we would have used sooner) and take it down to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. So we walked all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge and back. Brooklyn was way more laid back and family oriented than Manhattan. We also decided to go to a broadway play and chose to go to Shrek the Musical. We got our tickets through our hotel and they were amazing seats! The musical was hilarious and we both really enjoyed it.

Our last day there since we had to check out of our hotel at noon but our flight was at 7:00pm we decided to go shopping. My credit card was declined because I failed to notify them I was going out of town so after $500 charged on my account, they decided to freeze it. It made no sense, but I got it straightened out right away. Thank goodness!!!

Needless to say, it was nice to see but Andy and I don't want to go back for a very long time....if ever.