New York City - Day 5 - Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration

Our last day in New York was gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies but it was the coldest! Minus 7 degrees all day. The girls were very exited to visit the Statue of Liberty; there’s something about iconic buildings and landmarks that resonate with kids. They loved the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Italy and Big Ben in London. On our previous trip in 2014, Braino and I had opted for the budget friendly way of seeing the Statue of Liberty; taking the public ferry across to Staten Island and back. But this time around, we decided it was worth the money to take the official ferry to Liberty Island and see the Statue up close. This trip also includes a stop at the Ellis Island National Musuem of Immigration, which I was really looking forward to. 

We booked our Statue of Liberty experience tickets on the Headout App and caught the subway down to Battery Park in the Financial District where the ferries depart from. It was $125 USD for all of us. 

The view looking back on the Manhattan skyline was amazing! And seeing the Statue of Liberty close up was a very cool experience too. Our ticket didn’t include climbing up inside the statue but we could walk around the base. The best part was the very informative museum that details the origin, construction and significance of the Statue. Absolutely the best way for the girls to learn about the history of it. 

We ate lunch at the cafe on Liberty Island (the girls will remember the pigeons flying around inside) before catching the ferry to the next destination, the National Museum of Immigration on Ellis Island. 

This was honestly my favourite thing we did in New York. Braino loved it too. It was so fascinating to realise that everyone who came to America from 1892 to 1954 - which was over 12 million immigrants - had to pass through Ellis Island. The main immigration hall has been preserved and now holds detailed exhibitions of the accounts of immigrations, the process they went through once they arrived at Ellis Island and what their life was like once they settled in America. It really gives you a perspective of what life was like only a few generations ago, before airplane travel has allowed us to see so much of the world. And after spending so much time exploring Europe and Great Britain, it puts into perspective how recent the modern histories of the United States and Australia for that matter, really are. There is no better way to learn about history than through travel. 

I wished we could have explored the other spooky old buildings that make up the rest of the Immigration Center - the hospital quaters, the quarantine quarters and builidngs were people had to live for extended periods of time if their immigration requests were taken long to process.

Once we got back to Manhattan, we caught the subway across to Brooklyn, mainly to see the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge and visit Williamsburg, where we had stay for half our two weeks in NYC back in 2014.

Navigating the subway and wandering the streets is, in our opinion, one of the best ways to see the sights and get a feel for New York. The girls had been absolute little champions with all the walking were had been going. And we found the subways to be pretty safe, if a litte old and grimey.

But once we arrived in Brooklyn, in the early afternoon, we just couldn’t deny how cold it was, even with all the layers we were wearing. Our hands were starting the freeze and we hadn’t packed any gloves. The blue sky and the sunshine were very deceptive. After capturing the classic photos of the bridges, we retreated back to the subways and headed for the accomodation. 

We stopped in at the apartment for a restful afternoon before heading back out to Time Square, where we celebrated our last night in New York with a family dinner at Applebees! Very classy! Haha. To stretch the budget out we had generally been cooking basic dinners at the apartment and eating breakfast in too. Lunch was really the only meal we ate out most days.

This trip to New York as cemented Braino’s love for the city, Hallie loved it too, it’s now one of her favourite places.  We now have goals to spend a month here later in life, once we’re retired (once the girls are grown up but maybe they can come too) - exploring all the restaurants, museums, galleries, theatre shows, music, sports and iconic architecture. Visiting with the girls has been amazing, but it’s been a very budget friendly, kid orientated trip. We managed surprisingly well considering the freezing winter temperatures but I wouldn’t recommend visiting in January. Even March / April back in 2014 was chilly. A summer in New York is still on the bucket list. 

New York City - Day 4 - Rockefeller, Grand Central Station & Basketball in Brooklyn

On our fourth day in NYC, we caught the subway to The Rockefeller Center and saw the iconic  ice skating rink - although the famous Christmas tree had already been taken down. We had decided to not go up to the ’Top of the Rock’, the viewing platform at the top of the Rockefeller Center. Braino and I had visited this popular tourist attraction last time we were here and while the views across Manhattan are spectacular, we couldn’t justify the cost for a family of five. 

The child friendly alternative was a visit to FAO Schwarz, the famous toy store at the bottom of the Rockefeller Center next to the Ice Skating Rink. It’s home to the floor piano that can be seen in the movie ‘Big’ and was likely the inspiration for Duncan’s Toy Chest in Home Alone 2. The girls had bit of Christmas money from their grandparents to spend so Hallie got her new toy Scarlet Macaw and Farley purchased some magic felt pens that change colour. (Rooney was saving hers for a skateboard)

On the next street over -  48th Street, we found an amazing book shop; McNally Jackson Bookshop. It had a great kids section but I loved the variety of non-fiction books on the upper level. I could have spent hours browsing. 

Afterwards, we walked down to the New York Public Library and then Grand Central Station for the touristy photo op.  We stopped at a Chic-Fil-a for lunch (a simple but tasty chicken takeaway menu ) and we also caught a glimpse of the Chrysler Building. 

A note for parents;  while the New York Public Library is an incredibly beautiful building and absolutely worth a visit for the architecture and the gift shop alone, the children’s library portion of it is is actually across the road at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation on 455 Fifth Avenue. There was an exhibit inside the New York Public Library that had the original toys of Winnie the Pooh that were owned by the real life Christopher Robin, son of the author A A Milne. 

From there we walked back to our apartment and had a rest that afternoon. We wanted to kids to be well rested for our night at the basketball. 

Ideally, Braino’s would have loved to have watched a game at Madison Square Garden but tickets for games there were incredibly expensive. The Barclay Centre in Brooklyn was a cheaper alternative, we were absolutely in the cheap seats, high up in the back of the stadium.

The game was Brooklyn Nets vs the New York Knicks, which was actually the very same game we saw at the Barclay Center in 2014 when we visited on our honeymoon. 

 Farley read a book for most of the game and by the second half I let Rooney play a game on my phone to keep her occupied but it was still quiet surreal to relive the experience with our girls, almost 11 years later. 

We also saw Sydney Sweeney sitting court side. Last time, it was Phil Colins who was the celebrity sitting court side, they always show celebrities on the big screen. 

New York City - Day 3 - Central Park & The Metropolitan Museum of Art

On our third day, a visit to The Metropolitian Museum of Art was on the itineary so we caught the train to the edge of Central Park and walked through the park again. We ventured into Central Park on our first day but it was all grey skies and drizzling rain but this time we were blessed with a stunning blue sky and a thick layer of snow across the whole park. It was magical!

The highlight was watching local families ride toboggans down a hill in a particular section of Central Park. Kids and parents were zooming everywhere, even across the footpath and down the slope on the other side. It was chaos but very entertaining. 

The Met is now my favourite art musuem. It’s incredible with so many anicent and modern art pieces. I really loved the building itself and the easy to nagivate layout. And it’s location on the edge of Central Park on the Upper East Side is perfect! (The Natural History Museum is on the opposite side of Central Park)

We spent a bit of time wandering around the anicent Egyptyian wing of the museum, comparing the artefacts to what we saw in Egypt, both at the ancient sites and in the museums in Cairo. I was excited to see another false door. There is even a whole Egyptian temple inside The Met! It was relocated from the banks of Lake Nasser in Aswan when the dam was being contructed.

We also enjoyed the Japanese Art section, but were a little disappointed to discover that The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hoskusai even though it was in the brouchures. The girls were able to do a free kids art workshop where they created portraits, adding gold leaf for look inspired by works of art at The Met. I stayed on a little longer at The Met while Braino headed back to the apartment with the girls to appreciated some of my favourite impressionist artists like Monet, Cezanne, Renior and Manet.

That night I went to the movies by myself to see Nosferatu. Last time we were in NYC it coincided with the Tribeca Film Festival where Braino and I saw three different films. While this wasn’t quite the same, Nosterfatu brought back memories of studying German Expresionist cinema in high school and university. And it was a good follow up to reading Dracula’s while we visited Whitby in England (which I haven’t actually shared on the blog yet)

New York City - Day 2 - American Museum of Natural History

Our second day in New York City was dedicated to visiting the Amercian Museum of Natural History, where the extensive collections easily filled out the majority of our day. The AMNH houses an enormous collection including specimens of plants, animals, fungi, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts.

Some of our highlights were:

• Wandering the halls containing the realistic dioramas of widlflife, habitats and cultural artefacts from around the world.

• Watching the Worlds Beyond Earth film in the amazingly preserved classic theatre.

• Exploring the all the dinosaur fossils on the Fourth Floor

• Marvelling at the gems and minerals in the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals

There were also so many other additional exhibitions, some at an additional cost, so we could have stayed longer but we covered a fair bit in our visit, enough information for the girls to absorb in one visit.

Tickets

I purchase tickets in advance the night before via the Headout App. There are no timed entries with the tickets but we did arrive just on opening time as I had read the museum can get very crowded and the line to get in can be quite long. When we arrived there was a line of people waiting but the line moved quickly once the doors opened.

Adults tickets are $30 USD while kids were $18 USD

Afterwards caught the subway back to the Flatiron District and stopped in at a bookshop called Books of Wonder on 42 West 17th St which is dedicated to new and second hand children’s books. We can’t go past a good book shop and this one had a wonderful vibe with an incredible variety of childrens classic and modern favourites.

That evening, Braino went out to watch a NFL playoff at a pub near Madison Square Gardens and it actually started snowing overnight, we woke up to see a light dusting of snow in the surrounding city streets.

New York City - Day 1 - Times Square and Central Park

We arrived late at night into JFK Airport having flown from London Heathrow Airport. We actually flew from Hurgharda to London Heathrow and spent a night there at the Sofitel Hotel at the airport. It was a wise decision to break up the long flight across two day, especially because I suffered a short but intense bout of gastro - not fun- but after a good night sleep at the Heathrow Sofitel, I was fine for the flight across the Atlantic.

The next day was our offical first day in New York City and we had a bit of a late start where we did some much needed washing at the laundry facilities in the accommodation. I took the girls out to Macy’s which was only a few blocks up from where we were staying in Midtown, while Braino tackled washing just about everything in our luggage. (We didn’t have access to any free laundry facilities while in Egypt)

The afternoon brought a light drizzle with it but still we ventured off to the iconic Times Square where we had a look in some of the surrounding shops like the Disney Store and the M&M store. The girls loved choosing from the huge variety of colours of M&Ms.

From there we caught the subway up to the edge of Central Park (5th Ave &59th St ) but the rain had set in by this stage and we didn’t get far into the park before heading back in search of a diner or cafe but we came across a subeay station first and decieded to called it a day.

Times Square

Times Square

Radio City

Ice Skating in Central Park

New York City - Budget Friendly, Five Day Family Itinerary

We had always intended to end our trip by spending a number of months in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico but in order to get there we would be transiting through the United States of America. Braino’s choice was to stay in New York City - in the heart of Manhattan to be specific. We had travelled to NYC in 2014 on our honeymoon and Braino has loved New York ever since. 

We were there in mid January, so it would the middle of winter and we got the coldest temperatures we’ve ever experienced. Some days were as low as minus 7 degrees celsius! Technically colder than what we experienced in Tromso during the day. But we still had a really amazing time, New York is now one of Hallie’s favourite destinations too. 

Times Square

Rockerfeller Center

Our AirBnB

Riding the Subway

State of Liberty

Manhattan Skyline from the ferry to the Statue of Liberty

INTINERARY

Here’s our itinerary for the five full days we spent in New York City.

DAY 1.

• Times Square

• Central Park

DAY 2.

• American Museum of Natural History

• Book of Wonders

DAY 3.

• The Metropolitian Museum of Art

• Central Park

DAY 4.

• Rockefeller Center

• New York Public Library

• Grand Central Station

• The Barclay Centre to watch Brooklyn Nets vs New York Knicks in the NBA. (Basketball)

DAY 5.

• The Statue of Liberty

• Ellis Island Immigration Museum

• Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge

WHERE WE STAYED

We stayed in a suprisingly cheap but well located apartment building in Midtown, a few blocks over from the Empire State Building. We found it on airbnb but the building itself seemed to be a very popular acommodation for groups, as we saw so many other groups coming and going during our stay. We had an extremely basic room, with two queen beds and a set of doube bunks. There was a tiny bathroom and a kitchenette and small table. 5 nights in such a small space was a bit of a challenge but we spent most of our days out and about so it was fine. The kids love it when we are all in the one hotel room, which we’ve done a few time when we’ve only stay in a place for a night or two. New York was the longest day we had in a room like this, but it kept things very budget friendly.

The location was the amazing part, right in the centre of Midtown - with views of the Empire State Building (if you pressed your face against the window and looked up, hahah)

GETTING AROUND

We flew in and out of JFK International Airport and had arranged an airport transfer via Booking.com to transport us from the airport into Manhattan and then back again on the day we departed. Airport transfers are something we’ve priortised throughout most of the trip as it takes away a lot of stress when we’ve arrived in a new location - definitely worth the extra money.

During our stay we caught the subway or just walked and felt generally really safe. We were suprised to find that we could literally just tap our phones onto the subway ticket gates and pay for subway tickets using the creidt cards in our phones wallets - no need to buy a pass or physical ticket.

The kids were free on the subways, or more specificlly, we had no problems with them walking through thr turnstiles with us. Maybe Farley should have had a ticket but no-one seemed to be checking.

We did a lot of walking! Over 20k steps some days and considering temperatures were below zero degrees celcius every day, thats a solid effort from the girls!

SIGHTSEEING AND BUYING TICKETS

We generally purchased tickets in advance using the HEADOUT app, which I had used in Paris and Rome as well. It seems to be the perfferred app for addmission tickets, as you get a QR code to scan on arrival at most places. If you want to a tour or have a guide, I’d recommend apps like Get Your Guide or Viator, but we’ve had no problems with HEADOUT.