OK, I’ve shown you the pretty pictures and shared tips on how to have a cheap day trip to New York City. And I’ve hinted to the fact that the trip was rather difficult. Today I am going to tell it like it is, nothing held back. Honestly, in the end I think we all came home with good memories of our day in New York, but BOY did we have to work for our fun.
Thank goodness I brought plenty of twizzlers. They were a perfect bribe!
The day got off to a rough start when we boarded our 7:58am train. I was expecting the 3 hour train ride to be one of the kids’ favorite parts of the trip – an adventure in itself – but I never suspected that a Saturday morning train would be completely sold out and already full by the time we got on board.
Who would have guessed that we'd have more room on the Subway than the Amtrak train?
After sitting on the floor near some luggage for 20 minutes, we were told that there were some empty seats on the very first car. We trudged through a few cars and did find some seats, but they were not ideal. And by “not ideal” I mean that we had to sit in the row where the seats were facing each other, and the “leg space” was non-existent. Three inches between seats is simply not enough room for a family’s worth of legs to squeeze in.
Let’s just say that our day started off with lots of climbing over and on top of Mom, whining about personal space, and shoving of knees.
By the time we arrived in New York City, we were all tired and a little grumpy.
Complaining about her "heavy" backpack....Could it be the deodorant you brought, dear??
The day was long. As much as I love New York City, I expected my kids to love it, too. Instead, I heard a lot of “I’m hungry” and “I’m cold” and “Can we go home now?” The lines for the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty were horrendous (I’m assuming that the lines were because of President’s Day Weekend) and we just barely squeezed onto the very last ferry to see both Liberty Island and Ellis Island. I was determined to make it work, but there were a few people who voiced their discontent with the whole process.
Amazingly, everyone’s attitudes did a complete turn-around when we stepped out of the Subway station into Times Square at 5:30pm. The sun was almost down and the lights were coming on. The kids were fascinated.
They loved everything about New York City at night. They had new energy and no longer asked me if we could go home. In our rush to find a quick and cheap place to eat dinner – where we could sit down inside (a key factor!) – we ended up spending nearly an hour in….SUBWAY. I refused to eat a Subway sandwich in NYC, so KitKat, Twizzler, and I walked down to the nearest kebab kiosk and ordered ourselves some street food.
Luckily, Subway worked perfectly for those most *critical* family members…
Someone was very happy with his Doritos...
In the end, the #1 attraction was...Toys R Us!
Thank goodness our ride home was less crowded that our ride to the city. Everyone had some space, and everyone was able to rest.
Like I said, the day ended well, but it was so much work. I’m glad we did it, but I won’t be rushing back….with kids. Now, going to New York with friends? That’s a WHOLE other story.
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You are amazing, I’m so glad your day turned around even after the awful trip up there. Beautiful pictures, you are so talented big sis!!
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Good on ya for giving it a go! I’d love to visit NYC, but I don’t think I’d do it with kids in tow~!
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So fun. What great shots!!
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Great post and shots! Love the T-Rex and 9-11 captures. I can not wait to visit NYC, but rethinking taking the train there..lol
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I would love to visit NYC. Not with my kids as little as they are now though!
Your pictures are lovely!
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I’m glad it all worked out in the end and they loved it eventually. How can you not love NYC? Your pictures are fantastic.
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LOL!!! I adore NYC and so do the kids… but it can be really rough, for sure! Times Square is always a sure hit. Can you believe we’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty? I feel like such a bad mom!
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Ahhhh NYC! We have a love/hate relationship. Never have I been there with my children, but never would I want to either!
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I’ve always wanted to go to NYC, but was afraid of how my kids would handle it. Now I know to go straight to the nightlife and all is well! Great pictures. I hate how trips to even the grocery store are a huge task with kids, but I guess all you can do is plan ahead as much as possible and then throw those plans out the window and go with the flow! (at least that is what I tell myself, which doesn’t work!) Hopefully your next visit will go more smoothly!
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Love how you tell the story. Love the pics! I can’t believe you were there, how I didn’t know is beyond me…. because…… I was there too!!!!! Damn!
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Lolli Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Silly! We talked about it on FB on Friday! The day was simply too hectic, though, to fit any other excursions in, as much as I would have LOVED to see you! My kids were not on their best behavior…
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