NYC Trip Day 1

Justin and I have been planning a trip to New York City for as long as we have been married. Justin has been to NY once before when he went with the Texas A&M Financial Management Association, but this was my first trip and I really wanted to go when everything would be decorated for Christmas. We stayed a full week at the Milford Plaza Hotel a block from Times Square in the theater district. Unfortunately, it never snowed but it did get very cold. It was a very memorable trip and very expensive but worth every penny!

In the lobby of the Milford Plaza Hotel

So our big naive experience happened when we first landed in New York. We were approached in the baggage claim and asked if we needed a taxi ride. We said yes and were led to a black sedan which had no mileage meter in it but we're thinking that people probably drive people around as a side business for extra money and we didn't think much of it. Well apparently this is illegal because these guys will charge you whatever they feel like and we ended up having to pay an outrageous amount for a thirty minute ride to our hotel. We will never make that mistake again! These guys are everywhere though - we saw several people throughout the week trying to catch a cab and these guys would drive by constantly trying to rip people off. The cops used to crack down on it more but their attention is now focused on preventing acts of terrorism.

The first thing we did was walk around Times Square and boy was it crazy and crowded! People were visiting from other countries so we heard several languages being spoken all around us at once. We went into several stores: a 3-story M&M store, Hershey store, huge comic book store (which Justin loved), Toys R' us that has a huge ferris wheel in the middle of the store. We walked down to 34th street to see Macy's, Victoria Secret, and H&M.

Now this is my kinda store!World's largest Hershey bar

The decorations in Macy's were unbelievable!

That night we ate seafood at Bubba Gump's in Times Square. New York City has passed a law requiring any restaurant with at least 15 locations nationwide to post the calories next to every item on the menu. I ordered tilapia in a cream sauce with mashed potatoes and sauted spinach and the damage was 1,040 calories! And that doesn't include the garlic bread we ordered for an appetizer... good thing I didn't eat it all!
A lot of people in Times Square were selling tickets to various events so we caught a comedy show which was pretty good at a place called Dangerfield's. A good start to a great week.