If you’re following me on Instagram, you know that last month Tim surprised me with a 4 day trip to New York City (he deserves the husband of the year award)! It’s been nearly 5 years since the last time we visited Manhattan. We only live 4 hours away from NYC now (you can read about our move here), so I’ve been wanting to go back so badly!
Last month, my parents traveled all the way from Chicago to watch our kids so we could go on this amazing trip by ourselves. We’ve never traveled anywhere without the kids before, so this was definitely a first!
Since I had no idea we were going to New York until the day my parents showed up, we didn’t really have a plan. We knew that we were just going to explore the city for a few days without an agenda. So, while in New York City, we briefly talked each night about what to do the following day. They were mainly things we hadn’t gotten a chance to do the last time we visited New York.
So, if you’re planning a trip to New York in the near future, here are the things we did and the places we stayed at during our trip.
DAY ONE
We arrived in NYC around lunch time. After we checked in to our hotel, we walked around Times Square for a while, then in true New York fashion, we ate lunch from the street vendors. They were some of the best kebabs we’ve ever had!
That evening we also went to see one of the best Broadway shows of all time: Frozen! We literally purchased our tickets 10 minutes before it started from one of the agents in Times Square. We paid less than half the price for each ticket, so I’d say it was well worth it.
After the show ended, we had dinner at Red Poke on 9th avenue. It was delicious!
DAY TWO
We started our day with the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so much fun walking across the bridge and taking pictures.
Since we were already in Brooklyn, and it was also a Sunday, we decided to visit the Brooklyn Tabernacle. We’ve heard the Tabernacle Choir sing before, but never in real life. So we decided to give it a try. When we arrived, the line was so long, it went all the way around the block. I never had to wait in line to go to church before, so this was definitely a new experience!
After the service, we decided to go into Chinatown. We had only passed by Chinatown last time we were in New York and did the hop on hop off bus. We wanted to try some authentic Chinese food while there, so we stopped by Xi’an Famous Foods for an early dinner. It was absolutely delicious! We also did some gift shopping, and bought our sweet Emma the most adorable keipo.
On the way to our hotel, we realized that the Hillsong Church was only like a 6 minute walk so we decided to go for their 6 pm service.
Since we had already had dinner that day, we decided to go hunting for something sweet. We found Uptown Swirl and ordered some amazing crepes.
DAY THREE
Tim wanted to go biking in Central Park, so we did. We rented a double bike and off we went. It was raining, but we kept going for over 6 miles. On the way out, we may or may not have gotten lost. It took us a while to find the exit, but it was definitely a fun experience.
After Central Park, we headed over to the Empire State Building. The view from the top was absolutely incredible! We bought tickets to go up in the observatory, but I personally enjoyed the view from the previous level better.
After the Empire State Building, we had dinner at the Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine.
DAY FOUR
On our last day in New York, we took the ferry to Staten Island. It’s a free commuter ferry that offers some of the best views of the New York skyline. Moreover, it also offers a pretty close look at the Statue of Liberty. It’s one of my favorite things we did in NYC this time. When we got to the island, we spent a couple of hours visiting and then returned back to Manhattan.
Once we got back into the city, we headed to the 9/11 Memorial before we made our way to the airport.
I still can’t believe we visited so many places in such a short period of time! There are so many things to do in New York and the options are endless. I hope this itinerary helps if you are planning a trip to NYC.
This was the first time that I decided not to take my professional camera with me on vacation. Don’t you worry though, we took tons of pictures on our phones. Here are some of my favorites!
