More detail, it's getting close !

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So a few days break on the sunny IOW. Family & friends to try to catch up with. Food to eat, hills to hike and Shorwell Chute to Cycle (up...). A lovely pause in procedings.....

But planning to continue.

We had many things organised by now. Booked a Vegas show (the young 'un's choice - Beatles Love!), a Canyon raft trip, and the accomodation all sorted. Time for more closer detail.

New York has so much to do: 4 nights is never going to be enough: this is the City that never sleeps!

& I'm not sure we will either.



We have picked around 15-20 of the 70+ attractions that our New York City pass allows us, and tried to arrange them to allow restful things (like a clipper harbour trip or a 3-hour full Manhatten cruise ) to intermigle with more active ones (like a guided "walk where it began ", or a cycle round Central Park ). The odd museum or two (sometimes very odd !).

Obviously realising it will be hot, sticky and very probably quite unpleasant outdoors: frequent drink stops will be a feature, and there is every chance we will fail to do everything we hope to....but the stretch goal is set.

As well as the obligatory trips up skyscrapers, Empire State & Rockerfeller, etc. Oh, & an afternoon around shops. Well, must keep the girls happy, eh !

So with the help of my friend, Google Maps , it is astonishingly simple to plan out a route. TripAdvisor can suggest places to go, things to do, and pretty soon you can become your own travel agent - simples !

We're booked into The New Yorker Hotel , a stylish art deco beast that was built in 1930. This site has some great shots and a stack of fascinating information. Chosen partly because we liked the style, but mostly because it is next to Penn Station, our early morning departure point!

I just hope the a/c works well :-)

Then an early morning Amtrak train down to Washington DC.....strangely enough, I am really looking forward to that: I have driven, flown and Greyhounded many times over the years, but never taken a train Stateside!

I had got back in touch with an old friend (the miracle of social networking!), and suddenly we have companions for our days there, which will be a fantastic chance to catch up on the years (almost decades!) and share some good times.

We plan to have a more relaxed time there, although no doubt a hiking tour of the many central sights and of course a hike around a small portion of the Smithsonian will give us a nice flavour of the place. We discovered 2 of the top 3 tours to do there are "free" (tips only), so will try to take advantage of one of those.

Frankly gutted that "Segway tours" can only be taken by those over 16.....we have "previous" as a family with Segways here in the UK, and that would have been an awesome way to go round easily, but hey ho.

Any recommendations on particular bits to see gratefully received - I realise the Smithsonian is a MONSTER to get round, we have to be choosy....

more later.....

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