We decided to take a trip to New York after Christmas of 2015 and see 2016 in while in New York. Of course, no holiday is a true holiday without us visiting the beach, so after NYC, we headed to a few of the Caribbean Islands - Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten and Saint Barts.
Arriving in NYC around Christmas time is a very special experience. We don't think anyone does Christmas decorations better that NYC. The cold weather, the ice skating, the horses and jinggling bell sound as they draw carriages around Central Park, is just iconic Christmas.
The streets are full of people, and the city is a buzz. The Christmas decorations in the shops and on the shop facades are amazing.
We did a full day tour and visited places like the Empirre State Building, Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, Wall Street, Grand Central Station, Ground Zero, Rockerfeller Centre and Macys! Actually, Macy's was not on the tour BUT it was a block away from the Empire State and since the observation deck was in the clouds on the day, we saved our ticket for another day and went to Macys instead - it turned out to be a good decision.
We visited Central Park and walked around it. It is a beautiful park and deserves the accolades it gets, there were squirrels playing around on the grass, which was fun to watch. The horse drawn carriages looked awesome and sounded like Christmas with the jinglling bells. Unfortunately, the lakes were not frozen over as normal at that time of year because they were suffering a heatwave and temperatures were a roasting 2C at night and blistering 4-6C during the day! We also visited the Museum of Natural History (as seen in the movie "Night at the Museum"). While there, Stephanie bought a big pretzel and a drink from a food cart for us to share as a snack prior to going into the museum.
We got to the Empire State Building fist thing in the morning a few days later, and the day was crystal clear. It was a decent walk from our hotel which was lacated between Central Park and Times Square. The view was spectacular. We also went to watch an ice hockey game at the Barclays Centre in the Bronx. That was such a fun night, and while there, I had to have a hotdog and Coke for dinner!
You cannot go to NYC without seeing a show... so we booked tickets to an off-Broadway show called "A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder" - another awsome evening!
We spent New Year's Eve at an Italian Restaurant in Manhattan with friends that live in New Jersey. Watching the "Ball Drop" at midnight was of no iterest to us whatsoever. NYE in NYC is nothing like NYE in Sydney. The fear of terrorism is always alive at major events in NYC.
You know it's a small world when you bump into an old school mate from 35 years ago in NYC! We caught up with my friend Russell for breakfast one morning while he was in NYC at the same time as us.
We left NYC and headed much further south to where the sun shines and the temperatures are much warmer in January.
Puerto Rico was a prosperous island nation and protectorate of the USA. It was a tax haven for US manufacturers until about 15 years ago. Now, Puerto Rico is having financial difficulties - especially post the GFC. The manufacturers have left, and there are now many unemployed. The capital looks prosperous, but once you step outside the port, you see the onset poverty. We, as usual, walked a lot, we checked out the port area, ate the local food (they love their plantanes there), and tried lots of Pina Coladas.
The buildings are colourful, and the place is friendly. The food is interesting and we discovered a few neat places to visit by talking to a local cabbie and finding out where to go, what to see and where to eat..... so as usual, we hired a car and went exploring!
On the 9th of January, we had dinner in the "Clam Shell" restaraunt on the main beach at Puerto Rico to celebrate Stephanie's Birthday.
After Puerto Rico we headed off the Sint Maarten/St Martin. This is one island which is half Dutch and half French. We stayed on the Dutch side.
Sint Maarten is a great Caribbean Island, good food, inexpensive, duty and tax free.
Our accommodation was excellent and the view as per below. The port area was full of shops where you coule buy anything at great prices - no counterfits, all real brands, just duty free and tax free pricing! Anyhow, the shops are desolate.... until the cruise ships come in, and then the place is packed!
We found a restaurant for dinner and had a quick chat to one of the Pirates of the Caribbean, visited the urinal - which was interesting, and spent a bit of time on the beach (no surprise there!). We got two banana longes on the front row of the beach, with umbrella and table for the day PLUS a choice of 6 drinks (Corona, Coke, Sprite, Fanta), all for US$20!
We also took a dat trip to the ISland of St Barts. It's an island that the rich and famous go to. It is expensive but the beaches and port are beautiful. We found an awesome restaurant on the beach and had lunch there after a swim at the same beach.
In the centre photo below, is a hotel on an island that is right on the main beach. That hotel is where the rich and famous go.
There is always some entertainment happening around the beaches and tourist areas at lunch time, and the beaches are beautiful, calm and relaxing.....
St Martin is also world famous for its Maho Beach. The airport is right next to the beach and the planes fly so low over your head when coming in to land, that you feel like you can almost touch them! Even more interesting is the thrust you feel when they take off as you can see in the photos and video below.
The video below was only a two engined passenger jet taking off. The sand blast from the beach and the thrust was unbelievable, people got blown down the beach! We never got to experience a 747 take off, but that would have been crazy!
After St Martin, we headed back to NYC on Jetblue to catch our Sydney connection.
If you haven't done the Caribbean, and you like beaches, then go and do some island hopping there!
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