East Coast Days #1, 2 & 3 - NYC

The secret to a successful flight? Not a well behaved child...a well-charged tablet.

 Every time I'm here, I fall a little bit more in love.

The flight was long (10 hours), but blessedly uneventful. Hawaiian Airlines has its pros and cons, but one thing that has remained consistent over the years is the Aloha of its employees on the front lines. We also loved being able to fly direct to JFK from Hawai'i for the first time (we normally fly into LA first). The only real downside was having to sit in the vicinity of human farting machine who unfortunately for us, had a 10-hour supply of gas built up that they steadily dispersed every 10 minutes. 

Once we landed, we were all a little delirious since it was 1:30am HI time. We made our way to the same hotel we stayed in 2 years ago and were happy that virtually nothing had changed. We're right next to the Queensboro Bridge, which means we're 7 minutes (by train) from mid-town Manhattan. In fact, we learned that if you walk across the bridge, you're right at the south entrance to Central Park/FAO Schwarz.

Since we had a few hours to kill before we could check in and crash, we cruised the area in search of a park I'd found online. We ended up finding another one much closer, smack dab in the middle of projects- the Queensbridge NYC Public Housing Project to be exact. I started chatting with the only other person there who seemed to know everyone walking by (possibly because she has been there for 27 years), who told me she has a 3-bedroom unit for $503/month. Amazing! I mean, they're right next to the water and facing the gorgeous Manhattan skyline. I believe the normal going rate for a 1-bedroom condo near the station is well over $500,000 plus another $500-1000/month in maintenance fees, not including property tax/utilities. So yeah, sweet deal. The only issue being- yeah...you're in the projects. They look old, very utilitarian (I think the Soviets gifted it to us) and a bit shabby. Still...I love that normal, everyday folk get to have the option to live near the city.

We were the only thugs in the 'hood 

Once we got our room we showered, crashed hard for about 3-4 hours, woke up to eat dinner, then crashed again for another 9 hours. The next morning we headed out early to walk over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan...which was AMAZING. For the first time ever, we noticed a sky tram above us (to Roosevelt Island).

And once we crossed the bridge (maybe a little over a mile long?), it dropped us right into our intended first stop- Dylan's Candy Bar! Last month we met the owner (Dylan Lauren...yes, Ralph's daughter) at Neiman Marcus on Oahu promoting her new book, and Ryan told her that we love her store and always stop there when we're in town.

From there we walked over to Central Park (another favorite stomping ground of ours) so we could give their granite slide a whirl, enjoy a picnic lunch and check out the blooming cherry blossoms.

These were right next to the cherry blossom trees but were much more vividly pink...does anyone know the tree name?  Certified arborist Joey...any clue?

After a mid-day siesta, we headed back out to town to hit FAO Schwaz (another family favorite stop) so Ryan could run across the giant piano (which can be yours for only $250,000) and Times Square. Every time I'm there, I find myself continually drawn to the dazzling, overwhelming lights. We finally called it a night around 9:30 and headed back to to the hotel so Ryan could get his usual 12-hours of sleep. :-)

My favorite photo of the bunch...Ry & the FAO Schwarz soldier made out of Legos!

Clearly I've asked the poor boy one too many times to smile for the camera.