24-Hour Layover in New York City
Last time I went to New York City, the year was 2009, “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas was playing non-stop on the radio and I wore “shutter shades.” Going in 2023 was a little bit different lol.
My best friend and I wrapped up our trip to London, Paris, and Lisbon in November 2022 and said, “let’s do South of France next year!” So we flew New York to Paris on La Compagnie (out of Newark) and decided to add a day on our trip to explore New York City.
Why We Did This
Typically, I fly to Europe using a Positioning Flight method. This means I fly from my smaller airport (Memphis) to a larger airport (typically Boston, Chicago, or NYC) for cheaper flights to Europe. This can save me a few hundred dollars usually.
However, this time we were flying on a boutique airline, La Compagnie, to Paris and they only fly out of Newark in the US. So we had to get to New York regardless!
Where We Stayed
We stayed at Hilton New York Fashion District for around $120. It was a great location - half a mile from Penn Station (which has a direct train to Newark airport!), 1 mile to Chelsea Market, and half a mile to the Empire State Building. It also has a rooftop bar with incredible views.
The room was pretty standard (small) for a New York City hotel room, but it wasn’t cramped. The view from the window was to the building right next door, but we weren’t in the room very much!
What We Did
We landed in Newark around 10am ($83 flight from Memphis) and instead of taking the train, we just called an Uber to take us to our hotel. I had reached out to the hotel as soon as we booked and asked if we could check in early, and thankfully they let us! We dropped our luggage, changed, and hit the town. We first went to Chelsea Market, but it was PACKED. I got a focaccia pizza while there and it was pretty good!
After lunch, we went to the Harry Potter Exhibit near the Empire State Building. We had gone to the Harry Potter Studio tour outside of London about 9 months prior so a lot of it was repetitive. It was more interactive than the studio tour, but less original pieces than the studio. It was still a great exhibit for Harry Potter fans to experience though!
We spent maybe an hour and a half at the Harry Potter exhibit, then went back to our hotel to change for dinner and our Broadway show. We had some time to kill so we went to the rooftop bar and enjoyed the views and a few cocktails.
We ate dinner at Bocca di Bacco and it was pretty good! Not too memorable, but good Italian close to the show. Then it was time for The Cursed Child!
Ro nor I have ever seen a Broadway show, so we decided on The Cursed Child for our first. I wasn’t a fan of the script when it was released, but as a show - it is incredible. The special effects were unreal, choreography was seamless, and it was just an enjoyable show!
The next day, we went to Soho and visited Catbird to get friendship bracelets. On our return trip, I went back to add a pasta charm to my bracelet :) I also got a butterfly charm to add to my necklace with my grandmother’s fingerprint, as she loved butterflies. We wandered around Soho and window shopped for a bit.
Then we packed up and went to Penn Station to start our journey to the South of France :)
