New York

Every year I spend a Sunday night in June watching the Tony awards, and every year it makes me really want to go back to New York.  I never thought I would like New York, but aside from making me into a big Broadway fan, I love the busyness of the city.  There's not too many places I go where I look like a tourist, but in New York I might as well have a camera around my neck and a map of Times Square sticking out of my pocket.  Everyone seems to know exactly where they're going and they were supposed to be there 5 minutes ago. 

So what's the hold up?  Well for one, airfares.  My target for Seattle-New York is $99 each way.  That's a "pull the trigger" point for me, and I just haven't been able to find it at all for any of the major school breaks.  I've seen $119, but not on my preferred airlines, so once I factor in luggage costs it comes out even higher.  There's also those wonderful New York hotel rooms.  In the past I've tried the low-end (Wyndham), the mid-tier (Doubletree), and the high-end (The Plaza) but I've yet to get a room that I would want to try and squeeze a third person into. That means I have to find a deal good enough to make buying two rooms per night a fiscal possibility, just so that the 5 of us can cram ourselves in for a few hours of competitive blanket hogging. 

View from DoubleTree Times Square room

Travelling with children also means that I have to tone down the entertainment options a little.  Can I take my kids to see "Spiderman - Turn Off The Dark"?  Probably.  Can I take them to see "Book of Mormon"?  Not unless I want to spend the next couple of weeks explaining it to them (and if I didn't have to explain it to them, I'm pretty sure that's worse.)  New York seems a lot like Vegas in that the entertainment options seem a little adult oriented, but my kids enjoy Vegas so I know I can make New York work for them.  I've just gotta make the price work for me.