Carl’s Journey

My recent trips to New York City and New Orleans make me think of the beautiful Edith Piaff’s song, La Vie En Rose. However, instead of being in bliss by a lover, I was in bliss by the two cities. Since I write about New Orleans all the time, this article is about NYC. I created a video for New Orleans instead.

I LOVE NEW YORK

After two decades, I traveled back to the “Big Apple” on March 22 for a four nights stay. My partner in crime, Gary, and I had a marvelous time and decided that we will have to go back again and again.

CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

It all started one night in February when I was restless and decided to check air fare on the inter-net. To my surprise, Jet Blue Airlines and ATA Airlines had a price war and I was able to book two out of four remaining sale tickets through ATA. The cost of our two round-trip, non-stop tickets including tax and everything was $284.

THEN I discovered that New York City is not a cheap place to stay; especially Manhattan. This is a place where a one star, shared bathroom hotel starts at $75 to $150 a night. I have been using priceline.com for my hotel rooms in the last 7 years and the highest hotel room I paid was $75 a night for a three star hotel in San Francisco during the busy month of September. I was able to book a hotel in Manhattan through priceline.com for my last three nights and had to stay near LaGuardia airport for my first night.

A NIGHT IN ELMHURST

Something was going on in Manhattan this particular Thursday because all the two stars private bath hotel rooms were sold out. I could not get anything through priceline.com and had to use my AAA travel service. The price was $120 for that night at the Clarion LaGuardia. This was $15 cheaper then Expedia and Orbitz and $40 cheaper then a non AAA member. THIS DUMP was a disaster. The place needs a makeover badly. The air conditioning unit worked only on a particular setting and that was heat, heat and heat. True, the Sunday before that Thursday the area was under a blanket of snow, but by the time I arrived, the temperature had risen to 60 degree.

It was 6 PM by the time we checked in our room and decided to search the area by foot for a restaurant. We ended up at Rancho Jubilee; a Dominican restaurant in a former Trader’s Vic location. The original thatched roof and the giant T was left untouched. Unfortunately, the food at this place was not good. Gary’s banana wrapped snapper was bland and overpriced at $18. My traditional dish of mofongo was a major disappointment. Mofongo is a Caribbean dish made of mashed green plantain, garlic and pork crackling. When it is done right, the dish is delicious, but my mofongo tasted and look like the cornbread dressing that has been left in the freezer for 6 months. Luckily I brought snacks with me and enjoyed myself a can of Vienna sausage in the comfort of my room.

MANHATTAN

The hotel that priceline.com got us was The Exchange Hotel. What a wonderful deal this was. The small boutique hotel is in the historic Front Street at the Financial District. The room had a microwave and a refrigerator which we never used. I enjoyed everything about it, but Gary found the bed too firm for his back.

From the hotel we walked less than 1 minute to NYSE building along Wall Street which dead ended at Trinity Church. Most of the subways lines were within 1 to 10 minutes walk from the hotel. At $80 a night, I hope I can get this kind of deal again in the future. The hotel actually cost an average of $279 a night.

THE SECOND DAY

After checking in at our hotel, Gary and I set out on foot and walked the lower Manhattan area. I was amazed at the wonderful smell of food every where as we walked by may street food vendors.

We first walked to Trinity Church. The church is beautiful especially the inside stained glass window. We then walked to TWC area and took some pictures of the construction going on. From there we walked 15 minutes to China Town and had a wonderful lunch at Congee, a restaurant specializes in rice soup. We ordered a duck congee and a fish with thousand year egg congee. The soup came in its own clay pot. We also had an order of shrimp dumpling dim sum and an order of pork dumpling dim sum. The meal came with free hot tea. Our bill was a huge $13.50!!!!! Take that Rachel Ray!

A trip to China Town is not complete with out shopping. I used my bargaining skill to obtain 4 pairs of jade chopsticks, a marble flute, a silver tea kettle and a jade bracelet only to see them in a million pieces after arriving back to Houston. More on this later.

From China Town, we wondered to Little Italy, then headed back to our hotel in the rain and rested for about 3 hours before taking the subway to Time Square.

Time Square was full of life and lights. There were so many tourists there. I felt it was like Vegas with all the lighted bill boards. We walked to Grand Central Station around 9 PM and had dinner at the Oyster Bar. I enjoyed the experience there, but again disappointed in the food. I cook all the time and have eaten out at many places through out the world and I think that my standard is very strict once a restaurant charges more than $16 for a single plate of food. The grilled fish dish I had here was nicely done and it came with crispy onion ring and a scoop of coleslaw. The piece of fish was about the size of a McDonald’s fish filet sandwich but it cost $20 and it left me hungry. Gary’s oyster sampler plate was overpriced at $16 for 8 oysters. Add in one beer and our bill was over $50 for a meal that was not satisfying at all. WHY is it that American and Italian restaurants always charge more for less meat when compared to Chinese/Vietnamese or Mexican restaurants? Forget about service. Congee was the cheapest restaurant and yet it had the best service of all the places we went to.

We stopped at a McDonald’s near our hotel and got us a hamburger and two apple pies and happily ate them in our hotel room.

THE THIRD DAY

We met my friend, Willie, whom I have not seen since 1986. The first and last time I came to New York City was in 1986 when I helped Willie moved back from Houston to New Jersey. We spend the day walking the area of Greenwich Village and Chelsea. Lunch was at the Saigon Grill. The food was actually good and reasonable. The appetizer was Vietnamese egg rolls and I was happy to see that the egg rolls were made with rice papers instead of the easier Chinese spring roll skins. We shared our plates of stir fried beef with asparagus, crispy beef noodle and spicy shrimps. The bill was a respectable $50.

Willie drove us across the river and into New Jersey where we spend the day in suburbia living.

Gary and I took the Path Train back to NYC and rest the remaining of the day. This night we walked about three blocks to L & L Hawaiian Barbecue. This small fast food joint has an even smaller sushi bar inside. Gary and I had the special combo which came with three fried shrimps, a fried mahi mahi and a choice of meat (chicken, short ribs, and beef). The combos came with rice, salad and macaroni salad. Our meal was served in a to-go foam container filled to the max. The dish was $10.99 a plate. They did serve spam sushi, but we did not try it.

THE FOURTH DAY
The imposters

Gary and I had booked a luncheon with the Elton John’s Lunch Around the World fundraiser. For the last several years, on Elton’s birthday, his biggest fans organize a luncheon through out several big cities from NYC to London raising money for his charity foundation.

Our luncheon was on a small cruise boat that cruised around Manhattan for about 3 hours. Most of the 200 guests were hardcore fans; gay and straight. I met a few straight husbands who were dragged to this event by their wives. My table had four guests from Tokyo! Gary and I felt like imposters. We do not know any of Elton’s songs and lyrics as a look-a-like plays and sings on a piano with a crowd of fans singing along with him. The buffet lunch had baked chicken breast (no surprise here) with baked ziti, salad, vegetable medley and a variety of deserts. The $50 per person fee was worth it since most of it goes to Elton’s charity. I had a great time watching people and talking to people. It was like one big family with two red headed step sisters.

BROADWAY BOUND

After the Elton’s luncheon, we walked from the pier to Time Square and then to Rockefeller Plaza and back to Time Square down along 5th Avenue.

We had an early dinner at a diner near Time Square. The food was boring and overpriced to the point that I really don’t remember much about it. I think it was called the Flaming Lips or something like it.

We saw our only Broadway show, Spamalot. The comedy is loosely based on the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I will be honest with all my readers and let you know that there is nothing more torturous for me than to sit through a Broadway type show. This was no exception. We sat up in the balcony where our tickets were only $35 a piece and I am glad that was all I paid. The theatre was very small and our view was good, but the tiny seats left my fat ass in serious pain. Gary enjoyed the comedy of Spamalot more than I did. There were a few fun numbers for me, but they were not enough to keep me from wishing that I was some where else. I guess when it comes to theatre; it is just not in my blood. Maybe I will see Hairspray or Mama Mia next time and these two shows may change me.

IS THE FOOD WORTH IT?

We ended our last night in NYC by having a late dinner at Thai Son restaurant. This Vietnamese eatery is in China Town and serves traditional Vietnamese food. We both had Pho soup and at $5.75 for a giant bowl, it was all worth it. Again, why is it that Vietnamese/Chinese or Mexican restaurants give more meat and charge less than the American or Italian ones?

The mediocre of American food on this trip and several trips prior prompted me to write a new column which will be named “IS IT WORTH IT?” I will do a review of all the restaurants I eat at and deemed them worthy or not; based on price and taste. I will not take service into consideration since the nicest restaurant staff I meet comes from cheap hole in the wall eateries not at the white table cloth, black tie snobby places. I have no problem shelling out $50 for a plate of food if it is good and worth its $50, but I am tired of paying $10 for a plate of boring Caesar salad with bad grilled chicken meat at any Italian eateries.

THE FIFTH DAY

While we wait for our limo to pick us up after checking out of our hotel, Gary and I walked to a nearby pizzeria, Mardi Gras Pizza. The place is smaller than my tiny living room but the food was good. I had a gyro while Gary had two slices of pizza including the Mardi Gras pizza which was topped with crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage and very spicy jalapeno pesto. It was too spicy for Gary to finish. The total bill was $13.

We used Barona Limo Service to take us back to the airport. It cost only about $10 more than a cab ride and it was all worth it. The drivers are professional and punctual.

We both had a great time in NYC but did not get to do many things we wanted to do. We will have to come back to visit some of the museums, ride the elevator to the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza, hanging out at Central Park etc…

BROKEN CHOPSTICKS

When we got home and I opened up my beloved Hello Kitty luggage, to my horror, all my jade pieces and my marble flute were broken in many pieces. My jar of icy hot ointment (sore back and legs) was breached and its content smeared all over my luggage. To make the story short, I contacted ATA Airlines and was told that my things will not be covered. This was fine with me since due to my incredible bargaining skill, I paid less than $30 for the items and driving to Hobby Airport to file a claim for something this small was ridiculous. HOWEVER, the witch on the phone had the nerve to tell me that when one travels, one should only pack clothes and nothing else. The calm that usually dwells in me left in a split second as I hurled a few insults and hang up on her.

THE REAL TRUTH

It does not take a big chunk of money to travel. Gary and I are not lucky people who won a giant lotto jack pot. Each trip is carefully planned and plotted out. A budget is drawn and never breached. Everything is paid in cash (bank check card). We travel well but cheap. Every expensive meal is balanced out by several cheap meals. With the exception of transportation from and to the airports, we always use public transportation once we get to our cities. This saves us from spending money on car and parking expense. We would use public transportation from and to the airports but we are pack rats and travel with too many luggages to do so.

There are many activities that do not cost any money. While we were in NYC, the only money we spend for entertainment was the Elton John’s fundraiser and the two tickets to Spamalot.

OUR NEXT TRIP WILL BE TO HAWAII in May!! I am on a diet right now so I can prance around the beautiful beach in my new bathing suit!

Happy traveling!