Christmas in NYC

Hello Sunshines!

For my mother’s retirement celebration, I planned her bucket list trip to NYC during Christmas. I knew I wanted to plan this trip months and months in advance, and this strategy helped us in many ways! I would give this trip a solid 10 stars, and it’s one I’ll never forget with my mama - and daddy - he came, too :)

Where We Stayed

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After many weeks of researching hotels, I booked the Arlo Midtown hotel located off 38th Ave almost to the Hell’s Kitchen area of NYC. I chose this hotel because of their price point, location, and amenities (check out was 12 PM, two restaurants + cafe on sight, decent size rooms and bathrooms compared to other hotels in our price point). I would definitely recommend this hotel or one of their other locations in NYC. The service was wonderful (our room was ready when we arrived at 12:15 PM), and I even found a discount code from several influencers on Instagram and TikTok!

Transportation

Another question I had for our NYC trip was how would we get around because we all know the NYC traffic can be horrrendous. We chose to fly from ATL to LGA , and I was happy with our choice in using LGA because it was a smaller size airport and about a 40 minute drive from our hotel. We used Uber to and from the airport - I booked our Uber ($70 for both trips) as soon as we grabbed our bags, but Uber Shuttle was our next choice because it was only $20 a person and makes several stops, including one about 7 minutes from our hotel.

We pretty much walked everywhere - our hotel was about a 2 minute to 30 minute walk to ALMOST everything we had planned. We did use Uber on our third day to see the 9/11 Memorial because it rained all day. The subway is obviously the most used form of transportation due to it’s time efficiency and lower cost, but I felt a little nervous trying out the NYC subway with my parents for the first time. Ubers were pretty inexpensive - the uber to 9/11 Memorial from our hotel was $30.

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Itinerary

Day 1

11:15 AM : Arrive at LGA and Uber to hotel

12:15 PM - 4:00 PM : Check in to Arlo Midtown, grab brunch at Altair, rest at hotel

4:00 PM - 7:00 PM : Bryant Park Holiday Market, walk up 5th Ave, Saks Light Show, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square

7:30 PM : Grab 2 Bros Pizza and go back to hotel

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Day 2

8:00 AM - 9:30 AM : Macy’s (outdoor), walk up 5th Ave

9:30 AM - 11:00 AM : Breakfast at Lotte New York Palace

11:00 AM - 2:30 PM : St Patricks Catherdal, Glacé Hot Chocolate at Rockefeller Center, Fao Schwartz, more 5th Ave, Central Park

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM : Lunch at Carnegie Diner, Coffee from Blank Street

3:45 PM - 5:45 PM : Rest at Hotel

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM : Hudson Yards, The Vessel

7:30 PM : Dinner at Fuji Hibachi

9:00 PM : Back at Hotel

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Day 3

9:00 AM - 11:30 AM : 9/11 Memorial, SoHo, Nala’s Bagels, Coffee at Enly

12:30 PM: Lunch at Sarabeth’s

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM: Macy’s Holiday Square (Indoors)

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM : Rest at hotel

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM : Wicked on Broadway

10:30 PM : Back at Hotel

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Day 4

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM : walk up 6th Ave to see decor and Radio City Music Hall in daytime

9:00 AM : Breakfast at La Grande Boucherie

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM : Central Park, Ralph’s Coffee, Upper Eastside, Dior on Madison Ave

12:00 PM : Grab bags from hotel, check out, Uber to airport

4:00 PM : Flight to ATL

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Other Activities

• Columbus Circle Holiday Market and Shops

• Union Square Holiday Market

• The Rockettes

• Dyker Heights Christmas Light s

• Wall St Area + Christmas Tree

• The Met

• Brooklyn Bridge

• Statue of Liberty

Other Eats + Drinks

• Joe’s Pizza

• Liberty BAgels

• Leon’s Bagels

• Becco

• Lillie’s Victorian Establishment

• Tavern on the Green

• Papillon

• Caffe Paradiso

• The Elk

• Culture Espresso

• Fellini

• Dante

Fun Facts & Tips

I booked our hotel in July - the earlier the better I feel - search Arlo Hotel discount code on IG or TikTok and you should find several influencers with them

We booked out flights in the beginning of October - flew American Airlines into LGA

We booked Wicked at the end of October - totally amazing and a beautiful performance!

We went Sunday, Nov 30 to Wednesday Dec 3 - going right after Thanksgiving during the week was the MOVE. We did not fight crowds once - Fao Schwarz did a line to get in but during the day it wasn’t bad

We did not see the Rockefeller Tree lit - it was lit the day we left so the only thing we missed

I used my Canon EOS M50 Mark ii for all my photos

I wore thermal leggings and shirt under every outfit, pants/jeans, sweaters, Ugg platform boots, black boots, long winter coat, scarf/earmuffs/gloves - we were not once cold!

Head to my IG and TikTok for more content inspo!

XOXO, Britt