Last year my long suffering husband decided to go to New York for his 40th birthday. A few things happened and he wasn’t able to go the week before his 41st birth. He was technically still 40 so not so bad. He went for 9 days (on his own) and had a fab time.

When he came back he decided that we should all go to New York for a holiday. I wasn’t happy about it. I have spend twice a month in new York before I had children or husband and did not want to go again. Long suffering husband said it was a trip of a life time for the children so I cracked under pressure and reluctantly agreed to go. I would have been very happy for him to take all 3 children on his own for a fortnight.

I told him and the look of pure terror on his face was worth a photo.

We spent every pennies we could over 18 months and when we thought we had enough money to cover (child 3 kept giving us pennies found on the street) we booked and went.

Long suffering husband found us a house in New Jersey. The house was big enough for all of us, was only 30 minutes from Manhattan by train and was 15 minutes walk away from the train station and the shops.

We liked the house. It was in a very nice neighbourhood. No noise permitted between 10pm and 8am. No on street parking, no littering. We liked it a lot.

Getting there was a first for all the children. They have travelled to Europe since birth by train, car, bus, coach, boat but had never been on an airplane. They coped brilliantly. They were not scared. Child 1 said after the flight that she had been uneasy during take off and landing but otherwise had been fine. Child 2 is laid back and took it as it came. Child 3 was sitting next to me and spent the flight charming the American lady sitting next to him. That child will charm his way into anything.

Arriving at the airport and getting to the house was not as easy as we thought. The owner of the house had recommended we pre-booked a minibus, then the drive would be 15 minutes from the airport. My I am about to get strangled Husband decided that it would be better to take the train to the house. It only took us 75 minutes. We had to negotiate 1 airport connection, 2 trains and a 20 minutes’ walk uphill with suitcases in the heat and with extremely tired children.  To say that the children and I were resentful at that point would have been an understatement. He redeemed himself by getting some food.

During the next 2 weeks we alternated between going to New York and staying home and exploring the small town.

On the first day, my I might not survive the holiday husband decided that we all needed to walk from each attraction in the heat and humidity despite child 3 turning blue from the pollution. Child 3 has never used his inhaler that much in all his life. New York in August is very polluted. As the heat and humidity are constant, the car pollution is not being moved away. It is stagnating at street level and making it difficult to breath.

We walk broadway, Avenue of the Americas, etc..

We then went to Toys R us. It was the biggest toy shop I had ever seen. It has a Ferris wheel inside. Child 2 and 3 went with I am trying so hard to get back into favour husband. They circled 9 times. Child 1 decided that height were not for her.

We then after getting lost a bit, found our way to Build the Bear workshop. Amazing shop. Child 2 chose a new bear, child 3 chose a new dinosaur and child 1 was happy with a small pink dinosaur.

New York policemen were very friendly and helpful. I am always reluctant to go and ask a French policeman for direction or anything else as they tend to be trigger happy but New York policemen were great. It could have been my accent or the fact that I was obviously a tourist (I was paler than the palest American) but they were very helpful.

We also went shopping. Child 1 and 2 got t-shirts, sweatshirts with I love NY, little presents for their friends. They were happy.

On our second visit to New York we went to the American Museum of natural History. We loved it. It was really child friendly. The exhibits were very much like in the movie Night at the museum. It was the best museum we saw. We spent the whole day there. We also raided their museum shop. Child 3 saw the perfect toy for him. It is a dinosaur version of monopoly. Unfortunately it was too big to buy and bring back in our suitcases. So without telling child 3 as soon as we came back I ordered it on line. He will get it for Christmas.

On that day we also experienced the subway. The children have taken the subway in London and thought it was the same. It is air conditioned so a good alternative to walking.

Our third visit was a bit of a mixed bag. It was raining and the heat was bearable. We started with Central Park and Belvedere Castle. The walk in the rain was just fine and the only people we saw were British.  A bit of rain does not keep British people away. Central park in the rain was very pleasant and we decided that we could not have done that walk with the normal heat and humidity.

We then decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as I wanted to see their Egyptian exhibition. I was so disappointed. London’s British Museum is much nicer.

Their exhibits were copies. The guards were not friendly. It was not a child friendly museum. We did not stay very long, less than 3 hours.

Then we took a taxi to the Rockefeller Centre and we went to the top of the Rockefeller building. That was great. Fantastic view from the top, not much of a queue as not as famous as the empire state building. I prefer the Rock. Child 2 and 3 loved it. Child 1 was not happy going up in the lift. The lift has a screen for a ceiling and she did not like that.

Once at the top you were not rushed to go back down. It was nice to be above most building. As it was still a bit of a rainy day most tourists were keeping away. Child 1 and 3 don’t like crowded places so that day was the best for them.

On our last visit, My I am still trying to redeem myself husband decided to take us to the Empire State Building. From the train station to the Building the street vendors were hassling us. I hate pushy sales people. They were also lying to tourists to sell their express tickets. Those were not needed.

My once in a while I get it right husband had bought on line before we left a 9 day pass to most attractions. That proved to be invaluable. It was cheaper to buy it on line than to buy it once in New York. With that city pass, you could cut most queues. And at the back of each attraction tickets were written some tips. We followed those tips and they made our visits so much easier.

We went to the Empire State Building as early as we could and got to the top within 30 minutes. That was very quick. The view from the top is ok but you have to take your photos from behind the plastic sheets surrounding the top. The children and I preferred the Rock.

Then to finish our visit we took a boat trip to the statue of Liberty and back. We decided that we did not want to queue for several hours to see it and that a 75 minutes boat tour was enough. It was as child 2 realised that she is not a happy bunny on boats.

There was only one attraction on the city pass we did not have time to visit: the MOMA. It was mostly paintings (reproductions as well and we have seen the originals in France) so the children were not displeased.

The children and I would have preferred to go in May or towards the end of September when the heat is less and the humidity is back to normal level. August is not the best month to visit New York.

Trains are a great way to travel. Children under 12 are free at week-end. The trains run on time.

Buses are cheap but you need the exact fare. They are slow but frequent. My I need a day off husband took the bus and train to the sea side on his own. The journey there took him over 3 hours. He went on a stormy day so the beach was deserted. He enjoyed himself.

We never ate at any fast food outlets. We never got to try American style pancakes. Food was overpriced. The cost of living was very high. We had 1 hotdog each at a huge price of $4 each. That must be tourist price. The best thing we ate was an oreo ice cream cake.

The journey back was easy. The children even agreed to do the reverse journey back to the airport by trains (2 trains plus an airport connection). We needed one more suitcase on the way back but had planned for that.

The temperature drop was fierce. We went from 30 degree to 12 degree in a few hours.

The children have enjoyed their holiday in New York. They are now talking about going to Washington and Boston in 3 years. It is kind of them to give us time to save enough money to keep them in the style they are accustomed to.