On Arrival

We made our way to the Affinia Manhattan in Midtown, which proved to be an excellent choice. Our one bedroom room (two queen beds and a sofa bed in the lounge) was large enough for the 5. There was a mini kitchenette with a bar fridge, coffee machine, microwave, plates / cutlery and a sink. Our room was on the North West corner, giving us a direct view across the road to Madison Square Garden (which hosts many concerts and basketball games at this time of year) and up 7th Avenue, which was a fabulous sight. The kids quickly jumped on the free WIFI (on check in they told us it was only free in the lobby, but they waived the in-room fees without too much of an objection).

We got a reasonable rate at the Affinia Manhattan with a non-cancellable booking through Hotels.com. We had also looked closely at Hotel Pennsylvania, which is just a block down from the Affinia on 7th Ave, the Salisbury Hotel, which is much closer to Central Park, and some apartments. The rates fluctuated significantly over time (we saw 50% price changes in a month), so if you are looking at these hotels, keep checking periodically.

Despite 24 hours of travel and it being 7pm, everyone was excited to be in New York City and ready to rug up and go for a walk.

Believe it or not, our first stop was Macy's (only three blocks up 7th Ave) - this was a sign of things to come! This was both to pick up our International Visitors Discount Coupon from the visitors center, as well as to browse their "Once a Year" sale (which seems to occur every 2nd week).

Our second stop was at T-Mobile, to purchase some local mobile SIMs. Before leaving Sydney, we'd removed all but one of our SIMs to avoid getting stung by international roaming costs. There were three T-Mobile shops within 5 mins walk from our hotel (as well as plenty of competition):

• 124 W 34th St (directly across from Macy's)
• 142 W 32nd St
• 315 7th Ave

We purchased pre-paid SIMs (US$10 each) with unlimited talk and text valid for 30 days (US$50 each). The plan also included 500 Mb of data at full speed, before dropping back to a slower speed. Not too bad to enable us to keep in contact for the rest of the trip.