NEW YORK CITY CHRISTMAS

  We will leave at early Saturday morning from Ingles in Newland and head North. Our destination for today will be Hershey, PA. After breakfast, lunch and a 2 rest stops, we will arrive at Hershey, Pa.  where we will visit the famous Hershey Chocolate World, have a delicious dinner and check in to our hotel for the night. (This meal is included in trip cost) 

  This morning, we head toward The Big Apple. We should arrive late morning after a short rest stop. Our first stop will be to meet up with and welcome our step on guide for a 2 hour bus tour of some of the most interesting sites in New York City.  We will then visit and shop at the infamous Macy's Department store. Lunch will be on your own in the area. You will be treated to the famous Christmas window displays as well. If you wish, walk a short distance up the street and buy a ticket to visit the Empire State Building Observation Deck, 86 stories overlooking NYC and beyond. After a short walk up 6th Avenue, take in the holiday spirit at Bryant Park and visit Grand Central Station.

   For those wanting to attend a Broadway Show and don't already have tickets, you can pick up discount tickets in Times Square for a Broadway Show later that afternoon. To be sure you get the show you want, I recommend getting tickets in advance. (you will have to do the matinee-there are no shows on Sunday night and Monday night we do the Christmas Spectacular). Most start at 3:00, some at 2:00. You should have around 1 1/2 hours after the bus tour to get the tickets and have lunch. If you attend a play, you may miss the Macy's and Bryant Park part listed above but you can probably do them later during free time.

  After we leave Bryant Park, we will walk through Times Square and up 7th Ave to our hotel to meet the bus to check in. Our Hotel, the 4 Star Park Central Hotel on 7th Avenue near Billionaires Row will be our residence for the next 2 nights. Later, after check in you will be on your own for dinner and whatever sights you wish to take in around the area. You will be 3 short blocks from Central Park and 6 short blocks from Times Square.

 To begin our day, we will travel via subway (passes provided) to the Southern tip of Manhattan. We will arrive in Battery Park. Those that wish to purchase tickets to ferry over to Liberty Island to visit the Statute of Liberty and also Ellis Island, this will be your opportunity to do so. For those not doing The Statute of Liberty Cruise, we will visit Battery Park for a bit and then take the famous Staton Island Ferry over to Staton Island and back. You will get great opportunity to get pictures of the Statute of Liberty as we pass by. We will visit the Wall Street Bull and Wall street is close by, so our short walk takes us to see The New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall (George Washington was sworn in as our first President there). Trinity Church is close by to visit (and of course it is where they discovered the treasure in the film "National Treasure"). We will have a lunch break and then you will be on your own to visit the sacred grounds of Ground Zero and if you wish, you will be able to purchase tickets to visit the very moving 911 Memorial Museum or you could get a ticket to the observation deck of the 1776 feet World Trade Center 1. If you don't do either of those, I will lead the others up to St John's Chapel and visit the important sanctuary during 911. City Hall is close by and we may also walk partway onto the The Brooklyn Bridge for a great view of the city. With any extra time you could shop at the Oculus, the massive transportation portal with lots of stores and shops. Those that do the Statute of Liberty Tour can catch up with us after lunch and still have time to visit one or more of the sites mentioned earlier.

 We will then travel back to the Hotel to freshen up.  Dinner will be on your own. 

Then you will make your way to Radio City Music Hall to attend the 8:00 showing of the "Christmas Spectacular" starring the famous Rockettes (included in trip cost). Afterward, I will lead you on a walking tour through Rock Center and 5th Avenue to experience the magnificent Christmas Decorations.

   Our day begins early as we walk to Rockefeller Center. First, we will attempt to enter the Today Show outdoor set and maybe get on TV (we did in 2022 and 2023!).  I will then lead a short walking tour to visit the beautiful St Patrick's Cathedral. At an appointed time, we will head up 5th avenue on foot toward Central Park. Along the way, we plan to stop in Trump Tower for a short visit, possibly having a bite to eat if you wish and restroom break there. 

  Next, we will walk down 56th street to our hotel where we will get out luggage ready for checkout later. We will walk the short distance to Central Park. 

 Once in Central Park, you will have time to take a carriage ride through the park if you wish or just explore on your own. Afterwards, we go back to the hotel to meet the bus and checkout. After stopping for dinner, we head to College Park Maryland where we will spend the night.

 The trip towards home begins, but not before we drive through Washington DC and stop for a short visit at the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean Memorials. We then head toward home, hopefully with a lot of great memories!

If you are familiar with Manhattan and want to "do your own thing" at times other than what is scheduled, that will be perfectly fine. 

 We will handle our own luggage at our hotel in Lancaster and in Maryland. In NYC, porter service is required (the fee for this is taken care of for you). If you aren't familiar with this, porters will unload your luggage and take to the lobby. You have the option of picking it up there or they will take it to your room for you. When we check out, the porters will take you luggage from your room and load it on the bus. You also have the option to take it to the lobby, but they must load it onto the bus regardless. I will have bag tags for you to put on your luggage.

 It is really important for me to have your cell number if you you are on the trip. I will send out group texts with information that may be helpful or important. Plus if you get lost, I would have a better chance to find you!

 I will be updating this page periodically. Whether you wish to do this trip or not, if you want to be added to my contact list to receive mails about this trip or other trips, send me your email address and I'll put you on it. When I have an important update, I will send out an email about it.

Moderate to strenuous. There will be fairly much walking at times, but if it gets to be too much for you, there is the subway as well as buses and taxi's or UBER/LIFT that you could use. I will be glad to help you with the subway if needed.