I think all of us have seen in a TV show, film or romcom that epic moment where the clock is counting down to midnight, the ball is dropping in Times Square and thousands of people are celebrating, kissing, dancing and yelling 'Happy New Year' in excitement. I've seen this scene a million times and always thought it would be great to experience that.
A couple of years ago my dad decided he wanted to take my brother and I on a family trip as it had been a while since we'd been on one and we decided on New York, leaving on boxing day and spending 10 days there ... which meant NYE in NYC :)
There was a lot of planning in the months leading up to the trip but New Year's Eve was amongst the highlights in our itinerary. We picked a hotel in Times Square and I read every Tripadvisor, blog and review in sight. Some people had said it was overrated and crowded but I still had high hopes.
We booked some 'Times Square All Access Passes' to allow us to get through the barricades and into the square with access to a number of parties in the area.
After month's of waiting we finally boarded our flight to NYC. It was amazing!! I definitely recommend New York as a holiday destination ... so much to see and do, hustle and bustle and great culture everywhere. With one caveat though ... DO NOT GO IN DECEMBER - JANUARY!!!! It is cold. Very cold. Freezing. Painfully so. Not exaggerating ... it was -10 at most but lower with the wind chill factor so got to about -20 at some points. I live in the Med ... I'm not meant to be that cold ever!!! At some points we had to think twice about leaving the hotel room even in such an incredible city.
So the 31st December arrived and we collected our passes, did some sightseeing, went back to the hotel. got changed, ordered some room service and chilled out in our 42nd floor hotel room whilst we laughed at the millions of people that had been queueing since about 2pm at the barricades. Jennifer Lopez and a few other celebrities were performing and Ryan Seacrest was hosting and there were people everywhere. We decided to go to a club after dinner for some drinks (our tickets were open bar) and then at about 11 use our passes to get through the barricades to see the countdown in one of the bars in the square near the ball drop. We queued for about 90 mins outside the club ... in heels and a dress (and a coat but still freezing) and it seemed like an eternity. The club was OK but I wasn't feeling amazingly upbeat as I was trying to recover from the mild hypothermia I was sure I was suffering from after the queue! When we decided to try and get through the barricades to go to the ball drop area it was impossible! We couldn't get anywhere close to the barricades because there were so many people pushing everywhere. The police we were supposed to flash our passes too were too busy controlling the crowds to pay attention to us. We just about managed to get into our Times Square hotel but even that was a mission. At this point it was about 11:40 so we had to make a snap decision to watch the ball drop from our hotel out of the cold and away from the crowds. It was fun but nothing like the moments in the movies where people rush into Times Square to find a loved one or go to amazing parties overlooking the ball drop. The rest of the trip was amazing but New Year's Eve in NYC was a long, cold, uncomfortable, expensive (tickets cost an arm and a leg), crowded, frustrating experience that I won't be repeating.
A couple of years ago my dad decided he wanted to take my brother and I on a family trip as it had been a while since we'd been on one and we decided on New York, leaving on boxing day and spending 10 days there ... which meant NYE in NYC :)
There was a lot of planning in the months leading up to the trip but New Year's Eve was amongst the highlights in our itinerary. We picked a hotel in Times Square and I read every Tripadvisor, blog and review in sight. Some people had said it was overrated and crowded but I still had high hopes.
We booked some 'Times Square All Access Passes' to allow us to get through the barricades and into the square with access to a number of parties in the area.
After month's of waiting we finally boarded our flight to NYC. It was amazing!! I definitely recommend New York as a holiday destination ... so much to see and do, hustle and bustle and great culture everywhere. With one caveat though ... DO NOT GO IN DECEMBER - JANUARY!!!! It is cold. Very cold. Freezing. Painfully so. Not exaggerating ... it was -10 at most but lower with the wind chill factor so got to about -20 at some points. I live in the Med ... I'm not meant to be that cold ever!!! At some points we had to think twice about leaving the hotel room even in such an incredible city.
So the 31st December arrived and we collected our passes, did some sightseeing, went back to the hotel. got changed, ordered some room service and chilled out in our 42nd floor hotel room whilst we laughed at the millions of people that had been queueing since about 2pm at the barricades. Jennifer Lopez and a few other celebrities were performing and Ryan Seacrest was hosting and there were people everywhere. We decided to go to a club after dinner for some drinks (our tickets were open bar) and then at about 11 use our passes to get through the barricades to see the countdown in one of the bars in the square near the ball drop. We queued for about 90 mins outside the club ... in heels and a dress (and a coat but still freezing) and it seemed like an eternity. The club was OK but I wasn't feeling amazingly upbeat as I was trying to recover from the mild hypothermia I was sure I was suffering from after the queue! When we decided to try and get through the barricades to go to the ball drop area it was impossible! We couldn't get anywhere close to the barricades because there were so many people pushing everywhere. The police we were supposed to flash our passes too were too busy controlling the crowds to pay attention to us. We just about managed to get into our Times Square hotel but even that was a mission. At this point it was about 11:40 so we had to make a snap decision to watch the ball drop from our hotel out of the cold and away from the crowds. It was fun but nothing like the moments in the movies where people rush into Times Square to find a loved one or go to amazing parties overlooking the ball drop. The rest of the trip was amazing but New Year's Eve in NYC was a long, cold, uncomfortable, expensive (tickets cost an arm and a leg), crowded, frustrating experience that I won't be repeating.
#37 - ACHEIVED
- Difficulty: 2/10 (as long as you can afford it anyone can book it)
- Thrill factor: 6/10 (the run up was good, the night was a bit of a let down)
- Sense of acheivement/fulfilment: 2/10
- Recommend to a friend: 1/10 (though a 10/10 for NYC itself)
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