48 Hours in NYC

In the fall Nadia and I went on a whirlwind 48-hour weekend getaway to New York City.

Yes, everyone told us we were crazy to get on a ten-plus-hour flight to spend such a short amount of time in New York.

So call us crazy!

We left Oahu on the red-eye flight to JFK on Hawaiian Airlines, and upon arrival in the morning we called for an Uber to take us to our hotel.  Traffic is already insane during the mornings in NYC, so imagine getting an Uber driver who had to fill up on gas.  It took us 20 minutes just for our driver to get to a gas station, but finally, 1 hour and 20 minutes later, we arrived at the recently-refreshed Gardens Suites Hotel by Affinia.

We were fortunate to have been granted early check-in to our spacious two-bedroom suite (with two bathrooms and a full kitchen!) so we could freshen up in time for our lunch reservation at Per Se.

Since we knew we had a weekend full of eating, Nadia and I decided to walk to Per Se.  It was just a short 30-minute walk, and fortunately the weather was cool and crisp.

After an incredible lunch at Per Se, we walked through Central Park, back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before we headed out to dinner at Gunter Seeger, where we met one of Nadia's friends.

Gunter Seeger was fabulous as well, and turned out to be Nadia's favorite restaurant during the trip.

We found ourselves getting lost on the subway going back to the hotel.  Thanks to the kindness of strangers, we eventually found our way back.

We stayed up until midnight so we could sign up for the Anastasia on-line lottery.

The next morning we decided to walk the High Line so we could burn some calories.

We made a quick stop at Eataly to buy some omiyage.

We then headed to Eleven Madison Park for a lovely lunch.

After neither of us received any notification of winning tickets for Anastasia, we decided to try our luck at the Wicked in-person lottery after getting some rest at the hotel.

But first, we made a quick stop at Dylan's Candy Bar flagship store!

We then headed down to Gershwin Theatre to enter our names in for the Wicked lottery, and it was Nadia's lucky night!  Her name was pulled, and we scored $30 tickets!

We walked to the nearby Melt Shop for a simple, comforting dinner (what's more comforting than grilled cheese and tots?) before the show.

Even though we both saw Wicked on Oahu, we still loved the show - the performances were great and I teared up at the end (yes, I forgot how it ended!).

We tried to make our way back to the hotel by subway, but we decided to walk very, very quickly since we kept getting lost and didn't want it to be past midnight by the time we got back to the hotel.

Yes, it was late, but a couple of locals told us that it was safe to walk around late at night, especially in the area we were in.  

The next morning we had an early flight back to Honolulu.  We called an Uber to take us to the airport, ate breakfast at JFK, and just like that, our 48-hour adventure in NYC was over.

The flights were long, our stay in NYC was quick, but we did so much in that short amount of time, and I ate some of the best food I've ever eaten anywhere.

Yes, we were crazy, but I'd do it again!