New York State of Mind

Hey guys!

It has been FOREVER since I last posted a blog post on here! I've been so busy lately and kinda lost my blogging mojo so hoping to get back into posting more regularly over the summer.

As some of you may know if you've been following my social media, myself and Kevin headed to New York back in March to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. It was our first time there and we absolutely LOVED it! I would absolutely 100% recommend it to anyone and we will most definitely go back there again. I decided to write a blog post giving you all the info on our trip - who we flew with, where we stayed, what we did etc.

How to Get There

We've been to America the past 5 years and have always flown from Dublin to clear immigration before arriving in the U.S. For this trip, we decided to fly from Cork via London Heathrow which meant we wouldn't clear immigration until we landed in JFK. Honestly, it was so much easier than travelling to Dublin. Last year in Dublin we spent almost 3 hours queueing in immigration and it was so bad that security were calling people for certain flights to skip the queue as their flight was about to leave. Doing immigration in New York was a breeeeeze! I expected long delays but we were through it and had our bags collected within half an hour. We flew with Aer Lingus to LHR and Virgin to JFK. This was our first time flying with Virgin and so far they're the best airline we've flown with - comfortable seats, friendly staff and really good food.

Where to Stay

We decided to get an apartment since we were going for a week. I wanted a serviced apartment to play it safe. These are basically apartments but with the same facilities as hotels e.g. housekeeping, reception etc. We stayed in Stay AKA Times Square and loved it. It was more expensive that other hotels but we wanted the extra space to chill out in the evenings and also since it was a special occasion we didn't mind spending a bit more. If we were to go back to New York, I would absolutely stay here again. The apartments were SO nice and just around the corner from Times Square. You can see our apartment tour vlog here. 

What to Do

We did the obvious tourist things to do while we were here since it was our first trip. We did the 9/11 and Ground Zero Tour which you can book here. We really enjoyed this tour and I'd definitely recommend taking a trip here - it's so surreal. 

The Occulus is also nearby which is definitely worth seeing - the architecture is amazing!

We also walked around the different avenues and streets of New York and visited the Rockefeller Center. We didn't do Top of the Rock but we did spend a bit of time in the area. 

We took a few trips to Central Park and managed to even get one day of snow there which was unbelievable. Central Park is huge but it's so gorgeous. We loved just strolling around there.

We decided in advance not to do Ellis Island but we did take the Staten Island ferry which is free and passes the Statue of Liberty. It takes about 25 minutes each way but is a nice way to see the Statue of Liberty without having to go to Ellis Island.

We also walked along Brooklyn Bridge which I highly recommend doing. We got the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then walked along the Brooklyn Bridge back towards Manhattan. The views of the skyscrapers are unreal and the bridge itself is gorgeous. 

We did lots of shopping which we hadn't exactly planned on doing! We went to Jersey Gardens shopping mall which was about half an hour on the bus from Manhattan. The mall itself was only ok but I did get a great deal on bags in Michael Kors so it was worth it for that! We went to Macys on 34th St (where Miracle on 34th St was filmed), Century 21 (similar to TK Maxx), Apple (surprise surprise) and then the usual shops we have here like Zara and H&M. 

So that's it for this post! I absolutely LOVED New York and hopefully you enjoyed reading this post! Would love to know what other type of posts you'd like to read so I can start writing some more!

Travelling to Orlando - Flights & Transfers

Hey guys! The first post in my Travelling to Orlando series is all about flights and transfers.

Do your Research:
When it comes to booking our flights, the first place I start is Skyscanner. This is a price comparison website that basically gives you a variety of flight options to choose from. You can filter by airline company, price, flight times, layover length etc. Obviously price is a big factor but I always take into consideration layovers and how long they'll be and justify the price against the waiting times then. I also make sure to Google the type of aircraft to see if they have individual entertainment screens. We assumed all long haul flights did until one year we got caught and had no entertainment for 9 hours!

Direct or Indirect?
We've done both! Aerlingus go direct and I have to say it is definitely nice to just know the next time you're getting off is at your destination and not have to wait around in another airport for a few hours. That being said, Aer Lingus can often be way more expensive and so going indirect may be the better option. I always keep an eye on their sales! They also had really great flight times - departing Dublin at about 2pm and departing Orlando at about 8pm returning meaning you have a full day on your last day.

We've gone indirect 3 times with United, U.S. Airways and Air Canada Rouge. I'd recommend United and U.S. Airways no problem but we had a really bad experience with Air Canada Rouge and I personally wouldn't fly with them again because of that.



When we go indirect, we always make sure the stopover is somewhere in America so you can clear customs in Dublin (much quicker than in the U.S.). I also always look at the layover time - we've never had a layover of more than 3 hours; something to keep in mind as some can be 7 or 8 hours (sometimes overnight). Also be careful as some layovers make you change airport in the state you're flying into so that's worth checking too as you may not have time to collect your bags, make your way to the other airport and re-check in.

How Much?
Well obviously that depends on the time of year you fly and who you book with. We've always gone in August / September as the parks are much quieter. We paid roughly about €1300 for the return flights for the two of us with Aer Lingus. When we've travelled indirect, we've paid as little as €950.

Transfers?
We travel to Dublin airport from Cork using the Aircoach. For transfers from Orlando airport we use Mears Transportation. We pre-book this online for about $60 return. It's a shared shuttle service but they organise everyone who are staying in hotels near each other so it never takes too long.

That's pretty much all for flights and transfers; if I've forgot anything then please let me know! My next post in this series will be all about accommodation in Orlando.

Travelling to Orlando - All You Need to Know

Hey everyone! As most of you probably already know, myself and Kevin went on yet another trip to Orlando last September! This was our 5th year going and we probably had the best time there this time! We went for 24 days which meant we had the busyness of the theme parks while also being able to spend a lot more time relaxing which was lovely.

We get so many messages and emails from people looking for info on Orlando; whether it's what to do there or how to go about even booking it. Because of this, I've decided to write a few detailed blog posts on all you need to know about Orlando. I'm going to categorise the blog posts so there will be a few of them but seeing as there's so much detail to go into, I figured this was the best way to go about it!

Here's a list of blog posts that I'll be covering on Orlando:

• Flights & Transfers - Who we've flown with, how we booked our flights and what transfers we use.
• Accommodation - Where we've stayed, pros and cons of each hotel and how we booked our hotel.
• Theme Parks - Obviously this is a pretty big topic so I'm mainly going to focus on Busch Gardens, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay and Magic Kingdom as these are the ones we've visited. I'll mention where we bought our tickets, transfers to the parks and tips and tricks we've learned.
• Restaurants - Recommendations on restaurants we've eaten in.
• Non Theme Park Activities - Things to do when you want a break or change from the parks.
• Shopping - You can't go to Orlando and not shop!!!! I'll focus on Premium Outlets, Florida Mall and Mall at Millenia.
• Miscellaneous - Any other info that hasn't been covered already (lots of tips and tricks!)

I know this sounds really detailed (and it probably is!) but I think it'll be worth it to pinpoint people to! Hopefully these will cover everything but if there's anything that's not covered or if you want to ask any qs then feel free to message me on any of my social media accounts!