1 Night Stand: NYC – Part 1 {Wait, you traveled alone!?}
The thing I have discovered about traveling alone is that, alone you are not. You will meet people when you travel alone to a city. Now, let me be clear that I’m strictly talking city here – yes it is true that if you travel alone to somewhere with no people you will be alone. But, in a city, there are people everywhere. I’m pointing out the obvious here, but in this case, when I traveled to New York to have a little weekend away, I didn’t realize how having dinner, going out, drinking coffee – whatever I decided to do - I would hardly have time to myself.But I do stress that you need to be open to meeting people. If you have “F-Off” written across your forehead then I suppose you could be left to yourself. I am a friendly, curious, observant person and I enjoy talking to people and because of that, people tend to talk to me. The funny thing is the sheer confusion that I encounter when I tell people I am traveling alone. “You mean you aren’t meeting friends?”, “You’re not here on business?” or, “Just you?”, “You came all by yourself?”. What am I, 12? I’m an adult! I’m single! I can do these things (in fact I did them when I was married too!) Why is it so hard to believe that someone can simply enjoy traveling alone?
Simply put, I wanted to go to the Ballet + I wanted to go to New York. So, why not combine the two and make it that much more exciting? I’ll be honest, I would have gone to NYC for 24 hours just to go for a run in Central Park, but this seemed like an even better excuse.
So here is how I roll. I hop on a Red Eye flight (check on what Will Ferrell has to say about it) and head out on my little adventure. Arriving at JFK at around 10:30am, it takes me little time to get to my hotel, The Benjamin. Once at the front desk, in my sweetest, “please do me lots of favors” voice, I ask for an early check-in and remind them I have requested a free upgrade. And this is an important point to make… General rule of thumb… When you book a hotel, no matter how you book (i.e. third party booking agent or the hotel directly), always, always call the front desk and politely ask them to put in a request for a “free upgrade”. 90% of the time, I get it.
The woman behind the desk is happy to inform me that she does in fact have a room ready and it is in fact an upgraded room; one on the 20th floor and with a private balcony. Seriously? A balcony in NYC? She tells me about the hotel Spa and restaurant The National and, well for me at least, the all-important, fitness center. But again, let’s be honest, what a treat to have a balcony in a hotel in NYC AND (what I soon discover) have a room where you can move around! I once stayed in a room where I swear I had to walk across the bed to get to the bathroom. No joke.
The Benjamin is a boutique hotel located at 50th and Lex, considered Midtown East. This area and the Upper East Side are my favorite places to stay in New York, mostly because of the access to the park and the green line that takes you to SoHo.
So, a big – by NYC standards – room, great location, friendly staff, balcony, mini bar (not computerized), did I mention a fitness center?, and a pillow menu (come on!), a spa, a free upgrade, and all of this in a hotel and the room is under $300 at a time of year when most hotels of this caliber are $400 and up. Needless to say I was very impressed, and my day had just begun……
Check back for part 2 of my 24 hour adventure, including the NYC Ballet and Bar Bould. Check out my post on navigating a Red Eye flight as well.
THE DEETS:
What: The Benjamin Hotel
Rating: 4 {a&b} stars (out of 5)
Website: http://www.thebenjamin.com
Where: 125 East 50th Street - New York, NY 10022 {212-715-2500}
Sarah Latham
October 18, 2011 at 3:42 pm (585 days ago)Love the story.. I have stayed at a hotel in NY that I had to crawl across the bed to get to the bathroom as well.. It was clean, that was all I cared.. I love traveling alone as well..
Bernadette
October 18, 2011 at 4:35 pm (585 days ago)Hey Sarah – Thanks for the comment! We agree, traveling alone is awesome. But, maybe you need to be a guest blogger on how to navigate travel with 3 kiddies!
Cari
October 18, 2011 at 9:34 pm (585 days ago)Thanks for the room upgrade tip! I’ll have to try that the next time I travel.
annacoats
October 19, 2011 at 2:15 am (585 days ago)Absolutely! I once got a 6am check-in after arriving from a red eye with no extra charge just by asking nicely.