Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York

We had an extremely packed itinerary and were in New York for just 3 days before flying to the West Coast. The main reason why we flew into New York first is that Singapore Airlines only operates A380 (Suites) to/from New York (JFK).

I will be sharing our actual itinerary vs what we did on that day (after all things do not always go according to plan) so that you can learn from our mistakes or take note of the costs/expenses incurred. My memory is not good but fortunately/unfortunately, Google is constantly tracking us.

Day 1
Expectation:
2:00 PM - New York Public Library checked on Day 3
3:00 PM - Rockefeller Centre checked
4:30 PM - Trump Tower checked
5:00 PM - Central Park semi-checked
6:00 PM - Grand Central Terminal checked on Day 3
7:00 PM - Meet a friend for dinner checked
8:00 PM - The Gallivant Times Square (back to the hotel to rest) checked

Reality:

We reached JFK around 12pm, cleared the immigration and took a taxi to our hotel - The Gallivant Times Square. The taxi costs US$60 flat fee + toll + tips and it became US$70.26 in total. The jam in New York was so terrible that even Google mistook it as a walk! By the time we reached the hotel, it was around 3pm.

Trump shirt, anyone?

We walked around Time Square, Rockefeller Centre, and Trump Tower. One thing we failed to take into account is the time the sun sets/night falls which shortens the day significantly! You can see from the above that we walked to the edge of Central Park only to turn around because it was too dark then. The time was around 5/6pm but the sky is like Singapore 8/9pm.

We then had our dinner at Vezzo Thin Crust Pizza with our friend who went on secondment to New York for about 1/2 years. Do go early/avoid meal time because we went around 7pm and waited about 30-45 minutes before getting a table due to its popularity among the locals there. The pizza was great though, definitely worth the wait!

Day 2
Expectation:
8:00 AM - Empire State Building skipped
9:30 AM - Port Authority Bus Terminal (Bus Pick Up Point) checked
10:30 AM - Woodbury Common Premium Outlets checked
6:15 PM - Dinner, OTOT (Grand Central Terminal) then return to the hotel checked

Reality:

We woke up early to reach the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 7+am as we wanted to catch the first bus there. We purchased the shuttle bus to Woodbury too early, and only learnt later from our friend (above) that you can actually get it on Groupon at a discounted price! :(

Woodbury Premium Outlet - Not the crowd we were expecting...

We managed to reach Woodbury just in time when the shops were opened, and amazingly, there was barely anyone there. We later learnt that this was because there was an imminent snowstorm that day. So we were kind of lucky to have the entire outlet almost to ourselves.

Had lunch at Shake Shack outlet at Woodbury since everyone who has been to the US highly recommended it. It was indeed nice. The meat patty was juicy and the milkshake was soooooo good (but fattening). The milkshake felt like I was drinking melted ice cream. It was that creamy, that nice.

Snow, snow! Yay!

However, when the snow storm came, most outlet stores closed early (around 4/5pm) and so we decided to catch the earlier bus back to NY city. To our horror, the roads leading to Woodbury were in a massive jam and it took the shuttle buses hours to get to Woodbury to pick us up.

Most expensive Uber?

By the time we managed to board the shuttle bus, it was almost 7+pm! But this was not all, the roads outside of Woodbury continued with the jam as many cars were stuck in the deep snow. Many drivers had to get off their cars to push them.

As a result, by the time when we FINALLY reached NY city, it was already 1am. We did not have our dinner and was cold and hungry. What an experience. A note to ourselves, never ever drive in a snowstorm. It is crazy!

Day 3
7:00 AM - Breakfast checked
8:00 AM - New York Stock Exchange/Wallstreet/Bull Charge checked
10:00 AM - Federal Reserve Bank of New York checked
11:00 AM - Lunch checked
12:00 PM - Whitehall Ferry Terminal - Statue of Liberty checked
2:00 PM - 911 Memorial checked
3:00 PM - Chinatown checked
4:00 PM - Brooklyn Bridge skipped
5:00 PM - Newark Liberty International Airport checked

Reality:

We woke up early to get visit the must-see NYSE, Wallstreet and Bullcharge. We were expecting huge crowds around these places but were surprised to see no one. Perhaps because we were early.

We had the whole area to ourselves, selfies with the bull and the girl.

Thereafter, we went to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal to take the FREE ferry to Staten Island and back. We have researched previously and learnt that we are able to see the Statue of Liberty from there, so why not. Some pictures of the ferry and Statue of Liberty below -

The free Staten ferry!

After zooming in!

Do you see the Statue of Liberty?

As we were on schedule, we continued on to the 911 memorial. There was a Lady M store nearby and we bought a slice of the cake to try. It tastes pretty much the same as the one in Singapore, but more expensive due to the exchange rate. Oh well.

911 Memorial

We continued on to Chinatown and found a Chinese/Hong Kong restaurant with quite good reviews on Google so decided to have our lunch there. The food portion was huge, but the taste was underwhelming. I miss Singapore food!! Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the Brooklyn Bridge after that as we had an evening flight to catch to San Francisco but we managed to stop by the New York Public Library and Grand Central Terminal for some photo taking on the way back to our hotel for check out. Highly recommend these two places. They are so pretty! See photos below:

New York Public Library Exteriors

New York Public Library

After that, we went back to our hotel and took an airport transfer (Go Airlink) to Newark Airport (picked up at our hotel). It was booked the day before at $20 USD per pax (much cheaper than taking a taxi). I am quite surprised that we managed to cover most of the places that we wanted to visit in NY despite our super ambitious itinerary. :)

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room

- Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook

- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)