How a delayed flight, incredible coffee, neighborhood discoveries, and one unforgettable night at Madison Square Garden turned into a memorable trip to New York City.
I’ve been to Manhattan a few dozen times. This wad Cherish’s third trip and first time experiencing summer in the city.
The trip didn’t exactly begin as planned.
The Trip That Almost Wasn’t
Instead of flying straight into New York, weather had other plans.
Our direct Delta flight from Atlanta diverted to Washington Dulles where we spent most of the day watching delays stack up. Pilots timed out, flights disappeared from the departure board, and we seriously considered taking Amtrak from Washington to New York.
Instead, we ended up spending an unexpected night in a hotel outside D.C. before finally making it into New York the next morning.
Not exactly the start we envisioned.
Fortunately, the city made up for it.
Our Home Base
We stayed at:
Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea
121 West 28th Street
This ended up being one of those hotels where the location mattered more than the room itself.
The Good
- Fantastic subway access
- Walking distance to Madison Square Garden
- Easy to get just about anywhere in Manhattan
- Being able to walk back after our concert instead of fighting crowds was priceless
The Not So Good
The room itself…
- The Keurig pods were honestly some of the worst coffee I’ve ever had.
- Housekeeping forgot to provide any coffee creamer.
- The shower had almost unlimited hot water…perhaps too much hot water. The water pressure, however, was underwhelming.
- The mattress had clearly seen better days. Lumpy would be the nicest description.
- The room had a working HVAC unit, but the window unit was obnoxiously loud requiring us to triple the normal volume of the TV just to hear anything.
Exhibit A: Worst K-pods ever.
Pro Tip:
Leave the hotel lobby.
Turn left.
Walk two doors down to the Moxy Hotel.
Walk into their lobby where they offer complimentary coffee each morning.
It was dramatically better than what our hotel supplied and quickly became our morning routine.
Sometimes the best travel hacks are hiding two doors away.
Food Highlights
Romeo & Juliet Colombian Coffee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fantastic Colombian coffee that immediately made us realize we weren’t going to spend this trip in Starbucks.
If you’re staying around Chelsea…
Go here.
The Smith ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
A terrific first lunch after finally arriving in Manhattan.
Exactly the kind of energetic neighborhood restaurant New York does so well.
Maison Pickle ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One word.
French Dip.
Actually…
Several words.
Get.
The.
French.
Dip.
Outstanding food!
NY Pizza Suprema ⭐⭐⭐⭐
People constantly argue over “the best pizza in New York.”
I don’t know about the best.
I do know this place was great.
Cherish set out on foot solo to grab these and we ate them in our hotel room while we watched the the movie Ocean’s 12 from our hotel room.
Friedman’s ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Not every recommendation lands.
This one didn’t.
It wasn’t bad…
It simply wasn’t what my wife was hoping for after experiencing other options.
Lesson learned.
Friday: Walking the Brooklyn Bridge
No matter how many times you’ve been to New York, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge never gets old.
Built in 1883, it’s one of those places that somehow manages to feel both historic and timeless. Looking back toward the Manhattan skyline while ferries crisscross the East River reminds you why it’s one of the city’s most photographed landmarks.
The bridge is busy, especially in the summer, but it’s still worth taking your time. Stop often, look up at the suspension cables, and don’t rush the walk.
Some attractions are famous for a reason.
Governors Island
This turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the trip.
If you’ve already visited Manhattan several times and are looking for something different…
Take the ferry.
You’ll find:
- Incredible skyline views
- Plenty of room to wander
- Historic military buildings
- Art installations
- Much slower pace than Manhattan
It was exactly the change of scenery we didn’t know we needed.
We rented bikes, but not the Capital One city bikes. These were better.
Saturday Morning 5K
One of our favorite ways to experience a city is to run through it.
Saturday morning we headed toward the Hudson River Greenway for an easy, casual 5K along the waterfront.
The route offered a completely different perspective of Manhattan than the busy streets. Instead of taxis and crowds, we were treated to river views, runners, cyclists, dog walkers, and the occasional ferry gliding up the Hudson. We even found a battleship complete with an SR-71 Blackbird hanging out on the deck.
It wasn’t a race.
No finish line.
No medals.
Just three miles with one of the world’s greatest skylines as the backdrop.
Honestly, every city should be explored this way at least once.
The American Museum of Natural History
Still worth visiting.
The museum is enormous.
Highlights included:
- The dinosaurs
- Simply wandering around getting pleasantly lost
Afterwards we walked into Central Park.
Sheep Meadow
My wife summed it up perfectly.
“I just want to see green.”
Mission accomplished.
After days surrounded by skyscrapers, sitting in Sheep Meadow watching New Yorkers enjoy summer reminded us why Central Park is one of the greatest urban parks anywhere.
Sometimes the best activity is doing absolutely nothing.
Bon Jovi at Madison Square Garden
This concert was the entire reason we made the trip. After vocal surgery and a four-year hiatus from performing this was his comeback tour. The theme: Bon Jovi: Forever.
Our seats were just shy of the floor seats.
I’ve seen Bon Jovi before, but seeing them at Madison Square Garden felt different. It’s their hometown arena, and the crowd treated every song like an anthem.
The setlist was packed with favorites:
- Lost Highway
- Legendary
- It’s My Life
- Livin’ on a Prayer
- I’ll Be There for You
- Wanted Dead or Alive
- Bad Medicine
- Always
Sure, Jon Bon Jovi’s voice isn’t the same instrument it was forty years ago, but that’s almost beside the point. Nobody in Madison Square Garden came expecting to hear a perfect recreation of the 1980s. They came to celebrate the music.
And celebrate they did.
Twenty thousand fans sang nearly every chorus at full volume, transforming the arena into one giant singalong. There were moments when the audience was almost as loud as the band, especially during Livin’ on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Always. It felt less like watching a concert and more like being part of it.
One unexpected bonus of staying in Chelsea was what happened after the encore. Outside of the area dozens of rickshaws were lined up with boomboxes synchronized and playing Bon Jovi’s greatest hits. While thousands of people were lining up for taxis or squeezing into packed subway stations, we simply walked about ten minutes back to our hotel as the rickshaws blasting Bon Jovi cycled past us.
After a weekend filled with coffee shops, great food, Governors Island, Central Park, countless subway rides, and one incredible concert, it was the perfect ending.
The Unexpected MVP
Bryant Park’s public restroom.
Seriously.
It sounds ridiculous.
Yet somehow New York City has managed to create one of the cleanest public restrooms I’ve ever seen.
There was a line.
Especially for the women’s room.
But everyone waited because it was genuinely that nice.
Travel is weird sometimes.
Getting Around
We relied almost entirely on the subway with one twist: We used ChatGPT for most of our navigation.
The MTA App and Apple Maps were our backup, but we let ChatGPT handle almost all of our navigation requests and it was remarkably accurate.
New York’s subway looks intimidating but it was no match for ChatGPT.
Getting Home
Who needs a morning cup of coffee when you can get the same adrenaline rush another way?
We were standing on the platform at Penn Station, bags packed…about 30 seconds before boarding what we thought was the subway to LaGuardia…when we looked at the boarding pass one more time.
EWR.
Newark.
Not LaGuardia.
Cue the record scratch.
Fortunately, we hadn’t actually stepped onto the train yet. Instead of beginning our vacation with a flight diversion and ending it by taking the wrong train to the wrong airport, we quickly pivoted to the correct NJ Transit train bound for Newark Liberty International Airport.
From there it was an easy connection to the AirTrain and Terminal A.
In hindsight, it was a fitting ending to a trip that began with weather delays, an unexpected night in Washington, D.C., and more transportation adventures than we had planned.
Travel lesson learned:
Always verify the airport before you’re standing on the platform.
Final Thoughts
New York has a funny way of reminding you that the best trips rarely go according to plan.
Ours started with a weather diversion to Washington, D.C., nearly became an Amtrak adventure, included countless subway rides, amazing coffee, memorable food, a casual 5K along the Hudson, Governors Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History, and ended with Bon Jovi playing Madison Square Garden.
Not bad for a weekend that almost never happened.