[Apologies for dropping the ball last week.  Life got crazy busy and by the time I realized I’d missed putting up a post it was too late to do anything about it.  But 1/3 posts ain’t bad, right?]

In 2012 I took my first solo trip to New York.  For me London is home, but New York is pure holiday.  I’d all ready stayed in New Jersey and Long Island, and I wanted to be closer to Manhattan this time.  Solution – find a hotel in Manhattan.

I went through Booking.com, since I’d had a good experience with my hotel in London.  Hotel prices in New York can be pretty expensive – especially if you’re not sharing with anyone – so I was being super frugal.

Initially I booked a hotel in Chinatown, but I started having second thoughts about it.  Chinatown was super busy, and the hotel lobby was on the second floor, not the ground floor, which meant you had to walk through a darkened lobby.  Also, I wanted to be closer to Times Square (and all the theatre it has to offer).

So I kept looking and then I found something in Murray Hill – Eastgate Tower Hotel.  It was closer to Times Square (just a little off to the East), in a chill-er location, and wasn’t too much more expensive.  Thankfully my booking for the other hotel came with free cancellation (up to a certain date), so I cancelled that one (and printed off the cancellation notice) and booked Eastgate Tower.

Travel Tip: Read the reviews for the hotel you’re booking, if you can do so.  Eastgate Tower didn’t have the best rating, but (other than one or two people who were unhappy about everything) the worst thing I could find about this hotel was that it didn’t have free Wi-Fi.

Travel Tip #2: If you’re worried about finding Wi-Fi in New York, don’t.  Just locate a Starbucks, get yourself a tea, and use their Wi-Fi.  It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing.  Besides, didn’t you go on vacation to get off the grid?