New York Travelogue and Travel Tips, From a Singaporean Perspective

Spring 2017 has arrived.

But the beautiful snowy Winter scenery of New York City has yet to fade in my memory....

Just want to share some tips on travelling in New York before I totally lose the momentum of blogging about this trip. Sorry folks for the delayed post - it is already Spring season now; hopefully when you get to travel to New York next Fall, this can come in handy. In fact, what I share will probably be universally useful, no matter which season you decide to visit the Big Apple. Also, I can't seem to find much informative, comprehensive, right-from-the-heart personal sort of travel blog posts about New York, especially by Singaporeans!

Please click HERE for printable full copy of my personal travel notes for NYC.  Do keep in mind it is far from a professional itinerary - just some very real, raw (read: messy) notes that I refer to while in NYC.

MY TRAVEL NOTES

I spent about 6 nights in New York, and 2 days of being 36000 feet up in the air.

Flights from Singapore to New York are horrendously long, especially when there is a transit stop, like my flight (Total flight time inclusive of transit = 24 hours. Zomg). My flight was as usual, by Singapore Airlines (SQ26), with a stopover at Frankfurt. You can choose to stay overnight at Frankfurt hotels before embarking on your NYC adventure... unlike us; but too bad we did not have the luxury of extended annual leave.

Anyways, whilst in NYC, most of the time I stuck around Manhattan and the furthest I went was Brooklyn and Bronx. No time to explore out of NYC definitely; not even a day to visit Long Island.

Accommodation: Times Square, Hilton Hotel

As you probably know me by now,  the words I'd normally use to describe my preferred mode of travel are "safe", "comfortable", "travel-in-style" and "touristy"...perhaps sometimes borderline "luxury". I don't do backpacking; nor am I super adventurous. So yep, I stayed at a boring Hilton chain hotel...which is NOT AT ALL boring to me. In fact, calling the heart of the forever-vibrant Times Square your home for 6 nights is nowhere near boring.

 

Check out my view from the hotel room! 

I was put up at a room on level 36, I think. New York City is the King of Urban Jungles worldwide - no other city does skyscrapers like NYC! Hence, whichever hotel you stay, I bet you get a view not too far from mine.

Some traveller once commented on a TripAdvisor: "Don't go to New York for Applebee's, unless your home doesn't have one." Well, embarrassed to say this...but yeah, Applebee's has yet to grace the sunny shores of Singapore, so Applebee's I shall devour!! Can't help when my choice of residence is just right next to the said restaurant!

Weather: -10 degree celcius to 5 degree celcius. Rain, Snow, Wind all present.

Attire: FULL WINTER GEAR with inner wear designed for subzero degree weather!

Cutest photobomb ever!
 

We met with a snow storm which killed several people in a night! It was on the news. We didn't even know it was that dire, and just continued with our travel plans. How adventurous (when I was just saying how safety-conscious we were! LOL)!!

SAFETY TIP: Please check the weather forecast EVERY MORNING before you head out during deep winter in January! Stay indoors during the storm!

FOOD : CHEAP EATS

My travel partner is not into fine dining, so we mostly ate meals that cost below SGD40 for each person.

Honest, Unsponsored Review of Hello Kitty Orchid Garden Cafe Singapore

Five solid months after the grand opening of the first Hello Kitty cafe in Singapore - Hello Kitty Orchid Garden Cafe at Changi Airport, I thought it would be a good time for an ex-Hello Kitty fan to visit her old friend since the hype would have died down by now.

Well, not really. Hello Kitty is not my friend.

I went mainly because I am picking up someone from the airport, and it's the only prominent cafe I have not dined in at the airport. Also because I think I need some cute photos on Instagram, because my recent IG wall has been plastered with mainly my selfies and I am bored looking at my face. 

Apologies, my photos in this post are horribly-taken by iPhone, because I wasn't prepared to do any blog reviews so I did not bring along my DSLR. Eventually I still decided to review because when I did an online search of blog reviews of this cafe, I saw that many of them were sponsored. I believe there is a sizeable online community, especially overseas tourists, out there wanting real, honest non-sponsored reviews of this inaugural Hello Kitty Singapore cafe. And that's where I come in.

As a beauty blogger, I usually reject doing food reviews, especially sponsored food reviews. I mean, I have nothing against free food but I REALLY enjoy my food...and I don't want to spend half an hour fussing about taking amazing photos and end up eating cold food, unable to totally enjoy the meal. 

Bringing a kitty out to meet another!