New York City – STARS, STRIPES & MAYONNAISE

This post isn’t meant to be a travel post about what to do or see in NYC but rather a post about our one day in NYC when we were there for my UK visa appointment.

In order for me to stay in UK, legally and have access to the NHS (free healthcare, etc) I need to have an EEA Family Permit to join my European family (Nils & the kids travel with their Dutch passports). As we didn’t include my original passport with the application it was kicked back as unable to process. Why we wouldn’t send our passport into a third party without knowing how long it will take (6 months?!) is logical. Anyway, long story short, but after many emails, calls and uncertainty we didn’t know what to do and was stressing out. I really really need this to be taken care of before we travel as going in as a tourist is not doing to work. We knew the only way we were getting in the building to speak with someone and plead our case we booked a premium appointment to be seen at the UK Consulate in New York City. Knowing we were not students, but were also leaving on Thursday, we did it. Thankfully it worked, we are getting a refund of the $100 booking premium and we were able to get my documents at 4 pm that day… which left us with a day of exploring The Big Apple (yeah!) We didn’t do all the touristy things I wanted to do, but with a 4.5 year old and a 2.6 year old in a single stroller, there was only so much we could do. And we did a lot!

FIRST UP BOOK A HOTEL

We were looking a various hotels in downtown NYC online and the prices were crazy… $300 a night for a DAYS INN! Based on Nils’ past experience with events with STI, he thought it was best to stay about 20 miles outside the city in the area of Tarrytown – an lovely suburb up on the Hudson River. We scored a great deal for $144, yes with all taxes and fees less then $150 on Hotwire at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tarrytown Turns out it was a wonderful idea with free parking, shuttle to the Metro North line from Tarrytown Station to Grand Central Station in THIRTY minutes! Easy, fast and the kids loved it! The hotel was really nice too… so much nicer than all the hotels we have stayed at in NYC for $400 a night!