After cancelling our big Spain/Portugal trip, I still wanted to do something quick. Being late May, our options were pretty open. That is a good time to go many places. I looked at several choices, but New York just made the most sense because we already had flights booked there (they would have been the first leg of our flights to Spain…we had to book the connecting flights to New York for Iberia). Also, Alyce had two free nights to any Hyatt that were expiring soon, and the New York Park Hyatt is as good as any to use them.
We had been to New York once before (see the 2010 retro review). That trip was mostly focused on fancy dining and more traditional New York tourist stuff – see a couple shows, go to the top of a tall building, museums, etc.
This trip was more about relaxing, hanging out, walking around, and doing whatever we felt like. Part of that was that we really only finalized the trip about a week or two out. So, most of the fine dining places were out even if we had wanted to do one, as I doubt we could get a reservation. Also, the whole saving money thing with the renovation project, two mortgages…
As a result, we decided where we’d eat dinner the day most days – and it worked out just fine. I had done some minimal research into ideas, but we were mainly winging it based on how we felt. Same thing for where to walk/what to see.
We settled on a duration of 4 nights. That’s my preferred length for a quick domestic trip. While not Spain and Portugal, New York was still a very welcomed trip. We hadn’t been anywhere since our 2016 Spain/France trip and were anxious to get back on the road. Plus, being that it was just Alyce and I on the trip, it gave us a nice break from day to day family living.
Day 1
Our flight to New York (JFK) left late morning/early afternoon and was booked with Delta miles. As mentioned, the original plan was to connect on an Iberia flight to Spain. It was a completely uneventful flight. I barely remember it writing this a couple months later. We were in economy and mostly watched TV shows the whole flight.
The arrival at JFK was smooth, and we were out in a no time as we didn’t check any bags. I decided to Uber, which was an uncomplicated/smooth process. The actual ride itself…not so much.
We left the airport around 3:30, and things were moving quickly for the first 20 minutes. However, we were about to hit some rough traffic. I knew it was bad when my phone said we had 45 minutes left, then 15 minutes later said we had 50 minutes left. Overall it took us over an hour and 45 minutes to get to the Park Hyatt. Neither one of us were really feeling the car ride and were thrilled to get out when we finally made it.
So back to the hotel…We had two free nights from Alyce’s Chase Hyatt sign up bonus. That meant we still needed to pay or use points for the other two nights. And with rates over $1000 a night, paying cash was not an option. Points it is.
I’ve emailed back and forth with an online friend who is a Hyatt “Globalist” (aka the artist formerly known as Hyatt diamond…lame name – I know), and he had offered to book a guest of honor reservation for us if it was worthwhile. So we did it for the first two nights and hoped the benefits would apply for the whole stay.
At check in…Jackpot! We were upgraded to a suite for the whole stay, and we received free breakfast for all 4 nights. It worked out great for our 4 night stay.
