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The Adventures of a Twin Mom

Motherhood and Travel Blog

January 23, 2016

Guide to NYE in Times Square

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I’m very late in posting this but better late than never, right? For New Year’s Eve we went to NYC to see the ball drop in Times Square! This has always been on my bucket list and we decided this year was the perfect time because it was record high temperatures (almost 50 degrees in NY!) and we both had the day off! We had a great time and it was an unforgettable experience!

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While I was planning this trip I noticed there wasn’t much information out there on NYE in Times Square. I decided to put some tips together (see below) about our experience, hopefully this helps someone!

How Times Square is organized
Part of the fun of NYC is the chaos…at times you will think the whole thing is very unorganized but it is part of the experience. That being said, on NYE Times Square is divided into sections with barricades. Each section is first come, first served. They allow only so many people into each section and then they start filling the next section. Obviously, the first few sections are the best because you’re close to the concerts and closer to the ball! They do this to keep the area safe and controlled, there are a few cops watching over each section.

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When to Arrive
This all depends on how close to the ball you want to be! If you want to be in the first few sections, you will need to arrive very early! I was told some people camped out for days (no thanks). We arrived at noon to Times Square and we were a few blocks back from the ball. We had great views of the ball! However, we couldn’t see the celebrities on the stage but that was ok with me. If you want to see the ball but don’t care about anything else, I highly recommend arriving between 11am-2pm.

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Where to Stay
I strongly recommend staying in Manhattan because it will be chaotic trying to get out of the city after the ball drops! Just a warning, prices are sky-high on NYE and you need to book early! We stayed at The Lexington which is about a 15 minute walk to Times Square; it was the cutest boutique hotel! We absolutely loved it!

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In August when I went to NYC (you can read about this here), we stayed at the Hampton Inn Times Square West, this is about a 5 minute walk to Times Square. If you want to pay a fortune, you can stay in the few blocks of Times Square and you won’t have to stay outside for 12 hours because you can see the ball from your hotel room. A few of those hotels with views are: Renaissance New York, Double Tree Guest Suites, Marriott Marquis, Knickerbocker, and the Novotel New York Times Square.

How to Survive All Day
I am going to be honest, this experience isn’t for everyone! If you have to use the bathroom a lot, if you can’t stand for long periods of time, if you don’t like being around a ton of people (roughly 1 million), or if you despise cold weather…this isn’t for you! We got really lucky to have nice NYC police officers guarding our section and they let both Judd and I out of our section once to use the restroom. We had to go in a restaurant and buy something to be able to use the restroom. We also brought a few snacks and a couple of drinks so we didn’t get dehydrated or hungry. For entertainment we brought our phones, talked a lot, and people watched. Lastly, we wore lots of layers and comfortable shoes because you are outside standing for 12+ hours.

Boredom was kicking in!

Safety
I was initially nervous about being in Times Square on NYE because there is so much going on in the world right now.  However, we felt completely safe the entire time! Everyone goes through security to get into Times Square and then through security again to get into each section. There are police in uniform everywhere and we were told there were also undercover police all throughout Times Square.

Extra Tips/Interesting Things We Learned
1. Dress warm and in layers
2. Bring snacks
3. Don’t drink a lot of liquid because you might not be able to use the restrooms at all! But bring some water so you do not get dehydrated.
4. Wear comfortable shoes
5. Get a place next to a barricade so you can lean on it. Sitting in the back of each section is ideal because you have more room because everyone is trying to get close to the front of the section.
6. Don’t bring a book bag or a large bag because police will confiscate it.
7. Make sure your phone is fully charged and bring a portable charger!
8. It’s not as big of a party as it looks like on TV. There is a lot of waiting!
9. Alcohol is not allowed

I used the Times Square Alliance website to plan our day. They post a lot of important information and they also post the event schedule.

Don’t forget to take a stroll through the city!  The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center is still up and there are decorations all throughout the city!

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There is no place like NYC during the holidays!

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

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August 28, 2015

All of NYC in 3 Days

Today I’m going to share how to see everything in New York City in 3 days and not feel overwhelmed! The first time I went to NYC was with my husband when he proposed.

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It was a great trip but I was also distracted with being newly engaged and my new ring. 😉

This time I went with my mom and we had a great time!

Day 1

We landed at LaGuardia really early and then took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at Hampton Inn in Times Square.

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The location of this hotel is perfect, I highly recommend this hotel!

After dropping off our bags we went to pick up our tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

If you have read my past travel entries you know how much I love and recommend these tours! They are the best way to see big cities at your own pace!  You can get on and off at all the big stops while enjoying the views from an open double decker bus. I bought the 3 day pass that included: Uptown Route, Downtown Route, Night Tour, ferry ride around the city, ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and tickets to Top of the Rock. This also included the Brooklyn Route and Harlem route, we didn’t do these two because the night tour covers Brooklyn and the Uptown Route covers Harlem.

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This is what the routes look like! It covers everything!

The first day we did the Uptown Route.

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We love sitting on top of the double decker bus.  You can see things from here that you can’t from a car let alone the subway.

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The first stop was Strawberry Fields in Central Park.  This section of the park was named in memory of John Lennon.

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Imagine circle

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The bus then drove through Harlem.  We didn’t get off anywhere but we did see a few cool things such as the Apollo Theater.  This is the famous theater where the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and many others started their careers.

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Then we went inside the Plaza Hotel.

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They had an Eloise store! I was so excited because I LOVED these books/movies as a child.

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We then got tickets to go inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met).  We saw a lot of famous pieces.

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Self Portrait by Vincent van Gogh

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Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet

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Our next adventure was a subway ride to the Brooklyn Bridge.  You have to ride the subway at least once while in NYC.

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It was a long walk but the views are breathtaking.

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The final stop of the day was Times Square.  Day 1 ended earlier than Day 2 and 3 because we were exhausted from waking up at 3 am!

Day 2

On Day 2 we did the Downtown Tour, took a ferry around the city, and the Night Tour.

The first thing stop on the Downtown Tour was the Freedom Tower (the new 9/11 building).

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This is now the tallest building in NYC and it is beautiful!

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The two 9/11 memorials are right next to the Freedom Tower.

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They did a great job designing the memorial fountains.

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Then we took a ferry ride around the city.

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Such a big city!

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We took a little stroll through the Waldorf Astoria.  What a gorgeous hotel!

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I have to admit I got lost once during this trip and it was trying to get to Grand Central Terminal.  We made it though!

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We finished the day by taking the Night Tour.  Isn’t Times Square beautiful at night?

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The views were fabulous and we had a great tour guide!

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We loved this part of our trip!

Day 3

Our final day consisted of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Top of the Rock.

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Trying to take a selfie at the Statue of Liberty.

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The views of Manhattan from Liberty Island were gorgeous!

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We were a little disappointed in Ellis Island. They need to make this place a lot more interesting and bring back artifacts that are currently in storage.

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Our final stop of the day was the Rockefeller Center. We had tickets to the top which is called the Top of the Rock.  This is my favorite place in NYC (and one of my favorite places in the world) for two different reasons: my husband proposed here and the views are to die for!

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These views really show you how big NYC is.

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This blog post just gives you a snapshot of our trip.  Until next time NYC…

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Hi! I'm Brianna! I'm a wife, mom of twin toddlers, a blogger, and a world traveler. Welcome to a small piece of our perfect chaos!

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This is 4! We celebrated Camden and Ella’s birth This is 4! We celebrated Camden and Ella’s birthday last week with a FOURever Sweet/Candy Land themed party. Sharing all the details on today’s blog post (link in profile).
Happy 4th Birthday, Camden and Ella!! These past 4 Happy 4th Birthday, Camden and Ella!! These past 4 years have flown by.  I’m so proud of the little humans you are becoming! We love you across the ocean and back!
Water-bugs just like their mama! 👩‍👧‍👦Going through our photos from our trip to @greatwolflodge. I miss it already! #GreatWolfLodge #Hosted #PawPledge
Is there anything cuter than a baby wolf? Yep, twi Is there anything cuter than a baby wolf? Yep, twin baby wolves! 🐺🐺 We had the best couple of days at @GreatWolfLodge! Camden asked if we could move here. #iwish I’ll work on a blog post when I get home with more trip details. #hosted  #GreatWolfLodge #PawPledge
Splashing the day away with my favorites! We’re Splashing the day away with my favorites! We’re having the best time at @GreatWolfLodge! We come here every winter to escape the winter blues for a few days. You can follow along in my stories. #hosted  #GreatWolfLodge #PawPledge
Don't let this picture fool you, renovation with y Don't let this picture fool you, renovation with young kids is no joke! However,  @sharkcleaning has made it so much easier to keep up with the dust and chaos. #SponsoredByShark The new Shark® Wandvac™ System does it all...this powerful vacuum can go from a stick vacuum to extended lightweight wand-to-hand vacuum! Plus, it has an awesome docking station, it doesn’t need to be hidden in a closet. Visit SharkClean.com to purchase the new Shark® Wandvac™ System.

 #SharkWandVac #SharkCordlesssVacuum
Twinning Tuesday with my best girl! The adorable a Twinning Tuesday with my best girl! The adorable and comfortable outfits we're wearing are from @moodytigerofficial You can use: Mom15 to get an extra 15% off!  #moodytiger #moodytigeractivewear #kidsactivewear  #moodytigerleggings
Mermaid hair don't care. 🧜🏼‍♀️💁🏻 Mermaid hair don't care. 🧜🏼‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️ I am loving my new beach waves that I get from using @bondiboost Wave Wand.  I'm hair challenged and it's 3x large barrels are SO easy to create these beach waves and their Heat Protect Spray helps reduce future damage from heat.  Head to my stories to see how this works! I promise, if I can do this to my hair then you can! #BoostYourRoots #BondiBoost
They picked out their outfits and are quite proud. They picked out their outfits and are quite proud. 🥰

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This is 4! We celebrated Camden and Ella’s birth This is 4! We celebrated Camden and Ella’s birthday last week with a FOURever Sweet/Candy Land themed party. Sharing all the details on today’s blog post (link in profile).
Happy 4th Birthday, Camden and Ella!! These past 4 Happy 4th Birthday, Camden and Ella!! These past 4 years have flown by.  I’m so proud of the little humans you are becoming! We love you across the ocean and back!
Water-bugs just like their mama! 👩‍👧‍👦Going through our photos from our trip to @greatwolflodge. I miss it already! #GreatWolfLodge #Hosted #PawPledge
Is there anything cuter than a baby wolf? Yep, twi Is there anything cuter than a baby wolf? Yep, twin baby wolves! 🐺🐺 We had the best couple of days at @GreatWolfLodge! Camden asked if we could move here. #iwish I’ll work on a blog post when I get home with more trip details. #hosted  #GreatWolfLodge #PawPledge
Splashing the day away with my favorites! We’re Splashing the day away with my favorites! We’re having the best time at @GreatWolfLodge! We come here every winter to escape the winter blues for a few days. You can follow along in my stories. #hosted  #GreatWolfLodge #PawPledge
Don't let this picture fool you, renovation with y Don't let this picture fool you, renovation with young kids is no joke! However,  @sharkcleaning has made it so much easier to keep up with the dust and chaos. #SponsoredByShark The new Shark® Wandvac™ System does it all...this powerful vacuum can go from a stick vacuum to extended lightweight wand-to-hand vacuum! Plus, it has an awesome docking station, it doesn’t need to be hidden in a closet. Visit SharkClean.com to purchase the new Shark® Wandvac™ System.

 #SharkWandVac #SharkCordlesssVacuum
Twinning Tuesday with my best girl! The adorable a Twinning Tuesday with my best girl! The adorable and comfortable outfits we're wearing are from @moodytigerofficial You can use: Mom15 to get an extra 15% off!  #moodytiger #moodytigeractivewear #kidsactivewear  #moodytigerleggings
Mermaid hair don't care. 🧜🏼‍♀️💁🏻 Mermaid hair don't care. 🧜🏼‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️ I am loving my new beach waves that I get from using @bondiboost Wave Wand.  I'm hair challenged and it's 3x large barrels are SO easy to create these beach waves and their Heat Protect Spray helps reduce future damage from heat.  Head to my stories to see how this works! I promise, if I can do this to my hair then you can! #BoostYourRoots #BondiBoost

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