[USA Trip] Day 01 - New York, New York, a city so fine they named it twice!

It's been a long hiatus since I last visited New York! My last visit was way back in 2018, and I loved the experience so much that I decided to re-visit it again after 7 years later. New York, New York, city so fine they named it twice! 

We began planning for this trip by keeping a constant lookout for airfares. Baby did some additional research to visit Orlando, as we are Theme Park Lovers. We decided to visit 2 of the Walt Disney Parks - Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. We purchased our air tickets from Singapore Airlines, and we paid SGD1900 per pax for our return tickets to New York via Premium Economy which I felt was pretty reasonable. For the Orlando part, we off-set our delta miles to purchase our tickets with Delta Airlines. We paid about USD200+ each pax for our round airfare. 

We then upgraded to our tickets to Business Class on SQ by using up our accumulated miles! Upon clearing customs at Singapore, we were invited to the SliverKris Lounge to enjoy some refreshments before boarding.

OMG! Their food selection is just like a hotel buffet. 

Priority boarding was a breeze, despite the flight being almost full. Although this was my second business flight, it was still a big thing for me as the flight time was approx. 19hrs. I was excited for the offerings and service!

Once we boarded and found our seats, we were served pre-takeoff ‘apéritifs’, and we requested a glass of Bellini.  

As this was a super long haul flight, the amenities kit and all extras were provided upon being seated. Their 2025 amenities kit consists of a lip balm, face mist and hand cream. The kit was from Le Labo. A pair of noise cancelling headphones were available for usage during the flight by the airlines too. 

This flight also offered a ‘Book the Cook’ option, so we pre-selected our meals via the SingaporeAir app. 

On the entire flight, apart from a lot of sleeping and eating, I also watched a lot of in-flight movies and the latest local drama - Emerald Hill: The Little Nonya Story that I had missed out on. 

We landed at JFK Airport at about 1830hrs local time. Do note that New York is 12 hours behind us in Singapore, hence we sort of earned half a day there! After clearing the US customs, which interestingly was a breeze, but I suppose it was due to the line for the border control being pleasantly short.

Baby arranged for a return transfer online from the airport which was pleasant and hassle-free. The private car took an hour to reach Manhattan where our hotel was located. 

We booked our stay in New York at the Luma Hotel Times Square which is located within 2 mins of walking distance to Times Square & Broadway. It is a classic boutique hotel which is centrally located in the heart of Midtown of Manhattan. It's just behind the famous Bryant Park and New York Public Library.  It is also walking distance to Fifth Avenue and Central Park. 

The Luma Hotel Times Square was our home in New York for the next 6 days before we left for Orlando, FL.

I love their C.O. Bigelow Amenities, and I brought a few sets home! 

The temperature was fairly cold (around 10-20C) in New York, as it was the end of Spring! I headed out shortly after checking in at the hotel. Although, it was my third time visiting Times Square, I still felt excited being there. It is REALLY very beautiful at night.

We did some shopping, as they were having 50% Sales. I picked up a skirt from Forever 21 and a blouse from Old Navy at only USD10 each. 

That pretty much summed up my first night in New York. I end my post with my supper at Joe's Pizza. 

We walked back to our hotel with our take-out, and we had the pizza in the room. We rested a while before having a shower. We headed straight to bed after our long flight, as we wanted to charge up our energy levels in order to explore the lovely city of NYC the very next day, but the jet-lag was seriously no joke. We could not sleep until around 3am in the morning! The adjustment of the irregular sleeping hours took us around 2-3 days to get used to for US timings. 

Thanks for reading and do stay tune for my next post on my New York trip!