FEATURE: New York Dream

By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
August 22, 2008

A TRIP to the States was always going to be a nerve- jangling experience with its increasingly authoritarian Department of Homeland Security.

The heightened security required to visit The Land of the Free began before we'd even left Edinburgh. "Have you been asked to carry anything by anyone else," asked the intense Continental Airlines check-in agent. "It does happen, you know. People have been asked to carry things on that have turned out to be bombs!"

After our slightly unsettling welcome aboard I was delighted to discover my in-flight movie was Dr Strangelove - Kubrick's 1964 satire on Cold War paranoia - which achieved new heights of contemporary irony.

We landed at Liberty Airport, and were scanned, fingerprinted and photographed before we were allowed to proceed.

Our first accommodation at Central Park Studios Hostel ($65 a night for a double room en suite on 105th Street was cheap, functional and friendly, despite its location five blocks south of the once-dreaded 110th Street gateway to Harlem.

The overspill from the deprived northern quarter is evident but the area is largely unthreatening and benefits from its proximity to Central Park's affluent Upper East Side and the 103rd Street subway.

Although our seven-day Metro Card gave us the run of the subway for just dollars 12.50 we made our first trip downtown on foot through Central Park. The park is a sprawling green heart of the city - and our walk to the south exit was a staggering two miles.

Guarding our dollars carefully we managed to do a surprising amount for very little Green. On the first day alone we took in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim Museum (both free) and the Jewish Museum which - despite its seemingly specialist subject matter - proved to be exceptional value for money at dollars 12 (free on Saturdays) with special exhibitions of Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning and Andy Warhol.

The following day held yet more bargains with a trip on the Staten Island Ferry, a free commuter boat for workers living across the East River.

The ferry is happy to accommodate the occasional tourist with cheap beer and munchies, offering views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline without the expense of the pricey tourist boats.

Back to Manhattan and it was off to the Rockerfeller Centre. While only the ninth tallest building in New York it is nonetheless dollars 5 cheaper than the Empire State building and offers equally impressive views of the city (including a view of the Empire State itself).

Your $20 ticket also gains you half-price entry to the Museum of Modern Art.

A trip to the MoMA is even more daunting than the heights of New York's tallest buildings. Six floors of artworks from the sublime to the downright weird, there's far too much in there for a few hours consumption, and we were sadly just a couple of days too early to see the current Salvador Dali: Painting and Film exhibition (on until September 15). With our pockets still bulging from our early bargains it was time to splash out a little.

We checked into the plush Bryant Park Hotel, popular with visiting fashionistas and models. Our room was large and comfortable while Bryant Park itself benefits from a range of summer-long activities including a free outdoor film festival and regular concerts.

Feeling suitably pampered I donned my kilt and headed to the fashionable SoHo district for dinner at Kittichai, the in-house restaurant of the 60 Thomson Hotel and a massive draw for Thai-food lovers like myself.

Our plans for a nightcap at the 60 Thomson skybar were scuppered by one of New York's impressive summer thunderstorms, so we headed downstairs to the popular Thom Bar where I bumped into fellow Scot who had made the most of the American dream. IT expert Darren Clark was plucked from his home in Ayr to become IT manager at New York's famous Plaza Hotel. The following day he invited us for a tour of the newly refurbished Plaza and yet more cocktails in its super exclusive Rose Club.

Having saved a couple of hundred dollars with our early budgeting we took our money downtown to visit the TriBeCa Grill - the restaurant part owned by Hollywood legend Robert De Niro.

The décor was pleasant and the wine list extraordinary but the food was disappointing.

Last stop on our week-long journey was the heart of New York - the glowing neon wilderness of Times Square - and our final hotel tucked away in the northern corner on West 44th Street.

Our room was small, stylish and surprisingly quiet. Scots have the added bonus of sleeping above St Andrew's Bar, said to be the only Scottish bar in New York and a welcome relief from the hoards of "Irish" bars that pepper the city.

If the distractions of the city aren't enough to dampen your yearning for home after a week in New York then St Andrew's offers a welcome pint of Tennents to help centre yourself for the trip home.