This week I spent a little over 48 hours in the Big Apple while on a work trip attending my company’s yearly conference. I spontaneously brought along one of my friends from Denver after texting her last week asking if she is interested in booking a last minute trip. My friend has always wanted to go to New York City, and although we would be staying in Times Square (not ideal, but it is where the conference was), she jumped on the opportunity. Her company has an office in the city so she worked with her manager and he gave her the green light to travel and work from that office on Wednesday. Because it was a work trip for me, I expensed our hotel and Lyfts, which made the last minute airfare for her to NYC more justifiable. Plus, for whatever reason United flights to New York were $250 roundtrip a week before.
I have done a few reviews of hotels and cities from work travel (see those here and here), but I don’t always go to the most desirable locations worth blogging about. Most recently I went to San Francisco (I wish I blogged) and St. Louis (not ideal). Anyway, in today’s post I will cover where we stayed, what we did, what we ate, and overall thoughts!
Please note, I did not pay for the hotel room with my own money. Because it was a work trip, my expenses were covered by my company.
Where we stayed
The conference took place at the Westin Times Square, which is where I also booked a room. The only room option I was able to secure at the time of booking was one with double beds so that is what initially sparked the idea of inviting a friend. Overall, it was very convenient staying at the Westin, however, I will say expected a little more for the price of the hotel. Although I didn’t pay for it myself, when you find a used toothbrush in the bathroom, earplugs under the nightstand, and hand prints on furniture at the time of checkin, it does make you question the hefty price tag per night. I am a bit of a clean freak so I am more judgemental than the average traveler, but you are definitely paying for the location at this hotel. It is important to note that the hotel charges a $30 destination fee per night, which you can use at their restaurant, The Foundary. As usual, I forgot to take pictures of the room so please enjoy these I found from the Westin website. The room size was actually bigger than we expected for New York. On the other hand, the bathroom is quite small but manageable. The only other negative was our television remote was essentially broken and it took 5 minutes to scroll 10 channels on the TV guide due to a faulty ‘down’ button.
Where we ate
When we arrived into the city we headed over the Shake Shack in Times Square because we hadn’t eaten anything all day. I was hosting a happy hour from 5:00-7:00pm that evening so we planned on having lunch and meeting up after for dinner. My friend did some research while I was at the happy hour and we decided on R Lounge, located in the Renaissance hotel. We had a long travel day and an early wake up call the next day so although we both wanted to venture out of Times Square for dinner, we figured it was more practical to eat somewhere close and be back at our hotel at a decent time. The food at R Lounge was pretty good and similar prices to a more upscale restaurant in Denver.
On Wednesday night, we ventured over to the West Village for dinner. My friend and I both loved this part of town and want to explore more of it when we come back. We went to King for dinner, which ended up being meh. We both thought it was Italian food, which is completely our mistake for not researching more. It was actually French-cuisine with a menu that is created daily (a really cool concept). We decided to share an appetizer, salad, and entree, which worked in our favor because I think we both would have been more disappointed with what we spent if we ordered more food. The appetizer was some sort of chickpea fry with a gooey consistency in the middle. As soon as my friend said it tastes like the smell of New York, I went from thinking it was OK to I’m ready for the next dish. The salad was probably my favorite of the three, however, it is not a typical house salad. Be prepared for clumps of spinach that reminded me of the spinach from a can my parents used to make me eat. We went with the pork-chop for our entree, which I could not eat. I know at fancier restaurants, meat is often cooked on the rare side, but pork that is still pink freaks me out. It ended up being fine, because my friend ate it and said it was pretty good. Although the food wasn’t our favorite, our waiter was amazing and gave us a list of recommendations in the area including cocktail lounges, jazz clubs and comedy clubs.
After dinner, we went to Katana Kitchen (recommended by our waiter) for a drink. Apparently, this cocktail lounge is the best of the best. We were able to find a seat at the bar and enjoyed the ‘Slowpitch Paloma’, which is Espolon Blanco tequila, pocari, thai chili, and lime zest. Because we didn’t eat much at dinner, we thought why not cap the night with a slice of pizza before heading back to our hotel. We went to Village Square Pizza and then hopped in a Lyft back to the Westin.
Overall thoughts
I hadn’t been to New York City in 10 years so I was excited to go back, even if it was for work. I loved the West Village and want to explore more of the surrounding neighborhoods that we drove through getting to dinner on Wednesday night. On the other hand, Times Square is definitely not my scene. The hustle and bustle of Times Square is energetic, but I always prefer less touristy areas. I travel every so often for work and I want to continue to make these trips more fun by inviting a friend, Paul, and/or planning activities outside of my work obligations to see more of a new city.
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xoxo Olivia
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