Mom's Guide To Travel

Trip Planning, Expert Tips, and Fun Ideas For Family Travel.

Cities Less Traveled: Queens, The True Melting Pot

Queens Flushing Meadows Park
Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Photo by Saeed D via Trover.com

New York City is known worldwide for its diversity but the true melting pot of the city’s five boroughs is Queens. It is not the first stop for most tourists visiting New York (unless they have family living there), but it’s where dozens of ethnic groups settle down and call home.

Funny enough, most people who fly into New York don’t know that they’ve visited Queens. Both John F. Kennedy International Airport  and LaGuardia Airport are in Queens. In order to get to any hotel in New York City, you’ll have to take a cab ride through Queens traffic or hop on the subway for an underground adventure into Manhattan.

Manhattan might be the most famous of the five boroughs, and Brooklyn the most characteristic. Queens, however, is the largest in size. Almost 2.5 million people live here. Read about four neighborhoods in the borough.

Flushing

Some of Queens’ top attractions are in this neighborhood. Here’s where you’ll find Flushing Meadows Park and can catch a Mets game or watch the US Open. If you’re more into indoor activities, take your pick from a variety of museums or even the Queens Botanical Garden.

Flushing is also where you will find a large Asian population and New York’s second largest Chinatown. Bakeries, restaurants, and Asian markets crowd the neighborhood, creating the atmosphere of being a different country altogether.

Jamaica

The borough’s first settlers, the Jameco indians, gave the Jamaica neighborhood its name. Home to a large Black American and Caribbean population, Jamaica is relatively undiscovered by tourists and where you’ll get a true sense of local life.

Walk along Parsons Boulevard or Jamaica Avenue for an idea of what pre-gentrified Brooklyn looked like. Mom-and-pop shops still thrive on Jamaica’s blocks, along with the culture that helps Jamaica keep its identity.

You’ll find a few ethnic restaurants to sit down for a bite to eat in the neighborhood. However, most of the eateries cater to locals looking for something to go.

Forest Hills

Queens: Marthas Bakery
Martha’s Bakery, Photo by Frank Graziano via Trover.com

Even with its heavy Jewish and Asian population, Forest Hills has a diverse collection of eateries for you to get your grub on. Dinner at Cabana’s Cuban restaurant will have you believing you’re in Havana. Authentic Cuban cuisine, coupled with a lively atmosphere, attracts diners in droves.

Got a sweet tooth? Stop by Martha’s Bakery to enjoy a variety of fresh-baked goods. Don’t mind the long line out the door — it’s the usual and well worth the wait.

Astoria

Astoria has always been a traditionally Greek neighborhood, housing the largest Greek population outside of Greece. Today, other ethnic groups including Italian, Spanish, and Asian populations call it home.

If you’re looking for authentic Greek cuisine, you won’t have to look far. Take your pick of any one of over a dozen Greek restaurants in Astoria. If you’re looking for one which permeates Greek lifestyle, pull up a seat at Ovelia on 30th Avenue. You’ll dine in a sleek space that offers a window into both modern Greek cuisine and the Queens neighborhood that helps inspire it.

This article was written in partnership with the #HipmunkCityLove Project. Any opinions expressed in it are my own.

Gas Rationing in New York and Potential Affects on Holiday Travel

Traveling home to New York for Thanksgiving may be more than I bargained for if gas rationing continues. Though the system was an inconvenience for residents, it eased some of the pressure on gas stations and lightened up lines in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. For non-residents, there may be a bigger issue involved. Will the city be returned to normal in time for Thanksgiving? If not, how might gas rationing in New York affect holiday travel there?

Gas Rationing Could Worsen NYC Traffic
As if travel in the city weren’t bad enough?

The way the gas rationing system works in New York is that if a license plate ends in an even number, a motorist can fill up on an even day and those with odd plates can fill up on odd days. Plates ending in a letter also fill up on odd days. Unfortunately, there’s been a bit of price gouging with pumps in parts of Queens ranging from $4.19 to $4.59 for regular gas when the average price has been around $3.49. Motorists had to pay for gas with cash, forcing them to go inside to a register, thus making the buying process (and lines) longer. In addition, residents were limited to $40 worth of gas at some stations. Compounding the issue, many of those stations were running out of fuel by day’s end.

I think people are hoping that the issue is resolved completely by the holidays. However, if the city suffers more weather issues, the gas rationing system may stay in place in New York and the term “home for the holidays” may take on a new meaning. Drivers traveling to and from New York and New Jersey should prepare themselves for a long journey and maybe even longer lines.

 

Photo courtesy of freefoto.com.

5 Tips for New York City Tourists (video)

If you’re going to be visiting New York City in the summer time, and you want to avoid being elbowed by a local, standing in long check-out lines at your hotel, and a few other key suggestions, watch this video of 5 tips for New York City tourists from a New Yorker.

Here’s a wrap-up if you don’t have 6 minutes to watch. No worries, I won’t take it personally.

1. Avoid summer travel if you can.

2. Don’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk to sight-see. Seriously.

3. If you pay for a cab with your credit card, it’s an automatic 20% tip. Use cash-ola!

4. If you drive into the city and park at a hotel, parking will usually run you $50-$60 per day. Don’t do it!

5. If you’re flying out on Sunday, take an early morning flight to avoid ginormous crowds.

Relaxing at the Omni Berkshire, New York

It’s hard for me to leave my room whenever I stay with Omni hotels. As much as I wanted to relax and keep still in my Berkshire room, in a city like New York and during the BlogHer ’12 conference, it was  pretty impossible. Even when I stayed at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C., I fought the urge to stay in my room. The hotels’ central location in these busy cities make wandering about that much easier.

I’m not quite sure what’s in their hotel magic sauce that makes me want to just relax but there’s something! Could it be the fresh scent of the room? Could be.  I’ve heard aromatherapy evokes certain feelings and emotions. When I walked into my room, I felt immediately relaxed, at peace, and as if I was entering a spa. I wish there was a plugin for the site so that I could share that with you.

Could it be the Omni’s plush bedding? Maybe. I’ve talked about this before – how laying in their beds felt like laying on a pool of feathers. I avoided doing this immediately because I knew that once my head hit the pillow, I probably wouldn’t make it to the conference, the main reason for me being in the city.

As with the Omni Shoreham, the Berkshire housed an onsite restaurant. I was running around so much that I didn’t get a chance to munch at Fireside but the drinks were strong and to the point. I had a mojito and caipirinha, two powerful Brazilian drinks of which I should have had one. I loved that I could get a late night drink with a friend and not worry about catching a cab to scurry me home.

Although I traveled without the kids for this trip, I was intrigued by their teen concierge service that they’ve named Teen Connection. In a busy, overwhelming city like New York, this free amenity is invaluable. The point-man for this service is the 18-year old son of the Berkshire’s General Manager. He provides teens with an insider’s perspective on teen-friendly activities in Manhattan, providing them with a list every Friday at the concierge desk. He even has his own business cards – how neat.

All in all, I was happy to be resting my head at the Berkshire while I was in the city. Over the course of the weekend, I stepped inside four different hotels (three of which will remain nameless but if you email me, I’ll tell you). Yes, the Omni sponsored my stay for two nights but of the four hotels I stepped in (and compared), hands-down, the Omni came out on top.  In my evaluation, I looked at size of hotel, hospitality, upkeep, rooms, location, and amenities.  I appreciate the consistency I see with the brand.

 

This is not a paid post – all opinions written are my own.

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