New York Audio Tours

by Neil Woodburn on

There are a million different ways to explore New York, and just about as many guidebooks and tour guides to help you out.

One tourist genre that has grown exponentially in the last few years is the MP3 audio tour. Initially the tours that first appeared were the typical, “walk down this street and on your left you’ll see this iconic landmark.” But, as with all new industries, a growing number of niche audio tours are emerging to stand out from the crowd.

New York Times columnist Seth Kugel recently “went to town” with some of the better options and has kindly shared them with us.

Soundwalk appears to be his favorite. The company offers 13 tours at $12 a pop that are “led by quirky New Yorkers who direct you to places and enter doors where you would otherwise never be.” Very cool!

For a description of the other audio tours reviewed, click here.

New York’s Most Expensive Hotel Room

by Neil Woodburn on

High atop the 52-story Four Seasons in New York sits the city’s most expensive hotel room: the Ty Warner Penthouse.

It takes a lot to earn such an accolade in this city, but thanks to the efforts of I.M. Pei and interior architect Peter Marino, lucky visitors to the Big Apple can now drop $30,000 a night for the privilege.

So what does 30 grand get you?

* 4,300 square feet
* 25-foot ceilings
* Chauffeured Rolls Royce
* 24-hour butler
* Private elevator
* Four balconies
* Fitness room
* Library
* Bösendorfer piano
* Zen garden
* Infinity edge bathtub
* Unlimited supply of Twinkies (um, just kidding)

Budget Fares from New York to Egypt

by Grant Martin on

Airfare Watchdog is reporting the latest in a string of strange USA-LON-XXX flights that are remarkably cheap for this time of year. This week, the Egyptian port of Sharm el-Sheikh is on sale from New York City for the paltry sum of about 600USD.

Availability appears to be anywhere between November and March, and AFWD has created a series of handy dandy links to help you search throughout an entire month of availability. The trick with booking this flight is to be flexible. Most dirt-cheap tickets are going to require a little bit of leeway on your part — leaving on a weekday or flying out of your way to get to where you need to be. Just remember that you’re getting a steal on airline tickets and any deal you can work out and book is a gift.

Another thing to remember is that deals like this often don’t last long. Gadling readers searching for this fare on Wednesday may already be too late; often times you may have a few hours to research, book and confirm your tickets. I won’t advocate making any snap decisions on international travel, but it may be a good idea to check the cancellation policy on your favorite booking engine’s FAQ. Many have a clause where you can cancel a ticket within 24 hours without penalty. That way you can book a ticket for you and your girlfriend from work right now and ask for her permission when you get home.

Trans-Atlantic legs appear to be mostly on British Airways, a oneworld alliance member earning you miles on American, British, Cathay and Quantas among others.

With regard to Egyptian travel, you can pay for a visa at the border (nifty postage stamp visas that you can paste into your passport yourself) for a reasonable price. Sharm el-Sheikh is a fabulous city at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula well known as a tourist destination and home to excellent scuba diving and western hobnobbery.

Don’t forget your Cipro.

The Skyscraper Museum Pays Tribute to the Tall and Taller

by Jamie Rhein on

We’ve posted about a few of the tallest buildings in the world. The latest, Mexico’s Torre Bicentenerio is still in the planning stage. In New York City, the place where skyscrapers first defined the magnificence of a city’s architectural skyline, The Skyscraper Museum is where to find out details about Manhattan’s skyscraper history, as well as the tallest wonders of other countries.

Through October 14 there is an exhibit about the Burj Dubai. In addition to presenting the facts about the building, such as, when it’s completed it will be twice as tall as the Empire State Building, the exhibit covers the sociological, economic and psychological reasons for such a structure–a sort of what this building means and how it represents a shift in skyscraper development and purpose. The modern day skyscraper is made of concrete or composite while the ones predominately made in the U.S. are made of reinforced steel. The U.S.’s skyscrapers were built as office complexes, while the ones in Asia are mostly residential.

The exhibits at the museum are a chance to learn about skyscraper physics as well. Along with the exhibits, The Skyscraper Museum has programs that get people out into the city on building tours. One focus is to point out the buildings that are green. There are also programs geared toward having participants design buildings themselves. The photo shows the location of the museum near NYC’s Battery Park.

Newark/JFK to Manhattan via Helicopter for $99

by Justin Glow on

How much does it cost to take a cab from JFK or Newark to Manhattan these days?

US Helicopter — an “8-Minute Airport Shuttle” — says it’s a cool $60, but that seems pretty high. Regardless, the company is offering a helicopter ride from either JFK or Newark for only $99 one way, which seems pretty fair considering regular helicopter tours of Manhattan can cost almost $200 per person for less than 20 minutes. So if you’re planning on taking a pricey helicopter tour of NYC anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone and get yourself from the airport to your hotel in style?

The $99 is a sale price which lasts until October 31st, when the fee will get bumped back up to $159.