I have to say NY is everything people said it would be but so much more, and to our surprise whilst yes there was that 'buzz' in the air we actually found New Yorkers pretty chilled out compared to people in other cities we've been to.

The only negative thing that happened to us was to do with our accomodation. We stayed in Chelsea Lodge which is a great cosy little hotel in Chelsea (great neighbourhood to stay in)...everything Tripadvisor reviews said it would be apart from one thing...the maids stole $100 from us! Who knew eh that they would rifle through our drawers and find our hidden hard earned holiday money? When we reported it to the management the attitude left a lot to be desired. Eventually though after their investigation they found that 2 maids had been cleaning our room at the same time which was fishy as the room was tiny, so they reimbursed our money back to us. Unfortunately this also meant that after that the maid failed to clean our room properly almost as punishment! So moral of the story is to all your listeners, lock up your money in your suitcase with a padlock! Oh and don't stay in Chelsea Lodge!

Anyway, like I said that was the only bad thing that happened to us during our 11 day stay, so what follows is a top 10 things in NY which serves as a neat summary of what we did on our trip..and yes alot of it is food related as I do like my eating, ;o)

So in no particular order:

1) Ice skating in Central Park at night...a must!

2) Top of the Rock...an altogether more classier affair than Empire State Building

3) Staten Island Ferry...best free bargain!

4) Rickshaw Dumpling Bar in Chelsea...try their dessert!

5) Broadwaybox.com...great site, we got front row seats for The Producers at 50% off!

6) Breakfast at Kitchenette Uptown...made me feel that I really was american eating a traditional home cooked breakfast!

7) Trailer Park Lounge in Chelsea...kitsch IS in and they do great sweet potato fries!

8) NY pizza...damn you...now I can't bring myself to eat pizza in Manchester, UK...is just not the same...for the best go to either Grimaldi's in Brooklyn or Lombardi's in the East Village.

9) Art...you do have it all...away from the blockbusters PS1in Queens is a great space, aswell as Smack Mellon below Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn

10) Shopping in the East Village...we literally did shop till we drop!

11) (Okay I'm cheating but there's so much to recommend for people!) Space Show at Natural History Museum...has to be done! You can also have a great walk alongside Central Park to get there past the Dakota building etc.

12) Chicks and Giggles - cheers Rob and Jenny! Tip for people who go though...don't stand out like we did as you will get picked on throughout...all in good fun though, ;o)!

13) Lunch in Chelsea Market - cheers Rob again!

14)Teas - lots of great places for tea stops - Teany in East Village (Moby's cafe!), Franchia on Park Avenue which leads me to finally....

15) Vegetarian eating...as my partner is veggie this is always a good indicator of how good a city is by it's veggie places and we're pleased to report NY comes up top...from Veggie pizza places (Cafe Viva, Upper West Side), to Korean veggie places (see Franchia), to veggie dim sum (Vegetarian Dim Sum House...Golden Bridge is also good for dim sum in mornings, has ok veggie selection but great for meat eaters who like dim sum!). We also liked Counter in East Village and Blossom in Chelsea.

Okay that's it...I could go on and on, also it's making me miss being there! One last tip that I think people should know if they're on a budget (and we were despite everything we managed to do!), most galleries and museums operate a suggested donations entrance which means you can just pay a $1 to get into most places, bargain!

***Submitted by Amy from Manchester, UK***