[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to two Travel Dads podcast. Here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, stories from our adventures, and tips for saving money. Be sure to subscribe and check out our detailed show
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[00:00:23] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back to another episode of two Travel Dads podcast. I'm Rob and I've got a super special guest today. I've got Mr. Oliver Taylor.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Hello. Hello.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Our amazing, awesome twelve year old dude. And today, Oliver and I are going to chat about. We just got back from New York City, and it was delightful and fun. It was not as cold as we expected.
[00:00:51] Speaker D: I don't know.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Were you freezing?
[00:00:53] Speaker C: No.
I'm a little sad. There wasn't any snow.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah, there wasn't any snow. That's true. We saw some gross piles of snow, but, yeah, no snow fall while we were there. But, yeah, we're going to just chat about kind of all the cool stuff that we did in Manhattan. And I'm curious to hear some of Oliver's big takeaways because we did lots of fun culture stuff. And we did some cool sightseeing, too. But it was such a different trip for me because I go to New York every January and it's always the same, and I'm always bummed out because it's so cold and boring. And we had fun. How would you like to talk about this? Should we just talk about kind of like our schedule, our itinerary, or do you want to share your favorite thing? And I'll share my favorite thing? How do you want to roll?
[00:01:39] Speaker C: I'd go through the itinerary.
[00:01:40] Speaker D: Okay, that's fine.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: First of all, we flew to New York, which is always a delight. And we flew into LaGuardia airport. What'd you think of LaGuardia?
[00:01:51] Speaker C: It was sort of just like your normal airport.
[00:01:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: And then we rode a bus, which was fun. And then from the bus we got on the train, and then we got to our hotel, which I stay in the same hotel every single year. It is the even hotel in Times Square south, and it's convenient for me for work, so we always stay there. And it was great for our little travel party because we had ping pong and foosball and comfiness, so that was great. But our first night, we just went right into Times Square. And so this was your first trip back in, I think it's been like five years since you've been to New York, maybe four years. What'd you think of Times Square? Do you think it's exciting, fun? Do you think it's a mess. Tell me.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: There's lots of people scattered around everywhere, and it's very bright.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: It is very bright.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: You can't sleep, even if it's, like pitch black, because all the things are like, boom.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Yes.
What's the coolest? Or what do you think is the funniest part of Times Square? And then what is the coolest part of Times Square?
[00:02:55] Speaker C: I think what's really funny is that when you're in Times Square, you just see people around dressed in costumes.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Oh, that's totally not what I thought you were going to say. That's hilarious, though, because. That's right. They are so creepy. Who's your favorite costume?
[00:03:12] Speaker C: I don't know. I know what my dad was really creeped out about was Elsa.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Because Elsa was creepy. It wasn't like Queen Elsa, like you meet at Disney World. It was Elsa with a big, fuzzy head. She was so scary. I also thought Elmo was scary. But then the transformers were kind of cool. So good times. And then what did you think was exceptionally neat, or what was the coolest part of Times Square?
Was it all the different interesting stores? Was it all the Broadway shows that you could see all around?
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Yeah, there were lots of pretty cool stores. There were lots of stores that had, like, a specific thing they did. Like, there was an Eminem store. There was a Harry Potter store. There's lots of different stores in New York.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. And we. I think we got to hit quite a few. So that was good.
[00:04:04] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: So then we finished off our first night by meeting a friend, and we went to a really wonderful family style italian dinner at Doni de Nopolis, just off the square, which is pretty darn touristy and delicious. That was fun. But then day one of our full day, I had so much fun. I think you did, too. We started with rainbow bagels, which I love to eat when I'm in New York. But you didn't go for the rainbow. Went. I forgot what your bagel was called.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: I got the Liberty bagel, which is just, like, red, white, and blue with Oreo filling.
[00:04:38] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: It was the most healthy bagel option available.
[00:04:41] Speaker C: That's why I chose it.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Oreo cream cheese. Liberty bagels is really cool. And they've got a couple shops in New York. They make the famous rainbow bagel. They've got the red, white, and blue bagel. There's the eggle bagel. There's all kinds of stuff, but super yummy and very, very new Yorky. And, yeah, it's touristy, but that's okay because we're tourists. And then from there, we went over and met my buddy at the Empire State Building for a special tour of. And I said it correctly. Tour. Did I say it right? I've been getting made fun of for how I say the word tour.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: He says it like, tour, tour, tour, tour, tour.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: I can't figure out how I'm supposed to say it anyways, though. So we had a special tour of the Empire State Building, which. What'd you think of it? Was it just a building, or did you think it was pretty cool?
[00:05:30] Speaker C: I think it was really cool. Because when you go through the thing, there's lots of different stuff you can do. Because there's, like whole exhibits on how it was made, when it was made. And if you have special access or anything, there's other things you can do. There's, like, sculptures. I mean, exhibits kind of. Yeah, sort of like there's a King Kong part where it was like his hands are reaching through the building to grab you. You can get a picture there, too, which is really cool.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought the King Kong part is pretty cool because so many movies have been either featured or made at the Empire State Building. There's that whole section about the movies and the King Kong, but really is the coolest. I loved it. What about the heights?
Did you mind being so high?
[00:06:16] Speaker C: Well, when you live where we do, you don't really get really high unless you're, like on the top of a lighthouse. But, like, in New York, you can get super tall, over a hundred stories. And when you look down, you're like. Sometimes you're above the clouds, even though you're still in the. Yeah, which is really interesting. And you can see all around you. You might even be able to see into other states.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we could see into New Jersey. Yeah, that was true. And we were up there when they were setting up the whole kind of entrance to Mount Olympus for Percy Jackson, which. So how does that work? Is that how they get to Mount Olympus, in Percy Jackson?
[00:06:50] Speaker C: Well, yeah, in the books, there's this special elevator in the Empire State Building. And when you enter a sort of code takes you to the 600th floor, which brings you to the top of Mount Olympus.
[00:07:04] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: So we went to the main observation deck, and then we went up to the 105th floor. Not Mount Olympus.
[00:07:10] Speaker C: No. But there was the set there.
[00:07:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Which was pretty cool. And then I actually got to do something really special where I got to climb the little ladder up to the 106th floor of the Empire State Building, which is the highest outdoor observation deck in New York. And you don't really get to go there as a tourist, so that felt pretty special. Let's see. After the Empire State Building, we trekked downtown to the Flatiron district, where we went to the Harry Potter store.
What was your thought? Did it meet your expectations? Was it not as cool? Was it ten times cooler?
[00:07:49] Speaker C: Well, when you sort of see it, it doesn't look that big, but when you get inside, it's like this whole space. And you can go downstairs, too. There's lots of other stuff. It's like, there's this whole section where you can buy wands, but they're not the sort of wands that are interactive in the universal part. That's true, but they're still really cool.
And then there's all sorts of other things. Like there's a Death Eater section. There's this place where you can get, like, wallpaper and postcards.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: I thought that place was really cool, and I would love to get the Marauders map wallpaper to do on our stairs. I think that'd be really cool.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: And there was also a space where you could get, like, Butterbeer, butterbeer ice cream.
[00:08:29] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: And then there was. Well, there was like a whole little honey Dukes section, even. There was a honey dukes room.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: That's true. Where you could buy, like, chocolate frogs and Ronnie bought Jeffrey flavored beans.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: All the delicious things. Yeah, no, that was so the way that we did our New York trip was really funny. So months and months prior, I got us tickets to Harry Potter and the cursed child secretly, and I didn't tell Oliver, and we dressed up and we wore our house colors and our neckties and went to the Harry Potter store. And I said, that's why we had to dress up, is because we were going to the Harry Potter store. But then instead of just that, we also went to Harry Potter and the cursed child on. Yeah, yeah, sorry.
I thought that that was worth the buildup. What did you think of that? So that was your second Broadway show. Was your impression? Did it surprise you? I know you've read the play before. I hadn't read the play, so I was very surprised about the story.
Did you love the effects? Did you like seeing the story play out? What was the best part about getting to see cursed child on Broadway?
[00:09:41] Speaker C: In all, the play was really super duper cool at the start. It doesn't really seem like it's going to be that big or anything, but as it gets on, it sort of just like builds up and builds up lots of twists and turns, lots of different characters. And the sets are really cool. There's not really any songs in it, but there's still lots of choreography.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Yeah, the choreography was cool. That's how they did their set changes and stuff. That was a surprise to me, and I didn't know the story at all. So to me, and I'm not going to get into it because that's the thing with Harry Potter and the cursed child.
Their slogan kind of is keep the secrets. So you're not supposed to tell people the magic that you see or how the story twists and turns if somebody hasn't read it. But I was surprised by everything and I was really impressed by the magic. If you were going to share about one Magic thing that you saw on stage, what would you share?
[00:10:39] Speaker C: There was a scene in it where there were lots of.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: Was quite shocking.
That was really cool. There were so many cool effects, and I've seen quite a few Broadway shows. I think that Harry Potter and the cursed child had the coolest effects of any that I've seen. That was pretty cool. Let's see, what do we do after that? I can't even remember. Oh, I remember. We went to Ellen's stardust lounge to wrap up our day, which I couldn't tell if you guys were having fun with that or not. So Ellen's is like a vintage diner off Times Square where the servers sing while they serve. Did it make you uncomfortable? Did you think? It was awesome?
[00:11:27] Speaker C: It was really interesting because when they sing, they have like a microphone and speakers everywhere and so they'd be like 5ft behind you and you wouldn't even know it. And then you're like, oh, they're right there singing the song.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great. But, yeah, it was a little surprising because all of a sudden somebody would.
[00:11:46] Speaker C: Walk by singing, I really enjoyed the milkshakes.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yes, the milkshakes. It is definitely a premium price that you pay for milkshakes and dinner at Ellen's, but it's really cool. And I think it's like one of those, like, I think it's a required New York experience, especially if it's either your first time or if you really want to be as touristy as possible. It was a hit. I loved that we had that one other store that we stopped at, too, that was pretty cool at Rockefeller center because we went to Rockefeller center and walked around and saw the ice ring and all that. What was your favorite store that we got? To see in Rockefeller center.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: I really loved the Lego store.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: It was cool. It was very New York, too. What was the best part about it?
[00:12:25] Speaker C: I think it was really cool because, like, in the center, there's this huge Lego tree, lots of different parts, and it's rainbow colored. All of it's out of legos. And as you go up, you'd see little boxes in it or you see little scenes inside that.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Oh, like dioramas.
[00:12:39] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: Yeah. And then you'd also just see cats and metal parts just drifting about in the tree. There's lots of other things, too. There's like this whole Lego taxi you could actually sit in. And it had all the different Lego themes. Like, there's the Lego super Mario's, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Star Wars, Lego City.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Lego Jurassic park, the fancy Lego art.
That was a good Lego store. I have to say. It was on par with Lego store at springs. Yeah, that was pretty great. And then I had my work day, and when I was off at work, you guys went exploring.
[00:13:17] Speaker D: Let's see.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: I'm trying to think about what you did. Where did you guys begin your day?
[00:13:20] Speaker C: I think we began just, like, walking around. And I know that we started off with the. We went to the Central park zoo.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. You went to the Central Park Zoo. I've never been there. Tell me about it. Is it a big zoo? Is it a small zoo? It fits in Central park.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: It's sort of small. There's not many separate rooms or anything.
The outdoor scenes are pretty much just like some monkeys. You also see some bears and some seals, but it's just sort of like big gazebos with walls everywhere. And you go through that and it's like this whole exhibit where there are lots of different creatures. Like, there was the bird area where you saw lots of birds and penguins. I thought that was really cool because they let the birds roam around, and you'd be like, going through a tunnel with holes in the walls showing you different birds. And then you just see, like, a bird walking along the other way, which is pretty cool.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Just free arranging. Did it remind you of that scene in fantastic beasts and where to find. Know when newt is chasing down the arumpant in the zoo?
[00:14:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Does it still look like that or.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: It looks a little different.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: A little different.
[00:14:28] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't been to the central.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: It looks like metal bars.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Lots of metal bars. That's what zoos mostly used to look know. And then after that, you guys checked out some kind of cool themed stores. You got to go to the Nintendo store, which I didn't get to go to. What all did you find in the Nintendo store?
[00:14:45] Speaker C: There wasn't a lot of merchandise, but there was lots of games. When you went upstairs, there were all these Nintendo switches that you could play, and you could just play on them while they're still attached to the kiosks.
[00:14:57] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: So you got to actually test games.
[00:14:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:14:59] Speaker C: And it was pretty funny. There was. Part of the wall was designed because there was, like, this huge projection of Mario and sort of, like, an older animation style, which is pretty cool. And when you do this, you can stand on one of the question block icons on the floor, and it would start a conversation, and Mario would be like, come talk to Mario.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: It's me, Mario.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: And, like, you go up to talk and be like, hi. And he just asks you the same questions over and over, and you're sort of, uh huh. And then you walk away.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: So maybe Mario needs some fresh programming.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Yeah, but everything else is really cool. They had a lot of old games like Nintendo. Three ds and two ds.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Oh, well, I don't even know what those are. The last Nintendo that I had was a Game Boy, and I had it for less than 48 hours. And that was, like, the original Game Boy. So, yeah, it sounds like you have got more experience and probably saw things that I wouldn't know what they are. Good times. I also heard that you guys went into the Nike store. Was that pretty cool?
[00:15:59] Speaker C: Well, yeah. My friend who came with us, he's a lot more into it than I am. And the Nike store is pretty much, I think of his mostly shoes, and there's some really expensive shoes in there. And his brother actually told him to buy some shoes for him.
[00:16:15] Speaker D: Him.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Of course he did.
[00:16:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: There's an interface where you can custom design your shoes.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: That's what it was. I was trying to think. I remember you guys saying that there was some sort of special experience in the Nike store, but I couldn't remember what it was. That's what it was. You get to design some stuff. So then our last full day, it was a pretty short trip to New York, which is okay. I mean, you can only do so many days in New York before you're tired. And then you had your day while I was off at work. And then on Friday, that was the day that. Our last full day together because we had such a nice short trip. Trying to think. We started out that day with. We went back to.
[00:16:52] Speaker D: Or.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: No, what did we do? Did we go back to Liberty bagels.
[00:16:55] Speaker C: No, we did one day.
[00:16:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: No, that was the day we went to the TikTok diner.
[00:17:00] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: And we did the diner before we went up. We headed back uptown a bit to the Museum of modern Art, which that was my first time at MoMA.
What did you think was either the best? What was your favorite painting that we saw at MoMA?
[00:17:20] Speaker C: So I guess the thing they were doing at that time you were there, they actually had the starry night by Van Gogh. And that was absolutely amazing because it's not as big as you think it is, but you'd wait like, 30 minutes trying to get a picture. There are also some really other cool paintings, like Monet's water lilies.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: The water lilies were really cool, and those were definitely big. But you're right. I totally expected starry night to be at least as big as a large television.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: Yeah, but it's only like, the size of your computer screen.
[00:17:51] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: And then we got to see, there was some cool. There's some Andy Warhol in there, and we saw some. Let's see, we saw some Monet, some van Gogh, some mayonnaise, Cezanne.
[00:18:07] Speaker D: Gosh.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: There was there. That's right. We saw something of time. What was that painting called?
[00:18:17] Speaker C: I don't know. All I remember is that there was like a lion or something in it.
[00:18:21] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: And it had the drippy clocks.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: The Milton clocks.
[00:18:24] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: The persistence of time.
[00:18:26] Speaker C: I have no idea.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Perpetuity of time. I will look it up, and I will make sure to include that in the show notes. But the moma, I thought, was really great. I thought it was appropriate to you. There was things you were familiar with.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: Had a great gift shop.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: It had the best gift shop, including keeping with our Lego theme, Lego Starry night was available for purchase at the MoMa gift shop.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: About the same size as the painting.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: It was about the same size as the painting, but not quite as detailed and textured, but pretty cool. And I think it was definitely worth our time also from there. Gosh, what did we do after that? Why is my brain. Oh, we went to the New York Public Library. Oh, yeah, that's right.
The New York Public Library, which. So we got library cards, which was cool because that's what the lady in the stacks. So in Ghostbusters, when there's the ghost that's in the stacks, that's where we went and signed up for a library card because we were told that we could go up to the cool rose reading room.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: The rose main reading room.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: The rose main reading room. But they wouldn't let us in because they could tell that we were tourists even though we had library cards.
[00:19:34] Speaker C: The sign says you go there just for, like, research and quiet study.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah, which we could have done some quiet study, but. So you have a series of books that you like that. Do they begin in the reading room or what's the scoop? What's the connection with the New York Public Library?
[00:19:49] Speaker C: So the series of books that I really like is the Land of stories by Chris Koffer. And there's like six books and a lot of other sibling books with it. And so the main storyline, rosemary and reading, is basically just in the 6th book. And so there are, like, a bunch of witches that come through into this world that are trying to take over, like, lots of other people from the other world come into to try to stop them. And the main characters are trapped in it. And that's, like, the only scene after they get out.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Oh, but that's the purpose of the reading room. That's fascinating. I wasn't sure what the connection was. Well, that's cool. We also went to in the lower area since we couldn't go to the reading room. That's where there's all the cool exhibits of, like, we saw the original Winnie the Pooh that a. A. Milne's kids had. And there was copy of the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights.
Whole bunch of neat stuff in there.
I remember what we did after that because I didn't pull up our itinerary. I was trying to think. We went to the Morgan library. What did you not think it was super of? Was that an eye roll?
[00:21:02] Speaker C: So what I expect from libraries, there's lots of shelves of books and you can take the books and check them to take them home or you can just read them in the library. But all the libraries that we saw were just like some old books and other rooms for you to study or look at. Books that you can't get to.
[00:21:20] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: So you're very.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: So if you like to just look at historical books and be odd by how old they are, then that's sort of.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. I mean, New York public library is there for the people of New York who need to use the library. That's true. But we got to see some cool stuff. And then in the Morgan library, though, besides having, like, the Gutenberg Bible and all these really cool first editions of historic books, what did you find on the shelf that was so unusual to find in this vintage library?
[00:21:53] Speaker C: So in one of the shelves in one of the sections. There's like, all these books from, like, the 1500 and then wedged in between them, I noticed that there was a Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets hardback book.
[00:22:09] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: And was all covered with dust. And me and my friend had no idea how it got there. He suggested that someone open up the cage and put it there.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: That sort of thing.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: He'd say maybe it got there by magic, but no. So that's what's so cool about the Morgan library is it's all these really historic lots of first editions and bejeweled bibles from the 15 hundreds and stuff like that. And they're all in these locked up cages and somehow thousands of books. You picked out Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets. I don't even know how you did that because my eyes were just blending it all together. That was pretty darn neat.
[00:22:46] Speaker C: What I also liked about the JP Morgan library is that there's lots of big books.
Like, there are some books that are just, like, small and about the size of a regular book, but there are also these huge books that are just, like, huge.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Like, just volumes of. Well, I mean, the collection of the ancient Bibles, those were all enormous. I think there was some really big map books in there, too.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: Yeah. And they're, like, thick because they're, like, four inches thick.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah. It's pretty insane because when you think about. So the Gutenberg Bible was on display and you could see how thick that paper was. I don't know if you noticed that, but each sheet was like, I don't know, probably three times the size or the thickness of a book that we would read today. So that makes sense. And then so many of them are illuminated with art and then crusty jewels and all that.
Really cool. Good. Final museum for us. And then we finished off our night that night with Wicked. Wicked on Broadway was pretty awesome.
What did you think of Wicked?
[00:23:53] Speaker C: I thought it was really cool. It was the first time I saw it. But I'm pretty sure you went to it already when it was touring.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: I did see it when it was touring and it was really like the story and the music was the same, but the experience was totally different.
Much, much better on Broadway. You didn't really know the story of Wicked before we saw it.
[00:24:14] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Or did you? Did I tell you about it?
[00:24:16] Speaker C: No, you didn't. You kept it a secret like you did the other play.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it's a good secret, but it looked like you really enjoyed it. Did you like the music? Did you like the effects? The story. What was the best part of seeing Wicked?
[00:24:30] Speaker C: I thought some of the actors were pretty good, especially the one that played Glinda.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Oh, she was hilarious. She was hilarious. Yeah, that was great. And then, of course, the flying monkeys were pretty darn cool. The music was awesome and kind of loud, but totally fun and worthwhile. And then, yeah, we had a late night, and it was pretty great. On our final morning in New York, we met up with some friends that live there, and we decided to walk the high line, which I think the Highland is really cool. I always walk it. It's that elevated railway that used to transport meat and stuff around Manhattan.
What do you think was the coolest part of the high line?
[00:25:15] Speaker C: I think what was really cool is you'd get to see all the buildings from a different point of view. So there's this one building that was like our average brick cubicle building that just looks like a giant Lego piece, but then right next to it, there'd be this building that looks like it's made out of bubbles.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Oh, that's my favorite building.
[00:25:35] Speaker C: It looks like a bunch of barrels stacked on top of each other.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we even saw a guy hanging out in there, like, watching.
[00:25:41] Speaker C: Tv, playing Nintendo on a big screen.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, like coolest apartments right off the Highline. So we walked the Highland with our friends, and there's lots of art, and it's gardens and plants and stuff like that. And at the end, you said it a second ago, what's it called?
[00:25:56] Speaker C: Small island.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Small island, yeah. Down south of Chelsea piers there is the small island, which is this island out in the Hudson. And it's kind of got some playgroundy space. It's got some art installations, really cool public restrooms, also handy to.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: Very important.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: But no, that was a great little last activity on our last morning in New York before we took the train back to New Jersey, because even though we flew into LaGuardia, we flew out of Newark. Which did you think was the better airport transportation experience, doing the bus and the train into the city or just doing the train to Newp Jersey?
[00:26:35] Speaker C: I think the train ride to Newark was really interesting because it's shorter than you think it is. The sunset was going to be like an hour, but it only took, like, half of that to get there. And you see all the scenes, and it sort of looks like a scene out of Kansas from the wizard ofoz.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of flat and not the. It's not. Not the best view of New Jersey, I guess. But, yeah, it was a good way to end it with a little public transportation.
[00:27:06] Speaker C: Yeah. The only New York vehicle we weren't able to ride were the taxis.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Next time we will ride a taxi, even if it's only for a few blocks. Taxis, the yellow ones, they don't stop.
For our first big Manhattan trip, we got to see two shows and hit some cool museums. Totally worthwhile. What was your favorite thing we did across the entire. We were there for five days, four nights.
[00:27:33] Speaker C: I really like seeing the play Harry Potter on the cursed child. I also think some of the theme stores, like the Nintendo store and Lego store were really cool.
[00:27:43] Speaker D: Cool. Yeah.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: If you were going to go back, was there anything that you knew was there or that we walked by that we didn't get to do that you want to see for next time?
[00:27:52] Speaker C: No, not really. I think we hit it all what we wanted to do.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Yeah, we did pretty good. And before on know we'd done Statue of Liberty and Ellis island and stuff like that, and we've done Wall street, so we've gotten that in. But maybe next time we'll try to mix a little more history in with the fun culture stuff. Well, thank you for joining me today. I really enjoyed getting to talk about this and thank you for going to New York with me. It was lovely, and we will have to do it again maybe next year for my work trip. And in the meantime, thank you out there for tuning in and listening. Be sure to hit that subscribe button so you can hear more of our fun stories, especially as we take more adventures together and with the rest of the fam. Have a great day and we will see you on the flippity flop.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Yeah, bye.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: Two Travel Dads podcast is written and produced by Rob and Chris Taylor in St. Augustine, Florida. Check out past episodes in detailed show
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