Jackie Danicki

Our Christmas trip to Ohio was only supposed to last three days. For complicated reasons relating to my best friend’s wedding at the end of January, I’ve changed my ticket to stay there for two weeks. Which meant that I had a perfect excuse to surprise Antoine with a New Year’s meet-up somewhere cool (last year, we went to Rome, and it’s hard to do nothing special after that).

So I’ve booked everything, and we’re going to hook up in New York City for New Year’s Eve. I know it sounds cheesy, but having grown up watching the ball drop in Times Square (on TV, of course), I’ve always liked the idea of being there in person. (This, despite the fact that, if we’re in London, I don’t want to go out on New Year’s Eve.) We’ll only be there two nights, and it will mean Antoine having to make six trans-Atlantic flights within one month, and it’s not cheap, but I’m assured by friends who have done it that it’s an experience to remember.

Even though I know we’ll go back together again, I want to make the most of our two days in New York City. The last time I was there was January 2001, and I know a lot has changed, and that I have some very NYC-savvy readers, so suggestions would be quite welcome. Bear in mind that our hotel is “in the heart of Soho, Little Italy, and Chinatown” (Lafayette Street), we’ll probably be tired, that we’ll be getting our (well, my) maximum dose of crowd exposure on New Year’s Eve itself, and that I love shopping for bargains while Antoine is into history and crap like that.

Filed under: Life