RT2 – Day 1 – New York at Christmas, a first evening at the top of the Empire State Building

Off we go again! We loved our first road trip in the West so much that we soon started missing the United States. The third road trip (May-June 2026) was already planned, but it all started with a conversation: wouldn’t it be nice to do something special for New Year’s Eve? You only live once, so we had a look at New York… and booked everything a month before leaving, more or less on a whim.

Christmas in New York was a childhood dream. We grew up with Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and you’ll find quite a few nods to the film in these travel diaries. Two weeks in New York, though, would have been too much for us: we’re more drawn to nature than to big cities. So we carried on south to Florida, for New Year’s Eve and for a bit of sunshine. Because let’s be honest: New York at Christmas is magical, but it’s freezing. Christmas in New York and New Year’s Eve in Miami, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Off to New York with Delta

For this second road trip we didn’t fly British Airways as we did the first time, but Delta, in Comfort+ on the way out. We left Brussels at around 11am, with a stopover in London, and landed at JFK at around 1.35pm local time. The flight to New York is much shorter than the one to Los Angeles, and it went by fairly quickly.

As for the food, we had a small salad to start, then ricotta and spinach lasagne for one of us and chicken with rice for the other, with a gin and tonic to toast the start of the holiday. The quality is on a par with British Airways. This is also the plane where we discovered shelled pistachios… which we then ate for the whole road trip.

On the approach to JFK, we started to make out the sheer spread of the city from the window: residential neighbourhoods as far as the eye could see, and the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

Customs: trying MPC and ending up in the regular queue

Remember, on our first day in Los Angeles (coming out on December 20, 2026), we had to join the regular queue at customs because it was our first entry with an ESTA. This time we had already been to the United States, so we thought we would save time with MPC (Mobile Passport Control), the official app from US Customs and Border Protection. We went through the whole process in the app, which really is simple, and we were given our lane: D.

Except that while we were waiting in the much shorter MPC queue, we were sent back to the regular one: we were travelling on a new ESTA, and MPC doesn’t work with an ESTA that has never been used. The result: a good hour’s wait before getting through.

AirTrain and subway to Manhattan

We hadn’t booked a car for these first few days: in New York you can do everything by public transport (subway, bus, ferry…). Getting from JFK to the centre of New York, which for us meant Manhattan, is very easy. You just take the AirTrain, the small driverless train that links the JFK terminals to the subway and train stations. Along the way you get a view of the planes parked on the tarmac, ready to take off.

Once you’re off the AirTrain, the New York subway takes you anywhere you like. We took the AirTrain to Jamaica Station, outside the airport (you pay on the way out, $8.50), then the E line to 42nd Street ($2.90). That comes to a little over $11 per person: much cheaper than a taxi, and faster.

A first look at Manhattan from the hotel

Tired as we were, we had stars in our eyes. What a lovely surprise when we walked into the room: a view of the skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building all lit up! New York at night has something magical and unique about it.

For these four nights we had booked the Element Times Square West, on 39th Street, in Hell’s Kitchen: $1,298 in total for a room with a king-size bed, a city view and breakfast included. We recommend it: it’s very well located, a few minutes’ walk from Times Square, and the view from the upper floors is superb. The only small downside is that you sometimes need a bit of patience for the lift.

A first Shake Shack

Tired or not, staying in the hotel was out of the question. Isn’t New York supposed to be the city that never sleeps?💡TipA nod to François l'Embrouille and his travel agency sketch, for the Belgians who know it

For dinner we went for a New York classic: Shake Shack. The chain was born in New York, from a simple hot dog cart in Madison Square Park in the early 2000s. We went to the one at 1333 Broadway, right next to Macy’s. We love Shake Shack, especially for their potato burger buns and their crinkle-cut fries. Naturally, we couldn’t help comparing it with our first In-N-Out in Los Angeles. The two are very different: In-N-Out sticks to the classics, done very well, while Shake Shack is more inventive. And for the fries and the sauce, Shake Shack has a slight edge.

The Christmas decorations at Macy’s

On the way down to the Empire State Building, we walked past Macy’s, on Herald Square. It’s the most famous department store in New York, the one that runs the Thanksgiving parade and that you see in Miracle on 34th Street 🎬. In December the whole front is decorated: strings of lights, Father Christmas above the clock, and the animated window displays, which draw quite a crowd. The most surprising one was probably the window with a built-in Christmas karaoke. We didn’t go into the store, we just strolled past the windows, especially as a classic was waiting for us.

The Empire State Building by night

We had booked our 7.15pm slot with the Go City Pass. We had bought the New York Explorer Pass with 3 attractions, for $209 for the two of us: the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock and the natural history museum. For the Statue of Liberty, it was cheaper to book separately. Before going up, you walk through an exhibition on the history of the building. You learn that it was built in barely more than a year and opened in May 1931, and that it remained the tallest building in the world for nearly 40 years. There’s also a room devoted to King Kong, a nod to the 1933 film.

Then it was up to the 86th-floor observatory, about 320 metres above the ground. It’s an open-air terrace that runs all the way around the building, protected by railings. It was cold and windy, but the view soon makes you forget all that.

On one side, the dead-straight avenues running north; on the other, Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center; and all around, the black water of the Hudson and the East River. As in Los Angeles from Griffith Observatory, it’s from up high that you realise how big the city is.

We stuck to the floors included in our ticket and didn’t go up to the 102nd. Far below, we could see a dazzling glow coming out of one neighbourhood: Times Square, seen from above.

The Art Deco lobby

On the way back down, we took the time to look at the lobby, with its marble and its large mural of the Empire State in pure Art Deco style. The Christmas tree just in front of it completed the picture nicely.

Times Square, for real this time

Having seen it glowing from the 86th floor, we walked to Times Square, a must for a first evening in New York. The giant screens, the noise, the crowds, the hot dog vendors on the street corners… New York has an atmosphere all of its own. You may have seen it a hundred times in films, but being there still does something to you.

Once you’re in the middle of it, there are a lot of people and an enormous amount of light, almost too much for us. It really is something to do, but all those screens and that crowd are quite tiring.

We then walked back to the hotel. With the time difference it was already very late in Belgium, and tiredness got the better of us.
The next day, we would be exploring Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. (coming out on October 18, 2026)