Have You Ever Not Complained? is a post that still gets hits. And the answer is no. When a hotel/airline offers a service and doesn’t follow through, I follow up until the situation is rectified (see Complaints: How Long Till You Let It Go?). When I stayed at the Park South Hotel in NYC for NYE (see Happy New Year! TPOL’s NYC NYE Party Guide), I was given a $10 credit to use Butler Hospitality. As it was NYE, I thought a good use was to order 2 cups of coffee. After an hour, I gave up waiting and left decaffeinated. I told the hotel the issue. When I returned from New York, I received a call from Butler Hospitality. The agent apologized for the oversight, and the apology was genuine. The call itself was more than sufficient, yet Butler Hospitality went a step further and sent me a $50 Amazon gift card. I was blown away. Finally, some real customer service.
I pack more for short trips than I do for round-the-world excursions (see What to Pack: “Take 1/2 the Clothes, Twice the Money”). As part of my NYE trip to NYC, I did the same. While it was convenient to only have one bag, I learned a valuable lesson to expand upon the principle of packing half the clothes and twice the cash. Namely, bring a spillover bag for two reasons: 1) Purchasing souvenirs of any kind takes up space. 2) the perfectly packed suitcase becomes a pain to pack when jumping from one hotel to another, one country to another.
Delta Sky Club JFK seems to have something interesting going on each time I go. Last time it was hot dogs (see Delta Sky Club Chicago: Hot Dog! A Great Bloody Mary). This time it was January 1st which can only mean one thing – champagne.
Mask mandates be damned (see Your Papers, Please: NY, The Lame Apple). It’s time to celebrate 2022. What better way for a travel blogger to do so than drinking champagne in a lounge? For the nice price of 6k Skypesos, I rang in the New Year once again with a bottle of Veuve (see Happy New Year! TPOL’s NYC NYE Party Guide). While I enjoyed the old-school feeling of bubbles before a flight (see Get Ready to Takeoff: The World’s Best Champagne), back-to-back days of over-consumption followed by a baby crying all the way home on a coach flight to Puerto Rico were not good for my head.
Next time, RoseNo mask if you’re drinking! Covid respects the Veuve.
I avoided celebrating New Years in NYC because it is 1) cold and it is 2) for amateurs. Because of the limited travel options due to the pandemic and because I did not want to be stuck in the police state of Puerto Rico for the third year (see Covid Test to Enter Puerto Rico: Another Asinine Policy), I decided that this would be an acceptable addition to my list of Where to Party NYE.
What Not to Do
Watch the ball drop in Times Square. I have written this many times. Times Square is one of the worst places in the world on any given day. Imagine tens of thousands of people on New Years.
What Not to Do/What to Do
Preparing for a long night of libations, it was wise to have a big late lunch. I do not think spicy lamb vindaloo, my favorite Indian dish, was a stomach-settling choice.
TPOL’s Tip: Chote Nawab is located at 115 Lexington Av along with many other Indian restaurants. They are minutes away from the Park South Hotel.
What Not to Do
Watch the College Football Playoffs. Michigan beat Ohio State and I was happy. I did not expect them to thrash Georgia nor did I expect the opposite.
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TPOL’s TIP: A great sports bar not to watch Michigan get destroyed is Turnmill which is located at 119 E 27th St, also close to the Park South Hotel.
What to Do
Book dinner at Gaonnuri. It had been two years since I had Korean BBQ. To remind my taste buds what life was like and to challenge covid which sought to deprive me of my ability to taste, I made reservations at Gaonnuri for NYE. The restaurant featured a 7-course set menu and a high-rise view to watch the fireworks a safe distance from Times Square.
TPOL’s TIP: Gaonnuri is located at 1250 Broadway 39th Floor.
Venue
The venue was excellent. It reminded me of Mint Shanghai. While there were no sharks, there was great lighting, music, and an upbeat ambiance.
Nice pre-drink before the meal.My reserved table
Food
The food was very good. It wasn’t Jongro excellent (see Best Korean BBQ NYC?), but it was hard to compare given that it was a NYE set menu. For some reason, there was no kimchee.
Seating
I made a reservation for 10PM. By the time I was done with the second course, a table opened up next to the window, perfectly situated for the countdown.
Back to the Food
Veuve
What’s NYE without champagne? I had to buy a bottle of Veuve to remind me of what celebrations feel like.
Happy New Year!
Away from the crowds and the cold, I rang in the New Year.
The Weekend came on when the fireworks were done with a nice tune to start off the new year.
Back to the Food
Kimchee available upon request
Cost
This wasn’t the cheapest affair. The dinner alone was $425. The alcohol was $250.
What to Do
Go towards Times Square. I avoided NYC for NYE my whole life. Since this was the one and only time I would come, I made my way to Times Square to see the revelers. It was still a party when I arrived, though I could not go all the way to 42nd Street.
Officially a tourist
Finish It Off
With omicron on my tail, I went to another pub to test my vaccine. One jaeger bomb and one Guinness made this NYE celebration in NYC complete.
TPOL’s TIP: Peter Dillon’s Pub is located at 130 E 40th St.
Overall
NYC was on the bottom of my list for places to go for NYE. Thanks to Covid restrictions, it was my only choice. And it was the right one.
Getting There: Typically, I would recommend taking the Airtrain from JFK which is $10.75 per person (see JFK AirTrain: Why Mess with Uber to Manhattan?). But for convenience and a somewhat decent price of $58, I took Uber. I rationalized spending $40 more for two people and saving 40 minutes in transit.
Overview
I wanted to stay in a hotel close to Gaonurri, the Korean restaurant where I would be spending NYE (see Happy New Year! TPOL’s NYC NYE Party Guide). I found the Park South Hotel, a boutique hotel, bookable for either $600 or 20k points.
Location
The hotel is located on 28th and Lexington. It’s close enough to Times Square for the obligatory NYE pilgrimage and far enough from Times Square to avoid one of the worst places in the world any other night.
Hotel Itself
This is a boutique hotel making it more personal than my typical stay in Four Points or Hyatt Place experiences.
Lounge
If you’re looking to relax away from the main lobby, there is a nice lounge with a fireplace.
Room
I was upgraded to a city view room. Judging by the view, I can only imagine what a room without an upgrade would be like.
Bathroom
The bathroom was terrible. First, it had the European-style shower door, which may look chic but only leads to floods. Second, the water pressure was weak, something common in NYC hotels. Third, the sliding door was clunky.
It’s NYC, not the hotel. I have this same controller brand in my bathroom.
Butler
The hotel offers butler service through an app. Guests are given a $10 credit. I ordered two coffees for $8. I would have liked to compare the butler service to the St. Regis NYC, but the butler never arrived with the coffee.
Welcome Drink
I was given a voucher for a welcome beer or house wine at the hotel bar. There was a large selection of craft beers.
Overall
I wouldn’t pay $600 to stay here and believe that 20k points would have been steep if it was not NYE.
I referred Ms. TPOL for a Chase Sapphire. I waited months and never received the 20k referral bonus. I sent a message through the Secure Message Center and instead of receiving the usual, “Please call our 800 number,” I received this reply:
Thank you for contacting us. Alexander, I understand the significance of your inquiry. I added 20,000 referral bonus points to your account. You can see the rewards adjustment for this purchase now at chase.com and on your next billing statement. We appreciate your business and thank you for being a Chase customer.
For the last two years, I have chronicled how I went from world explorer to in-basement loser (see The Lost & Found Year(s): COVID Trip Report & Punxsutawney TPOL). In 2021 I was supposed to go to Vegas but backed out (see No Vegas for TPOL). That entry yielded snark on Twitter since no one cares about trips that I don’t take. And since I don’t care about what Twitter folks think, I am following up to say that I am no longer going to Tulum this weekend thanks to my injury (see TPOL Is Down).
In 1991 I said, “There’s always next year.” In 2022, I am saying the same. After the Bills lost in one of the best games I have seen, I was dejected but relieved. Dejected because the OT rules are silly. Each team should be afforded the opportunity to go on offense, especially when neither defense could make stops. Relief came from knowing that I didn’t need to refinance my villa to pay for tickets to the Super Bowl and because I’m too injured to travel to Los Angeles (see TPOL Is Down). Out of curiosity, I checked the prices and was shocked at what I found.
Who can afford to pay $37,000 for two tickets? Even the ‘cheap’ ones are going for 10k each. Assume the Bills make it to the Super Bowl one day and assume that they actually win. I don’t think I’ll be rejoicing in the stands knowing that I paid that much to watch a football game. Corporate sponsors aside, there’s no way the average NFL fan is paying this much. There must be a way to hack my way into a Super Bowl. What am I missing?
I apologize for breaking my word and not posting an out-of-the-office message (see TPOL Opens M-F at 10:07AM EST), though I have been using those too frequently lately. This time I wasn’t traveling. Instead, I was hopping all over Puerto Rico from hospital to hospital seeking medical treatment. While cruising to the tennis finals at the Rio Mar Classic, I heard a loud pop. I thought someone had hit a tennis ball in my direction. I looked back, saw nothing, and fell to the ground. I tried to stand up but it seemed like something was missing from my right leg. The MRI confirmed that it was my Achilles. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. Please use the Go Make Fun of Me Page to blast me for putting myself into another lockdown. I’ll be back like my colleagues, including LA Rams Cam Akers, in no time. In the interim, pardon the interruption.
Last year I was worried that the Bills would go to the Super Bowl forcing me to leave the basement (see Bills Mafia: TPOL’s NFL Playoff Predictions & About Those Buffalo Bills…). That did not happen. This year, I see no reason why the Bills won’t advance to the championship game and no reason, apart from not wanting to spend a small fortune, why I won’t be in Los Angeles.
Now that Wildcard weekend is over, let me predict how my Bills will get to the promised land.
(4) Cincinnati Bengals at (1) Tennessee Titans: Burrow may be great one day, but Henry rolls through the Bengals.
(6) San Francisco 49ers at (1) Green Bay Packers: Fully immunized jerk store destroys Jimmy G in his last game as a 49er.
(4) Los Angeles Ramsat (2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: End of the line for Michigan’s TB 12. Stafford, despite throwing picks, manages to win thanks to OBJ and a great defense.
(3) Buffalo Bills at (2) Kansas City Chiefs: Karma catches up with Mahomes for making everyone miserable with his Patrick price commercial. Bills win!
