10 Things to do In New York City That are Amazing, Mostly Free & Fun !

There is no place like New York City! I love my city but NYC has a heartbeat of it's own. You can be walking down the street and run into someone "famous" just out for a stroll. Everyone loves NYC for different things.  Here are 10 things to do in NYC. Some of them FREE!

10. See a movie. I know weird, go to New York City and go to the movies. But If you have never been to the Movie Theater in NYC- you have to go! It is Huge, and there are so many shows to choose from! Don't forget anything behind when you leave, it will take you a minute to get back to your seat/theater! If you don't want to go to the movies, attend a church service in one of the theaters. Not entertainment but seasoning for your soul.

9. Central Park - Beautiful, filled with so many areas. Take a carriage ride to visit the sculptures or the river. There are more than 20,000 trees, an oasis in the middle of the city! The park is so giant that is has a Castle a Museum, and a Zoo within its property lines.

8. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Iconic and you see it in so many movies, you can stroll across and take a great selfie.

7. Go see and explore the High line. Elevated train tracks transformed into a new community area to meet and mingle, walk, sit and enjoy New York.

6. The Cloisters Museum specializing in European medieval architecture, sculpture and art.

address:   99 Margaret Corbin Dr, New York, NY 10040

5. Astoria Park

4. Alexander Hamilton's Harlem Home.

3. Staten Island Ferry    web link here: http://www.siferry.com/index.html

2. 9/11 Memorial you can go to pay your respects and see the 9/11 Memorial . It is on 8 of the 16 acres of the original site of The World Trade Center.

1. See a taping of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. tickets are released 1 month before the show, so you may be able to get stand by tickets for the night of the taping.

https://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/tickets/main

These are not the typical things people think of when they are going to visit The Big Apple, but these are worth the visit and most have no admission!

For Tour tickets :

https://www.getyourguide.com/?partner_id=5SPGPEZ

10 Things to do in Cape Coral on Vacation

There are so many great things to do in Cape Coral on Vacation but here are 10 top visited attractions to do while vacationing in the area. Not in that order!

10. Catch your own dinner off the pier or rent a boat and fish for your meal!

9.   Explore the beautiful canals while you have that boat, said to have more canals that any other place in the USA!

8. Watch or be a part of the Card Board Box Boat Regatta this years annual event will take place : April 21 2018 Four Freedoms Park.

     

7. Eat at one of the approx 242 amazing places to eat, drink and be merry!

6. Cape Coral Military Museum: 4280 Leonard Street Cape Coral. A non descript  building from the outside, inside you will find history and a wide collection of artifacts from 18th through the 21st century. Definitely worth a stop. The Museum is free admission.

A number of the display stations have individual monitors and two streaming videos are included. The history of Cape Coral's Iwo Jima statue at Echo Park is presented in a 23-minute streaming video in the Michael Geml Theater. The second streaming video honors Capt. Daniel Eggers, a native of Cape Coral and a Citadel graduate who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. As per Cape Coral Museum website.

 http://swflmm.org/   link of the museum and what is inside this wonderful historic place! 

5. Beautiful Sunsets!

4. Sunsplash          http://sunsplashwaterpark.com/park-info/

3. Butterfly house - another free place to visit and enjoy the day with your family! Located at : 5505 Rose Garden Road Cape Coral, FL 33914

2. Sirenia Vista   3916 Ceitus Pkwy, Cape Coral, FL 3399  Small beautiful waterfront with park to go birding, view manatees , kayak, there are fishing areas. 

http://www.capecoral.net/department/parks_and_recreationhome/eco_tourism_recreation/Sirenia_Vista_Park_brochure_for_website_viewing.pdf

Live manatee cam:  http://capecoralmanateecams.dyndns.org:40002/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=2041

1. Cape Coral Yacht Club  Community Park & Public Beach

Great place to go relax or take a walk on the pier. Great food and friendly people. Entertainment to listen to while you enjoy the latest craft beer. Free beach wheelchairs are available at the public pool 

There is so much more to do! This is just a taste of the area!

For a free travel guide click this link: https://www.fortmyers-sanibel.com/order-travelers-guide

If you would like a tour click on the link below and see what there is to offer.

This is a partnership link.

https://www.getyourguide.com/?partner_id=JOFKNTI

The Cape No Not That One.........Cape Coral Florida

Photo by Pedro Lastra

When we found The Cape we were not sure what to expect. It is a quick 30 minute drive from the airport. Some parts of it still need to be updated and are in need of repair and a fresh coat of paint along with some sprucing up. The people are a mixture of  mature and just entering the world. We were looking for a place to getaway from the cold in winter.  Wow did we hit the jackpot!

Cape Coral has a little bit of everything! It is filled with friendly wide eyed explorers! They are searching for adventure and life filled with love and neighborliness of days gone by.

We have owned our new home for coming up to a year and we have yet to run into a person who we did not like! ANYWHERE! I am hesitant to let the secret of this amazing place out of the bag, I don't want it to become crowded and over visited. It has so many great places and interesting things going on!

It has it's own magazine: Cape Coral Living you can get a copy: capecorallivingmagazine.com

http://www.capecoralchamber.com/history1.html  History of Cape Coral

Every year At Seahawk Park Radio Remote Control model Airplane take flight as Enthusiasts from all over the United States come together for " The Gathering Of Giants"   to show off their skills and their incredible hand made planes. This year this amazing event will take place March 17-18 9 AM- 4PM  1030 NW 28th St Cape Coral 

Cape Coral values and salutes their veterans! There is a museum, and numerous monuments and I have seen a park with beautiful gardens! As you drive over the bride the first thing you will see is the rising monument with the symbols of the services on it. I have seen the streets adorned with service members honored and the names and faces of soldiers on the lamplights. Cape Coral is Patriotic! 

The Parks are amazing and free, there is a butterfly park as well for the family to visit and enjoy. I have not been able to visit yet, I have been to the parking lot and seen the sign twice. It is located at : 5505 Rose Garden Road Cape Coral, FL 33914 Donations excepted and appreciated! 

There are approx. 242 restaurants to visit and enjoy. Every different pala

Palate

and price level. Whether you want to enjoy a cold beer on the patio or a coffee and a bagel. You can likely find it here.

There are many clubs to join on Facebook as well. If you love to shell, metal detect, taste different food,  etc. join one of the closed groups and get together with one of them. There is a club that paints beautiful rocks and hides them all over the Cape.

I am going to close this for now and make it an ongoing blog post with pictures and thing I find as I explore. It is an amazing find. So glad to have found this little piece of heaven!

Love to hear if you have been there!   


If you would like to book tour tickets to anywhere you can book on the link below. I do get a commission!

https://www.getyourguide.com/?partner_id=5SPGPEZ

To Take a Vacation with SMALL CHILDREN Or Not That is the Question?

There are all kinds of reasons to decide not to travel with children : it will be a hassle, we don't really have the money, it will interfere with their schedule, WE won't really have fun, and on and on.

I want to encourage you if you have not started to travel with your very small children every year to start NOW ! I can hear what you are thinking, some of you. We don't have the time, money, etc. Fill in the blank.

Contrary to popular belief, you do have the money. And you can make the time. You just have to make traveling a priority. Part of the things that you purpose to do every year without fail .

Starting to travel with your very small children is an adventure, it is scary at first if you have not started. I am of a certain age now where I can look back on it and remember with such joy the trips and the times that we have taken. The place that my youngest learned to walk- Aruba, They were not used to young couples bringing along their children then! Amazing to us, we wouldn't leave them home! They had no real activities at any hotel that we ever went to !

Today ALL of the hotels are family friendly and waiting for you to bring your children, most of them don't even charge an extra fee for food for them if they are under 12 years old! So between the airlines allowing you to travel with them on your lap and the hotels feeding them for free, Why are you not taking advantage of this opportunity?

Travel when they get a little bit older is also less costly, airlines charge less when you are traveling with children under 17, most of the time. Ok half of the time.

But besides all of that the memories that you will make are priceless, at the risk of sounding like a hallmark card. You cannot replace the things that you will gain from these times! The expensive clothes that you don't buy because you took a vacation or that extra toy you maybe didn't buy, you will not even remember in 5 years. But you will remember getting stuck inside the hotel in a rain storm and watching videos in the lobby with all the other families that were there at the same time! Or meeting new friends that you kept in touch with through writing a few lines now & again and checking in to see if they were going back to that awesome beach with their kids the same ages.

You will never be sorry you took those vacations instead of buying something else. It lets your children learn about the world around them , it opens up adventure and dreams .

If you can not travel by plane because it just is not in the budget this year , you can plan a camping trip. Ask around and see who has camping equipment that they are able to loan you. My children never slept as well as when they went camping and played outside all day. Sleeping on the ground in a tent might not be your big adventure but they will have the time of their lives. It will be great if they have not taken a vacation before!

I want to challenge you if you have not made vacation a part of your lives, make it a priority. We have always had a bank account for travel. We have put away money that was just for that. Before becoming a travel agent I  would find creative ways to make travel possible. We found hotel points, air miles, and we also booked far in advance to take advantage of the deep discounts from booking early. When couponing I would save the money earned from couponing for travel.

My children have grown and have a sense of adventure, they have been fortunate to have traveled across the world and they still love to travel today. So don't be afraid that they won't want to travel when they grow up! My children learned how to navigate the airports, train stations and be away from home at early ages because of the travel that they grew up with. IT is a win win all the way around.

If you already travel with small children I would love to hear about your favorite trip. Are there things you do to make travel a priority?

If you don't vacation yet with your children and have not yet I would love to hear why not, and if you plan to in the near future.

Barbados Destination for a Wedding!

Its been a busy time, just got back from Barbados. What a great place to visit! Went to Sandals, all inclusive resort. It was really kind of nice. Had a room with an ocean view and a soaking tub on the balcony. It was so nice to go out and sit on the balcony and hear and see the rush of the waves, I love a beautiful view. It was a nice time to just sit and marvel at the view, I just came back from California from taking care of business from my dad. More sad stuff, but some beauty too. Got to see my brother. I also got to see the beach in Santa Monica.
I love the Ocean, it is so beautiful. It is so big. and when you feel like your day is filled with big troubles look out at the Ocean and see how big it is, your problems don't seem that big anymore.

Back to Barbados, It was hot and the perfect detraction for a few days, training and seeing what the beautiful property looked like, tasting all the food, trying all the services. Went for an awesome Catamaran Ride! Tried sushi for the first time, California roll, I guess it was not raw fish, but it was great! Butch's steak house, great! Room service, fast, hot and so good!

Pool bar, had a few drinks even though I don't usually drink, they were kind of strong, and they were to all of the patrons liking. The pool that went along the the swim up rooms were amazing! Said to be the longest pool in the Caribbean. The pool at the cabana's was really nice, pool at the pool bar was what you would expect. There was a net to play volleyball, which was busy with players most days.

The grounds were so amazing, flowers everywhere! The areas for the weddings were exquisite, so many nice touches, from heart shapes right into the lawn to arches in plantings. Breathtaking! And what your eyes did not enjoy, your nose took in, it was just so beautiful, the pictures were sure to be amazing. This does not even mention the backdrop of the Beach and the Ocean!

For a Wedding this is quite a great Destination!  

air travel was a surprise!

I love to travel! I however hate to travel coach ( I know, I know). This travel experience was not to bad! We were going on a mini family vaca and due to the number traveling we traveled coach.

Not just coach but on the airline that you don't pick your seat until you are boarding, you have to get a letter and number then board when they call you !

It was not terrible! In fact it was quite comfortable! I was ready for a miserable flight with my knees in the seat in front of me. Nope, ample seat  spacing, free snacks, and a little bit of entertainment from the jovial crew were the order of the day!

We went to visit the mouse in Florida, stayed in the "new" time share on premises. Hated the decor, hated the furniture,  it was made for dolls,even hated the service!

 We normally have a great time both checking in and out of the resort, not so much this time! We took advantage of the online checkin service, Not a fan if this is the way you get to your room!

   Loved the view, loved The Hoop De Doo Revue, loved the layout of the condo.

The parks, they were crowded! I am not talking a wait time for rides, I am talking a sea of people just trying to walk to rides! Never go during vacation week! That is a note to myself!

The dinner show mentioned above  Hoop Dee Doo Revue, it was great! Fun and funny, the meal is more than enough to fill you, (it keeps coming out till you are full) Bottomless soft drinks, beer and wine. They participate with the audience during the show. I don't want to give to much away if you have not seen it!

If you go get there a little bit early, you can walk around the grounds after you get your ticket. If you get there 15 minutes before the show you will be waiting in a long line. Everyone else has gotten there 15 minutes before the show.

It is a little bit pricy when you look at it initially, but it's a live show with a great meal, (if you like fried chicken ,ribs and all the fixins) Plus all your drinks and dessert! So I think it was worth the price. It is also part of the Dining Plan, 2 meals but again worth it.

We skip the "magical" free ride to our vacation and get the free ride at the end. We take a taxi, it helps the taxi drivers and it gets us there faster to start our vacation! You are also not waiting in more lines and jockeying for a seat on the bus.

Our flight home was just as pleasant, same seat spacing, same free snacks, another crew who seemed to love their jobs!

I may travel with this airline again! How have your airline seats been? What do you fly and how are the seats in coach?

Share your experiences .

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