Speak-easy’s of New York

Having a slight obsession with cocktails and being in the original city of the Prohibition bar we decided to spend two evenings trying some of the best speak-easy’s out…

Beauty & Essex

Located in the south of East Village on 146, Essex Street (even in NYC you can’t keep the Essex girl out of Essex!) this restaurant/lounge hidden at the back of a Pawn Shop was one of our favourite eats. A tapas like menu this was a great sharing dinner accompanied by some delicious unique cocktails.

Cocktails of Choice:

• The Bajan D’usse cognac, the Real McCoy 12yr rum, amaro, lemon nectar, lime, angustora, prosecco
• The Woodsman Woodford Reserve bourbon, allspice dram, maple syrup, lemon, muddled pears

It’s all about the food!

When in New York….you’ve got to try out all the different foods on offer! With so much to choose from we tried to make sure we savoured all the ‘top’ American eats across our trip.

Shake Shack

Our first night we decided we had to have a Shake Shack Burger from the original shack in Madison Square Park. A great tasting burger with a view of the Empire State, who could ask for more!

The greatest views in New York

1. View from the top of the One World Trade Centre

NYC in Style!

New York is definitely one for the girls! Having been one of those avid watchers of Sex and the City I think every girl who visits Manhattan secretly imagines themselves as Carrie Bradshaw strutting the streets – and secretly a little part of my inside did!

Front of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in SATC

A city of villages (New York)

My favourite part of New York City was the fact there are just so many areas to explore. Having arrived at our amazingly homely Air B&B apartment in East Village (highly recommend!) we found ourselves feeling very comfortable in our surroundings.

So here are the highlights of our favourite areas of NYC:

East Village:
East Village used to be part of the Lower East Side of NY but since the 1960s in began to develop its own identity and is now very much a gentrified area and a great alternative to the more expensive West / Greenwich Village as a place to stay. ‘Typical’ New York apartment blocks with fire escapes line the streets and it is also home to some of the most highly recommended coffee and bagel shops  as well as the most popular speak-easy’s in Manhattan; Beauty & Essex, Death & Co. and Please Don’t Tell. It was a great place to base ourselves for our trip.

East...

A BIG Birthday in the BIG Apple

If I was going to HAVE to turn 30 this year, I decided that there was only one way to do so – in style!

So, I set upon writing a list of 30 (fabulous) things to do in my 30th year and top of this list was the one great city of the world I’d always wanted to explore but had always had in my head that it needed the money – or more importantly the excuse to spend the money – on doing it properly.  

I couldn’t think of a better reason to visit The Big Apple than to celebrate My Big Birthday.

So much so that during the trip we made sure everyone knew about it!

Beauty & Essex, East Village 

The Spice Island

Our first encounter with the Caribbean took us to the Spice Island; Grenada, which could also been known as the island of rum...but more on that later!

Thanks to the generosity of Chris' Mum (Carol) we were about to experience our first ever all-inclusive holiday with Chris Sister (Sarah) and partner John. Well if you're going to do an all-inclusive anywhere, the Caribbean is most definitely the place to do it!

Home from home

Grenada is one of the southern Caribbean isles and because of this it wasn't swarming in package holiday goers, mainly retirees staying for one – two months many of whom came back year on year because of just this reason (they’d practically moved in!). It's also known for being one of the safer and most friendly so when it came to choosing which island to make our destination we were easily swayed by the sound of this little paradise.

On arrival we were hit by the hot air, with temperatures averaging 30 degrees, we were very grateful as our rep met us with bottles of ice cold water as we transferred to our resort of choice The Cobaya Beach Resort.

Coyaba Gardens