New York is heaven for anyone who loves shopping – and Christmas shopping in New York is even better again!
As the festive season approaches, many will be thinking of making a New York Christmas shopping trip. It may be for the first time, or they may be a New York veteran. But either way, if you’re one of them, you’ll want to make the most of your time in the Big Apple. You’ll also want to keep as much money possible for shopping, rather than having to spend it on other things.
Here then are our New York Christmas shopping tips on how to save time and money:
1 – Fly direct
This is mainly to save you time – but it could even save you money too. Headline offers such as ‘New York from €99.99’ by budget carrier WOW might seem attractive, but they all involve a stopover in Reykjavik. If your Christmas shopping trip to New York is only going to be three or four days long, you don’t want to spend time sitting around an airport that’s only part-way there.
Remember too that the real cost of ‘low cost’ flights to the USA can quickly add up. We’ve told before how it can be cheaper to fly with Aer Lingus, when you compare with like with like. All told, flying Aer Lingus or another ‘traditional’ carrier could be your best bet. This is particularly true when you’ll need to check in luggage on your return trip, to bring your purchases home.
2 – Choose your accommodation wisely
It’s often said that there is no cheap accommodation available in New York. Strictly speaking, that’s not true. But the cheap places are not the sort of places you’d choose to stay in!
So, shop around. Weigh up the convenience of a downtown hotel versus the savings to be made by staying further afield. And for your search, we recommend using Hipmunk. It searches all the usual hotel listings, but it searches Airbnb too. A search right now for accommodation in New York City during December 2017 returns options from as little as €57 per person, per night.
3 – Consider a package New York Christmas Shopping trip
You could save on all the searches for flights and accommodation by choosing a package trip from a travel operator. Club Travel is currently offering a three-night trip, with flights to Newark and accommodation near Newark Airport, from €404pp. Cassidy Travel has options with flights and four nights in a range of three-star city hotels from €568pp. Many other operators have great deals too.
4 – Save on getting around
One of our best New York Christmas shopping tips is to consider how you’ll get around.
If staying downtown, remember that Manhattan is one of the most walking-friendly big city areas anywhere on the plant. Allow just one minute to walk a block, or three minutes to cross an avenue. You won’t even need a subway pass, never mind taxis.
If staying further afield, you may prefer to use the ubiquitous NYC cabs, instead of lugging lots of shopping around on the subway. You can save money here too, if you’re will to cab share with others. Just download and register the VIA app, set it to New York, and you can get around from just $5 plus tax.
5 – Bring dollars with you!
This may seem like a no-brainer, but bring dollars with you, instead of getting them there. While most of your shopping may be done by credit card, you’ll still need cash for incidentals and for tipping. Take a few minutes to get them here before you fly out, and you can save on that too.
That’s because taking out dollars from an ATM in New York can be a costly business. A typical surcharge is $5 per withdrawal. It’s even more if you take out cash on a credit card.
6 – Watch your phone data
Finally, remember to turn off ‘mobile data roaming’ on your phone. Roaming may now be free in Europe, but it’s certainly not free in the USA! If your phone is set for automatic app updates, or even to just regularly check for and download new e-mail, the charges involved can be a nasty surprise when you get home again.
You won’t need mobile data in New York anyway. There’s free customer wifi just about everywhere you go. Save your money for what you really want to spend it on!
We hope you find our New York Christmas shopping tips useful. And here’s another tip: remember that one of the most important purchases you can make is travel insurance before your trip.
Travel insurance is particularly important for the USA because of the high cost of healthcare there, should you become ill or suffer an accident. Remember too that your new purchases will also be covered in the event of lost luggage on your way home.
Choose single trip travel insurance if your trip is likely to be your only travelling of the year, or go for annual multi-trip travel insurance if you’re likely to do more travelling during the year too.
Whatever policy you choose with Insure My Holiday, you are assured of a high standard of cover at a low price.
Key benefits of our Gold Plan travel insurance
- Medical Expenses Cover of €5 Million
- Personal Luggage Cover of €2,000
- Personal Money and Documents Cover of €1,600
- Delayed Departure Cover of €200
- Cancellation or Curtailment Cover of €4,000
- Abandonment Cover of €4,000
- Missed Departure Cover of €500
- Personal Accident Cover of €55,000
- Personal Liability Cover of €2,000,000
- Third Party Supplier Insolvency Cover of €2,000
- Schedule Airline Failure Cover of €1,000
- Legal Expenses Cover of €10,000
- Hijack Cover of €1,000
- Catastrophe Cover of €750
- Credit or Cash Card Fraud Cover of €300
Key benefits of our Platinum Plan travel insurance
- Medical Expenses Cover of €10 Million
- Personal Luggage Cover of €3,000
- Personal Money and Documents Cover of €2,000
- Delayed Departure Cover of €400
- Cancellation or Curtailment Cover of €6,000
- Abandonment Cover of €6,000
- Missed Departure Cover of €600
- Personal Accident Cover of €95,000
- Personal Liability Cover of €2,000,000
- Third Party Supplier Insolvency Cover of €2,000
- Schedule Airline Failure Cover of €2,000
- Legal Expenses Cover of €20,000
- Hijack Cover of €2,000
- Catastrophe Cover of €1,000
- Credit or Cash Card Fraud Cover of €500
All are as generous or more generous as you will find with any other travel insurance provider, so it all adds up to even more great reasons to choose Insuremyholiday.ie for all your travel insurance needs.
Just get a quote now to see how much you can save!
