THE invite to celebrate a friend's birthday arrived in a simple text which read: Wanna go to New York for Flirtinis on my 40th? Lynda.
An hour later six women who still consider themselves girls, agreed to travel 5,122 miles for a cocktail that would vanish in mere sips.
I'd never been to New York before and didn't honestly cherish the thought of it. I'm not a great shopper, nasal twang sets my nerves on edge and the thought of dodging notoriously aggressive New Yorkers made me twitch.
But it would have been remiss of me to leave Lynda to face it alone among the city's 8.2 million residents. Surely they'd be too busy stuffing designer dogs into pedigree handbags to notice her parading about in a birthday suit.
So in a moment of foolhardy generosity, I told her to leave the arrangements to me. Within minutes I realised my mistake. I'd no idea where to start.
Watching Sex in the City was the Dimmable LED Bulb GB-G60-6W closest I'd been to Manhattan and even the ladies there got trodden on, mugged or left in tears - and they knew their way around.
So who came to our rescue?
Well, Alpharooms led the charge, followed by Continental Airlines and most of the population of New York including lots of kind men in yellow cars who gave us a lifts every time we waved at them.
The four-night trip was fantastic and my assumptions about New York and its citizens were proved wrong every day.
Alpharooms.com, which I stumbled upon by chance on the internet, offers a choice of 23,000 rooms, suites and apartments and are brilliant for a destination novice.
They took details of the travellers, our likes, dislikes, interests and budgets and came back a hour later with three central hotels.
The first was a budget choice: the two-star Latham Hotel at pounds 53 per room per night.
The second, the four-star Affinia Manhattan was pounds 175 per room per night and the third, the five star Jumeirah Essex House at pounds 252 per room per night.
We chose the middle, the Affinia Manhattan on 371 Seventh Avenue which promotes itself as "the suite hotel at the center of it all" and Alphrooms booked everything for us.
The bill was costed by room not occupant, and each suite not only included a spacious bathroom with shower and bath and lovely Aveda products, but a brilliant little kitchen with fridge and microwave.
Beside that it had a plush, beautifully decorated sitting room with essential air conditioning.
The capacity of two queen-size beds could be increased with portable single beds depending on how many people wanted to use the room.
It was ideal for us especially when one friend decided to travel at the last moment.
The hotel is close to Madison Square Garden on 31st and 7th and a relaxed meander into Greenwich Village.
Staff at the Affinia were happy and helpful and treated us with great care and professionalism, cheerfully directing us to - and often back from - a great little bar next door called Niles where many of the staff are Irish ex-pats including owner Connie O'Reilly.
Alphrooms deal with hundreds of destinations across the globe and without doubt their choices are spot on because their staff have personally investigated each option they offer.
Other articles:
http://www.80min.com/Trouble-strife-and-incest-in-soapland.html
