Ellis Island is really interesting. Liberty Island… I can’t keep track if they’re letting people climb to the top these days. It takes a few hours, kinda cool, but not a must do IMO. If I had to pick just one I’d do Ellis Island. But you can do both and make a day of it or as has been suggested, just hop on the Staten Island Ferry which gets you a nice view.
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90% of the people will disembark for the Statue of Liberty. 
I booked our trip through Costco, which includes transportation (private sedan) from the airport to the hotel. Is $20 an appropriate tip for the driver?
That’s about what I would tip, I think!
Have fun on your trip.
Seems right, we’ve taken two Costco vacations and that is a really nice perk. One less thing to deal with.
We returned from our trip Saturday night. We both had a really great time. Although we just scratched the surface, I think that was about the right length of time. I did think it was funny that I had more traveling stamina than my son. Each day we walked between 10-13.5 miles.
I’m glad I opted for the Costco package that included hotel/airport transfers, as after a no-sleep redeye going there, and pouring down rain when we left, I’d have not been happy dealing with luggage on public transit. We stayed on Lexington and 37th, which was just a few minutes walk to Grand Central. We were happy with the location, and the area felt reasonably safe. Downtown Seattle is way sketchier than any of the areas we wandered around in, although we smelled just as much weed.
We flew in/out of Newark, and I hope the rest of New Jersey isn’t as bad as what we saw from the car. I was surprised how cheap the gas was, though.
Day 1, we went to Pershing’s Cafe after dropping off our luggage. Good breakfast, although my son didn’t like their “fancy” hot chocolate. Then we were off to Grand Central to buy our MetroCards and wander around. We also checked out Rockefeller Center and Central Park. My son ended up taking a couple of quick catnaps when we took a break from walking through the park. We only got as far as the reservoir, so I would like to see the northern end if I ever go back. My son recognized St. Patrick’s Cathedral from a Spider-man video game, which I thought was funny. We at dinner at Libretto’s pizza (pizza for him, calzone for me), which we enjoyed.
Day 2, we ate at the Murray Hill Diner. My omelet was fine, my son raved about their waffles. We visited the Empire State Building, the NY Library, Time Square (both day and night), Washington Square Park, saw the Rangers play the Jets at MSG (I wasn’t planning on that last one, but this was a “say yes” trip), and ended up on the jumbotron during the game. We grabbed bagels and rugulach (never heard of them but they were yummy) at Ess-a-bagel. Even my bagel hating son raved about Ess-a-bagel.
Day 3 started with Zucker’s Bagels, with a big thumbs down. We visited the Statue of Liberty (great views from the pedestal) and Ellis Island. Another catnap for my son on the ferry back. We went to the 9/11 memorial and museum, which was excellent. Some of the visitors were visibly moved and teary-eyed. It was very crowded, and my son was museumed out, so we didn’t linger as long as I would’ve liked. I’d definitely return if I go back to New York. We went to find some neon subway art in the Bleeker St subway station, and had dinner at NY Pizza Suprema, which was my favorite pizza of the trip.
Day 4, back to Ess-a-bagel for breakfast and Libretto’s for dinner (my son’s favorite pizza of the trip). We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mostly for my son to meet up with some girl from Long Island he’d become friends with on social media, who was there for school. It was definitely an overwhelming museum. After that, we went to Pasticceria Rocco for cannoli (good but had better in Boston), wandered through SoHo, Greenwich Village, walked the High Line, and went to the Summit at Vanderbilt One. It was kind of weird, the mirrored room was hot, and outside was very windy. My son was tired and grumpy, and was going to ruin my plans of hanging out there through sunset to see the lights at night. I ended up dragging my feet a bit, then upon finding an empty bench in a well-air-conditioned spot, I said I wanted to rest my feet for awhile. He ended up recharging a bit, too, and was really happy we did. He loved watching the lights come on across the city, and the views up there was one of his favorite parts of the trip.
Day 5, we started at Best Bagel & Coffee, which also had great bagels (toss up between them and Ess-a-bagel as our favorite). We spent several hours at the American Museum of Natural History, which we both enjoyed more than the Met. My son has been to the Field Museum in Chicago before, but was too young to remember much. We finally hit a street vendor for food. I got a gyro (I was surprised when the vendor corrected my pronunciation of “yee-roe” to “jye-roe”–gyro was meh) and my son got a hot dog (he said was spicy and didn’t care for it). We rode the subway over to the DUMBO area in Brooklyn, wandered around a little, ate at Juliana’s Pizza (white pizza was good, tried a chocolate egg cream, which was something I’d never heard of), then walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk.
On Day 6 (day we flew home), it was raining like crazy, so we slept in, went to Ess-a-bagel for brunch (surprised to wait in line over 30 min), then packed for home.
When booking the trip, we’d debated whether to come home on Saturday or Sunday. Saturday ended up being the right choice, as we were tiring out, sightseeing in Saturday’s rain would’ve sucked, and my son ended up getting sick with a GI bug less than 12 hours after we got home. We hit everything on our list, other than riding bikes on the Hudson River Greenway, which I wasn’t sure about, anyway.
Anyway, thanks again for the assorted recommendations, especially the ones that ao fan passed along through alternate channels. My son has dealt with a fair amount of tragedy and upheaval over the last decade or so (deaths of 3 grandparents, 2 aunts, the family dog; parent with a life-altering diagnosis; pandemic; social/political unrest; a couple of rough break ups), so it was nice to give him a week of happy memories.
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