Laura's place is a good find in the upper part of Manhattan, and was a pretty decent price, compared to hotels in the area. It was assuring to have our own little spot to drop off our bags and take a rest at the end of the day. The directions for check in were simple, but we ended up having to pick up the key from a separate location. While the apartment is fairly near an A-train station, the location to pick up the key was a little bit further off. This was a little frustrating upon arrival, as I had originally had it in my mind to just take the A-train to the apartment, but we ended up taking a cab so we could get the key as well. Do take to heart the idea of walking up 5 flights of stairs, especially if you have heavy luggage. While it's not hard for the day-to-day things, 5 flights of stairs carrying luggage in the summertime heat can get to you. We knew about the stairs going in, so this did not affect my score of the place. What did detract from our enjoyment were the few things that we weren't expecting: - Instead of the shelf being opposite of the couch, a workbench with powertools for working on flutes was in its place with a small placard that said "Do not touch". Thankfully, no one came into the apartment, expecting to use the equipment. - The water filter pitcher in the fridge was... dirty at best. I did my best to clean it, but it ultimately led us to fear what may be in the fridge. Anytime we needed to use the fridge (mostly to keep our packaged yogurt safe), we wrapped it in the plastic bag we got from the store. Though, take this as you will, as both my girlfriend and I are a bit on the cautious side. - While it is pictured, do pay attention: the showerhead is in the horizontal center of the shower, not at either end. There is also a split in the shower curtain just about opposite of the shower head. If you part the curtain for any reason, you do run the risk of some water hitting the bathroom floor and needing to clean it up. In the shower, there was also a tile that appeared to have been pushed into the wall. While there were no signs of mold at that point in time, it certainly made us cautious when using the shower from that point on. - The bathroom window was stuck open as far as we could tell (we weren't going to use excessive force to close it), so we had to close off the bathroom door to ensure that the AC kept the place cool. Even though we covered the windows when we left, the apartment would get fairly hot during our summer stay and would take quite a few minutes to cool down again. In...