We traveled from Southern California to NYC for the November 4th marathon that was eventually cancelled by the City. We spent six nights at Alicia's place and found the location to be absolutely perfect...plenty of taxis at 1st and 53rd, the subway station at 53rd and Lexington was very handy and the neighborhood was/is top notch. The only advice I would give to anyone heading to NYC is this: if the apartment has a radiator, bring earplugs. While Alicia's place is very quiet as it pertains to street noise, the radiator would bang and hiss a few times during the evening, just as Alicia points out on her description of the apartment (it should be noted that it was VERY cold when we were there - it even snowed a few days after Sandy). The locals we spoke with advised that radiator noise is very common in the City and we feel somewhat bad in even bringing it up, but it in NO WAY negatively reflects on Alicia or her place, so with that said...

If you can find a more genuine and conscientious host(ess) in NY, stay there because I doubt you will. Upon our arrival, Alicia had worked out the nightmare that NY travel had become after Hurricane Sandy, and was in the apartment waiting for us. She was a huge information asset to us in getting from JFK to her place and did all she could to help the out of towners (us) to negotiate the altered rail and bus travel required. She showed us around her place, which is well appointed for travelers (umbrellas, hair dryer, etc...), left us a bottle of chilled champagne and other goodies, and told us to make ourselves at home. The kitchen is small but functional, has a microwave and coffee pot, and there are several great restaurants and pubs in the immediate vicinity (we loved Parnell's on the corner of 53rd and 1st!). There are a few grocery stores close as well.

We had a great stay and highly recommend Alicia as she made herself available to us via phone, text or email, if we had any questions about anything during our stay.

Thanks for a great week in your City, Alicia!