We enjoyed our trip tremendously and the apt. definitely facilitated the experience.
We sailed through airport security and got our bags instantaneously, so arrived at the apt. 2 hrs earlier than arranged. Claudia was very flexible about it and although not home, arranged for someone else to let us in. Because she didn’t check us in personally, we probably didn’t get the “grand tour” hence had to figure a few things out ourselves during our stay.
The apt. is in a great location for exploring the city by foot. We walked everywhere and only took the subway and bus a couple of times when our feet failed us from fatigue. There is a Fairway supermarket opposite the apt. to get all your essentials e.g. breakfast, coffee, soft drinks etc., extremely convenient. There is a Trader Joes (tip - long queues both times we visited) on 3rd & 31st (3 mins walk) and a Morten Williams on 2nd & 25th (10mins) & adjorning wine shop (don’t sell wines in supermarkets).
To best describe the apt, it is a very large studio with a conservatory extension as the bedroom. It is clean and definitely spacious. It has basic amenities and minimal perishables e.g. capability for a full takeaway dish-out but not for cooking, which wasn’t necessary as we ate out most of the time. There are more than enough towels for changing if required during the trip, however, only one toilet roll was provided and no laundry powder etc. But this is not a problem if you plan in a trip to one of the dollar stores (not everything is $1 just because of the name). The bold black themed décor took a while to get used to as it contributed to the bathroom being very dark but the whole place looked much better in reality than the photos provided. As the bedroom has glass surrounds, remember to bring a sleep mask, as it starts getting pretty bright in the room from 06.00hrs. Heads up, we got worried on the first night about activities just above the roof facing fire escapes for the upper level. But, it was nothing to worry about, as it was not people trying to look in our room but pigeons on the glass roof chasing each other ☺
As stated, love NY!