Empire Hotel – Upper West Side

Empire Hotel at 63rd and Broadway

In  continuation of my NYC recap I thought I would do a short post on the Empire Hotel at 63rd and Broadway. We were really impressed with Emmanuel at the front desk. Upon hearing our engagement news he quickly got working on upgrading our room. We ended up in a large suite with a king bed and view of Broadway. Thanks Emmanuel, you could not have been any sweeter!

The location was good – not great. I think I prefer staying south of the park, but no real complaints here.  We were located near the beautiful Lincoln Center and the new Century 21 (serious Mecca of insane deals – far better than the downtown location).

OK, I lied, I do have one small complaint: the sink drainage, or lack thereof. For whatever reason our shallow bathroom sink would NOT drain efficiently. Water would quickly gather and take FOREVER to drain. But, really it was one small issue, that didn’t ruin our stay.

The main lobby/bar area of the hotel is small, but bumpin’. Every night it was crowded with the music cranked high. We didn’t have a drink there, but it definitely perked us up on our way out for dinner each night.
Regretfully we did not have an opportunity to check out the rooftop patio. There was a private party there on our last night when we’d planned to do so – sounds like it offers stunning views though.

Overall it was a good stay and the hotel served its purpose. However, I don’t think I’d forcefully recommend. I’d say 3/5 stars. But really, in NYC you just need a place to lay your head for a few hours and store your shopping bags.

King size bed

We’re Engaged!

Remember I said I would have more posts on NYC? Well, the most exciting part of the trip was the plane ride there. My boyfriend of 5 years proposed – and I shouted YES!

Allow me to set the scene…

The cast:

The guy

The unknowing girl

This airline

So we board our Porter flight from Toronto to NYC at 9:30 am Sunday, November 6. Now, to be honest, I did have a feeling that he was proposing in the near future and I did think that NYC was a pretty good place to do it – but I wasn’t thinking airplane at all! Although, there was a Porter staffer checking us in before boarding the ferry that mentioned a note on our file and said the word propose before my boyfriend quickly cut her off. She almost blew his cover! Luckily I was still in the dark about what exactly was about to take place.

Other than that there were no hiccups – Porter was amazing! Everything on the flight was going smoothly, we were set to land in 20 minutes when my boyfriend “went to the bathroom.”  Within moments his voice was on the intercom detailing a bit about our relationship – how me met 6 years ago in university, started dating 5 years ago, how he surprised me with this trip for my birthday. Some of it is a blur, luckily there is video (thanks to a Porter flight attendant). The bf then asked me to marry him in front of a half-full plane of strangers – which was actually quite fun. Everyone cheered when I shouted YES! People can be so kind, especially during special events like this. Another flight attendant brought out a bottle of wine and two porter glasses as a momento.

The fellow passenger taking this photo instructed me to "show off the ring" in this awkward placement! Everyone at Porter - both staff and passengers - were so kind!

I couldn't help but take obnoxious ring photos

My favourite keepsake from the whole proposal (besides the ring!) was the napkin that the Captain and First Officer gave us upon our exit. It is signed by both and details where we were when we got engaged – so simple, yet so special for us both. We were still getting congratulated by fellow passengers long after we landed in Newark.

My amazing friend gave us this perfect frame for our napkin. Now we can keep it forever

When my fiance and I arrived at the Empire Hotel we shared our fresh news and they upgraded our room – more on that in the next post!! It was a wonderfully exciting trip. I was floating the entire time. Please come along for this fun ride, I’ll keep you updated on all my planning here.

NYC November 2011

I’m back from my mini vacay to Manhattan. It was a great trip and a much needed getaway. NYC is probably my favourite city – if I could choose to live anywhere it would have to be there. Then again, I haven’t seen Paris yet.  This was my fourth trip to the Big Apple and it is a city I will continue returning to. Here is a little photo recap. I will have more posts on the trip later, including my experience flying with Porter airlines (excellent), our hotel (Empire on the Upper West Side) and a couple outfit shots. I have to admit, both my boyfriend and I were not good about taking a lot of photos on this trip, we were too busy looking around. Oh, and shopping!

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Brooklyn Bridge

I don’t pack light

I recently saw a Will Arnett tweet that said something along the lines of: “If someone checks a bag for a trip less than 10 days, I can’t be friends with them.” Well Will, we would never be friends. What can I say? I need options in my luggage.

Off for a mini vacay, back mid-week! xo