Day 1: Flying to New York on Cathay Pacific and Hotel 32|32 - New York

It has been years since I last went to New York.  It's nice to go back to see what it's like now.  

Flying on Cathay Pacific this time.  It's a 15 hour flight!  And to my horror, the flight is fully packed.  Fortunately, I was still able to get an aisle seat.

Using the new 81cm Samsonite C-lite luggage I got.  Only 3kg.  So, I have more weight quota for everything else I want to bring for my 2 weeks trip to New York.

For long haul, I like flight around midnight.  So, I would be tired enough to fall asleep once I board the plane.  And if I am lucky, I might be able to sleep through the entire flight and wake up and arrive in New York.

I think Cathay is becoming a budget airline.  They don't prepare enough food for people to choose from.  For my 15 hour flight, I get 2 meals.  For the first one, only vegetarian option was left when the cart reached me.  Luckily, that was also what I wanted as their Chinese chicken over rice usually stinks.  But since the flight was completely full and having 90% of the passengers are senior Chinese people, the Chinese chicken dish was very popular, despite the disgusting smell.  I find Cathay Pacific airplane meals from Hong Kong airport always have a weird plastic smell.  Probably from the centralized kitchen the meals are prepared from.

Not a very appetizing vegetarian meal at all.  It is supposed to be biriyani.  But hey, there's Hagen Daz ice cream.  My favorite brand of ice cream.  Would be better if it's cookies and cream flavor.

Then breakfast on board is the usual egg and sausage.  I would never choose their congee option as I find them smelling pretty bad as well.

With hundreds of Chinese people landing in New York and most of them unable to speak English, it took me over an hour to get through the custom.  Kudos to the custom officers for being so patient with the Chinese people.  As a Chinese, even I felt annoyed by many of the Chinese lining up in front of me.  For not being prepared to answer questions or doing things that didn't make any sense.

The hotel I booked in mid Manhattan on 32rd Street and Madison Ave. It's call Hotel 32|32 (Stay 1). For whatever reasons, the hotel price per night was super expensive per night.  It was over USD 350 per night and trust me, it's not really a "hotel".   I think "motel" or "inn" fits more.

The hotel is split into 2 building.  They have a North tower and a south tower.  I was staying at the south.

This is the reception/lobby for the hotel and it's the best looking part of the hotel.  Everything else is just very run down, old and dirty.

At check in, I needed to pay a mandatory amenity fee which the staff failed to tell me what is included for the fee.  They kept saying it's for "tax and stuff.  You know?".  I  tell them, "I don't know." and they just repeat "It's stuff."  I got pretty fed up and gave up.  I know there are many hidden fees in New York hotel, so I know it's normal to pay things like amenity fees or resort fees.  But turns out the amenity fee I paid is higher than what was shown in the online booking receipt and the amenity fees covers a gym pass, which the staff never told me about until I drill them on it a few days later.

The room is small and very dim.  It was hard to read a book or do my make up in the room with so little light. 

The bed is super lumpy and has no support.  The pillows are filled with old cotton that's also very lumpy.  Very  uncomfortable but I didn't bother speaking with the  hotel staff.

I have a balcony facing an alley that smells.  DO NOT OPEN THE WINDOWS!  Lots of spotted lantern flies will fly in and it's impossible to get rid of them.  You can just  wait for them to die in your room.   I made the mistake of opening the window for about 30 minutes and got around 20 bugs in my room.

The shower has a glass divider that only goes half way, so the place gets wet after shower.  There is also  no vents in the washroom.  There is little to none amenities included.  No tooth brush or tooth paste.  No shampoo.  Again, I know this is a sketchy hotel, so I brought my own stuff.  Especially after reading all the bad reviews in google.  The good reviews are all fake.

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone and I would NEVER stay in this hotel again.

The staffs are not professional nor helpful.

The room is dark and small.

The bed and pillow are horrible.

Other than the location, there is nothing good about the place.  Then again, there are plenty of other better hotels nearby.  I only booked this place because I was going last minute and all the other places were full.

Point on map:

Stay 1 - Hotel 32|32

32 E 32nd St Suite 1001 Suite 1001, New York, NY 10016, United States

The rest of my trip:

Hotels and Others Hotel 32|32 Millenium Downtown Hotel Subway in New York JFK Airport Shopping Shopping on 34th Street Duane Reade Nordstrom Rack Home Depot Shopping in Soho

Eating Pancakes at Harold Bagels & Schmear 7th Street Burger Chelsea Market Tacos at Cinco de Mayo The Halal Guys Bigoi Venezia Red Poke Chick-fil-A Da Nico Paris Baguette Poke Bowl Bazar Tapas Bar Tompkins Square Bagels Junior's Restaurant & Bakery Carve Cafe & Pizza Schnipper's Sarge's Delicatessen & Diner

Sightseeing Time Square Dumbo and Brooklyn Bridge China Town and Little Italy Hispanic Parade Times Square at Night New York Public Library and St Patrick's Cathedral High Line Walk and Little Island MOMA The MET Central Park New York Ferry Trinity Church The Morgan Library & Museum Intrepid Museum Summit One Vanderbuilt