We decided that the Cabin Crew were just trying to toughen us up so that we would survive in the Big Apple. When we landed the sun was shining and it was 68C degrees. The hotel room resembled not so much a shoebox as a matchbox. Still we set off to see New York and discovered that because we had been there so often via our TV sets that it felt like home, well almost.

The highlights of the trip were seeing the John Lennon memorial in Central Park and the Twin Towers. We went to the top of one of the Towers and found the views to be totally awesome. When they were demolished by terrorist's 18 months later it was impossible to comprehend that they had turned into dust in such a short time.

The next day the weather changed completely and it snowed, which was a great shame as it put a damper on the St Patrick's day celebrations. We ate all in the time in deli's and can't recommend them highly enough. Without exception they provided excellent food at great prices. We saw all of the sights on the run as we only had 3 days but we were there long enough to decide to save up and go for longer another time. Highly recommended, you should go there at least once in your life.