THE CITY THAT SLEEPS AT 3AM
DoubleTree by Hilton New York Downtown 8 Stone St. New York
Filipinos traveling to the United States often stay with their relatives. We do it to save money, but it is also a cultural thing. We tend to gather as a family, and we host families staying in town.
My sister lives in New York and so does my nephew. And I traveled to their city with my younger son. Going against cultural norms, my sister and I decided we should book in hotels, for their privacy and ours. I preferred it that way as I would rather go off on my own on trips or sleep in whenever I liked.
It was a perfect arrangement.
First, my sister booked us in Double Tree by Hilton in downtown New York close to the Financial District. She thought that it was the nearest one from the airport given that our arrival time was in the unholy hours of the night and we both didn’t want to be out in the dark. It’s a childhood thing.
So, I say yes to Double Tree in 8 Stone Street. We landed in JFK around midnight, took the Airtrain to the Jamaican Station, and simply walked a few blocks to the hotel. We didn’t want to take the subway. We thought that walking out in the open would be safer and it was. We went down the Jamaican Station, passed by the Bull Statue when no one was in sight, saw that Duane Reade was still open, and that famous New York taco restaurant was still serving.
We were exhausted after our more than 24 hours of travel, but it was New York! Not a detail escaped my eye.
Finally, we arrived at the hotel. The entrance to the hotel was nondescript, easy to miss. There was no grand lobby. But it was clean and welcoming. A concierge was watching over the bags, and he directed us to go to the second floor where the lobby was located. Check-in was a breeze, and we were rewarded with the signature Double Tree cookie which was still warm.
The test of any hotel room was the moment I open the door. To me, this moment is always anxiety-inducing and it’s either I like it, or I don’t.
So, we opened the door to two perfectly well-made beds in immaculate white sheets! Win! The room was 23 square meters, and it came with a shower and a study table. And it was clean, clean by my standards. White sheets, made-up bed, nice towels. And it smelled good.
My son said, “It looks like a room in Tokyo.” And this was a compliment.
Double Tree, I would like to think, is the low-end variant of the Hilton Hotels. The rooms are compact compared to the other hotels. But, if you want the Hilton cleanliness but do not want to pay a lot, DoubleTree by Hilton is a fabulous option. The DoubleTree hotels are compact and are situated a little far off from the main attractions but still accessible to them. And without the usual Hilton price tag, you get the expected chain hotel basics: firm bed, white sheets, white towels. And the rooms get cleaned every day.
So, here’s a thing you will learn if you’re Asian and it’s your first time in the United States: there is no bidet, neither are slippers. We used socks for the entire length of our stay in different hotels in the different areas in Manhattan.
The initial shock of walking around barefoot on the carpeted floor of a hotel thousands of miles from home was replaced by hunger. We ordered just as restaurants in Door Dash started closing but we managed to get orange chicken rice from a Chinese one.
Once fed, showered and comfortable, we all slept soundly. We were finally in New York.
Xoxo,
B
