You get a number of chapters, and within that can drill down a number of specific topics you want your guide to cover. Be prepared though, because the last segment is your favourites, which you can add up to 8 choices of thing you know and love. At least put your hotel so you know where you’re staying!

Click here - http://m4rk.in/nnDHFL - and order your guide today! (They say it can take up to 6 weeks for delivery!!)

Now, I’ve just signed up, so I can partake in a decent meal or two, when it comes to my next break in New York City, so will find out how good it is. They’ve just launched their newest website, and the concept seems perfect. I love the bit in the FAQ’s that makes sure people leaves their phones in their pockets, and does what we used to do when socialising, which is TALKING TO EACH OTHER.

I’m sure I’ll add more to this, when I’ve tried out the concept in September.

So, here is a link to San Francisco – http://m4rk.in/f58GA3

And here is a link to New York – http://m4rk.in/eTJHPt

Click through, comment here (yeah whatever) comment there (pretty please), and I’ll treat you all to some photos of my travels very soon.

Wednesday, I’m in Sheffield all day, sorting out problems that have been caused by the worlds most inept sales people known to man, and then on Thursday I’ll be in London all day.

Friday I’ve got nothing planned, but when I finish work at 4pm, I think I’m heading up to Newcastle for the second of my Fake Birthday Piss Ups. Awesome!

Monday the 28th will arrive quicker than I can imagine, and then on the 1st March, I fly to Amsterdam to fly to NYC, to stay there for a day, and then fly to San Francisco.

I get to see a filming of Jon Stewarts The Daily Show, which is a change, as I normally see The Colbert Report. As it is Sunday today, and not even 11am, I’m just in bed, reading through things to add to my holiday to-do list. I’ve really not got a lot of things to go and see and do in San Francisco, so that’s the plan for today, to find some more things to do.

One thing is for sure, is that I’m going to get my own photo like this!

Roll on 1st March!

As I’ve blogged before, I’ve decided to use my Free JetBlue ticket I won in NYC on their 10th Birthday back in March of this year, to jet to San Francisco. Well this weekend I’m nearly booked up with everything.

Flights from Manchester to JFK (and back) are booked for the 2nd (and the 10th) March. I go straight to SF on what I’m calling a “hellish day of travelling” and it’s already a few months away, hang on, let me explain

Flight leaves Manchester at 10am, they recommend 3 hours for checkin, so 07:00 to get there for, and that’s an hour and 15 minutes away from my house, so leave my house at 05.45, and that means getting up at 05:15. Bear in mind, that my destinations are 5 and 8 hours behind UK time, means it is 0:15 in NYC, 21:15 in San Francisco (on the 1st March still).

I’ll arrive at JFK at 13:00 NYC time (obviously) which is 10:00 in SF (and 18:00 where I started). My flight leaves JFK at 18.55 19:15 (so it’s now 23:55 00:15 in the UK) and arrives in SF at 22:50 23:00 so by this point it is 06:50 07:00 in the UK, and about 25 hours 45 minutes 26 hours since I last saw a bed.

Now, obviously this isn’t the most direct route to San Francisco from Manchester I could take, I could have gotten on the same flight from Manchester to JFK, and changed straight away, and got into SFO about 19:00 which would have cost considerably more, I wouldn’t have used my free jetblue flight, and only saved myself about 4 hours in total, and it would have been a tight connection and knowing Delta, I would have missed it and it all fuck up. Thankfully doing it this way, gives me time to relax in the wonder of Terminal 5 at JFK, have some lunch, watch some planes come and go, and have a drink of a couple of overpriced poor quality american beers.

One problem I have, is that I don’t sleep well on planes, so with all that travelling, getting to my hotel late, and checking in, a quick shower, beer, and then crash out by about midnight SFO time, I should sleep about 10 hours solid. I must set at least 3 alarms, starting at 9.30 in the morning, because I may, may, just oversleep. I’m staying at a rather nice chic (I think) hotel just off Union Square in San Fran, and the only real thing I have planned for the Thursday when I get there, is to head down to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I’m a member of the NYC MoMA, so I will be making comparisons, and drawing to a conclusion as to which has the better collection of art. What with Warhol, and Pollock at NYC, it’s going to be tough for SF to come close, but I’ll keep my mind open. Other things I’ll probably do, is a bit of shopping in SF, wander aimlessly, and grab some beer.

I’m undecided what else I should do in SF, especially as I’ve only got 3 days. I just have to go and get literally hundreds of photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, from as many angles as I possibly can, and also, I think it’ll be worth heading to the Golden Gate Park. A stupid thing (especially for March), will be to visit the ocean, in both cities, because I think it’d be rather fun to visit both the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean within a few days of each other. Sad, yes, and I’ll probably think better of it, when the weather isn’t cooperative.

So, SF until Sunday morning, and then an 11.00 flight out of SFO to JFK, hitting NYC at about 19.30. Checkin in thankfully is only 90 minutes before, so grab coffee, and a breakfast, pack and leave the hotel by 9am for the half hour trip through to the airport.

So, that bit is all booked, and I have some plans. What I don’t have booked though, is my hotel for NYC. I have a couple of choices. Do I go with the rather basic, but styled as a Boutique hotel called the GEM in SoHo (erm, Lower East Side, but good marketing there!). Do I splash out with a bit of luxury, and stay at the Hotel on Rivington. Or do I just play it safe, and stay in Williamsburg, at the Hotel Le Jolie, where I’ve stayed for the past 3 trips to NYC. I have been to NYC 14 times already, and stayed in only 6 different Hotels, with the Cosmopolitan Hotel in TriBeCa being the most frequent. I just think it’s about time I change hotels, as I love the LES, SoHo, and the Village, and think there is plenty there for me to explore, and easy links to great bars in Brooklyn that I’ll keep going back to. Is it worth the extra cash for luxury, or shall I go with the cheapest hotel out of the bunch. Surprisingly, right now the GEM is working out cheapest on a cancellable rate, the Le Jolie in mid table, and Hotel on Rivington at the top. I have other choices, that I could stay in a different area of Brooklyn, but for my only 4 night stay in NYC (shorter than usual) I think it is ideal to explore a new area.

I know I’m waffling, but I’m trying to make sense of it all. The GEM Hotel have promised me a room NOT in the basement on twitter, which is a good thing, so at least they’re socially aware, and also have an iPad at reception one can play around with (though I have my own, I won’t need theirs, I just think that’s kinda cool). I know I get an upgrade free on a standard room with the Hotel Le Jolie, as I’ve stayed there a few times, and I’ll get a room with a Manhattan view for repeat custom, and a cheap upgrade to a king room,  but it’s still nowt special.

Blah! I’m off to watch a film or something and STOP thinking about my hotel for NYC. I’ve got PLENTY of time.

Tuesday September 21st

This is one of the first times, I didn’t take my SLR camera, as I wanted a holiday to be just that, to see and do, and not take photos. I also find, that taking my SLR means I have to end up going back to my hotel, to drop things off before I head out at night. Anyway, enough of that.

Before I went to NYC, I decided it would be a great idea to head into Central London and see Fyfe Dangerfield at the Shepherds Bush Empire. It was a good afternoon of drinking, food, and then a gig, but maybe I drank a little too much. Escaped the crowds and left about 15 minutes before 11, and headed back to the hotel. In my ultimate wisdom, I needed more beer, and proceeded to prop up the hotel bar til about 1am. At 6:30am, my alarm went off, and I really wasn’t feeling it, but up I was and within 20 minutes in the car for the short ride from Jurys Inn Heathrow (where I got accused that I was a famous person!), to Terminal 4, (where I wasn’t accused of being famous, or bumped up to business class!).

Wednesday September 22nd

8am. I had made my way through security without a hitch, or a pat down, and sat down at the bar in Terminal 4. My flight wasn’t til 10.30ish so I had plenty of time to get rid of my slight hangover with a breakfast butty, and a pint of Cider. It did the trick because by the time I was on the flight I wasn’t hungover, or sober for that matter, just happily tipsy enough to be locked in a tube for 7 and a bit hours.

Flights are boring. I watched a few movies on my iPad, read a book that I featured it (twitchhiker – buy it at amazon.co.uk!), and drank a few more beers. Slept for about an hour or two while listening to Groove Armada on my iPhone, and finally the plane landed at JFK. Did my usual trick of walking fast and getting to the front of the queue for immigration and was through in no time. Surprisingly, the luggage arrived within 5 minutes, and then to get outside, past all the illegal cab drivers to a proper taxi to my Hotel in Brooklyn; The Hotel Le Jolie. I’d stayed here before, but this was the first time getting a taxi to the hotel, and if anyone who reads this, has been to NYC before, knows that some taxi drivers, just don’t like going to Brooklyn. However, I was armed with experience, and directions, which pleased the driver, as I told him to head to the BQE, and get off at Exit 34. Simple really.

2pm, and some time to kill, I decided to take the mile walk, in the SCORCHING weather, down to South 4th Bar, just near the Williamsburg Bridge, to prop the bar up and just chill out for the afternoon. It was a wise choice. Left reasonably early at just after 4pm, just so I could get into Manhattan, and then join the queue for the Colbert Report! My second filming, my first being in March of this year, was thoroughly enjoyable as the last. By 8pm that was over, and it was a nice summers evening for all of 10 minutes.

The heavens then opened and an amazing thunderstorm started. Headed back into Brooklyn, with the intention of having a few beers, but with the rain still lashing down, and the sky just showing off it’s colours, I decided to call it a night, and head back to the hotel, with a sandwich bought from a local deli. Relaxed, watched a bit of tv, and to bed for about 10pm. I was up at 5am the next morning, but that didn’t matter, I was in NYC and had a great few days ahead of me!

I’m booking now to go to San Francisco for 4 nights, and then hop back to NYC for a bit of fun in a city I love. It is a weird feeling being out of my comfort zone what with not knowing anything about the city I’m going to, not knowing where to go to drink, or have a conversation, however, I think I’m going to love it! Roll on March 2nd 2011

I’ll post my itinerary to google docs like last trip, so please let me know any suggestions of things I might want to do – http://bit.ly/nyc2011