59. And, Live from New York…It’s My Trip Highlights

After almost a decade, I finally got to visit New York City again and in this episode I’m sharing all the juicy details and insider secrets that you won’t want to miss. From bagels to Broadway and my long-awaited Sex in the City tour, join me for this whirlwind adventure in the city that never sleeps!

Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 49
Broadway.Com
NYC Bagel Tours
Museum of Broadway
NBC Studio Tour
Harry Potter Exhibition
On Location Tours
SJP The Collection
Magnolia Bakery

Michele's IG
Connect with Michele on FB
Contact Michele to plan your next vacation
Leave us a Review on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a Review on Spotify

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

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Hey there, jetsetters. It is me, Michele, the OG memory maker of Makin' Memories Travel, and I promised you a report on how my New York City trip went, and this is that episode. So if you want to hear all about how to do New York City with a little less of the typical tourist attractions and a little more of the sass that I'm famous for, plus all the insider knowledge that I gained to help you on your next trip to New York City, then this is the episode for you. 10 weeks ago, I started planning a quick weekend trip to New York City, and 10 weeks of planning is for me not too long for a place that I haven't visited in almost a decade. And although I had reserved tickets for my Sex and the City bus tour, which was hosted by on location tours twice before, I had never actually made it work in my schedule. So with this summer's behind the scenes cruise that I've got planned in Greece with Molly Rogers, I knew this was the trip that my bus tour had to work. So everything else was gonna fit around that SAT C tour. And I had to do it on Sunday because right now, it's the shoulder season, and they're not quite into summer crowds.

So the tour is only going on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. So we weren't arriving until Friday evening, and Saturday afternoon was gonna be our Broadway matinee, so it had to be on Sunday. And because mister Judd's setting with me would be otherwise occupied, that turned out to be the perfect time, but that meant that the other top priority, being Broadway, would be dark on Sunday nights, and so that was gonna be on Saturday. So it was gonna be a lot into basically a 2 day weekend. I did have Monday, and I'll get to that. So in my planning episode, I actually mentioned that we were gonna get our Broadway tickets on the same day based on what was on sale at the TKTS booth. But after realizing what time we were gonna arrive on Friday and then what time we would have to wake up to be at the t k t s window when it opened. I actually just broke down and bought advanced tickets through a different wholesaler.

So instead of getting 50% off, we got about 25% off instead. But it also meant that we weren't going to my first choice show, which was at the time, Anne Juliet, because those tickets were more expensive even at the 25% discount. They were a lot more. So we ended up going with my second choice show, MJ. Now just as an aside, MJ was actually my first choice show until I saw the local Broadway season for 2425, which starts in September here in Austin. And MJ, the traveling show is coming. So I was like, oh, well, since I could see it when it comes here, I wanna see something that's not traveling yet. So that's why I had picked Ann Juliet.

But then, based on the cost of the tickets, reverted back to MJ. And I'm really glad I ended up buying the tickets in advance because I knew we had tickets to a 2 o'clock matinee show. So I was able to plan Saturday around that show and Sunday around my tour. And then that left Monday for me to kind of do all the other things that I really wanted to do. And if you go back and listen to that episode, which is highlighted in the show notes about when I was planning it, you'll see that a lot of it changed completely. So I did end up scheduling us on an 11:30 AM on Saturday, New York City bagel tour. And I had originally not scheduled this because I really thought that mister jet setting with me would be like a bagel tour. We can get bagels on every corner in New York City.

Why do we need to do a tour? But it turned out he was actually kind of excited about it, so we did some research. Now why bagels are such a thing in my family is because my husband, mister sitting with me, is actually from New York City, and he knows a New York City bagel. I grew up in Texas, but every trip to the East Coast meant better bagels. I had always thought that was because of the water, but I learned on the New York City bagel tour and a huge shout out to at the bagel ambassador on Instagram, Sam, because I learned so much, and it was so much fun. And I highly recommend anybody who has time in their schedule for this tour, do it. If you are a foodie like me or just I mean, it was phenomenal. I'm kinda speechless about it. Now if you remember or you've been listening to me from the very beginning and know me at all or have read my blog, when my daughter was turning 13, which, gosh, now it's over 10 years, for her bat mitzvah, I actually did a bagel tour of all of Austin so that I could make sure that we had the best bagels for all of her out of town family.

So we have something that I quote settle for. But knowing we are going to New York City, I was very, very excited to do at least one food tour, And I was even more excited when mister jetsetting with me said, that sounds fun. Let's do it on Saturday. So I didn't have to do the food tour on Sunday and, like, try and squash it in with my sex and city tour, which, of course, was, like, mecca for me. So we decided to do it. So we didn't have to wake up early because I had my tickets already, and we didn't have to have breakfast because part of the tour is come hungry, and you eat the equivalent of about 2 full bagels, which for me is just a lot since I usually do like a half a bagel for breakfast at a time. So when we got there, Sam went over the concrete logistics of the tour. We were gonna go to 3 different spots for the bagels.

1, which was famous for its cream cheese, and wait till you see the pictures, pictures which are posted on Instagram of this cream cheese, like display. It looked like gelato for sure. Then our middle spot was gonna be known for the rainbow bagel, which I had always thought was a pride thing, and I learned it's actually about the dough and how it's rolled and not just what it looks like. And then the 3rd place was known for their actual sandwiches. So, again, what was awesome about the tour was Sam, the bagel ambassador, but we also got behind the scenes knowledge. So for a couple of facts, Philadelphia cream cheese is the cream cheese used really at pretty much every bagel place. It is never had anything to do with Philadelphia. That is actually a marketing thing.

It is made right there in New York. So we learned a lot about cream cheese and why it's really good is it's fresh from New York City. Again, we learned that really the reason New York City bagels, I always thought it was the water, are so unique and special is because the people who are rolling the dough, known as the dough rollers, most of them actually work as contractors, and they are paid by the volume. So they work on volume, so they'll roll as much as 2 or 3 days at one shop, and then a couple days in another shop until they've rolled the volume. And we actually got to see behind the scenes at a bakery in a kitchen, them rolling the dough, and mister setting with me got to roll, and you can also see those pictures on Instagram. The speed with which they do it, I was actually too intimidated to try it. It was amazing. And they have this balance thing going with their feet, so they go right to left.

And I mean, it was so cool. And then we learned about the fact that bagels are not considered bread and bakery because the dough is boiled before it gets rolled. And, again, Sam, the bagel ambassador, has all of these amazing details on this. It's about a 2 hour tour. And so I finally go hungry. I was full, and I didn't even get to have any of the sandwich. I was so full. Okay.

Then we were in perfect timing to end, to hike up to back to Broadway for our matinee of MJ, which I have to say, I don't care what you think about Michael Jackson. And you've heard my own personal Michael Jackson story about when he brought a young friend of the family with him to Walt Disney World on a previous episode. Regardless of what you think of the man, if you are a fan of his music and or his dancing or his flourish with costumes and the glove and the hat, then this is a must see show. It's honestly one of the best shows I have ever seen, especially the biopics about groups or singing stars. It ranked up there with Beautiful, the Carole King story with me. And I liked it better than the Jersey Boys and The Temptations. It was phenomenal. And as soon as we walked out, I looked at my husband's.

We were both so jazzed that we ended up canceling our dinner reservation at a top chef, Alex Gurnaschelli's own butter restaurant, so that we could see another Broadway show. We didn't wanna leave Broadway. It was so much fun, and we were dancing, and we were singing. And I immediately said, can we please see it again when it comes to Austin? To which he said, absolutely. You just can't be disappointed if it isn't the same because there really is something about that Great White Way and those swing dancers and those chorus dancers and how they just work their hearts out and the love, and they perform for the very last row. While I'm talking about the very last row, I do wanna say that we had phenomenal seats. And, yes, I did buy them the day in advance, and so I was able to see exactly what the view from my seats were gonna be because I bought them online. But, oh my gosh, they were amazing.

They were in lower mezzanine in the center, and it was just incredible. So we ended up canceling our dinner reservation. We wanted to do another show. We didn't want to do the new diamond show that was on or any other, like, biopic because we were so high on MJ. So we wanted to do something different. I kinda wanted to go see the play of Harry Potter, but I knew that my husband really wanted to see another musical, and he loves the Back to the Future movies. So I thought, okay. Let's go see Back to the Future.

It's something he would enjoy. And I will say it was like seeing the movie, but with music. The flying car was kinda cool. I didn't think the lead, who was Marty, was very strong. But, again, I had just come from seeing MJ, where the lead was the understudy, but looked, danced, sounded, everything like he was MJ. And his feet move so fast. I can't stop talking about MJ because it was that good. Back to the future was okay, and I really wouldn't go see it again if it came here because I'd rather just watch the movie.

But I had so much fun at Broadway that I just absolutely wanted more. And sadly, of course, Broadway is dark on Sunday evenings and Monday. And because of my tour on Sunday afternoon that was not gonna get changed, my sex and city tour, I wasn't gonna be able to see a matinee show on Sunday, so that was it. But stay tuned for how I worked a little bit more Broadway into my trip. So next day, like I said, very busy Saturday, but just so much fun. It was such a great first day in the city. So the next day, I decided in the morning to do the NBC Studios tour. And, you know, I am all about the behind the scenes and set jetting.

And so I figured this would be something fun. It is a fairly, quote, unquote, touristy thing to do. It's in Rockefeller Center, you know, 30 Rock. People go to the plaza for the Today Show. And I had done it before, actually, but I hadn't done it in over 20 years. I mean, I was a kid when I did it. So to do it again as an adult and with this new focus on set jetting that I have in my travel business was actually really fun. Now, you will not see any photos whatsoever of this on my Instagram, and that is because there are no photos allowed, not even of the carpet in the lobby where, like, they bring people in who have tickets to tapings.

No photos whatsoever, except if you're in the elevator. It was a really fun tour. We had 2 pages. The page program is very much like the Walt Disney World College program. Young professionals who want to get a future in some type of production or production management or producing or news and journalism. They move up to New York City for this year long commitment as a page in the page program, and one of the things that they do is give tours. The tour differs, and it is every day and multiple times per day, but it differs based on production schedules and which studios you can get in and out of. I actually was pretty lucky that I went on a Sunday.

Again, shoulder season, so Saturday Night Live is still in production. They're about to, of course, go on hiatus for the summer. They're wrapping up that 49th season, so stay tuned for some really exciting NBC Studios information on that SNL 50th. So during the summer, you might be able to go every day and still see that SNL studio. But because it was a Sunday, we were able to see the SNL studio. And I, of course, had been in a Broadway show, so I hadn't watched the show the night before. But when we went into the studio, all the sets from the night before and the musical guests the way they want that stage set up was all still set up. So a hack for you, if you're going not during a time when SNL would be on hiatus, do the tour on a Sunday and watch SNL from the night before so you can be sure you get to see their sets set up.

So the first thing about the SNL studio is it's a lot larger than you think it is. Those 17 chairs on the floor are just that. They're the 17 chairs on the floor. Up on the 2nd level, there's huge amount of seating. Okay. Not huge. It's not like Disney huge, but it is a lot of seating. And actually, up on the second level is actually the preferred seating for the VIPs and family of any cast members or the musical guests or the host because then they're out of the line of sight, which is preferred for those who are performing live.

So that's just my information about that. We also did get to go see the studio for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, who moved the show back from its many years in the West Coast over back to the East Coast where it had first started. And so he actually redid the very first studio that I ever lived in. And on Sunday, it actually is still has sets from SNL because of storage capabilities. But when they go in to start doing the taping and the work on Monday, all those sets are cleared. That studio is really locked. The red chairs are the same red leather that are used in Ferrari seats. So really cool.

Seeing a taping of Jimmy Fallon is actually pretty easy to get according to the pages, not like SNL. Getting tickets to SNL is really through a lottery or standbys. So if you're local to New York, you might be able to get them on a stand by basis. But otherwise, you really have to be flexible in your travel plans if you do the lottery. And they do the lottery for the whole season all at once. Or like I said, you have to do standby, and you just have to get kinda lucky on that too. So they told me I think the lottery chances of getting a ticket is, like, 2 to 7% or something like that for SNL. But for Jimmy Fallon and also Kelly Clark, and they're just on a rolling basis, and it's pretty easy to get tickets.

So if you know you're going to be in New York City and that's something you wanna do, you can do that in advance, and then you can kind of plan your trip around that. So is NBC studio tour was really fun. It was a great way to spend about 90 minutes in the morning. And, again, no pictures for that. But then in the afternoon on Sunday, it was time for Mecca. It was time for my amazing waiting for years tour of Sex and the City, and I will tell you that I completely missed the boat on it. So first, I have to give a shout out to my guide, Hannah, because that does help her. If she gets good reviews, she gets a bonus.

So do you wanna say to on location tours that Hannah saved the day? If it hadn't been for her, I would be ripping this tour to shreds. And you know, my listeners, you know how much that hurts me because I had waited a very long time to do this tour, and I was so excited. But I made the mistake that I cautioned everybody not to make when I talked about my set jetting experience with The Sound of Music, and how I went out of the way to get a private tour instead of doing those drive bys. Well, sadly, it was just me. Mister setting with me was not coming. I didn't have any other girlfriends. And to privatize this tour would have been an astronomical amount, and I didn't do enough research to find out that there was a walking tour. I just knew I wanted to do this tour.

And it was just drive bys. And I was really sad because very few places where we were able to get out and get pictures. And just like I cautioned in The Sound of Music, when we did get to go see pictures, it was like walk up, take a picture, and leave. So it was pretty disappointing. And, also, the directions in the tour told us to look for blue umbrellas. It was raining really hard, and I went early because I'm always afraid of getting lost. And, of course, I didn't have mister jetsetting with me, AKA my map, with me. So I was worried, so I went early.

It was raining. There were no blue umbrellas there. Luckily, the bus was there, so he let me wait, but the guide was late. I'm not gonna blame Hannah though because it was raining, and there were no blue umbrellas to speak of. And since I was the first one there, I, of course, sat in the very first row, only to find out later that the first couple of rows are quote unquote premium seating, and so I had to move. Of course, had I known there was such a thing as premium seating, I would have bought premium seating. In hindsight, that would have made no difference because all it means is that you're sitting in the front of the bus. So I was in the 3rd row instead of the first row, But other than that, it doesn't get you a better view because you're literally just driving by.

Hannah, who knew the cannon so well, was able to call out the different lines that were said at the different places. But on a count of it was weekend and there was no traffic. So we were pretty much cruising along at speed. The rain, there was no chance to get photos, example of when Miranda said, and here I am at the corner of hell, and I'm pregnant. We saw that exact corner, and I couldn't get a picture. We also drove by the alley where Carrie got held up, and she said, not my strappy sandal. He stole my shoe. Drove right by it.

It's a little alley. The magic of movie making with a wide camera lens makes it look a lot bigger than it is. No time for a picture. We did get to stop at her stoop, which is for everyone now, you can. It's on Bleecker Place. So you can go there. The person who now owns that brownstone has a little do not disturb little it's not even a sign. It's, like, literally cordons off the stoop.

Like, you can't sit on the stoop unless you wanna risk his ire. But you can get a picture in front. I made sure I was at the very front of line because I really wanted just the stoop because I wanna superimpose myself in my cute little Carrie outfit that I was unable to wear because of the rain. So we did get pictures on the stoop. They were quick. They were drive by. And then at that stoop, Sarah Jessica Parker, by the way, lives like 2 streets over, and her SJP, the collection store is a block away. So if you are lucky and you go to SJP the collection, sometimes she's in there selling her shoes.

Alas, that was not the case for me. But I did, of course, buy something at SJP, the collection to wear on my cruise to Greece. It's pink, not red, but that's okay. I got a beautiful headpiece and beautiful bow, not too dissimilar from the one that Carrie wears during the episode where she's dating the politico, and she wants to cover up her button, and she has a big boutonniere looking thing. It's a flower. So I bought one of those, and it matches my headpiece. So yay for me. You can go look at her shoes and the steep heels.

The link is in the show notes. Also, right across from SJP, the collection is the actual Magnolia Bakery. The actual one that was made famous because Carrie and Miranda had a cupcake. Now at this stop, we have like 15, 20 minutes, and I made time to go in and take pictures of that bakery. You can see them on Instagram. But the tour actually, it's a small location, and the tour doesn't actually give you time. And you don't even get a full size cupcake. They do give you many cupcakes, and I will say they were good.

I got to have 1 vanilla and 1 chocolate, and they were good. They're good cupcakes. Not gonna say that they deserve to be the most famous cupcake in the world, but they were good. We also had a stop at Boudiccan, which is the restaurant where Carrie and Big in the movie had their rehearsal dinner and got some gorgeous pictures there, And that restaurant is beautiful. I, of course, would have preferred to actually taste food there because that's me, and I'm a foodie. Instead, we end the tour at what is O'Neil's, AKA Scout, the bar, and you get to have a Manhattan there. I, of course, don't love alcohol. The Manhattan was super strong.

You can see a video of me going on my Instagram stories today. I waited until today to load that up there for you on the day this podcast drops. But we did see a real celebrity when we were at AKA Scout O'Neil's. Melissa McCarthy came in, and she was sitting at the very end of the bar, and she actually ended up in a few of the pictures of fellow tour goers with their Manhattans. So true celebrity sighting, it wasn't as JP. Sadly, I wanted it to be. And yes, although and just like that dropped pictures the Friday before my tour with all the scripts and the new Rosie O'Donnell thing, and we talked all about it on our bus tour just amongst ourselves. They weren't in production.

It was a Sunday, and we didn't get to see any real production taking place. Although, And Just Like That is not the only show that does actual production. In New York City, Law and Order does. Lots of other shows now that are based in New York do it. But Sex and City was the first to actually film on the streets of New York. But again, it was a Sunday, and it was really wet and raining. Didn't see any. So that brings us to Monday.

And I have left Monday kind of like, I couldn't decide what I was really gonna wanna do. Was I gonna wanna go see Ellis Island, which has been completely redone and I hadn't been there since I was also a child. And since my trip last summer where I got to see a lot of where my genealogy took place. Did I wanna go see Ellis Island? Did I wanna go see the Chrysler building like I had talked about in my previous episode that I had been planning? Did I wanna maybe try and learn how to use my camera and my new gimbal that I bought, and just take some really good b roll and background photos for you all my listeners and all my followers on Instagram. Or did I wanna go to the Harry Potter store? So just all kinds of things that I kinda wanted to do, but I woke up on Monday, and I had had such an amazing experience on Saturday on Broadway that I was like, I know. I wanna go to the Broadway Museum. So off to the Broadway Museum I went. And it was awesome.

It was so phenomenal. You are allowed to take tons of pictures. But the best part about it was talking to the docents. 1 of the docents was a teacher at NYU in the dance department and her former student who just got the lead in the revival of The Wiz as Dorothy was talking all about that. 1 of the docents was talking about the favorite show currently being Hadestown and why that was such an epic thing for him. A lot of these people are I mean, they're all Broadway nerds. And so talking to the docents about the exhibit was one of the most fun things. There's also a new exhibit, like a short term exhibit about 6, and the costumes of the 6, the women are in the rock star performance and who their rock star queen kinda inspiration is.

We're all up there. And then there is a great exhibit, which is backstage of an actual show and what goes into backstage, and how small the backstage area is for all that has to happen with the lighting, the props, the stage management, the production, the hair, the makeup, the costumes. It was so good. And, yes, lots of pictures about that on my Instagram. And then I decided that since I wasn't ever gonna see the Harry Potter show, the Cursed Child on Broadway because it's playing on a musical, and I who knows when I'll ever get back to New York City. And I haven't seen it travel. If it traveled to Austin, I think I would wanna go see it even though I've heard it so long. But the Harry Potter store, which I have heard other Disney fans talk about on their podcast, was something that I thought I was gonna do.

Turns out, it's pretty far away from Broadway. It's a hike. It would have taken me probably close to an hour. But there's a Harry Potter exhibition, and the only place in the US where it is, is in New York City. It is right across the street from Macy's. I have to go to Macy's Herald Square, and that isn't too far from Broadway. It was actually a pretty easy walk. And on the way, you get to see Carlo's Bakery.

It's a walk in. There's no seating. And I got lobster tails, my favorite pastry at Carlo's Bakery. You can only get them in New York City or in Vegas, so I get them at least once every trip to New York or Vegas. I got 2, And you know what? I was so excited to eat it on my walk from Broadway up to the Harry Potter exhibition in Macy's that I did not even take a photo of the lobster tail. Sorry, not sorry. So here are my tips for the Harry Potter exhibition. First of all, if you've ever been to Universal Studios and you've done the Harry Potter thing, you might be disappointed.

Although, if you are a fan of all the movies and you wanna see like some of the costumes and some of the way they do some of the green screen and the special effects. This might be a good exhibit for you. I will say, be sure and buy your tickets online before you go because the staff is understaffed. There was no one at the ticket booth. They are totally clueless. I went to the shop to try and buy tickets because there was no one at the ticket booth, and they sent me back to the ticket booth where there wasn't anyone, and I ended up just having to go online and buy my tickets anyway. I, of course, being the bougie me that I am was like, oh, there's an audio tour? Must get the audio tour. Okay.

Do not follow me. Do not get the audio tour. It is completely unnecessary. All they do is read you out loud the things that you can read for yourself at every stop. And if you've been to Universal, as I said, be prepared. You could be, aka, you will probably be disappointed in the exhibition. That being said, I killed 90 minutes in air conditioning in New York City, and it was right by the subway where I could get my little tush back on the subway and back to Brooklyn where we were staying. Yes.

We did stay at Marriott in Brooklyn because it was sort of equidistant from the places that I wanted to go on Saturday Sunday and where my husband's reunion was gonna be on Sunday. So Brooklyn it was. And I am super proud of myself that I did not get lost on the subway once. I did decide that I hated it. Smells like urine, especially when it's raining, but I didn't get lost. So that's a bonus. And that is it for my trip to New York. I would love to hear what you think of what I did.

What did I miss? What would you do in the future? All the things. And until next week, have fun jetsetters.