I had signed up for a photography workshop in New York over the weekend, so Aron and I tucked the kids in at grandma’s and grandpa’s house (thank you!) and hopped on a red eye together to extend the weekend for a night in the city.
Ever since we watched The Standard, High Line first rise above that now-iconic, elevated park, Aron and I have wanted to stay there. I’d never even stepped foot inside in all those years of walking beneath it, looking up to glimpse people in the windows and imagine stories about them à la Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
Last week, we were those people.
We booked the stay with our Visa Signature Card on the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection website, we were upgraded to this awesome view. (Though I’m not sure I would have put a TV right in the middle of it!)
You might recall that I’m partnering with Visa on a series of posts (kicked off with this trip to Vegas), but even if I weren’t I would have tried to use our card and the site to book—the perks are really good, and this partnership has totally changed the way I search hotels. For example: In cases like this, if I already know where I want to stay, I check to see if it is on their list. Anyone who uses the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection website to arrange their stay gets VIP Status; best available rate guarantee; complimentary Wi-Fi; complimentary continental breakfast (or, at the Standard, this was a $40-per-day credit at The Grill); a $25 food and beverage credit; late check-out and an automatic room upgrade, when available. Our Visa Signature card is the same United Visa card we would use anyway—and we still earn miles.
Red Eyes are a bit brutal. Ours landed at JFK at 5:51am—Yikes! (That’s 3am on west coast time, if you’re counting.) Thank goodness for that breakfast perk.
We dropped our bags and had breakfast at The Grill before setting off for the day. The french toast is amazing.
We walked and walked—through the Meatpacking into the West Village and then on to SoHo and NoLita, and even up to the East Village for lunch at Momofuku Noodle Bar before coming back to get our room key in the afternoon.
I have fewer photos from that evening (I think I was too busy people-watching), but the place really comes alive after dark. The hotel has such a sexy, cool factor—and it was packed with beautiful people who’d come to eat at the Grill, play ping pong and mingle (loudly) over German sausages at the Biergarten, or dance at the disco—Le Bain. I’d love to come in the summer when the seasonal pool opens and guests are grabbing bikes to ride up and down the Hudson.
And that spot with the bright pink you can see from our room, in the top photo? That’s the Whitney’s new downtown location—it opens tomorrow! (My old favorite, Untitled, is re-opening in its new lobby.) On our way back from dinner at another past haunt, we realized they were having a big opening party there.
It was such a quick trip, but it felt great to be together in this cool place that had figured so heavily in our view of the city for all of those years. Makes me think we should have considered a staycation!
Have you been? Do you have a hotel that figures romantically into your vision of a city?
I’ll share some more photos from my weekend workshop soon. (I took so many!)
P.S. When the High Line first opened, its second phase, and the recently opened part three. Also, it was one of the first walks I took with Hudson after he was born.
Sponsored by the Visa Signature Card. Take a look at your current Visa card to check for the Signature designation on the bottom right-hand corner, and then visit VisaSignatureHotels.com for all the details on booking your next trip. The Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection is a hand-selected portfolio that is developed for Visa Signature cardholders and is constantly updated.
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