Hotel
I cannot sing the praises of the Fairfield Inn and suite by Marriott hotel, enough. To begin with, we were greeted by the chamber staff with a smile and a hello each morning, I’ve stayed in many places where they stare at the floor when they see you coming or just don’t respond to a ‘good morning’, I cannot fault the helpfulness of all the reception staff either, they gave advice on transport, things to do and shops in the area and even let me make a call to England when my phone wouldn’t work.
Staring your day
The hotel operates on an all you can eat basis at breakfast with cold options: cereal, bagels and yoghurt, hot option: American biscuits with sausage and egg and omelettes which did not appeal to either of us, the biscuit/ muffin is sweet, and with an egg or sausage it just didn’t fit with our British breakfast palate. There was also hot and cold drinks available and fruit. One morning Jessica commented that the lucky charms had ran out, she was overheard by a member of staff who, without being asked went to the trouble of getting a box then came to find where we were sitting and presented it to Jess. This was a lovely , kind touch and did make us smile.
With our appetites being much smaller than many that surrounded us, we didn’t feel bad taking a bagel, yoghurt and a piece of fruit for later, keeping costs down in the city a little bit. A hotel full of people generated a lot of plastic waste , as everything we ate from was disposable which was a shame and was all thrown in the bin with uneaten food. So it seemed no recycling would be happening.
The hotel only include breakfast in the cost of your stay and it doesn’t offer food at any other time. However, you are more than welcome to order take away to your room which we saw many people doing. They do have a small shop but the range is limited.
Our room.
We had a spacious room with a double bed each and a generous-sized bathroom. The shower was fantastic! There was a big t.v. that we did veg out with one evening and all the usual stuff you’d expect to find in a hotel room plus it was spotless. Despite the fact that traffic went by day and night, we were never disturbed by the noise and the blackout curtains ensure a restful night’s sleep.
The cost of our stay at the 2-star hotel was £945 for seven nights (October 2022)
Getting into the City
The Fairfax Inn, is thirty minutes by bus, from central Manhattan during the day, at a cost of $3.50 pp each way, the driver will accept cash and you can buy tickets from a machine at the bus station if you’d prefer to work that way, I didn’t notice a card reader on the bus and no one seemed to ask to pay that way. So make sure you have some money on you. We caught the 127 into New York from the 69th stop directly outside the hotel to the final destination: The Port Authority Bus Station. Check the time and the platform for going back as the times are not regular and the platform can change. Later in the evenings the journey time extends to an hour or more due to traffic.
Handy hint: Coming out of New York I strongly suggest you sit on the right side of the bus and have your camera ready. The views as you climb out of the North River Tunnel from under the Hudson are spectacular, especially at night. Sadly, we were either too tired or not quick enough to catch a decent photo.
The train is a twenty-six minute ride at a cost of around $3 pp each way, from 30th street at Jfk blvd. It runs every five minutes and takes you to Penn Station and the last train back is around 11 pm. We didn’t take the train into the city as the bus was more convenient for us. Of course you can also always grab a cab, costing around $50 per trip. This is a costly way to get into the city but we did have to do this on the day we visited Liberty island because being a Sunday, the buses did not run early enough for us.
We really did enjoy our ride through North Bergen each morning, I get a kick out of watching people go about their morning routine and the different houses always fascinate me. Most housing is detached with a garden of some description. Just like you see in the movies, many had swing chairs out front and big flags. You can’t argue with the patriotism of the Americans.
Travel costs in and out of the city: bus: $49 taxi: $50 Total cost: $99 . These transport costs are just for getting in and out of the Manhattan.
Issues ( depending on your point of view)
Depending on how pocket busting you’re willing go will probably define your accommodation choice. For us keeping costs down was important, pushing us off Manhattan. This made us slaves to the transport system and we missed out on late night bars and other evening revelry. Getting back to the hotel to get changed and then back into the city was a hassle and there were no busses between 10 pm and the last bus at midnight coming from New York, after that you are stuck with a costly taxi. Personally I think that North Bergen might be more suited to the older traveller or those that would like a quieter place to stay.
It forced us to make the decision that once we’d left the hotel on the 9.15 bus ,we stayed out until our feet couldn’t carry us anymore which was generally twelve hours. Certainly staying in the thick of it would allow you the freedom to nip back to your digs for a nap and a change before heading back out, making for a very different stay. So as with all types of travel it becomes a decision between what type of experience you are looking for against what your budget will allow.
What’s near by.
On our bus ride into Manhattan I did notice pizza and other restaurants as well as bars so the hotel is not in the back end of nowhere, there is also a Target and and Taco bell within spitting distance, both of which enthralled Jess more than the city, I think ( not really, but she was seriously impressed with Target’s array of orange and ginger flavoured foods for the Halloween and Autumn season).
There are a few things to do in the borough: The River View Park and The New Jersey Beer Company to name two, but for us North Bergen was just a place to lay our heads so we didn’t venture to see anything in the vicinity.
As a base, this little town met most of our needs, not perfectly as we did have to accept we would miss out on the night life but neither of us are big drinkers and other factors meant that being in the hustle and bustle would become too much to bare as the day moved on.
Helpful Websites
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/ewrnb-fairfield-inn-and-suites-north-bergen
Elsewhere Stories 