It was my second time to New York City. My first trip to New York was three years back when I visited the Statue of Liberty and the New York Auto Show. Unlike previously which was a day trip, this time I am actually going to stay in New York.
Due to my aunt’s vegetarian diet, I have decided that we should take a rental instead. While hotels can provide the best, I simply find that finding pure vegetarian food in New York City was quite difficult, so after much research of finding vegetarian places, I have decided that a rental would be much better because there would a kitchen where we can cook her meals.
Upon tons of research and comparing reviews and prices, I found this apartment in Queens, New York, about 15-20 mins from Manhattan and it was just like other homes that the locals are living in.
The rental owners are very nice, considering because Grace is Korean and it was very rare for Asians to be renting their place, she and her husband, Tony were very accommodating to our request. They even reserved their biggest apartment for us at a very modest pricing, (just because we are Asians! *wink*)
I could say, as a newbie in vacation rentals, I was very blessed to have met with such nice hosts.
This apartment in Queens is near the Woodside station and the community is a unique blend of Mexicans, Chinese, and Koreans. We were able to find Asian food relatively easily and that was a huge welcome for my youngest cousin, as she wasn’t used to the American diet.
She was so elated when she saw Nong Shim instant noodles in the Asian supermarket after 2 days of bread and American food; can you imagine that!
The apartment Grace has prepared for us was the biggest in her collection of rentals. It has 2 & 1/2 bedrooms with 2 toilets; a fully equipped kitchen (down to salt and pepper) and a nice size living room with an additional couch that could be turned into a day bed.
So practically, the four of us are living in a apartment that could comfortably house 6-8 guests.
Half bedroom (sectioned out by curtains) and the full kitchen with a corridor in the centre that leads to the bedrooms
Living room next to the open concept kitchen
The bedrooms were simple and comfortable and there was air-condition and heating throughout the house.
Double beds in the master bedroom
King sized bed in the second Bedroom
2nd Bathroom!
Like I mentioned previously, I had decided on a rental due to the convenience of being able to cook vegetarian food for our aunt. My cousin was the chef during the trip!
My cousin, the chef!
The kitchen had all the utensils needed and some of the basic condiments such as salt, pepper, soya sauce. We also had a fun time figuring out exactly how to use a dishwasher since we don’t use dishwashers back home!
Breakfast time!
Vegetarian meal!
Sarina and I with “Super-Mike”, our caretaker.
So, for such a huge apartment, how much was the rent exactly?
we paid USD1300 for the entire week, but you need to know that this price was in 2009.
The rate back then was USD1 to approximate SGD1.45.
So it was about SGD$1885 and that will work out to about SGD$472 per person/week (for 4 people). If there were 8 of us (full house), it would be around SGD$235 per person/week.
Considering that is the price for a 3 bedroom unit, which can take up to about 6-8 people, I think it is very worthwhile to be paying around $500/week, which in comparison is about 2 nights in a 4 star hotel in Singapore?
Here’s the link to this fabulous vacation rental which you can check out for more information:
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p68721?uni_id=1015528
