NYC Walking Tours with Professional Photographers

I recently discovered this company in NY with a very interesting idea. A walking tour accompanied by a professional photographer. Not only do you get to see the views of the Brooklyn Bridge, but you’ve got a portrait with the skyline as a backdrop. I was very impressed by their New York  image gallery. Seems like they specialize in couples – so definitely a nice idea for  Romantic Getaways In New York.

They are mentioned on tripcart, in the New York City Tourist Attractions section, under Guided Tours in Manhattan. For TLV2JFK, the company was kind enough to provide a description of their service – now I ask my readers to share their experiences.

“PhotoTrek Tours (www.phototrektours.com) offers private walking tours of New York City with your own personal photographer/tour guide. Guests are captured in all their own photos with NYC landmarks such as Central Park, Times Square and the Brooklyn Bridge as backdrops. Our tours have a 4.9 out of 5 star rating with over 400 reviews to date.

Guests will also discover insider’s secrets, off the beaten path places for dining, shopping entertainment and more. Your native New York guide will also show you how to use the New York City subway so you fell completely at home in New York to navigate the rest of your stay.

Guests will receive a CD-ROM delivered within 24 hours with dozens of professional quality photos of themselves in New York City.”

Here are some of their work:

Israel Airfare for Passover

TLV2JFK presents the 2010 Pre Pesach Price Planner for those taking the family to the states for Passover. The sooner you start hunting for tickets, the better. Right now ElAl, Delta and Continental are charging around $1500 for non-stop. Adding a stop can get you down to about $1200 and even down to about $1000 if you are ready to spend a night somewhere and trek from one airport to another. Here are some tricks to help in your search:

• Orbitz is easiest to use for the big picture
• AA is best for finding alternate dates – but make sure to indicate “All carriers” on search
• ElAl site often has lower prices than shown elsewhere
• Children pay about 10% less – usually best to see that on the airline site
• AlItalia comes up with great deals if you can catch it (was $800 for pesach, last week) – but not on their site! Use Orbitz. And take a day off in Rome or Milan.
• Prices go down a bit if you can return the week after Pesach
• Forget about free tickets from Israel, but if you can pay your way to Europe – you may have some luck using that free ticket.

And finally, an idea that most of my readers (and my family) will ignore. Royal Jordanian via Amman.

You can find these flights by “including nearby airports” on Orbitz (not on Kayak). A random search today turned TLV to Amman to JFK (non-stop) and then return to Amman for under $800. Thats a savings of about $400 per person. But, you have to make your way back to Israel from Amman. Its a 4 hour drive to Aquaba and a simple crossing into Israel. Make the trip less painful by spending a day in Petra in Jordan and a day or two in Eilat. It will cost less and the kids get to miss more school. In another post I will discuss Jordan and the option of crossing directly at the Allenby bridge.

A word about passover destinations in the US. If you have to go to the catskills, take a day off for the local attractions,  like the  Kykuit Rockefeller Estate. If you end up in Disney, you can save money at the Prime Outlet Orlando Mall.  LA is a good passover destination – check out the Fun Things to do in Southern California.