Birthday Getaway

PLAN PLAN PLAN

I’ve wanted to vacation somewhere for my 18th birthday for what feels like forever.

The thing is, there are only so many places you can go as a teen on a budget—so I had to set some limits.

I wasn’t looking for a week-long overseas trip. I just wanted to travel somewhere cheap and close to New York City (NYC) for a weekend.

Living on Long Island in New York allows you to be able to travel practically anywhere on a low budget and with little travel time. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) became my best friend. 

The LIRR allows you to travel from NYC throughout the island, and Amtrak travels pretty much anywhere in the country. So I began looking for connecting cities. 

I entertained the ideas of Providence, Rhode Island, or Boston, Massachusetts, but finding affordable hotels that allow 18-year-olds to check in would be challenging because most hotels require 21-year-olds to check in. Finding affordable activities would be difficult because they are major cities in their states.

At a party, my friend suggested we go to the American Dream mall in New Jersey. I fell in love with that idea, and a plan was set in motion.

TRAVEL THIS. TRAVEL THAT.

Since we decided on a destination in early July 2024, I had less than a month to prepare an itinerary for us to follow.

Initially, there were supposed to be five of us going on this trip, but because some of my friends have strict parents or had a last-minute emergency—which is surprisingly common nowadays—they couldn’t join us. Now we were down to three. All this meant was that the hotel and travel prices would increase slightly between us, which is still better than paying for a hotel room and Uber/Lyft rides by myself. 

I was lucky enough to find a hotel that allowed us teens to check in. Our check-in time at the Hampton Inn Carlstadt-At The Meadowlands was 3:00 PM on a Saturday, which cost $681.28 (approx. $227 per person).

Before we left for our train to NYC we stopped at a local Rite Aid to get snacks and beverages for the journey ahead. Our train left at 12:40 PM and we each paid $10.75 before boarding for an off-peak train ticket on the LIRR.

TIP: Wait until you see the ticket inspector or conductor scanning or punching tickets to activate your train ticket on the MTA TrainTime app. There are times when you could pay for a lower fare or avoid paying it altogether because a train employee never checked the tickets or checked it late. And, you can avoid the anger of paying for a ticket that was never scanned and receive a refund.

We arrived at Penn Station in NYC at about 1:30 PM and decided to find something to eat from one of the restaurants and use the restrooms before we took an Uber to the hotel. Since we were ahead of schedule I called the hotel to ask if we could check in early. With no issue, they said the room would be ready for an early check-in.

After a few minutes at Penn Station, we purchased an Uber and arrived at the hotel at about 2:45 PM.

NOTE: At the front desk they asked for the ID of the person who reserved the room and a card to put $100 on hold—you will get this money back. For the hold, the employees also asked for the cardholder’s ID—you must be 18 years old to put your card on hold at this location.

After we arrived at the hotel we decided to decompress and relax before heading to the American Dream mall.

At this point, we made a mistake. We purchased an Uber at 4:00 PM to the mall instead of using the hotel’s bus shuttle service. 

NOTE: The Hampton Inn at Carlstadt-At the Meadowlands provides a bus shuttle service that takes you directly to the mall, instead of having to find your own mode of transportation.

LET’S PLAY!

Nevertheless, we made it to the mall in a few minutes and in one piece. At the mall we did so much: we had dinner, went on the Dream Wheel for $26 each, rode remote-controlled animals with Dream Riders for $10 each, took tons of pictures, and of course, we shopped! We had so much fun!

We returned to our hotel in a Lyft and prepared for the next day by staying up until midnight to celebrate my birthday! Then we decompressed from the long day we just had!

GOOD MORNING 18!

Now that I am officially 18, we started our day with a hot self-serve breakfast provided by the hotel. They had it all: scrambled eggs, pastries, waffles, bagels, home fries, coffee, juice, and more!

I decided to start our plans for the day in the afternoon, so we had enough time to unwind and get glammed up.

We purchased an Uber at around 2:00 PM and headed to the New York Botanical Gardens arriving around 3:00 PM. We bought our tickets online for $35 each and had access to the entire gardens. 

We were in a bit of a time crunch because the park closed at 6:00 PM, so we didn’t get to see everything. But what we visited was great! 

We entered Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a massive greenhouse with various stunning plants. We ate lunch at this cute place called The Pine Tree Café within the gardens. We saw The Native Plant Garden, a small, yet stunning water feature and pathway. Lastly, we window-shopped at the NYBG Gift Shop, where I had to resist making several purchases because of budgeting.

The time went quickly and 6:00 PM approached so we decided to take off and continue our plans today.

UH OH!

We bought an Uber to take us to our next location: Orchard Beach & Promenade. Here is where I made another mistake. 

The horizon of Orchard Beach moments before a rainstorm hit.

I forgot to look at the weather. A rainstorm was approaching and the wind began to pick up at the beach. We probably spent 30 minutes here before getting a Lyft to our next location. 

Although the weather was not up to par, the location was decent, but heavily under construction at the time. I would love to go back and truly enjoy Orchard Beach for what it truly is.

DINNERTIME

Our next location was much more inland. We arrived at Bella Union, a restaurant and bar with a rooftop view.

I anticipated a later arrival at the restaurant and made our reservation for 9:15 PM, but the rain changed our plans and we arrived hours before our reservation. We arrived around 7:00 PM and they sat us down immediately with no issues. 

We decided not to be seated on the rooftop because of the downpour. We sat on the first story we were welcomed with amazing scenery. The window view was lovely and the ambience was cozy and cute. We ordered appetizers and entrées, and my friends surprised me with dessert.

9:00 PM rolled around and we decided to go back to the hotel. We purchased an Uber and we made it to the hotel at around 10:15 PM and prepared for our last day.

TIP: When traveling you should expect plans to be changed, whether because of the weather or for any other reason. Expect the unexpected and go with the flow!

LET’S GO HOME

This was our final day away from home. We had our hot breakfast provided by the hotel at 8:00 AM and packed our belongings. We checked out by 10:30 AM and took a Lyft to Penn Station.  

From Penn Station, we took the LIRR ($10.75 per ticket) to our hometown station and were home by noon.

On my itinerary, we were supposed to go to the American Dream mall one last time, but we didn't want to carry our luggage everywhere we went after checking out of the hotel. Ultimately, we went straight to NYC from the hotel.

REFLECTION

Firstly, I want to thank my best friends Linda and Monica for joining me on this trip and making it an unforgettable experience.

Secondly, I want to address some things I would have done differently after this trip. I wish we had access to a car so we didn’t have to purchase an Uber or Lyft everywhere we wanted to go. Also, I believe there were cheaper housing options possibly via Airbnb, which would not have made the cost of the hotel a financial burden.

Lastly, I want to express how much joy I had going on this trip and planning it. At first, planning this trip seemed overwhelming, but dedicating a few hours to sit down and arrange all the events helped. Planning this trip lessened my travel anxieties and made the journey truly enjoyable!