The Pod Hotel Bunk Beds - photo courtesy The Pod Hotel

We spent the past hundred years up sizing, so it was inevitable: downsizing is now the rage, whether we like it or not. From cars to homes to waistlines to well, now hotels.

Everyone’s heard about the capsule hotels in Japan’s airports and train stations, and thought sure, if you’re tired enough, claustrophobia won’t set in and it beats sleeping on the ground. But really, it’s not feasible for more than a few hours and what about spending a week there?

The Jane's single room - - photo courtesy of The Jane

New York City, home of everything cool and hip, has the answer. Micro-hotels. Offering just about everything a normal hotel room does except for floor space. Rooms are sized 50 to 130 square feet and have the price to match with rates ranging from $89 to $170 per night. Space? Who needs space?

Located in the city’s trendy Meatpacking District is The Jane, offering micro-rooms designed to look like a cabin on a ship. This micro-hotel offers three size accommodations: single bed, bunk beds and double beds. Single and bunk rooms have shared bathrooms on each floor. Think of that as sharing

The Jane's shared bathroom, cleaner than home! - photo courtesy The Jane

the bathroom with your brother – you’ll be fine. Each room offers free wi-fi access, cable on the LCD flat-screen TV, DVD players, iPod docking stations, toiletries and bathrobes (this way, you don’t lose your undies in the bathroom).

The Pod Hotel is located in Midtown Manhattan. It’s decor looks like an Ikea showroom, but you can probably find your room a lot faster than you can find the exit at Ikea. The Pod offers four room sizes (single bed, bunk, double or queen) and has a few more options depending on your lodging needs. The single and bunk bed rooms have shared bathrooms on the floor with a handy lighting system in your room that allows you to know if the bathroom is occupied so you don’t have to look like a perv hanging out by the bathroom. Amenities at the Pod include free wi-fi access, LCD flat-screen TV, mp3 docking stations, and a steel sink in your room – so there’s no excuse not to brush your teeth.

Yotel Time Square Concept - photo courtesy Yotel

Opening Spring 2011 in Times Square is the Yotel. This micro-hotel is already available in London at Gatwick and Heathrow airports and at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. They’ve taken the idea of the Japanese capsule (coffin) and turned it into a room at the airport. Originally designed for the person stranded overnight, with a long layover or those that want to freshen up after that long flight to Europe, Yotel’s airport rooms are available for four hours or more and require reservations.

Yotel Standard Room floor plan - photo courtesy Yotel

Whereas we don’t think Yotel will offer rooms by the hour in Times Square, the rooms will be available for more traditional bookings starting in Spring of 2011. All rooms boast private bathrooms, LCD flat-screen TVs, a work station with free wi-fi and 24 hour room service.

All of these micro-hotels offer plenty of common space outside your room. From terraces to hip hang-out lounges, the place to be is outside your room, whether on the property or not. Hey, it’s New York – do you really want to hang out in your room?

HTG is actually on vacation: This story is from our best of files.  It originally ran on Oct. 10, 2010

Lost in the mist of Niagra Falls

The right to have wedding memories created in the mist of Niagara Falls, atop the Empire State Building or in the Hampton’s will now be legally shared by gay and straight people alike. Friday, just before midnight, New York became the sixth state to recognize same sex marriage. Good for them.

Not only has New York decided that everyone has the right to marry regardless of sexual orientation, they’ve also increased their tourism potential.

As the New York law makers have opened their minds, it’s also being noted that they may not have been so altruistic in their choice. The benefit of legalizing same sex marriage also opens a whole new revenue stream in New York’s tourism and wedding industry. Yes, gay people currently travel to and love New York. But now, they’ll have a reason to stay in NY for more than the weekend before going to Provincetown to get married.

Rainbow Cake? - SolidRecipe.com

Look for enterprising travel packages that will marry travel and nuptials at New York’s most sought after wedding sites. The potential of increased tax revenue is exponential. We’ll forgive the legislators for having tax revenue on their minds. We’re just happy they passed the law. Everyone should have the ability to marry the one they love and have all the benefits that a marriage contract ensures.

New York joins Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Iowa and Washington DC as the states that issue same sex marriage licenses. When did DC become a state? Rhode Island and Maryland are the only two states in the union that will recognize and honor the marriage contracts outside of the states where the marriage is performed. A strong NE Atlantic showing. Maybe someday the rest of the union will catch up.

The entire ride is a guaranteed near-miss fatality, fun for all ages, and no height requirement.

I was leaving the Javits Center and needed to get across town. It was raining, so the odds of getting a taxi were slim. I prayed to the Taxi Gods.

A streak of yellow and black appeared out of nowhere and lurched to a stop a few feet away.  I looked in disbelief as the door opened and a figure emerged, umbrella at the ready. The Taxi Gods had heeded my call.

I hopped in the back seat before the person was fully out of the car. Welcome to the land of push and grab.

“West 52^nd Street, between 6^th and 7^th Avenues,” I said. He nodded, reset the meter and threw the car into drive.

I watched the mini television in the back of the seat, oblivious to the passing blur of cars and buildings as MayorBloomberg’s cloying voice welcomed me to his city.

The cab sped up to a busy intersection on a green light. We flew through the first crossing but came to a jolting halt at the next. Diet Coke spilled down my shirt.

“Deez people! Dey run in front of my car, no care I have green light! No care!” He laid on the horn. “I want to knock dem down like bowling pin….BAM!” He slammed his hands on the wheel.  “No is safe! So stupid!”

I laughed but pretended to cough.

His animated passion for the dislike of mass humanity resonated with me on a cellular level. I wanted to invite him to dinner.

“You no care?” he yelled to the woman, even though the windows were up. “I no care.”

I nodded in agreement, thinking how profound a statement that was. I took out a scrap piece of paper and wrote it down. Was I in the presence of my own personal Jesus? Anything was possible in Manhattan.

He gunned the engine again; given the heft of the taxi, the car had some serious kick. The g-force knocked me back in my seat, Diet Coke spilling in my lap. You could tell he lived for these rare moments when the streets opened up and he could really let loose.

We settled back into the halting dance of red-light, green-light through the glut of traffic, soon approaching the neon carnival of Times Square.

He pointed to the side of street.

“You see dis?” He pointed to a blur of green dots marking a wide lane near the curb. “Dis is new bike lane. So stupid! Waste of space and no one even use! Da bikes, dey don’t use. Still weave in and out of traffic like ants. I want to crush dem. But no.” He shook his head.

I thought of my favorite episode from “Kids in the Hall”: “I crush your little head—crush, crush, crush.”

We sat in silence as he maneuvered us through the hot mess of rush hour. He soon broke the silence.

“And dis gas prices, is crazy, you know?” He looked at me in the rearview. “Soon four, five dollar a gallon! Crazy. But what I can do? I need da gas, so I buy.” He shrugged his shoulders.

I was flying across town with an angry bird as my guide, a weathered soul whose shiny feathers had turned the color of weak coffee and depression from years on the road. Yet on he drove, determined to get me where I needed to go, as fast as the traffic would let him.

We pulled up to the restaurant. He put the cab in park and tallied the fare. I wanted to prolong the ride to hear more of his rants and raves. But no. I go.

I watched as he gunned the engine and flew away, his car blending into the flock of checkered cabs.

Bed Bug! Nasty picture from Wikepedia

Ewee. Bed bugs are making news again. This time, they’re accompanied by an equally appalling life form, the lawyer mouthpiece.

After Svetlana Tendler claimed she and some bed bugs shacked up at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City back in 2007, Tendler has been trying to overcome the bites and fear she has of hotel beds. Yes, it’s 2011, but the scars, both physical and emotional, remain. What better way to heal those scars than with a $10M lawsuit?

She let the bed bugs bite (photo bedbugsremovalguide.com)

Tendler states in her lawsuit that the bites became red and swollen, triggering an allergic reaction. This lead to a serious infection and scaring. Then, after having used cortisone and antibiotics for an extended time, she developed a fungal face infection and Facial Folliculitis, with further complications to surrounding skin.

Book your room where we got the photo: waldorfastoria.com

Now Tendler has an (un)healthy fear of hotels, and suffers from anxiety and sleep disorders. When she does have to travel, she’s armed with a mini-maglight, magnifying glass and loaded magnum, all to make sure she and her family remain safe as the crawl into some unknown bed.

Tendler’s lawyer states that it took so long to file the lawsuit because she was hoping to settle the suit quietly with the Waldorf Astoria and avoid a costly lawsuit. Tendler originally hoped the hotel would pay for her medical bills and plastic surgery. But after the hotel determined it didn’t find a bed bug back in 2007, it probably wrote her off.

The Waldorf Astoria has not made any public statements on this or the other two bed bug lawsuits pending against them. Chances are likely, however, that the price of this lawsuit will get them to at least talk with Tendler.

Nonetheless, New York City and Miami have started a tourist exchange program, the two regional tourist organizations announced Tuesday.

And American Airlines wants to help — offering $79 one way tickets until Oct. 21 to and from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale to New York’s three airports. (Travel must occur between Jan. 5 and Feb. 25 — suggesting all of the tickets will originate in New York — and meaning the exchange program is not a 1 for 1 trade.)

The program will allow pasty hipsters in Brooklyn to get a full dose of vitiamin D for a few days and return to The City with at least a little color. They will need a driver’s license to get around, however, which may throw off a few potential travelers.

Native Floridians, if there is such a person, can also head up to the Big Apple for shopping and a dose of rude behavior, though why anyone would leave Miami in January for New York is beyond us — but you can if you want.

Photo by Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

The two tours, the Circle Line Downtown Zephyr and the New York Water Taxi, both depart lower Manhattan and cross the iconic New York Harbor under some of New York’s most stunning bridges, including the George Washington, Tappan Zee, the Rip Van Winkle and Bear Mountain. The tours then heads north past the rolling landscape of the Hudson Palisades,cruising by historic mansions and quaint villages along the riverbank. The Lyndhurst Castle, a gorgeous gothic revival mansion built in 1838, and the majestic granite buildings of  West Point Military Academy  founded in 1802 are signature sights for architecture buffs. Bird watchers will want to bring binoculars to better spot hawks and falcons.

Ticket prices vary per tour; the longest tour (5 ½ hours) on The Circle Line Zephyr costs $120 per person and includes a Continental breakfast, full lunch buffet and soft drinks, and complimentary wine tasting. The Zephyr departs Pier 16 at South Street Seaport at 11 a.m. on October 23^rd, 30^th and November 6^th.

The New York Water Taxi tour lasts 4 ½ hours and departs Pier 17 at South Street Seaport on October 24^th, 31^st and November 7^th at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 per person and include hot cider and snacks with a cash bar. Bring sunscreen, a camera, binoculars and dress in layers.

Fast foliage fact: Leaves change colors because of cooler temperatures and shorter days, causing  trees to stop producing chlorophyll, the natural chemical that makes leaves green. With the green pigment gone, the colorful pigments of other plant substances called carotenoids (yellows and oranges) and anthocyanins (red) become visible.

Zephyr photo courtesy of Circle Line Downtown; foliage photo courtesy of Chris Porter.

The Joy of Sake finishes is US tour tomorrow in New York City — offering more than 300 different types of this Japanese elixir ranging from junmai and ginjo to daiginjo. (Yeah, we’re not sure what the means either.)

But what we do know is that any group of people who can turn a grain of rice into alcohol must be good, which is why the wicked evil hipster impersonator Steve Kaplan attempted to act like an HTG reporter to get into the event, which runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow at 82 Mercer — which is at, well, 82 Mercer Street in the Big Apple.

A number of New York’s finest Japanese restaurants (at least that’s what the event promoters are telling us) such as Bond Street, 15 East, Geisha Sushi Samba, Sakuagura, En Japanese Brasserie, omb/B, Matsugen Hibino, 1 or 8, Tanuki Tavern and Woo Lae Oak are participating in the event.

Another way to look at it: the Joy of Sake is the largest sake celebration in New York City.

Don’t take our word for it — as we have yet to attend this particular alcohol filled evening: Here’s some coverage from the Honolulu Joy of Sake from 3D Hawaii.

However, we have been to Benihana — slugging down so much sake in those little porcelain bottles that at some point it looked like the chef had turned an onion into a volcano.

This event, however, appears to have some of the best sake available and taste some of the finest Japanese food as well. This is the third and final stop for The Joy of Sake. (Aside from the Honolulu stop, another event was held in San Francisco.)

Tickets cost $90 can be ordered online or through Sake Hotlines at: 212-799-7243.  For that price, if you can slug down a 1.3 Sake shots a minute, you can try them all. Of course, the hangover will last you through the weekend.

Parking, when you can find it, is very expensive. And that’s only if you can find it.

Double parking, while illegal, is often the preferred method if you’ve just got to run into the shop to grab a bagel and coffee.

These are just a few rules Egypt’s former boy King should learn as his homeland prepares to bring his chariot to New York City. The chariot, which has not left Egypt for at least three centuries, has also gained a certain amount of notoriety.

After learning the young king had a broken leg shortly before he died, many scientists theorized the King may have fallen off his chariot while hunting. This theory, known as the “stuff we make up” theory, could play a central role during the chariot’s tour.

The chariot arrives Wednesday and will join Mr. Tut at the Discovery Times Square Exposition. In 2011, the chariot will head to Denver.

Well a tour might be in order: So why not grab Gray Lines’ love bus, “Night on the Town.”

It’s a singles five-hour bus tour that includes a Top of the Rock Tour (Rockefeller Center), a romantic dinner in Little Italy (champagne anyone?) and a tour of the High Line (a park used for dumping bodies).

Of course, the entire night is filled with romance, as Gray Lines will include a sort of speed dating — forcing people to play musical chairs as the singles will be rotated from chair to chair to meet everyone on the bus. (In the past this was known as sitting next to a stranger or just riding the subway.)

And if you’re looking for romance, check out this line from the announce

ment of the tour: “What better place to meet the future apple of your eye than on a singles tour around the BIG Apple – with the amazing city skyline in the backdrop?”

You can’t make this stuff up.

The one-time tour would typically cost $89, but an online special is offering it for $59. The big tour is on June 3rd. It departs 777th 8th Avenue at 5:30 p.m.

Photos from Gray Lines.

Call the cops: Look at all of the potential car bombs. They're everywhere.

Anyone traveling in New York City with a car — and we’re not entirely sure  why someone would take a car to the Big Apple — should note: If you park it, New Yorkers might call the police.

New Yorkers are rattled — just a few weeks ago, a poorly trained terrorist filled up an SUV with fireworks, parked it in Time Square and then lit the fuse. It was either Death to America or Come Celebrate Independence.

The SUV bomb fizzled but it demonstrated that New Yorkers could once again become victims of a terrorist.

So last night, when a man parked his car near Union Square, people called police and said it might be a car bomb. Legally parked vehicles have now become suspect, as any self respecting New Yorker would rather triple park before legally paying for parking.

After police were called,  the streets were blocked off, bomb squads showed up, robots were used and at least one building was evacuated, according to media reports.

The vehicle, which runs on gas, was considered suspicious because it had a gas can inside of it. The man who parked the car, discovered cops in coveralls poking his vehicle with a big stick when he returned from a nearby concert.