trektorial

The 14 million visitors expected to flock to New York City this year during the winter holidays have a dedicated travel planner at the ready, on their desktops. Today, with the official launch of http://www.christmastimeinnewyorkcity.com, day trippers and international visitors alike can plan their itineraries, check traffic and weather, find out where to go with the family for a break (that’s free), and even where to “go” when enjoying Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s and Three Kings Day activities throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

Brainchild of advertising executive Frances Croke Page, the Web site is the most complete source of current, fully vetted New York City holiday information on the Internet.

“We designed Christmastime in New York City for the person who ‘produces’ holiday events in every family. It is the only constantly updated online lifestyle magazine that gives visitors an ‘insider’s view’ to planning and executing a trip to New York during the hectic holiday season,” she said.

The easy-to-navigate, berry-colored site provides:

• logistical help (traffic, parking and weather updates as well as public transportation routes)
• a planning tool (detailed itineraries for specific destinations, neighborhoods and boroughs, public restroom locations and other useful information)

• feature articles that include travel tips (how to dress the family for a City trip), as well as many of the City’s unique stories, both historical and biographical.

Some of the helpful travel titles are “15 Things To Do Within 10 Blocks of Radio City Music Hall”, and “An East Bronx Tale—Flora, Fauna and Flavor”, that takes visitors to the Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Garden and Arthur Avenue’s Little Italy with all its culinary delights. A current itinerary highlights the St. George area of Staten Island and its special Christmas activities and historic landmarks.

“New York Voices,” an exciting feature scheduled to debut in mid-November, will bring visitors into the lives and holiday recollections of famous New Yorkers from an assortment of careers–the arts, business, politics, theater, sports, fashion and food among them. Page interviews each New Yorker herself. Some of the first “Voices” will be John Gore and Kevin McCollom, co-producers of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” coming to Broadway this season, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, Wycliffe Gordon, jazz musician and composer who will headline “Red Hot Holiday Stomp” at Jazz at Lincoln Center and Herb Glaser, owner of family-owned Glaser’s Bake Shop, which has been at the same location for more than 100 years.