We stayed at 'The New York Helmsley' hotel in New York....a hotel which I had booked more than 6 months in advance and which I got at a reasonable price for a 3.5-4 star hotel right in Manhattan (212 East 42nd Street). For the price we paid, the only equivalent hotel that would compare was a trendy hostel called 'The Pod Hotel New York'...a place for those who just need a room with shared facilities...so yes I got a great deal!
Anyway we checked it and got treated well.....they put us on the 40th FLOOR and gave us a part-view of the Chrysler Building and some of the NY skyline....
Anyway the real surprise was the next day of our stay..... on the 2nd night when we came back to the hotel and went up to our floor....we say men dressed in suits (wearing ear pieces) standing in the corridors of the 40th floor....our floor!!! As we walked by these men we asked what they were doing there and their response was they were protecting people!!! Over the days we got a little more info from them and confirmed they were secret service protecting some head (and his entourage) from an African country that were attending a high level meeting on AIDS......I even tried asking one of them whether we could take a photo with them but was politely declined.....
But here are two blurry pictures of them standing in our corridor (taken discretely of course with my iphone) from our room door.
It was nice that the hotel felt that we were safe enough to stay and share a floor with the important leaders of our world.....indirectly were were royalty guarded 24x7 during our stay by the mysterious secret service...... what an experience!
