We deliberated for a long time about how we were going to stay as close to New York as we could without having to pay too much for accommodation or public transport, I had already decided that Dora wasn't going into NYC. We were not driving into the Big Apple. So we made the decision after having Cinnarolls for breakfast to stay in Newark, New Jersey, because it was close and a reasonable price. The Hotel Riviera was the destination, but we hadn't quite realised yet what we had let ourselves in for. So we drove there, and quickly realised it wasn't the nicest area we had ever been to. We checked in for 4 nights to the smell of narcotics and to the sound of sirens, we parked the car in the securely locked area joined to the hotel, and made our way to the room. It was basic at best, which was no problem, but then we stumbled upon some reviews that we should've maybe read before we agreed our stay. People trying to get into rooms, noise throughout the night and frequent drug use were all experienced by previous residents. The advertised fitness room didn't exist, the "city" view was far exaggerated and the bed was so creaky a movement could wake you up. So we set about trying to change our booking, safety was an issue. We didn't leave the room for anything aside dinner, which was a takeaway McDonald's. 0.2 miles away, we didn't think to venture further. Booking.com contacted the hotel on our behalf and arranged our refund and we were to check out the next day, which was good news. We tried to sleep that night to the now usual background sound of sirens and loud neighbours. We found out we were in the one of the most unsafe 10% of cities in the states, and our chances of being a victim of crime were 4 times that of the rest of the States. With the frequency of crime 9 times that of the national average. It was safe to say we were looking forward to leaving. It wasn't an issue of snobbery, we just didn't feel safe.