Twenty-seven hours later than expected, and travelling east instead of west, we saw the skyline for the first time, gleaming steel rising from a flat plain in clear sunlight, like science fiction. Then the bridges and the snaking highways, so familiar they seemed unreal.

Our taxi driver was from Haiti. He told us of the troubles there and how he would return and stand for senator. Then he passed back a picture of himself in a jazz band and put on a tape of Haitian music, singing along and translating for us. At the Holland Tunnel he chatted in Creole to a fellow Haitian who collected the toll.

As the taxi veered towards East Village, we peered up at the streets around us, the skyscrapers seeming somehow smaller now we were among them, the buildings round East Village like the setting of Friends.

Haitian jazz pumped out from the cab and the boys bounced around to the rhythm in the back. "Welcome to America, guys, " the driver said, turning round with a broad grin. "Thank you, " they replied.

I hadn't wanted to come to America. Why should I choose to visit a country that infiltrated every corner of the earth? Trying to wean my sons, aged 14, 12 and 10, off American influences I had hauled them round France, Italy and Spain. When I first raised the possibility of visiting New York, their enthusiasm outstripped any response I'd had to other trips. What I didn't expect was how much I would love it.

It was the people that did it. Their relentless helpfulness and pride in their city.

If we hesitated for a second on a street corner we were inundated with assistance.

And I've never felt safer in any city. East Village, 20 years ago the haunt of bums and drug addicts, according to a Bangladeshi cab driver who lives there, is now virtually crime free. He has no fear of carrying large amounts of money in his cab. The area has carefully tended small parks and gardens and atmospheric neighbourhood cafes.

East Village Bed and Coffee is categorised 'cheap chic' by Time Out New Yo r k and rated top on www. tripadvisor. com for budget accommodation.

For $140 a night we had a spacious comfortable room opening onto a sittingroom with free cable TV, phone and broadband internet, a kitchen/diningroom and bathroom. We saw little of the occupants of the other rooms. While they sampled New York nightlife, we were happy to stay in the warm, recover from pounding the streets and pick from a thick file of local takeaway menus . . . ranging from Afghan to vegan.

Lunch times gave us a chance to sample Indian, Chinese and Italian places we came across on our wanderings . . . all excellent and cheap. Chinatown came out tops with soup, four dishes, rice and drink for $4 each. We were the only non-Chinese in the packed restaurant. A couple of streets away, we were the only non-Italians.

The boys took to shopping with a vengeance, which surprised me. They couldn't get enough of Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle and Macy's.

Opposite Ground Zero, they checked out the bargains in Century 21.

Their natural reluctance to visit galleries . . . on a recent trip to the Uffizi in Florence my eldest spent the whole time in the coffee bar . . . was triumphantly overcome by the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art. The Natural History Museum, reached via Central Park under 30 inches of snow, had enough dinosaurs and forgotten tribes to feed any boy's imagination.

On Brooklyn Bridge they wore t-shirts, the temperature ranging from -10 to 100C during our stay. Staten Island ferry, which has a bright new terminal, took us past the Statue of Liberty. Queues to go up it disappeared into the distance. The ferry is free, relatively tourist-free, and gives another classic perspective of the Manhattan skyline.

THE FACTS Getting there We travelled with Continental Airlines, booked online two months ahead; adult 297, child 276; www. continental. com.

Staying there East Village Bed and Coffee, $140 per night for a room for four, www. bedandcoffee. com.

While you're there >> Taxi from Newark to East Village $46, back again $70.

>> Top of the Rock, West 50th St between 5th and 6th Avenues. Child $9, Adult $14.

>> Metrocard, $24 unlimited use for seven days, or $7 unlimited use per day. Can also be used on buses.

>> Museum of Modern Art, free on Fridays 4pm-8pm, otherwise adults $20, kids under 16 free.