trip to new york

TomTom

I'm off to New York for 10 days at the end of the month. Anyone have any tips for me to do with flying or with the city itself. I have never been on a plane.

Quigs Snr

Well, I hope you're a good flier, cos you'll be in the air at least 6 hours. I am not great in planes. Try not to scream when you hit turbulence, the little shakes every now and then like you've gone over a pothole, if you run into a patch of it, they might ask you to fasten your seatbelt, don't panic, this always happens (for me anyway at this time of year). If you get jumpy, do what I do, watch the air hostess ! If she's not bothered then you shouldn't be either !

Drink plenty by the way, you dehydrate easily in a plane, the microwave dinners they give you are normally quite edible. You'll have a movie to watch anyway to keep you entertained.

NYC itself, well, you'll have to do the usuals, take the ferry to the statue of liberty, go up inside it. Take the elevator up the Empire State. Catch a show on broadway, go to time square, marvel at the idiots screaming fans everyafternoon outside the MTV studios when TRL live is on and some star is in the window. Nsync were there when I was there. It was a nightmare.
Central Park is nice, too at this time of year, you might be able to go ice skating there, in the summer you can rent a boat and row around. It's nice. The Natural History Muesum is also pretty cool, lots of Dinosaurs etc........

Shoppping is good in Manhatten, loads of bootleg designer stuff in Chinatown, lots of cheap presents ! So much to do in NYC, I could go on for days.

bombidol

Im off there myself in May for 3 weeks:D

TomTom

Thats the problem, I'm going for 10 days and there is so much to see.

the_corpo

i love nyc
unless you really want to, i'd advise skipping the statue of liberty, it'll rob a large part of your day. you can get the staten island ferry instead for free across the river. you'll get a decent view of the statue.

shopping wise, if you're after records head down to st marks place and visit stores like othermusic, etherea and mondo kims. clothing wise head to canal st jeans, which is having an amazing closing down sale. hopefully they'll still be open. right beside canal st are tons of good shops like yellow rat bastard 8)

bars wise, the burp castle is good for a laugh, it's run by monks and you're not allowed talk above a whisper. shockingly expensive. if i remember correctly the cheapest beer was $12

for boozing you're often better heading to brooklyn where the bars are nicer and cheaper. my faves are petes candy store and boat

i don't remember half the addresses for any of these but you'll find them very easily with google

the_corpo

also, what airport are you flying into?
if its jfk you can get the subway into manhattan for 2 dollars or something where a taxi will cost you $40 or more.

to get the subway leave your terminal and look for a bus stop that says it's heading to the station. takes about 10 minutes to get there and the journey is mental, under landing paths of tons of big jumbos and concorde.

the subway travel cards are brilliant, and i think you can get a 7 day pass. well worth it

Victor

Take the Circle Line tour - you get to see the main sights from a different perspective.

Be aware some stations have 3-4 platforms for the same line to allow for express and local trains. Get a 1-week subway ticket - much cheaper / handier. http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/metrocard/index.html

Get a good map (one that identifies things like sights, subway stations, cinemas, etc.) / guide.

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/
http://www.panynj.gov/

Originally posted by the_corpo
if its jfk you can get the subway into manhattan for 2 dollars or something where a taxi will cost you $40 or more.

There is a fixed fare to anywhere in Manhatten - it was about $30 two years ago. Queens / Brooklyn should be cheaper than this.

Originally posted by the_corpo
to get the subway leave your terminal and look for a bus stop that says it's heading to the station. takes about 10 minutes to get there and the journey is mental, under landing paths of tons of big jumbos and concorde.

There may be a new subway link - check the above sites.

The fixed taxi fare from JFK to manhattan is now $35, but you can have up to 4 people in the taxi, so that works out at less than $10 each, worth it imho, if you're not on a tight budget as , you'll be in in less than an hour.

You can get in on the Subway as mentioned above for a dollar or two, but if you are lugging luggage around, taxi is good

Speaking of subway, they don't use coin token there anymore, just metro swipe tickets, which can often not work even when theres credit on them, but you'll find theres loads of people willing to swipe you through anyhow

You will have a long Queue for the circle line tour , now as there is a large security tent and it's much like getting on a plane to the states, shoes and all searched.
Also, if you go there, you are no longer allowed up onto the Statue of liberty,just to the park around the island.
There is Ellis island , next stop, wher you can again wander round a park , and go into a Big old house which is now the Ellis island immigration museum, very interesting, as it used be where everyone landed in the states from Europe and you can see all the procedure, and rooms they were checked in.

I did Ellis island only, the last time, and as there are plenty of ferries, once you have gone through security, it's possible to be back at south ferry in about 3 hours.
If it's just the view you want, as said above, you can take the Statten islan ferry, it's free, but theres nothing really to do there but get the next ferry back!

Best advice, on the Empire state, though, is to get down there early, as the queue for that is Looooong! or alternatively, get there late in the evening, when you will fly up!(no queue)

Last piece of advice, if you are tall enough, check into your flight early( very early) and ask for a seat at the Emergency exit door as you will have a big wide seat there and full leg room
mm

TomTom

There is someone collecting me at jfk. so i don't have to worry about taxies. I think i'm staying in my sister place in brooklyn or else in my cousins in manhatten. From what i've heard so far this is going to be one hell of an experience.

Borzoi

I did NYC in January a few years back - it will be VERY cold at times - wind chill down to about -19C when I was there.

Things to do include: Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum, the Natural History Museum, Ellis Island. As others have said don't bother with the statue. Empire State is good, provided weather is clear and bright - which can be tricky in January.

Check out Times Square, but there realy is bugger all to see there, unless you like flashing lights. Check out Grand Central Station - its a cool walk through.

Bars wise, McSorleys is a must, and if you've cousins should know where the good bars are this week.

Have fun

The Cigarette Smoking Man

You should go and see the Knicks in Madison Square Garden - http://www.nba.com/knicks/

You should also visit St Pauls Chapel - beside the site of the World Trade Centre (leave your camera at home that day).

For everyone that's going there during the summer, you should take a trip on 'The Beast'. There's two boats, one leaves from the south street seaport and the other leaves from the west side. They meet up at the bottom of Manhatten and basically everyone gets soaked. Then there's the outdoor cinema in Bryant Park - I've watched a few great films there in the past few years.

http://www.nyc.gov
http://www.villagevoice.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1740593057
http://www.circleline.com/beast.htm
http://www.bryantpark.org/html/events.htm

Velvet Vocals

NYC is the best City in the World... it was the best holiday I EVER had and I miss it soooooo much! If you get the opportunity don't come back! I had it but I was too much of a chicken to be illegal....
I agree with all that's been said, I did the statue of Liberty thing and they don't let you inside it anymore so the waiting in Line for two hours to get the boat out there and 45minutes to get the boat back was a total waist of time! See it from the Staten Island Ferry! Go to Staten Island... it's so cool! Lods of my relations live there and it's where I stayed.

Go to the village.. it's fantastic - the Red Lion is a pretty good pub or Hogs and Heifers is so much fun! I found the cabs scary... and subway even scarier and if I'd been on my own I wouldn't have gone.
I did the circleline tour and it was really good.. A bit too long though. But I did it on my last day and I was so tired and hungover that it was nice just to chill on the boat and look around without having to do much.
From a really touristy perspective The Natural History Museum and planetarium is one of the most impressive things I've every seen... more the planetarium then anything. The Guggenheim is f**king amasing too.
Central Park on a nice day.... I could stay there forever. The strawberry fields that's dedicated to John Lenon is so peaceful.

One thing you should try and do...if you’re into it, is go and see a Broadway show. I went to see 42nd Street on Broadway and it was amasing! If you go during the day and your prepared to que for an hour or two you can get half price tickets... half price is around $60 - I know that's mad money but it's soooooo worth it!Just being in Time Square is fun in its self. Check out the virgin megastore there... it's the bigest one in the world... and it's so huge! and keep an eye out for the the Naked Cowboy...he's pretty impressive.

I could go on and on.... I loved it so much.
One good tip, get a good guidebook. I had the "Eyewitness" one and it was really, really good.

Anyway, your so lucky.. enjoy it!