New York Travel Pt. 2

Planning a trip to New York City is overwhelming, especially if you've never been there before. While wading my way through NYC books, travel guides, websites and friends' advice, I chose things that I absolutely wanted to see, and I knew I would regret not seeing.  Know this: You absolutely can't do everything that you want to do, whether you stay a week or a month.

We purchased the New York Pass, which cost us $140 per person for 2 days. The New York Pass is a great idea in theory. The one we purchased included several bus tours, which we only used twice. It includes 55 attractions in NYC that you could go to for free (because you purchased the pass).

Tip: Loosely plan out your day, but go with the flow. I booked our schedule around what neighborhoods we'd be in. Unfortunately I misunderstood the bus tour and ended up wasting a whole day only doing two things! The first thing you should do, especially if you purchase the bus tour, is start your bus tour as soon as you get there- and don't activate your Pass until the next day (as it will expire at Midnight the last day you can use it).

The bus tour that we hopped on was 2.5 hours long, and it's "hop on, hop off" which, again, sounds like a good deal, but that's if you leisurely want to see the city. (Where we went wrong is that we thought we'd be stopping at all of the stops, which wasn't true, and they kicked us all off at the Statue of Liberty, a long way from where we needed to be!) I suggest taking the Subway, which, on the high end, only costs $2.50 per single ride (cheaper if you get a Metro Card) and it will take you places much quicker than a bus tour or even walking. The subway system is pretty easy to figure out- and I actually enjoyed riding it when we were going really far (and also when it was raining and no cabs would stop!)

We saw the Statue of Liberty, which was included in the NY Pass. Unfortunately, the Pass did not include Monument Access, only a ferry ride to the island! You waited in line to get to the ferry for an hour or two, spend another hour in the security and ferry ride, where you're herded like cattle... and a 15 minute ride to Liberty Island, where you have to avoid thousands of amateur photographers photographing Lady Liberty.

Instead: take a leisurely stroll around the seaport and into Battery Park City, see the water, lovely landscaping and the boats. I was really in awe of the beauty of the New York City park system.

We saw two Broadway shows while in NYC- and if you go, you definitely need to see some! There's so many, one for every taste. If you're a student or have a student ID, check out the "Student Rush" tickets. These are available the day of the show, at the box office, at 10 am. We got two Jersey Boys tickets (2006's Best Broadway Musical) for $27 apiece with a student ID! We also purchased 2 Lion King musical tickets and paid more for them as they weren't eligible for discounts, but they were SO worth it. I researched several musicals online and watched the trailers on YouTube before deciding.

We visited The Bodies exhibit, which was also included on the NY Pass. It was amazing! It had been to the KC area a couple years ago, and if you ever get a chance to see it, take it! It is an exhibit of real bodies and real body parts- everything from lungs to hearts, eyes, brains, everything you could ever imagine... seriously! Some of the most amazing things that I saw were slices of the brain that had had an aneurysm, diseased lungs, the bronchial tubes/trees and different tumors. There was also a "game" called Mindball that you and a partner put sensors on your head and tried to relax as much as possible. As your brainwaves decline, the ball moves. If you "keep your cool" better than your partner, the ball goes into your partner's area and makes a "goal".  Overall, this exhibit was my favorite- it showed you a completely different way to look at your body- from the inside out.

We visited Rockefeller Center, where 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, and other NBC Shows are filmed. We went to the "Top of the Rock"- 68 floors up, (in 43 seconds!) and got an amazing view of NYC- without the long crowds of The Empire State Building!

We also saw The Lincoln Center, a beautiful fine arts campus. We had a lovely little Swedish tour guide who took us through the different theatres (and we saw Julliard!) and taught us the history.

Go to TIMES SQUARE! Times Square is amazing, invigorating, crowded, and fantastic. Being a small town girl from Missouri, I was in awe. Yes, you have to avoid people who stop in the middle of the block. But there's so much to see! Street vendors serving hot food, street performers dancing, cabs racing at you while you jaywalk, (or even just walk when it's time to walk- they're ruthless).

Laylan's Guide to New York Travel: Part I

I just got back from a week's trip to New York. Half of it was spent in upstate New York and the other half in New York City. Before I left my quiet hometown in Missouri, I was terrified of the Big Apple. By the time I left, I joked that I was a "seasoned New Yorker". Not quite... but definitely a confident traveler.

I've put together several tips and tricks, plus stories, about my New York trip. I hope if you go there, you'll heed my warnings and not be a pesky New York tourist that we hear so much about.

First things first: Where to stay in New York City?
I poured over hundreds of hotels on hotels.com, orbitz.com and priceline.com before I finally settled on The Hampton Inn at Madison Square Garden. Where you stay in NYC is important because the bedbug epidemic has hit the city very hard. I also didn't want to pay more than $200 per night (several NYers told me this was impossible- but I did it!) I checked it on bedbugregistry.com, and checked the hotels.com deals- there was a 20% off deal for my travel dates! I booked everything for $203 per night! I booked it, even though the deal was nonrefundable- sometimes you have to take risks!

Myth: New York City isn't safe!  FALSE.
Actually, NYC isn't even one of the top 25 most dangerous cities in the United States. In fact, my own Kansas City is on this list- and NYC isn't. A good explanation for this is that NYC has installed security cameras and crime has dropped 19%. Of course, NYC is not without crime- you have to be observant, confident and self-aware. I felt 100% safe walking down the street during the day and night.

Myth: New Yorkers are so rude! FALSE.
I asked several NYers for directions when we got turned around and every single one of them was helpful and nice. At one point, I was on the wrong subway and ended up in Brooklyn. I found the first person I could that looked friendly and asked her- and she sent me on the right train. I always looked for cops, construction workers, friendly looking chubby motherly types, or young girls. When none of those were available, I went for couples or bicyclists. At one point, a lady gave me wrong directions for the subway. She told me to get on the #2 train when really I should be on the #1. I thanked her and went down the steps to the trains. She came running after me, about 5 minutes later, out of breath. "I told you the wrong train!" she said. She was so worried that she had sent me the wrong way!

Myth: Everything is expensive in New York City! True/False. NYC is expensive in the regard that you're eating out every meal, you're not driving so you must either walk, take the subway ($2.50 per single ride), or take a cab (3.00 + .40 per 1/4 mile). The subway was my favorite mode of transportation, as it got us everywhere we needed to go for much cheaper than a cab ride. Cabs were good, too, though, when it was convienent and you were going somewhere directly- or didn't have time to get to a subway.

Food Tips for Eating in NYC:
The first night we were in NYC, we had pizza. Adam, who drinks like a fish, sucked down 3 Pepsis and I had 2 Dr. Peppers. When we got the bill, we were shocked to find that they had charged us for every refill- $2.50 a pop! $12.50 worth of soda on one bill! We drank water the rest of the time in NYC.

Don't eat at chain restaurants. You're in NYC. Why would you eat at Red Lobster??
Go off the beaten path- we went to 9th Avenue to an area called "Restaurant Row"- tons of restaurants for much cheaper than in Times Square- Adam and I both ate dinner and an appetizer for $30.00.
Try the street vendors! - We ate hot dogs, by the slice pizza, and chicken kebabs from street vendors- for cheap!
Check out restaurant.com for gift certificates. Before I left I went to restaurant.com and purchased gift certificates for $25 at the low price of $10- and we ate well at restaurants that we probably wouldn't have found without the site.
Indulge. New York City is a great place to indulge, so have a budget, but spoil yourself. In a city of such great food and drink, there's no reason to deprive yourself.

In my next post, I will write about the sites we saw and the touristy things we did! Stay tuned for more!