This post has been a long time coming - mostly because I has taken me so long to put it together since I put up my 9/11 Post. It's here now though and I thought it would be good to put together my top tips for New York City for you all.
Now I think it's important to say that everyone who visits a city is looking for different things out of it. I have to say I had a rather long food list of things I wanted to try - of which I ticked nearly all off but unfortunately I ate it all before I remembered to take a picture. Not the sign of a great blogger that!
This post is a little list of things that I think is good to keep in mind when visiting a city the size of NYC! There is so much to do and without some top tips I think we'd all be a little lost - lets be honest, we all need a little help sometimes.
Tip One
Research, research, research... Okay so full disclosure on this one, I did very little research for this trip and that's for a number of reasons. The first reason is that my dad is the king of research and he prepped for this trip for six months, there was very little left for me to look up. The second reason is that having lusted after this city for most of my life, I kind of knew the things and places I wanted to go to and see.
Tip Two
Be realistic.... I think it's important to put this in here as it really is true. We were going away for a week, so we knew that we would be able to cover quite a lot of the sites. This being said we actually did more than we had planned too. I do think you have to be really honest with yourself and plan within your means. If it's your first time and you are there for a few days, simply pick the top things you have always wanted to see.
Tip Three
Pre-Book Tickets.... I think this was the best thing that I could have done. Quite a number of weeks before we went I booked our One World Observatory tickets. I then looked into the best value for some of the other attractions and I came across CityPass. I have to say I am so impressed with CityPass, you simply choose the type of pass you want - either 6 attractions or 3. We went for the 3 as we knew we wouldn't be going on any of the cruises or to the museums as we had other things on our list in front of these. When we arrived at our attractions of choice we joined the CityPass queue - which was never that long - and there was never any fuss! Amazing!
Tip Four
Make use of the subway.... Initially my dad wasn't too sure that we would make use of the subway but I have to say it became one of the only ways we got about the city, apart from walking. The trains come so quickly, they have wifi, are air conditioned and above all else, allow you to get to know the city from a whole other perspective.
Tip Five
Be prepared to walk... I know this sounds like a silly one to put in as a tip but I have to say, I really wasn't prepared for the amount of walking I did. In a week I did about 50miles. Take some good sturdy walking shoes with you and walk about that city like it's your home - at least that's what I did!
Tip Six
You don't need expensive restaurants.... Most things in New York are really expensive and eating really isn't any different. My advice is unless you really want to.. avoid the pricey restaurants. There are lots of little places dotted around that do great meals for less, the Irish Pubs are usually amazing for food and the best of all... DELI'S!! We had an amazing deli round the corner from our hotel and it's where I got my reuben sandwich... amazing!!
Tip Seven
Take a pre-loaded travel card... I don't know why I've never done this before on a holiday but I took a pre-loaded travel card from the Post Office with me. It's basically a credit card, you can use it with chip and pin, contactless and the old fashioned swipe method, which is ever so popular in NYC. You can use the app and keep a track of all your transactions as they happen. You can also load more money onto it if you feel yourself going crazy in Sephora... like me!
Tip Eight
Who needs wi-fi in your hotel room... One thing that we decided even before we went was that we weren't going to pay for wi-fi in our hotel room.. $12 a day... no thank-you!! I quickly learnt from the moment I landed that there is free wi-fi EVERYWHERE in NYC! I even popped into a Victoria's Secret and was able to connect to theirs. Our hotel lobby had free wi-fi, so most days I could be found catching up with the world, all be it five hours behind home, in one of the comfy chairs down there.
Tip Nine
Don't be scared to have a relaxing day... Being in a city that never sleeps, where there is literally an endless amount of things to do can be very daunting. You feel like you should always be on the go. I have to tell you though, that's impossible. There is noway you can be on the go all the time, especially if you visit in the summer. The heat can be overwhelming and you really just need to spend some time in your room having a nap!!
Tip Ten
No matter what you say, go and see a Broadway show... Before we went seeing a Broadway show was at the bottom of our list and was something we really didn't plan to do. We did however, end up going to see The Phantom of The Opera and it was an unforgettable experience. You can queue up in Times Square for cheap tickets to any show, which I would recommend if you aren't fussy. We however, are a little fussier, mainly because my dad isn't a huge musical fan! He now however, wonders round the house singing Phantom songs... I think we converted him!
These are my top ten tips for visiting NYC. They haven't covered every single thing because lets face it, holidays are personal and you will always do it the way that suits you, this was the way that suited us.
If you have any questions leave them below and I will try my best to answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment