Joshua ElliottNew York; New York
July 28th 2008 22:15
It's bright lights and action in the place that puts the big in big city. I arrived in New York at six thirty a.m., and caught a bus from the JFK airport to Penn Station. From their I carried my bags 32 blocks in the overcast, humid, summer heat before I finally collapsed, gave up, and caught a taxi the remaining ten blocks to my accomodation. This includes the new heavy duty shopping bag I bought, which is currently full of presents for my friends and family when I return home and weighs a good ten kilo's (hence my repeated saying "my friends and family must hate me").
I arrived at my accomodation, Bowery's White House Hotel of New York, where they told me that they could take my bags now, but my room wouldnt be available till 3PM. I seem to remember giving someone the death stare, but in the end I just gave up the bags and headed for the nearest McDonalds.
And OH MAN was it good! This is going make you say "oh-Joshua-you-are-the-lamest -traveller-ever" (yeah, all one word) but macca's over here is nothing like back home! Theres bagels! Theres different kinds of burgerers! You can get a "deluxe breakfast", which is a big breakfast and hotcakes combined! I mean, come on, how can you resist?
After this I wandered around downtown for a few hours, checking out the sights. New York is amazing, just the scale of it is huge. Most cities in Australia have a CBD which is maybe ten or twenty streets on a square grid. New York is the same, except it has about 200 streets on the grid, and they're all packed with multistory buildings (for instance, the internet cafe I sit in now is on the fifth floor), And if that dun beat all, then keep in mind that this section I'm talking about is just the borough of Manhattan, which while the most popular for tourists, only takes up 8% of New York's metropolis.
So, for my first night here, I debated what to do but eventually came to a foregone conclusion - catch up on my movies! I've been to the cinema almost every day since; and I'll briefly break from travel by saying that The Dark Knight is quite possibly the best movie of the last few years, tackling biggies like Pirates of the Carribean.
On my days since I have delved deeper and deeper into New York - Times Square is block after block of landspace devoted singley to the quest to give everyone who see's it a cataclysmic seisure, the Museum of Natural History is excellent, though it was crowded and the IMAX shows rather dissapointing. I'll breifly point out one of my frustrations, in the way that so many displays, everywhere, call something (global warming, evolution, moon colliding with earth) a theory when first introduced, and then just present it as fact when they've already stated its just a theory. Anyway, dont let my scepticisim stop you, the Museum is totally worth a trip, and the writings of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, in massive plaques on the entrance hall, are inspiring. The Empire State Building is, in a word, crowded - they say "go late, there'll be less crowd," and I went late, and man, if thats "less crowd" then I'd hate to see it in the middle of day. The views though, are spectacular, and I especially remember going up to watch the sunset. You'll be in line for a good hour, even longer if you take an elevator up the last six feet rather than the stairs (you heard right, climbing the last six flights of stairs is faster than waiting to go up in an elevator)
My recommendation is to get a CityPass - its a great little saving that gives you tickets to the Museum of Natural History, the Empire State Building, The Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a choice between the ferry to the Statue of Liberty (though you cant climb up any more) or a Cruise around the harbor, all for a scant $77US ($54US if you're 17 or under, like me). The best part is that it helps you skip some of the lines. You can by one at any of the participating venues, but make sure you get on before you go to the Empire State Building, and when you get there, if theres a line for express ticket holders go in it (if you're not sure if you should be in line just ask someone, they will, if rudely, point you in the right direction), and you can bypass about 300 people waiting for security.
I should mention that too, that alot of museums and what have you, even some stores, will parade you through a metal detector. Wear tight pants incase you have to debelt (dont worry, I'm not speaking from experience), and obviously dont carry anything bad. I have to say though, I was caught unawares and had my Leatherman knife on me both times, but no one made any note of it. Striiiiingent security, yeah, let the guy with the knife through, sure, what am I going to do, rob the gift store?
Food around New York is good, though unfortunately the capabilities to cook for yourself are not present at Bowery's. New York Pizza is a much, with slices as big as your head and toppings to boot, theres no way to beat it. You can find your favourite chains all around, and theres about a million little cafe's around. Mexican (which is here called Tex Mexican) cuisine is popular, and there are lots of ugly men with carts selling kebabs (both wraps and sticks of meat), halal (not sure what that is really), hot dogs, hot nuts, and fake rolexes. And, as to be expected, Starbucks is eeeeverywhere, just WATCHING you. "Better make it quick kiddo, in five minutes this place is becoming a Starbucks."
Going shopping is an adventure in itself, and with the weather the way it is (hot, humid and overcast), I needed to get out of my current set of jeans that in that weather were akin to wearing a sauna on your legs, so went clothes shopping. Biiiig mistake, do you have any idea how difficult it is to buy clothes without a girl? Before I've always gone clothes shopping with either my mother or various friends of the female persuasion (ahm lookin' at you, Becc and Jacci) but this time it was just difficult. Not to work out what I want, that was easy, but finding it takes skill encoded only into those lacking a Y chromosome. I went through Macy's - the largest store on earth - for two hours looking for some 3/4 pants and only found one pair, in XXL. I'm a Medium, people, Large tops! Ended up buying all my clothes on Broadway, unfortunately, it's not a street where every communicates by singing.
Bowery's White House Hotel of New York is really the epitome of cheap accomodation; with one noteable exception, it aint cheap. $36US for a single room is pretty good for New York, but Australians like me collapse on the floor. The rooms are pretty small, with barely enough room for the bed, but they're secure and private - I like em, they're enough, and with all the attractions crammed into New York you wont be spending too much time their anyway. And - the main thing in accomodation, for me - their are KITTIES! Two of them, scraggly little things, but kitties all the same.
Well, that's all for now folks, I'm in New York for a week or so more before I track down to D.C. and then Flor'da, so expect another update in four or five days, but for now we'll just have to go the links!
Bowery's White House Hotel of New York has the longest name of anywhere I've stayed at so far, and is a good deal considering the other prices around, the staff are friendly and eccentric, the kitties are cuddly, and the lobby has an ATM, drink machine, and change machine, and internet connections (currently under repair but you can still hook up a laptop if you got one).
Times Square is seizure inducing, but it's fun too.
American Museum of Natural History is crowded, but fascinating - arrive as early as you can and stay tiil they close, beleive me theres a lot to do, planetarium and IMAX shows not worth it unless a topic specifically interests you.
Empire State Building is quite a view, make sure you buy a city pass before you go so you can bypass a bit of the massive line, try to go in time for sunset and remember it'll take about an hour to get up there.
CityPass can save you money and time - its about 30-50% discount overall and you can bypass ticket lines. Available in many major American cities, and you can buy them at any participation location, make sure you buy it before you get to the Empire State Building cause the lines you can skip are before the ticket stand.
Empire State Building Sunset
I arrived at my accomodation, Bowery's White House Hotel of New York, where they told me that they could take my bags now, but my room wouldnt be available till 3PM. I seem to remember giving someone the death stare, but in the end I just gave up the bags and headed for the nearest McDonalds.
And OH MAN was it good! This is going make you say "oh-Joshua-you-are-the-lamest -traveller-ever" (yeah, all one word) but macca's over here is nothing like back home! Theres bagels! Theres different kinds of burgerers! You can get a "deluxe breakfast", which is a big breakfast and hotcakes combined! I mean, come on, how can you resist?
After this I wandered around downtown for a few hours, checking out the sights. New York is amazing, just the scale of it is huge. Most cities in Australia have a CBD which is maybe ten or twenty streets on a square grid. New York is the same, except it has about 200 streets on the grid, and they're all packed with multistory buildings (for instance, the internet cafe I sit in now is on the fifth floor), And if that dun beat all, then keep in mind that this section I'm talking about is just the borough of Manhattan, which while the most popular for tourists, only takes up 8% of New York's metropolis.
Boy's Rule.
So, for my first night here, I debated what to do but eventually came to a foregone conclusion - catch up on my movies! I've been to the cinema almost every day since; and I'll briefly break from travel by saying that The Dark Knight is quite possibly the best movie of the last few years, tackling biggies like Pirates of the Carribean.
On my days since I have delved deeper and deeper into New York - Times Square is block after block of landspace devoted singley to the quest to give everyone who see's it a cataclysmic seisure, the Museum of Natural History is excellent, though it was crowded and the IMAX shows rather dissapointing. I'll breifly point out one of my frustrations, in the way that so many displays, everywhere, call something (global warming, evolution, moon colliding with earth) a theory when first introduced, and then just present it as fact when they've already stated its just a theory. Anyway, dont let my scepticisim stop you, the Museum is totally worth a trip, and the writings of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, in massive plaques on the entrance hall, are inspiring. The Empire State Building is, in a word, crowded - they say "go late, there'll be less crowd," and I went late, and man, if thats "less crowd" then I'd hate to see it in the middle of day. The views though, are spectacular, and I especially remember going up to watch the sunset. You'll be in line for a good hour, even longer if you take an elevator up the last six feet rather than the stairs (you heard right, climbing the last six flights of stairs is faster than waiting to go up in an elevator)
My recommendation is to get a CityPass - its a great little saving that gives you tickets to the Museum of Natural History, the Empire State Building, The Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a choice between the ferry to the Statue of Liberty (though you cant climb up any more) or a Cruise around the harbor, all for a scant $77US ($54US if you're 17 or under, like me). The best part is that it helps you skip some of the lines. You can by one at any of the participating venues, but make sure you get on before you go to the Empire State Building, and when you get there, if theres a line for express ticket holders go in it (if you're not sure if you should be in line just ask someone, they will, if rudely, point you in the right direction), and you can bypass about 300 people waiting for security.
A head in a jar. Not actually all that common in New York.
I should mention that too, that alot of museums and what have you, even some stores, will parade you through a metal detector. Wear tight pants incase you have to debelt (dont worry, I'm not speaking from experience), and obviously dont carry anything bad. I have to say though, I was caught unawares and had my Leatherman knife on me both times, but no one made any note of it. Striiiiingent security, yeah, let the guy with the knife through, sure, what am I going to do, rob the gift store?
Food around New York is good, though unfortunately the capabilities to cook for yourself are not present at Bowery's. New York Pizza is a much, with slices as big as your head and toppings to boot, theres no way to beat it. You can find your favourite chains all around, and theres about a million little cafe's around. Mexican (which is here called Tex Mexican) cuisine is popular, and there are lots of ugly men with carts selling kebabs (both wraps and sticks of meat), halal (not sure what that is really), hot dogs, hot nuts, and fake rolexes. And, as to be expected, Starbucks is eeeeverywhere, just WATCHING you. "Better make it quick kiddo, in five minutes this place is becoming a Starbucks."
Going shopping is an adventure in itself, and with the weather the way it is (hot, humid and overcast), I needed to get out of my current set of jeans that in that weather were akin to wearing a sauna on your legs, so went clothes shopping. Biiiig mistake, do you have any idea how difficult it is to buy clothes without a girl? Before I've always gone clothes shopping with either my mother or various friends of the female persuasion (ahm lookin' at you, Becc and Jacci) but this time it was just difficult. Not to work out what I want, that was easy, but finding it takes skill encoded only into those lacking a Y chromosome. I went through Macy's - the largest store on earth - for two hours looking for some 3/4 pants and only found one pair, in XXL. I'm a Medium, people, Large tops! Ended up buying all my clothes on Broadway, unfortunately, it's not a street where every communicates by singing.
On Broadway! I'm gunna make it after alllll!
Bowery's White House Hotel of New York is really the epitome of cheap accomodation; with one noteable exception, it aint cheap. $36US for a single room is pretty good for New York, but Australians like me collapse on the floor. The rooms are pretty small, with barely enough room for the bed, but they're secure and private - I like em, they're enough, and with all the attractions crammed into New York you wont be spending too much time their anyway. And - the main thing in accomodation, for me - their are KITTIES! Two of them, scraggly little things, but kitties all the same.
Well, that's all for now folks, I'm in New York for a week or so more before I track down to D.C. and then Flor'da, so expect another update in four or five days, but for now we'll just have to go the links!
Bowery's White House Hotel of New York has the longest name of anywhere I've stayed at so far, and is a good deal considering the other prices around, the staff are friendly and eccentric, the kitties are cuddly, and the lobby has an ATM, drink machine, and change machine, and internet connections (currently under repair but you can still hook up a laptop if you got one).
Times Square is seizure inducing, but it's fun too.
American Museum of Natural History is crowded, but fascinating - arrive as early as you can and stay tiil they close, beleive me theres a lot to do, planetarium and IMAX shows not worth it unless a topic specifically interests you.
Empire State Building is quite a view, make sure you buy a city pass before you go so you can bypass a bit of the massive line, try to go in time for sunset and remember it'll take about an hour to get up there.
CityPass can save you money and time - its about 30-50% discount overall and you can bypass ticket lines. Available in many major American cities, and you can buy them at any participation location, make sure you buy it before you get to the Empire State Building cause the lines you can skip are before the ticket stand.
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Comment by Dragonrider
Also, regarding rudeness when you ask directions...I find interesting that west coast people tend to be more polite to strangers on the street than easterners do. Walking down the street in, say, Seattle, people will nod and smile at you. In Philadelphia, you're probably more likely to get a shuffle-by-pretend-you're-not -there.
Comment by Joshua Elliott
Highway Trek
I havent really had to ask many for directions; luckily, I'm pretty good with a map. Though I cant help but notice, and I know this from both sides of the equation, that people are usually happier to give you directions when they ARENT paid to do so - people you ask for directions around the work place are like "grrthiswaygrr", whereas if you stop someone in the street they're usually "oh well thats blah blah blah". Interesting, probably just the enviroment people are in, I suppose, causality v. stress. Depends on your job or your reason for being out.
[/sociology proffesor]