First stop- I’m in New Jersey, NY. This is just for the night as the very next day it was time to hop onto the Newark to Penn Station Train, which cost USD$5 and then at Penn station you can buy a week Metro pass, a 7 day is $30, they stopped doing one-day passes a year ago, and each way would cost $2..50 so even if you spend the whole day out and about you may still go back to the hostel to freshen up and head back out, the $30 is well worth it, and you can pass it on if you don’t use it all. By the time I got to my hostel (Broadway Hotel 230 West, 101 Street, NY, NY) it was midday, so I walked the four or so blocks to upper Central Park and navigated my way around there until stopping for a nap under a tree. Upper central park is more nature walking paths, dog walkers, decent size lakes to runs.
If you speck several languages then feel free to stay here at Broadway Hotel (2 bulk hostel rooms with a basin, share bathroom on each floor, daily bed changes). Unfourtuntity I only speck english, so this has made it difficult to “join” a group, there is one or two people that are happy once I start talking to them, but plans don’t work out the same. Never mind though as I am a pretty bubbly out going person I’ve done one up and meet two couples so far who live in different parts of America. So yay to further hook ups.
Before I go into those details please note that I’ve already been to NYC in 2010 so some of this is from memory, also note I’m on a budget so I didn’t hit every museum, but I’ll try my best to give you all the best details.
Oh and take a jacket or umbrella with you even if it’s a sunny day, NYC is prone to random rain storms that last an hour or two and then sun again.
So most people wanting to visit NYC there will be a bit of a list of must dos:
Times Square:
Broadway shows: paybill.com will give you access to great discount prices
M&M Store: Yum, enough said. Plus all your big brand shops and Yankees club house or get the standard photo in front of the red stairs or giant screens.
Brooklyn Bridge: Awesome views of the city- this is the reason I started to carry a rain jacket with me, I got caught getting slightly sunburnt and then random rain store. There are souviers on the bridge and water/ice blocks. They will of course be overcharged.
Empire State Building: Right so I did this is 2010, it cost $20 and I got to the top observaiou deck, which u can only do on good days. Even then they closed it while we were there because of wind. If you go around July 4th or major holidays the Empire state building also has a laser show, where it changes it’s colours. If you want a great view of the city but don’t want to pay as much, then head to the Rockofella building, same height, better price- if not free!
Yankee Stadium:
I brought a seat for $27 which was up in the nosebleed stands, but it was a saturday afternoon game, so I was glad i’m so cheap as I was in the shade, and able to see everything, while the chances of getting to catch (or hit) the ball were slim the chances of getting serverly sunburnt were a lot less than those unfortunate people who paid $60-$140 for their tickets, check out the yankees website for more details on each game, I was in the first 18,000 people so I got a FREE Andy Petite statue, which yes I now have to carry around with me, but worth it causes it’s a great moment that I didn’t have to pay for. Foods expensive so bring some of your own, but be wary that the security is tight, they prefer unopened bottles of drink, and see through bags for your food. This may just be because they want you to spend $8 on a hot dog and another $8 for beer.
Gray’s Papaya’s in Lincoln centre:
Great hot dogs, made famous by “how I meet your mother” tv series, and movies like “the backup plan” you can get the “recession” deal which is $5 + tax for two dogs and one of there very own blended drinks- which are like health drinks if you want. Lincoln centre itself is nice place to chill out, which tones of shops, cafe and a great movie theatre, easy access from the metro too. They have an imax theatre with 3D.
Madison Square Gardens:
It’ a garden/park great little place to go for lunch or just a break, it’s right beside a metro stop so it’s nice to break the city scene. There is normally something going on, either a musician, or art on display, or school camps/outings to keep you people watching.
Union Square Gardens:
Another place to stop and eat lunch, with the added bonus of having the farmers markets in it, FRESH FRUIT AND VEG -what a nice break while backpacking. Also the iron flat building is just off to one side.
Centre Park:
Sooo…it could take two or more days to see this whole park, especially if you want to hit up the museum (my suggestion is to wait until you get to Washington DC for the museums as they are free!!!) but again there is always something happening in Central Park, I took one afternoon run around the upper central park, which is perfect for that, hardly any tourist and nice easy dirt, or concrete tracks with some variation of steepness. You come across bridges/tunnels, lakes, waterfalls, homeless people having a sleep away from the crowds, everything you want from your Central Park experience. Specking of sleeping in the park, find a tree and just have a quick snooze during the day, you will notice allot of people do that, businessmen getting away from their lives for an hour, or retired people having a gentle stroll and a little rest.
Lower Central Park is the complete opposite…so much to see and to do, tourist are everywhere and every two seconds someone stops in front of you to snap a picture. Take a day, or 3/4 of a day so you can criss cross the whole things and see all the sites. The Ice rink was a temperary theme park for July 4th when i was there. And it’s a good place to see some fireworks if you don’t want to head to Hundson river for them.
Grand Central Station:
Free – fantastic architecture, great people watching and beautiful roof. This place is exactly like you see in the movies, except tones of people barging through to their destinations while tourist weave in and out to take photos. There is even an apple store at the top of one set of stairs, which is actually a good spot for photo taking.
City Hall & all the court buildings:
If going or leaving Brooklyn bridge it would be so easy to see the city hall and court buildings, they are right there off to the site. Big beautiful buildings.
9/11 Mormorial:
This was actually hard to find, it’s easy to see the fence, construction and tones of police, but to actually get into the memorial you have to do a fair bit of walking, and asking directions- to which everyone will tell you to go another way. Anyway once you find it, it’s free, but they would prefer a donation $10 for this site is pretty good and it gives you a bracelet to remember the terrible events that took place. They museum cost $17 if you want to go in, but the marmoreal itself is definite worth the visit, it’s so powerful in there, the pools are amazing, everyones name engraved, and light up at night. Just stop to think that where you stand something this imangable happens, so many lives lost right where you stand. Those who ave visited concentration camps, or galippoli will know this feeling. Definity go into the store on the way out, if not to buy a souvenir which helps support the foundation, but then to listen to the stories on the big screen in there from surviours or parents who lost their kids to active duty, so many people were crying in the store.
Wall Street:
Worth a visit just to see some of the cool old buildings and statues. Trump building, new york stock exchange walk an extra 5-10mins and you will reach the charging bull- a big brass bull with tones of tourist taking photos and trying to climb on.
Coney Island:
Wow- beaches, great food and theme parks- awesome. If you have a Metro card just hop on, it will take about an hour from NYC to reach the island, but it’s worth taking the day to explore. Nathans famous hot dog eating contest takes place there every year, and there is a giant clock with a countdown until the next contest. You can buy Nathans hot dogs from the corner store there or head towards the beach and grab one at their stand there. Carful though Coney Island is hot, there isn’t allot of shade and not allot of water fountains around, so come prepared. It’s easy to get dehydrated in these situations.
Higline Park:
Old Metro line turned into a park that you can walk alone, bets walking along another stinky sidewalk. There is art spread through the park, tones of benches so you can chill and watch the sunset/rise (if you are an early bird). I didn’t see any runners on there, but that could be because there is limited width and allot of people.
BLUE EYES OPEN 
