Hey guys! Remember all my threads about my trip to NYC? Well, my trip was a huge success and I will tell you everything about it
My visit was from March 4th to March 8th , I went solo and I stayed in Holiday Inn Downtown Brooklyn. I also went with a small budget in mind. I spent about $700 in total(Hotel, flight tickets, food etc) so it's doable to visit NYC with a tight wallet.
Hotel: $416 for 4 nights
Flights: $43 from Tampa to Newark and $87 from NYC to Bradenton/Sarasota(Jetblue)
Transportation: $28.5(Including $7 for the AirTrain to JFK airport)
Statue of Liberty cruise:$19
Museum of History: $3(It's pay what you want)
Food: $80(Yes, it's that cheap if you look for it)
Miscellaneous:$40
First Day
I woke up at 3:30 am, left home about 4:00 am and drove to Tampa International Airport. I arrived at about 5:00 am and boarded the plane at 5:30 am en-route to Newark International Airport. At about 8:00 am I started to so see the Manhattan Skyline!
Keep in mind that I have never been in a megacity before so just seeing the skyline from far away was breathtaking to me. I arrived at the Newark airport at about 8:20 am and to be honest, the whole airport was a total dump lol, specially coming from the nice Tampa International airport. Anyway, I went the the bus terminal and took a bus to NJ Penn Station and from there I took a train to the World Trade Center Station. Upon arriving at the station I went upstairs and walked trought a mall towards my next station
From there, I took another train towards Downtown Brooklyn. Once I arrived at the downtown, I went to the surface for the first time and the first thing I noticed was a guy smoking weed open in public and a police car not too far from him lol. I thought recreational weed in NY was still illegal. Anyway, I arrived at my hotel at about 11:00 am but was too early to check-in so I left my carry-on bag with them and went exploring. My first destination was Brooklyn Bridge Park to see the Manhattan skyline up close and ohh boy..what a sight! I was speechless for a good 5 minutes looking at those huge buildings hugging eachother!! I walked the Brooklyn Bridge Park from south to north until I found a place called Timeout Market which I went in and went to a balcony on the fifth floor and took amazing pictures of the skyline and the Brooklyn/Manhattan Bridge
After admiring the skyline for some time, I went down and kept walking until I found a little beach called Pebble beach and then I went to a famous picture spot in Washington St
After walking around Dumbo some more, I started looking for some place to eat and found a place called Front Street Pizza which was my first place to experience New York Pizza and it didn't disappoint! Around this time I decided to go back to the hotel to check-in so I walked the Brooklyn Bridge Park from north to south this time to look at the skyline again. I got into my room at about 3:00pm and stayed there to rest and recharge my phone until about 4:00pm. This time I went to explrore Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill and then made my way to the Fort Greene park and chilled out there for a while.Then, I walked around the area(Mostly Myrtle and Dekalb Ave) and was shocked to see so many street vendors, specally in Myrtle Ave; they were selling fruits to pirated DVDs which reminded me of my home country of Venezuela. After walking for a while I noticed that it was getting dark and decided to head out to Brooklyn Bridge Park again to watch the skyline at night.
I spent like an hour there taking pics and I started to get really hungry and ate Burger King(Sorry guys, but I was starving and that was the first place I found). After eating, I went to a Target located inside a mall in Downtown Brooklyn to buy bread, ham and cheese for my breakfasts. I went to my room, took a bath and went to sleep.
Second day
I woke up around 6:00 am and left the hotel at 7:00am; I walked my way towards Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Heights Promenade. I also visited Columbus park on my way there which was pretty chill; a lot of street vendors were setting shop at that time. After I took some pictures on Promenade, I started to walk towards Brooklyn Bridge and crossed it. It was pretty surreal crossing one of the most famous bridges in the world.
I finally reached the island of Manhattan and started wandering in the Financial District. It was an amazing experience walking between those massive buildings and then I found a memorial of Vietnam veterans with letters written by the soldiers at the time. The letters were printed on the wall and it was really somber reading some on those, I just which they were easier to read. After that I went to battery park and boarded a cruised to go the Liberty and Ellis Island. I spent about 4 hours between those two islands. In the liberty island I went up to the pedestal of the statue of Liberty(which I bought the ticket to the crown instead) and went to the museum. On Ellis Island I explored the whole museum of Immigration which it was pretty cool and informative.
After I got off the ship, I went to eat in this little place called Grotto's in the Financial District, then I headed to ground zero and holy shit! It was surreal being there. I don't know how to describe it really. The fountains are beautiful and the One World Tower is massive. There were also a elevated park halfway done with a globe in the middle. I can't imagine being there when that shit went down!
It was about 5:00 pm when I decided to just walk with no real direction, so I followed a avenue(Maybe Broadway? I don't remember) who took me to a street called Canal St. I walked Canal St. From west to east and just like Myrtle Ave, it was full of street vendors. I remember approaching like two smoke shops that were under some scaffolding and the smell of weed was pretty strong and a group of Jamaicans were hanging out outside of the shops smoking weed and listening to music when one of them asked me with a very thick Jamaican accent if I wanted to buy some ganja or a Rolex..LMAO! Dude, why are you asking random dudes to buy weed from you?
After the interesting weed offer, I decided to wall to Washington Square park trough SOHO. SOHO looked pretty interesting with a lot of young people and small shops; I took a peek at a really small comic shop and it was packed with people playing cards and table games. Upon arriving at Washington Square Park, there was a guy playing some classical music on a piano and some people would go to him and lay under the piano..what? At the park, there was a big group of kids skating on the dry fountain and some of them were smoking weed. I would say I was pretty shocked of how people smoke weed open in the public when I thought it was illegal in NY.... So that was pretty cool.
After chilling in the park for some time, I made my way to another park nearby called Union Square Park. I stayed there for a little while and saw this guy with a mask dancing while a guy with a boombox was blasting Dance music. From there, I walked to the Grand Central Terminal via Park Ave S. Once there, I explored the terminal and decided to go back to my hotel and this guy made me miss my train like 4 times. I was mesmerize by his performance.
Third Day
I left the hotel at 7:00 am and took the subway to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It was really early and the park was nearly empty; some people were running and some people were walking their dogs. I stopped by the boathouse and from there I walked toward the Grand Army Plaza and I took some really good pics!
After spending some time there, I walked to the nearest subway station and headed to The Museum of Natural History in Central Park. While on the subway, just before crossing the Manhattan bridge, I saw a bunch of grafitties on the right side that would "move" as the train passed; that was really cool.
I went to the Museum of Natural History and spent like 4 hours there. This is a must see if your are into science and history. My favorite part where the Prehistoric fossils and the human evolution sections. The museum is massive!! You could spent the whole day easily. Ther other cool thing is that the entry fee is whatever you want to pay; The best 3 dollars I have ever spent. When I got out of the museum the day went to shit and it rained all day long. I went to the Columbus Cr and saw someone getting arrested and then I went to eat in a small place called BareBurger in 57TH St. It was pricey but the burger was good. After eating I walked towards 5th ave and walked the ave until I reached the Rockefeller Plaza. I checked the whole plaza, went to the Nintendo Store and the went inside the Rockefeller Center to recharge my phone.
After recharging my phone I went I walked Broadway from 50th street to Madison Square Garden. I passed through Times Square and tried to take some pictures but it was raining hard and didn't want to get my DSLR camera wet. There were no characters there, I guess because of the rain. The place was packed as you would expect. When I got to Madison Square Garden I went inside to the booth section and saw a lot of Knicks fans arriving; Knicks were playing that night against Oklahoma City. After visiting MSG I went back to Times Square to eat at Los Tacos No 1 which were the best tacos ever! Delicious. After eating I went back to my hotel.
Fourth Day
Again, I left the hotel at 7:00 and headed to Central Park. I arrived near some housing projects in Park Ave and walked the 5th Ave until I reached the Guggenheim and went into Central Park. I checked various places in Central Park; Kennedy Reservoir, Strawberry Fields, were John Lennon was killed, Sheep Meadow(From outside because is was closed due to the season), the skating rink, the pond, a bird sanctuary, etc
I went to the Apple store near Central Park that is underground and the made my way to the Nintendo Store via 6th Ave. I bought a shirt there and headed to Times Square again to take the pics I couldn't take the previous day. When I was walking I found this neat store selling all type on video games, toys, anime, manga, retro games etc called Book End. I got into Times Square, took some pics and bailed. My next destination was Hudson Yards
I made my way to Hudson Yards and went inside the Jarvis Center to recharge my phone. After recharging my phone I went looking at a place to eat and found an upscale market called Little Spain but it was too expensive for my budget so I walked some blocks and ate at this small Chinese place called Golden City.
After eating, I made my way to The Vessel and didn't know that you have to get a ticket in advance to get in for free so I got my ticket for 8:00pm and went into the High Line which is a elevated walkway that used to be train tracks.
I got off the high line in Chelsea Market I went into Madison Square Park to chill for a while. I recharged my phone on a nearby Starbucks(Seriously, there like on in every block) and went back to the park to chill some more. I thinks this park was my favorite small park.
After Spending some time I went back to the Hudson Yards again to go in the Vessel which was pretty cool to go on the top for nice pictures. It was too cold(At least for me) on the top so went back down and tried to walk the High Line again but it was closed(Bummer) so I just walked with no real direction and stumble upon a Pizzeria called Bleecker Street Pizza and honestly, it was one the best Pizza i have ever tried in my life. I ate the Nona Maria and damn!!!! After eating I went back to my hotel, It was my last day and my plane was leaving early(7:00 am) so I wanted to sleep some because I needed to wake like at 3:30 am.
Last Day
I woke up at 3:30 am and after taking 3 trains and the Airtrain in JFk airport, I took my plane back to Florida.
In conclusion, I loved the city and I'm already planning my next visit, there is still so much to visit! I need to go and see the Bronx Zoo, Queens, the Bronx, one of the observatories, Coney Island and much more
The Things I noticed were
-Much younger population than in my town in Florida
-People are fit, I didn't see a lot of overweight people
-I didn't feel unsafe at all; I walked through some projects at 4:00 am when I was changing between stations and it was fine.
-Tourist don't take the subway. Yeah sure, some stations are run down and dirty but to me the subway was amazing. I wish I have one in my town.
-A lot of weed smoking in public and police don't care
-As a brown skinned Latino I felt more comfortable around the police over there than in my town. In my town, 98% of the police force is your typical white dude MAGA kind while over there is more multicultural.
-NYC must be the honking capital of the world LMAO.
-I jaywalked like a mofo just like any New Yorker(I'm from Venezuela so Jaywalking comes natural to me) while the tourist will way for their signal
-Newark airport is a total dumb; it looks dirty, run down and straight from the 70s.
I can't wait to go back. If you want to see more pics there the Google Photos link
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r31P23tSWjfaG3CTA
My visit was from March 4th to March 8th , I went solo and I stayed in Holiday Inn Downtown Brooklyn. I also went with a small budget in mind. I spent about $700 in total(Hotel, flight tickets, food etc) so it's doable to visit NYC with a tight wallet.
Hotel: $416 for 4 nights
Flights: $43 from Tampa to Newark and $87 from NYC to Bradenton/Sarasota(Jetblue)
Transportation: $28.5(Including $7 for the AirTrain to JFK airport)
Statue of Liberty cruise:$19
Museum of History: $3(It's pay what you want)
Food: $80(Yes, it's that cheap if you look for it)
Miscellaneous:$40
First Day
I woke up at 3:30 am, left home about 4:00 am and drove to Tampa International Airport. I arrived at about 5:00 am and boarded the plane at 5:30 am en-route to Newark International Airport. At about 8:00 am I started to so see the Manhattan Skyline!
Keep in mind that I have never been in a megacity before so just seeing the skyline from far away was breathtaking to me. I arrived at the Newark airport at about 8:20 am and to be honest, the whole airport was a total dump lol, specially coming from the nice Tampa International airport. Anyway, I went the the bus terminal and took a bus to NJ Penn Station and from there I took a train to the World Trade Center Station. Upon arriving at the station I went upstairs and walked trought a mall towards my next station
From there, I took another train towards Downtown Brooklyn. Once I arrived at the downtown, I went to the surface for the first time and the first thing I noticed was a guy smoking weed open in public and a police car not too far from him lol. I thought recreational weed in NY was still illegal. Anyway, I arrived at my hotel at about 11:00 am but was too early to check-in so I left my carry-on bag with them and went exploring. My first destination was Brooklyn Bridge Park to see the Manhattan skyline up close and ohh boy..what a sight! I was speechless for a good 5 minutes looking at those huge buildings hugging eachother!! I walked the Brooklyn Bridge Park from south to north until I found a place called Timeout Market which I went in and went to a balcony on the fifth floor and took amazing pictures of the skyline and the Brooklyn/Manhattan Bridge
After admiring the skyline for some time, I went down and kept walking until I found a little beach called Pebble beach and then I went to a famous picture spot in Washington St
After walking around Dumbo some more, I started looking for some place to eat and found a place called Front Street Pizza which was my first place to experience New York Pizza and it didn't disappoint! Around this time I decided to go back to the hotel to check-in so I walked the Brooklyn Bridge Park from north to south this time to look at the skyline again. I got into my room at about 3:00pm and stayed there to rest and recharge my phone until about 4:00pm. This time I went to explrore Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill and then made my way to the Fort Greene park and chilled out there for a while.Then, I walked around the area(Mostly Myrtle and Dekalb Ave) and was shocked to see so many street vendors, specally in Myrtle Ave; they were selling fruits to pirated DVDs which reminded me of my home country of Venezuela. After walking for a while I noticed that it was getting dark and decided to head out to Brooklyn Bridge Park again to watch the skyline at night.
I spent like an hour there taking pics and I started to get really hungry and ate Burger King(Sorry guys, but I was starving and that was the first place I found). After eating, I went to a Target located inside a mall in Downtown Brooklyn to buy bread, ham and cheese for my breakfasts. I went to my room, took a bath and went to sleep.
Second day
I woke up around 6:00 am and left the hotel at 7:00am; I walked my way towards Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Heights Promenade. I also visited Columbus park on my way there which was pretty chill; a lot of street vendors were setting shop at that time. After I took some pictures on Promenade, I started to walk towards Brooklyn Bridge and crossed it. It was pretty surreal crossing one of the most famous bridges in the world.
I finally reached the island of Manhattan and started wandering in the Financial District. It was an amazing experience walking between those massive buildings and then I found a memorial of Vietnam veterans with letters written by the soldiers at the time. The letters were printed on the wall and it was really somber reading some on those, I just which they were easier to read. After that I went to battery park and boarded a cruised to go the Liberty and Ellis Island. I spent about 4 hours between those two islands. In the liberty island I went up to the pedestal of the statue of Liberty(which I bought the ticket to the crown instead) and went to the museum. On Ellis Island I explored the whole museum of Immigration which it was pretty cool and informative.
After I got off the ship, I went to eat in this little place called Grotto's in the Financial District, then I headed to ground zero and holy shit! It was surreal being there. I don't know how to describe it really. The fountains are beautiful and the One World Tower is massive. There were also a elevated park halfway done with a globe in the middle. I can't imagine being there when that shit went down!
It was about 5:00 pm when I decided to just walk with no real direction, so I followed a avenue(Maybe Broadway? I don't remember) who took me to a street called Canal St. I walked Canal St. From west to east and just like Myrtle Ave, it was full of street vendors. I remember approaching like two smoke shops that were under some scaffolding and the smell of weed was pretty strong and a group of Jamaicans were hanging out outside of the shops smoking weed and listening to music when one of them asked me with a very thick Jamaican accent if I wanted to buy some ganja or a Rolex..LMAO! Dude, why are you asking random dudes to buy weed from you?
After the interesting weed offer, I decided to wall to Washington Square park trough SOHO. SOHO looked pretty interesting with a lot of young people and small shops; I took a peek at a really small comic shop and it was packed with people playing cards and table games. Upon arriving at Washington Square Park, there was a guy playing some classical music on a piano and some people would go to him and lay under the piano..what? At the park, there was a big group of kids skating on the dry fountain and some of them were smoking weed. I would say I was pretty shocked of how people smoke weed open in the public when I thought it was illegal in NY.... So that was pretty cool.
After chilling in the park for some time, I made my way to another park nearby called Union Square Park. I stayed there for a little while and saw this guy with a mask dancing while a guy with a boombox was blasting Dance music. From there, I walked to the Grand Central Terminal via Park Ave S. Once there, I explored the terminal and decided to go back to my hotel and this guy made me miss my train like 4 times. I was mesmerize by his performance.
Third Day
I left the hotel at 7:00 am and took the subway to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It was really early and the park was nearly empty; some people were running and some people were walking their dogs. I stopped by the boathouse and from there I walked toward the Grand Army Plaza and I took some really good pics!
After spending some time there, I walked to the nearest subway station and headed to The Museum of Natural History in Central Park. While on the subway, just before crossing the Manhattan bridge, I saw a bunch of grafitties on the right side that would "move" as the train passed; that was really cool.
I went to the Museum of Natural History and spent like 4 hours there. This is a must see if your are into science and history. My favorite part where the Prehistoric fossils and the human evolution sections. The museum is massive!! You could spent the whole day easily. Ther other cool thing is that the entry fee is whatever you want to pay; The best 3 dollars I have ever spent. When I got out of the museum the day went to shit and it rained all day long. I went to the Columbus Cr and saw someone getting arrested and then I went to eat in a small place called BareBurger in 57TH St. It was pricey but the burger was good. After eating I walked towards 5th ave and walked the ave until I reached the Rockefeller Plaza. I checked the whole plaza, went to the Nintendo Store and the went inside the Rockefeller Center to recharge my phone.
After recharging my phone I went I walked Broadway from 50th street to Madison Square Garden. I passed through Times Square and tried to take some pictures but it was raining hard and didn't want to get my DSLR camera wet. There were no characters there, I guess because of the rain. The place was packed as you would expect. When I got to Madison Square Garden I went inside to the booth section and saw a lot of Knicks fans arriving; Knicks were playing that night against Oklahoma City. After visiting MSG I went back to Times Square to eat at Los Tacos No 1 which were the best tacos ever! Delicious. After eating I went back to my hotel.
Fourth Day
Again, I left the hotel at 7:00 and headed to Central Park. I arrived near some housing projects in Park Ave and walked the 5th Ave until I reached the Guggenheim and went into Central Park. I checked various places in Central Park; Kennedy Reservoir, Strawberry Fields, were John Lennon was killed, Sheep Meadow(From outside because is was closed due to the season), the skating rink, the pond, a bird sanctuary, etc
I went to the Apple store near Central Park that is underground and the made my way to the Nintendo Store via 6th Ave. I bought a shirt there and headed to Times Square again to take the pics I couldn't take the previous day. When I was walking I found this neat store selling all type on video games, toys, anime, manga, retro games etc called Book End. I got into Times Square, took some pics and bailed. My next destination was Hudson Yards
I made my way to Hudson Yards and went inside the Jarvis Center to recharge my phone. After recharging my phone I went looking at a place to eat and found an upscale market called Little Spain but it was too expensive for my budget so I walked some blocks and ate at this small Chinese place called Golden City.
After eating, I made my way to The Vessel and didn't know that you have to get a ticket in advance to get in for free so I got my ticket for 8:00pm and went into the High Line which is a elevated walkway that used to be train tracks.
I got off the high line in Chelsea Market I went into Madison Square Park to chill for a while. I recharged my phone on a nearby Starbucks(Seriously, there like on in every block) and went back to the park to chill some more. I thinks this park was my favorite small park.
After Spending some time I went back to the Hudson Yards again to go in the Vessel which was pretty cool to go on the top for nice pictures. It was too cold(At least for me) on the top so went back down and tried to walk the High Line again but it was closed(Bummer) so I just walked with no real direction and stumble upon a Pizzeria called Bleecker Street Pizza and honestly, it was one the best Pizza i have ever tried in my life. I ate the Nona Maria and damn!!!! After eating I went back to my hotel, It was my last day and my plane was leaving early(7:00 am) so I wanted to sleep some because I needed to wake like at 3:30 am.
Last Day
I woke up at 3:30 am and after taking 3 trains and the Airtrain in JFk airport, I took my plane back to Florida.
In conclusion, I loved the city and I'm already planning my next visit, there is still so much to visit! I need to go and see the Bronx Zoo, Queens, the Bronx, one of the observatories, Coney Island and much more
The Things I noticed were
-Much younger population than in my town in Florida
-People are fit, I didn't see a lot of overweight people
-I didn't feel unsafe at all; I walked through some projects at 4:00 am when I was changing between stations and it was fine.
-Tourist don't take the subway. Yeah sure, some stations are run down and dirty but to me the subway was amazing. I wish I have one in my town.
-A lot of weed smoking in public and police don't care
-As a brown skinned Latino I felt more comfortable around the police over there than in my town. In my town, 98% of the police force is your typical white dude MAGA kind while over there is more multicultural.
-NYC must be the honking capital of the world LMAO.
-I jaywalked like a mofo just like any New Yorker(I'm from Venezuela so Jaywalking comes natural to me) while the tourist will way for their signal
-Newark airport is a total dumb; it looks dirty, run down and straight from the 70s.
I can't wait to go back. If you want to see more pics there the Google Photos link
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r31P23tSWjfaG3CTA
