3 days trip in New York City
- Marketa Vantova
- Apr 25, 2017
- 8 min read
Marketa Vantova
From Czech Republic
2016 W&T Participant
Have worked in Delaware
Originally Published on; https://fywonline.com/newyorkcity/
My dreams came a bit true in October 2016, I spent all summer on Work and Travel program and after 3 month of hard work we started traveling around the East Coast, so I have to write about New York, which I really wanted to visit.
We already knew that We wanted to stay in New York City for at least three days and we wanted to see a lot!
In my opinion, October weather is very good for walking through NY, better than hot summer or hard winter weather. The weather was like 59 °F – 64°F which was very good for sightseeing.
We didn´t want to spend a lot of money for housing, well, not to save money, We just did not want to spend a lot for luxury hotels. First, We tried to find anything close to Manhattan at AirBnb, but unfortunately we couldn´t get anything for „normal“ price, We did everything like at the last minute, so We read reviews on internet where they say that the best place for stay is Jersey City (New Jersey) because It is very close to down Manhattan via Lincoln Tunnel (about 30 minutes by bus or taxi). We finally bought 2 nights at the Super8 Hotel (chain of motels and hotels) that you can see on the map higher. The hotel was terrible, but we wanted just something for sleeping, that was the purpose. Don´t expect breakfast like in European hotels and luxury hotels. You usually get just some terrible filter coffee, diluted juice and toasty bread with very bad jam. And what is the „best“? For sure American waffle makers on every each breakfast!!!… okay. Does this taste somebody else except Americans? You can see a picture of waffle maker higher here, but it´s a pity that you don´t know how does it taste Bleh. Sorry, but who would want to eat it three weeks every morning durinq traveling. Me not. Just Americans I think As you can see in the map, the hotel was really close to Manhattan, the bus stopped by in front of the hotel every few minutes and was around 3 USD and stopped right in the middle of Manhattan, the driver was always Mexican maaaaaan (nothing against them) and we were listening during Bailando from Enrique in the bus What a dream ! So if you do not need luxury -> I can recommend this place.
And because we all would be nervous If we had to drive in NY, we walked, travelled by metro or buses through NYC. I would probably nervously break down If I would drive. Everywheree else around US you are lost without car, but not in the downtown of big cities. What really made me surprised was the organization of bus traffic from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan – The mass of people every day, every hour, every minute, and everything works, everyone in the queues, getting up, coming out, going away, going next, Order and organization, really! Wow.
Choose the MetroCard for traveling by public transport. The Card costs 1USD and you can buy this card on each subway station in special machine.
A regular ticket costs about 3 USD. And for this ticket, you can go along the lines where you need. You´ll go through the door at the entrance to the metro and validate the Card in a special turnstile.The ticket stops working when you exit the subway.
So, We started to go quite early in the morning after a short night’s rest to NY streets!
We didn´t have a lot of energy after 3 week of traveling just in car and just staying on the road can be quite demanding. But It was amazing adventure.
Ellis Island was the first stop and we arrived in Liberty State Park (New Jersey) by taxi (which was quite cheap). This island was the gateway of all immigrants in the past – the only federal immigration station that was in operation from 1892 to 1954, and here passed by more than 12 million immigrants! Today, more than 100 million Americans can trace their origin to immigrants who have gone through Ellis Island. A boat full of „refugees“ took us here. No, I’m kidding, but the traffic is so high and it looks like a ship from Syria. Judge yourself
This Island is island between Manhattan and Liberty Island, where is Statue of Liberty. Currently, The building is National Museum of Immigration Ellis Island, and I must say that it was a very interesting experience! We were here just for a few minutes, but I really recommend this place and just feel the atmosphere! The price for Statue of Liberty includes the cruises so You just need to buy one ticket for statue. You can buy it HERE and HERE. I recommend to buy the ticket at least three months in advance and If you want to visit the Crown (the highest place accessible to tourists), buy the ticket at least half a year in advance. We only had Monument Access tickets.
We picked up the tickets (it is necessary to have a paper ticket, not the online) at the „pre-paid ticket box office“ which is at the cruises terminals. It is recommended to come at the ticket office at least 20 minutes before the cruise. We had enough time and before entering the boat and directly „into“ the statue, we went through a similar control like at the airport! They not allow you to take with you any liquid, so unfortunately no drink. Did you know, for example, that the statue holds a book with the date of July 4, 1776? Again, we were here not in the main season, so there were no queues like in summer, perfect!
The boat from Statue of Liberty took us to the coast of down Manhattan, where we finally started to walk at busy center, and then walked most of the way and a long distance by subway, which works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year .
Manhattan maps for free are availible HERE.
The streets were a bit of a shock to me at first, yeah, small town girl from Sušice (Czech Republic) in New York: D, but the whole system is really simple (like everything in US) to understand (ehm). All streets are perpendicular to each other…Our first stop in Manhattan was all known Wall Street full of tourists with selfie sticks. You can buey here a historical tours that includes a visit to the museum and a discussion of various financial professionals who have been able to find ways around financial laws or gaps in them. There are also many performers. We just went through symbolically.
Overall, We wanted to see the buildings and the famous places … take a walk, so ,in my opinion, we didn´t spend a lot of money here. During the walk we were constantly stopped by blacks who offered us various cruises, guide tours and so on. You have to behave like people in NY and just say NO or just do that you don ´t see them. In general, as a tourist you pay for everything here . (Wi-Fi at McDonald and Starbucks saved us )
We were originally planning to see all of New York from the Empire State Building, but at the Empire was „everybody“, we said we would make an exception and we turned it at ->
One World Trade Center
… or the Freedom Tower
A symbolic place, that’s a fact. I fell in love in this building!
In the beginning, we stopped by near the moment National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which was built close to OWTC a few years after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, as you can see, on the memorial are engraved victims of this attack … I had a lot of ideas and strange thoughts in my mind here … Such a weird feeling …..
And now the One World Trade Center (OWTC) – the highest building (1,776 feet) – 541 meters on the Western Hemisphere and the most expensive in the world (for many security measures against terrorist attacks). We payed 50 USD each person which I consider to be quite a lot, but we just had to see it! We got the queue for about half an hour and then the elevator took us out to the 102nd (up to 386m), and the amazement came right at the exit from that elevator! During the way in elevator the vein burst in my eye, Oh, it hurt. Don´t forget to watch the video from the elevator! So we came out at the 102nd floor, where we released a short interactive video about the construction of a skyscraper. Then we entered the in observation palace, which was first opened to the public in 28.5.2015. The construction of this amazement lasted for 8 years and the building itself opened on 3.1.2014, Several employees worked in this time here and almost everybody worked in Condé Nast, which is the main subcontractor. At present, rentals cover approx. 70% of the usable area for rent, so you can still open a restaurant or take a chair in the office here :D. The view is just fantasy
A metro station of the same name is located just outside the building, it is a white-painted hall – made of glass and steel. The structure resembles the extended wing of the flying bird
We also missed the famous Little Italy, China Town – the notorious food, the famous Iron Building – just for the photo I have to say :), went through the crowded Brooklyn Bridge and bought New York’s souvenir bracelets, missed the Empire and the Rockefeller Center, Where the well-known winter ice rink was just preparing for winter season.
We had to pass „shopping“ at FIFTH AVENUE among the yellow taxis. There are millions of hundreds of millions of luxury stores here, but I’ll buy probably something next time.
I got a crazy taste for China food (I have it quite often), I could eat it every day , so we stopped by at a Chinese restaurant where the lunch menu was about $ 12 (quite cheap), and I got Sweet Sour Chicken, I know, nothing special, but it tastes good to me.
The last, third day, we visited Central Park and we felt like like Kevin lost in NY, admiring the Plaza Hotel and the places where Kevin used to live with a pigeon lady and a bellboy from the hotel. In the evening, we picked it up at Night Times Square ..to one big shining advertisement!
And how is my impression of NY? So sorry, but I can´t imagine live in the downtown of Manhattan, those crowds and the smell of garbage bags (melting in the heat) in the streets would actually kill me. BUT I HAD TO SEE that I really liked the most THE FEELING in the clouds at One World Trade Center. Washington D.C. was much beautiful for me!
How much did it cost?
3 days trip in New York City
Approximate price for a total of 4 people: 724 USD
Approximate price for 1 person: 181 USD
Prices at stores are always listed without a sales taxes, which is around 8% in NY (different in each country), and the tax is included at price after payment. We did not have the car anymore and We did not spend a lot of money for the food cause We went shopping to a supermarket right above the hotel. I didn´t buy any clothes at NY, cause I already bought some in Delaware without a taxes :). Anyway. It’s up to you to how much you want to spend.
Such a super tip: If you want to send a postcards from anywhere in the world, I do not recommend post at all, but I’ve tried the application Touchnoute, and you will just buy a credit and send the PICTURES FROM YOUR PHONE anywhere! With the text on that address, it is a much cheaper than buying a postcards, findind a post and it will save you a lot of time. The picture will come anywhere in 1 week and that´s perfect!
Thank you very much for reading my posts!
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