New Orleans fell through, so let's try something else that's new!

May 13, 2008 10:25 AM

As luck would have it, my previous question has fizzled out. Same people travelling, but this time, we're heading to New York City from Waverly, NY, and only staying for the weekend (5/22 or 23-5/25).

The biggest question is: how do we get into the city? We do have access to a car, but I'd be the driver and I really dislike driving in big ass cities (such as NYC). How could we get from Waverly to inside the city?

Where can we stay that would be good for general partying-ness and some sight-seeing, but also relatively cheap (the main reason why this trip was cut down to a weekend instead of a week)?

Is there some sort of easy carryaround map I can use? (I like maps that have subway lines/stations and bus service on them.)

What is 'not to be missed'? I've been to NYC once (pre-9/11), and seen the big attractions, but have no desire to see Ground Zero (neither does my friend, for that matter.)

How much is this going to hurt in the wallet? I know that cigarettes are expensive (my friend smokes), but for alcohol, what would be standard prices for stuff like beers and mixed drinks?

Lastly, any words of advice? This is my first vacation that I'm planning by myself and I'm trying to not screw it up. (Of course, leaving one week to plan things isn't helping matters, but was out of my hands.)

posted by sperose to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Go to MetaTalk tab and check out the New York Mefi Meet-up.....it's on the 24th.
posted by Grither at 10:33 AM on May 13

Beer and mixed drinks should cost around 5 dollars at a normal bar. At a club, can be much more expensive.
posted by josher71 at 10:38 AM on May 13

Oh, and if you're looking for cheaper, fun places to hang out, the East Village is pretty good for that....
posted by Grither at 10:44 AM on May 13

Speaking of cheap drinks...

My favorite place has it in spades. Plus, lots of buybacks.

The Blarney Cove
510 E 14th St
[phone]‎
posted by josher71 at 10:47 AM on May 13

At first I was thinking that Waverly, NY, was some kind of close suburb that I just hadn't heard from. It's not. You are four hours from NYC. How would you get here? Plane? Bus? Train? Those are methods of transport that do not require the help of the MeFi community to research.

If you still want to drive, you can drive to a park n ride in, say, New Jersey, or Rockland County, and then take a bus in. You can research those on the New Jersey Transit (google it) web site. Of course then you're leaving your car unattended for the weekend. There is some risk there, even if you park in an affluent area (even more so in an affluent area). You could of course also just drive to Hoboken, NJ, and park in a for-pay lot, and then take the PATH train right across the river to Manhattan. That option, however, is not cheap. It is simple for you to research, however.

Where can you stay: nothing in Manhattan is cheap to stay in. If it is, be very very wary of it, as it will be some fleabag hotel in which your person and possessions will be at risk. I can recommend the Greenpoint (Brooklyn) YMCA, which has a B&B for about $40/night. It's shared bath, but they do have private rooms, and it does include breakfast at a diner down the street. It's located right across the street from the 94th precinct and is in my neighborhood, which I happen to believe is safe and the crime statistics back that up.
You then have several methods of transportation into Manhattan available to you: G train to the L train, 61 bus to the 7 train, or walk to the L. Again, I live here and use one of those every single day so I know it is quick, easy and efficient (as I wait for someone who never takes the G train to come in and regale us with tales about how horrible it is).

Note: your research may lead you to an establishment called the Greenpoint Hotel. Please stay away from it at all costs. It is the worst such establishment in the entire city. But it often comes up in budget hotel searches and its web site makes it look, well, like another hotel.

Maps: I recommend the Not For Tourists series, as it's pocketable and aimed at your demographic, if I may be so bold. (link) Newyorkology is another good guide, but it's online only.

What to see: I could write an entire web site about that. You need to give people some kind of idea of what it is, exactly, you're wanting to see. major tourist sites? shopping? culture? music? food? why on earth are you even coming to new york if you don't know what it is you want to see? if you want cheap, manhattan is not the place to come to.

and finally, please try to not be so offhand about ground zero while you are here. i am writing it off to unintentional ignorance but others will not be so charitable.
posted by micawber at 11:01 AM on May 13

park somewhere and train in. A parking ticket in the city starts a $110, so if the train costs you $16 it's still a bargin.

East and West village are still pretty cool places with relatively inexpensive places to eat and drink.

You don't really need to carry a map around, if you remember that the STREETS run east and west, the AVENUES run north and south. So if you are walking on seventh ave, and the streets numbers are getting larger, you are heading north (uptown). if you are on 36st and the Avenue numbers are getting larger, you are headed west. It's pretty easy for the most part.

what to see really depends on what you like. Shows, museums, outdoor markets, high end shopping, wall street, empire state building, time square, peep shows, alternative lifestyles.... there is no end to the things you can see if you are so inclined...
posted by Mr_Chips at 12:01 PM on May 13

Micawber: I gather you live in New York. I do as well, and to be honest, I didn't take sperose's comment as offhandedness -- just a desire not to see Ground Zero. Personally, I'm more bothered by the people who DO treat Ground Zero as a tourist destination.

But I digress.

As for ways to get to NYC without driving there: take a gander at the MTA web site, especially the map of the Metro-North commuter rail. You could drive to any one of those cities, park at the station, and take the train in the rest of the way -- you'd end up in Grand Central Station, which also houses four or five different subway lines. A shuttle train there takes you across to Port Authority, where you can catch most of the OTHER subway lines. (Googling Waverly, NY, it looks like your closest bet would be Port Jervis, NY -- it's about 2-1/2 hours' drive.)

As for stuff to do: well, what kind of things do you like to do in general? What kind of "New York" are you looking for? Because there's a ton of different answers.

Are you big on culture? The stretch of museums along 5th Avenue from about 80th Street up to 105th are a place to start -- there are 8 big museums, including the Guggenheim, and some smaller museums. And it's right bang by Central Park, so you can take a nice stroll if you get museum'ed out. (Bonus for the budget traveler: the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a "suggested donation", so you could theoretically get in for two bucks.) There's also the theater scene -- if you're set on Broadway, you can get half-price tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square (they sell half-price tickets the day of the show, but you have to get up early and wait in line and it's first-come first-served -- and not all shows are available). Or you could get tickets to an off-Broadway or off-off-Broadway show, which are frequently just as good but always much cheaper. (The website nytheatre.com -- which, to be honest, I sometimes write for -- has a pretty comprehensive coverage of literally everything that is running in New York at any time ever.)

Looking for iconic "New York" things to see that are nowhere else? You've got the Empire State building, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square (although that's actually a huge "tourist central" now), the aforementioned Central Park...the Carnegie Deli and/or Katz's Deli are also classic "only in New York" experiences. Katz's is also where they filmed the "I'll have what she's having" scene in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, and they have a sign hanging over the table where Meg Ryan sat. There's also Rockefeller Center, which has some wonderful art deco detailing on its buildings.

Do you just like to walk around neighborhoods and stumble upon things? Greenwich Village -- east or west -- is good for that, as is the Upper West Side. Chinatown is also fun in that regard.

Looking for out-of-the-way, little-known things? Visit the outer boroughs -- Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx...Brooklyn in particular boasts its own museums, cultural performance spaces, history museums, and huge center park.

Coney Island is also mostly open -- the Astroland amusement park, which boasts the Cyclone, opens this Friday (May 16th), and is only about $10. The Wonder Wheel (a huge ferris wheel) is also open by now. The boardwalk and beach are open all year; most of the visitors tend to cluster at one end of the boardwalk, where all the amusement park rides are, so taking a stroll along the rest of the boardwalk gets you away from the crowds pretty quickly. If the circus-vibe also appeals, the "Coney Island Circus Sideshow" opened on Easter. Coney Island's historical society also has a Saturday night film series, $5 per person, with a variety of shows (last summer they showed everything from the Marx Brothers to "Viva Las Vegas" to "Jaws" to "The Terror of Tiny Town").

As for the maps: check out a copy of one of the "Not For Tourists" guides. Those do have subway info on them, and have a pretty good overview of lots of different areas of the city.

If you have more specific questions about arts/Brooklyn/out-of-the-way, feel free to send me a message and I can elaborate more.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:20 PM on May 13

Oh, duh -- as for places to stay: what kind of accomodations are you looking for? Because the International Youth Hostel in NYC is a good bargain, but --- well, it's a youth hostel, so you'd have to deal with hostel rules (i.e., bunk beds and dorm-style rooms, etc.). But the NYC hostel is also a couple blocks away from Museum Mile.

As for more chain hotels: I know there's a Howard Johnson's in the East Village, a block away from Katz's (and two doors down from an indie movie house, too -- one that I used to live near that shows interesting midnight movies during the summer on Friday and Saturdays, and for some unknown reason they screen trailers for classic 70's porn films mixed in with the other trailers at these midnight screenings). Other budget options do exist, but be ready to be a few blocks out of the way or in a smaller room.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:27 PM on May 13

Many thanks y'all. Friend and I are still working out the whole getting there part, but we've got some hostels to book later today and places to go.


(My apologies if I offended about Ground Zero. The few people I've told about going to NYC get all excited and it really bothers me.)
posted by sperose at 9:52 AM on May 14