Things To Do
TV Show Recordings (Free)
Sign up here and fill out profile etc. The ballot for tickets normally opens up about a month and a half or before the show date. The website has a good twitter that keeps updated. I managed to get tickets to see The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Late Night with Seth Myers.
https://1iota.com/
New York Crime Walking Tour
This was the best tour we did on the trip. We booked this last minute after deliberating about it for several days. I am so glad we did. This tour covers so much more than the title would lead you to believe. There were 5 people on the tour.
The tour was done by John (who was an NYPD cop). Just walking around with him and his knowledge was so interesting. His insight into the way the criminal system in USA was very insightful.
The breadth of this tour should not be taking for granted (quick summary below):
- Wall Street – White Collar Crimes (also see the Charging Bull)
- Court Houses & Jails – How the system works
- 9/11
- Chinatown
- Gangs
- Mafia
- Gun Culture
https://www.takewalks.com/new-york-tours/nypd-tour-mob-mafia/
Grand Central Terminal
It is worth a quick stop off to just go into the main terminal, it is really impressive.
We did a tour of it. I would highly recommend for anyone. I am a bit of a transport geek, so perhaps I have a slight bias. However, Ben knows his stuff inside and out. You can tell he breathes the place. It was very interesting and fun! There were 5 people on the tour. I would also recommend his other tours. I wish we were able to do his Highline & bagel tasting tour – maybe next time! On the tour, someone did mention a crime thriller book based in the station called Terminal City by Linda Fairstein.
https://www.bensbageltours.com/tours/
Rock ‘n’ Roll Tour
This tour is for anyone that is into rock and roll. The tour mainly focusses on artists from the 70’s such as The Ramones, Jimi Hendrix & Led Zepellin. However, does look at so much more artists such as Charlie Parker (jazz saxophonist) & the early Madonna years. The tour also looks at famous music venues and discusses promoters. There were around 6 people on our tour and our guide Bobby Pinn (stage name) was very engaging and passionate.
https://rockjunket.com/activities/east-village-punk-n-rock-tour/
Food:
Joe’s Pizza – Best pizza we had there. Pizza by the slice. There are a couple of them all over.
Prince St Pizza – A different style of pizza. Square slices with lovely pepperoni.
Sticky’s – Amazing chicken strips place. I would go back just to go to it.
Big Mozz – Simply amazing mozzarella sticks.
BareBurger – Good burgers, and very good if you have vegetarians with you.
Milk – Ice cream that tastes like the milk left in cereal bowl. Its better than it sounds!!!
Duchess Cookies – Absolutely incredible cookies that snap open with chocolate coming out of the middle.
Other Tips
Revolut Bank Card
This is a card you can top up and use like a normal bank card anywhere in the world. It has great exchange rates. I used it when booking stuff online in dollars and the exchange rate is almost identical to the one on google. My main bank would normally have a worse rate and charge £2 for the pleasure.
Broadway
The price of broadway shoes are not cheap. However, a fair few shows have selected days that if you go to the box office in the morning around 10am they do cheaper tickets for select days (e.g. half price). This worked out for us. We got tickets for Mean Girls doing this and they were $20 and front row. This was the “hot” musical that was out when we were there.
A lot of shows do lottery tickets if you enter online. E.g. you might get lucky and see Hamilton for $40 (usually $300). We did not find this successful. However, we did find going in person more successful for these “lottery” style giveaways. We did in London for The Book of Mormon (creators of South Park)
http://www.nytix.com/Links/Broadway/lotteryschedule.html http://www.broadwayforbrokepeople.com/
Empire State Building / Rockefeller ‘top of the rock’
I done both, but I am not saying it is a ‘must’ to do them both. I would recommend Rockefeller to be done during the day. On one side you get good views on Central Park from high up which is impressive. We did it at night, which was a mistake as its pitch black square! Don’t buy any passes from guys outside claiming they’ll help you skip the line – its a scam.
Comedy/Concerts
I would highly recommend checking ticketmaster to see if any bands are playing around the time you are there or see what the comedy clubs have going on. Just be aware that comedy club norm is you pay a ticket price and have to buy 2 drinks minimum per person at your table.
Shopping Outlets
We went to one of the designer outlets you had to get a bus a fair bit away too. You will see advertised. It was ok. If you only have a few days, then I wouldn’t waste time going as the bargains aren’t that great to justify going. – Worth mentioning that the one we went to was in NJ as I think the most popular/ common one people go to in NYC is Woodbury.
Shopping – Macys
If you’re going to shop in Macys, you can get 10% off with an International Savings pass. You’ll need to bring your passport and a copy of the pass (printed or shown on mobile). More info here https://www.visitmacysusa.com/voucher/savings-international-visitors
Also, save an image to your phone of a US > UK sizing chart – saves you having to constantly Google shoe/ clothing sizes.
Travel
We walked to most places (remember to bring a good pair of walking shoes!!!). Manhattan is pretty much a grid system, so fairly easy to get around. Weekly unlimited passes are available for the MetroCard (similar to an Oyster card – can be used on the subway, transit buses). We also got a couple of Ubers which were reasonable. Try to avoid the yellow taxis (unless you’re going for the photo opportunity) – the fares can be pricey.
Celeb spotting
Check out https://onlocationvacations.com/category/daily-filming-locations/ – list of all movies/ tv series filming in New York.
Photos
If you want a good photo at any of the top photospots (e.g. Strawberry Fields in Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge) , try to go earlier in the day when there are less tourists around.
An Emirates Option Voucher is a complimentary ticket that the airline uses for compensating passengers who are either voluntarily or involuntarily denied boarding to the plane (for reasons outwith their control). The voucher, which has a validity period of one year, gives the person a free return flight to a destination of similar mileage from the airport they were denied boarding. I think the business reason behind this system is to overbook seats to ensure a a full plane, and hope that a few people can’t make the flight so they don’t have to use the voucher system. If this fails and every passenger booked on the flight checks in, they have the compensation option up their sleeves to avoid a possible lawsuit!
