Virgin in the City

Okay - so maybe I'm channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw a little too much on the title - maybe I should say "Virgin TO the City."  I recently went to the Big Apple for the first time after years of talking about it and planning and cancelling - my husband and I finally made it happen.  Here are the top 5 things (in no particular order) I learned about myself and NYC during this maiden voyage...


1 ~ Taking the train in and out of the city has to be the easiest way of travel.  Although NYC has never been my final destination of travel, I have flown in and out of the three major airports that share air space (Newark, Laguardia, and JFK) on numerous occasions and they never seem to be easy in and out.  The train has power outlets (sometimes up to 4 per seat) and free Wifi on board.  Not to mention the dining car and several bathrooms per car.  The dining car is limited and pricey, but it's an option and the bathrooms are not huge but bigger than an airplane's with less turbulence :)  Driving into the city yourself seems to be the least appealing in regard to parking, traffic, and time.

Me w/ my new Broadway crush -
Newsies star, Corey Cott 

2 ~ I think New Yorkers get a bit of a bad wrap for being rude.  It wasn't the folks in the stores, restaurants, or in the train stations that annoyed me - it was my fellow tourists!  Having gone to college in a city (certainly a fraction of the size of NYC) and traveled to DC often enough, I come prepared with a firm gate when in a crowd. I don't walk into people, but I also don't just move to the side excusing myself in city foot traffic.  My fellow tourists seemed to not only have no sense of urgency when it came to moving out of the way when they stopped to look at maps or take pictures but took up the whole sidewalk when traveling in packs.  Folks would literally nudge me out of the way if they were trying to take a picture in front of something and I stubbornly did not budge unless someone said 'excuse me' to me.  Just a personal pet peeve of mine (but I digress).  When we saw the Broadway production, "Newsies" (amazing BTDubs), the entire cast came out to sign playbills - they couldn't have been nicer stopping to answer questions and take pictures even though they had to have been exhausted!

3 ~ Do your research on the segmented parts of the city for site seeing to save time and money.  We purposefully picked a hotel that was within walking distance from several of our desired site seeing points. We were within blocks of the train station, the theater district, Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Empire State Building, 5th Avenue shopping... I'm sure there were lots of other things that we didn't look into - but these were some of our biggies.  It not only saved us money by not having to take a cab, but it also helped us see things we didn't intend to see while traveling on foot.  The only time we had to take a cab was the 9/11 Memorial as it was several miles away.  We knew ahead of time this was the case but it was a must see for us.  Taking the cab that one time made us grateful for our walking plans $$.

Enjoying a cocktail at "The OUT NYC"

4 ~ In the same light - do your research on what's important to you in a hotel.  I know some folks can travel and don't care about the hotel as long as they have a place to sleep - not me.  This was a biggie that I felt the most strongly toward.  I wanted to find a place that was reasonable, close to destinations, clean, and had good reviews from other travelers. There were lots of hotels that were some of my requirements but not all. I found a hotel that was relatively new and still trying to build it's clientele Midtown West (bordering on Hell's Kitchen).  The OUT NYC was where we landed and upon check in realized it was a "straight friendly" resort.  Meaning, it welcomed straight families but was a hub for the gay community in luxury travel.  It made me love it even more, but I understand it wouldn't have been that way for everyone.  Sidenote - everyone on staff was gorgeous!!  Never did we feel out of place or frowned upon; only welcomed in the hotel and bar therein.

9/11 Memorial Fountains - North Pool

5 ~ Try to experience things you couldn't at home.  We made an exception to this with Starbucks tea and lunch the first day.  Fresh off of the train and getting turned around toward our hotel - we had to pick the first restaurant we recognized (which was a chain).  Other than that - when we passed the Shake Shack, or Crumble Bakery, or a pizza stand - we stopped.  I would say our favorite restaurant was a toss up between the most amazing burgers at Joe's Bar (near the 9/11 memorial) and Chez Josephine in the Theater District. Chez Josephine is owned by Jean-Claude Baker who was adopted by Josephine Baker as a young teen in Paris (who incidentally greeted us and walked us to the door upon leaving).  The food and atmosphere were perfect from the memorabilia of Ms. Baker to the piano player to the Broadway veteran seated beside us!

This was just our experience and a three day experience at that, but it may help when planning a trip to the city if you've never been.  I hope to go back with my son next...

Loved this - outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral
which was one of my favorite spots