Going To America! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**aliz** · 07-22-2007, 01:28 AM

tee hee... thats a favourite movie of mine. But after doing our taxes this year, my mum and I have decided that we can afford a quick trip to New York in the christmas holidays! yayy! We're going on the 10th of January for 10 days. So any advice and recommendations are completely welcome, particularly where to stay, eat and shop. and of course what to do! We're thinking of staying in two different places, rather than being in the same place for 9 nights so we can see different parts of town. So which areas do you think we should look for? As for what to do, we're both interested in fashion - she teaches it at high school and I study it at uni. So we want to know the best shopping districts and maybe if there's any museums up that alley? We both also have a vague interest in architecture, not just the main big buildings but if there's any nice neighbourhoods with lots of houses to stickybeak at then we always enjoy that too. Another thing mum wants to find out about is how to find where different movies and tv shows set in New York are filmed - I know they used to/ still do sex and the city tours, but we were wondering if anyone knows of any websites or books where you can wander around and find things by yourself? We pretty much only know New York through movies and tv shows so we'd be extra nerdy and touristy in that sense. So if anyone has been to new york or lives there, we'd love to hear your advice! - oh and regarding the accommodation, we're on more of a 'family holiday' budget rather than a backpackers... my mum wants a good location and her own bathroom!
ps. the only advice we don't want is regarding our plans themselves - everyone here seems to have an opinion about the '10 days in new york in january' idea and i'm sick of hearing them. yes, we know it will be freezing and probably much nicer some other time of year, but this is the only time we can both go. no, we don't want to make it a big trip and go anywhere else, we have both been to the US and canada before and we just want to go to new york. And we don't think 10 days is too long, we can always find ways to entertain ourselves!

**lauren313** · 07-22-2007, 03:13 AM

Yay, you stick to your guns! I've not been to NY, but I'm so sure you will find plenty to do to amuse yourselves! Have fun!!!

**benna2** · 07-22-2007, 10:06 AM

Aliz, you are going to have so much fun. NYC is the most spectacular city in the world during Christmas time. (In my humble opinion anyway!)

You will definately have to check out Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree there is a must have photo op. Also for television/movie tours check out this website and you will have more of an idea how it all works. http://www.sceneontv.com/ I've heard the Sex and the City tour is pretty neat.

Another cool thing to do is go see a talk show being taped. I know the Tyra Banks show is moving to NYC, as well as Montel Williams, several court shows, Live with Regis and Kelly, The View, Conan O'Brian and David Letterman. The day time talk shows are often easier to get tickets to and you can go to their websites to find info on tickets. All tapings are free and a fun way to spend an afternoon and get insight on how they actually tape a show.

Greenwich Village is a nice place to spend a day as well. Lots of cool little boutiques and coffee houses and it's a really chilled and laid back atmosphere. I spent countless weekends in Greenwich when I lived there.

It might be a wise idea to buy a one week subway pass when you get there. The subway is the easiest way to get from A to B and if you pay individually for each trip the dollars will add up. Much better to just get an unlimited pass for however long you are there.

Hotels are expensive, I ain't gonna lie! Check the internet for hotel specials in NYC. See if you get lucky with a discount.

You have plenty of time still, so if you have any questions just ask and I will try to help or I'm sure lots of people on the boards can as well!

**joe7f** · 07-22-2007, 05:01 PM

In order to save money on the hotel (which on (lowish) average will run you $300 (340 AUD)) you may want to consider Hoboken, NJ for at least part of the trip. You can get something in the 150-200 USD ballpark.

If you haven't really been to the big apple, then you may want to get a hotel in the heart of the city and just try to scale down the accomodation at least for part of the stay.

New York is a good place to hang out and while I know you don't want to expand your trip (which is understandable, you will be escaping the heat so a touch of winter won't be too bad) you can fly/train it to Boston or DC for a day or two should the mood strike.

You'll have a great time! I have to go up to NY at Christmas time one year

--Joey

**LiveFreeorDie** · 07-23-2007, 05:36 AM

Well, if you want to see the diner popularized in Seinfeld, here is some info on it: Tom's Restaurant That's all I got for pop culture ideas.

I agree with Brooke on Greenwich Village. Great place to hang out, both night and day. I can't give you much advice on shopping, I figured Brooke would be able to tell you all the hotspots

Have a great trip, NYC is always a great time no matter the season.

**simply_angelic** · 07-23-2007, 12:05 PM

Tom's restaurant was such a disappointment! I was expecting the inside of the LA set to at least kind of be based on the diner...but it's soooooo different. Oh well. Obviously you guys will have to hit up Soho and that area (IMO too expensive to buy but great to peruse and dream), I agree with brooke on greenwich village for little shops & (obv) hit up as many shows as you can! Also, if you're into the opera I think you can get tickets on a mon-thur any week of this year for only $20! (it's usually 100$) It was subsidized by some rich person who made a huge donation to the opera. Have fun! I love NY...

**simply_angelic** · 07-23-2007, 12:06 PM

scratch the opera thing....when I saw christmas I thought you mean like real christmas, as in partly dec....that's only for this year....

**maracle** · 07-23-2007, 02:06 PM

Hmmm, well your interests are not areas I know much about but I can give some general ideas for NYC. I've spent about 10 days in NYC so I can't say I really "know" the city, but since you're doing something similar hopefully it will be helpful.

1) If you want to see a TV show taped go figure out which one and start requesting tickets NOW. Especially if you want to see something good like The Daily Show, you have to apply really far in advance. Even for a crappy show that no one watches it can be hard to get tickets without several weeks notice.

2) Be careful where you get your hotel...I thought it would be cool to stay in a hostel right on Times Square. Worst decision ever!

After the 2nd or 3rd time I battled my way through massive crowds just to get to the subway (it would take 15 minutes to move 1 block to the subway

) I found a new hostel elsewhere!

3) The Empire State Building was a boring waste of time. It took hours to get into it due to the unbelievable security and then you get to the top and can barely see anything due to the bars preventing people from falling. Also you're packed in like sardines so its hard to even get a look. And it costs a lot. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me about this though.

4) I really liked seeing the broadway shows. You can try to get rush tickets to most shows if you're trying to keep a budget, they typically go on sale to the first 20 or so people in line early in the morning for that evening's show. But every show is a little different in how they handle it so do some research. Rent was excellent, and Blue Man Group was a lot of fun.

5) The best museums I saw were the Frick and the Cloisters. The Frick Collection is basically the personal collection of Henry Frick who was a steel baron along with Andrew Carnegie. Its located in his old mansion which is an entire city block in Manhattan and its full of great paintings, fine french furniture, faberge eggs, sculptures, carpets, etc. I just liked it because its a bit smaller than the massive museums like the Met or the MoMa, and everything in there is impressive. It also has a really nice audio tour included with admission.

The Cloisters is part of the Met, but located in a completely different part of the city, up at the northern tip of manhattan. Its for medieval architecture and is built out of cloisters that were shipped over from Europe.

6) The best part of NYC is the food.

Soul food in Harlem, Chinatown, Little Italy, just about anything you could want. And somehow there's a wait for dinner at every one of them

Have fun, its an awesome city! Since you're there near the holidays make sure to look for the stuff that only happens then, like the Rockettes.

**aliz** · 07-23-2007, 06:38 PM

thanks everyone, really good ideas and advice! I'm getting so excited but its still like 6 months away....

**florencia9699** · 07-23-2007, 11:01 PM

My parents loved doing some shopping in China town. Apparenty there are these Chinese ladies that whisper "Luis Vuitton, Dior..." and then if you follow them they take you to a building and they have all these piles of really good copies of LV bags and Dior, and Coach and just about everything else.

It's a fun experience I guess, and I couldn't believe my parent's story (they are really non adveturous, super serious, law abiding people) so we couldn't imagine them doing that, you have to bargain to get good prices, but I guess it could be an intersting trip story and you get a nice, cheap bag.