Tips
An integral part of New York is its reliance on tips. Call me tight but I often will only give about 10% at a restaurant for good service. It is something to be earned. In New York 15% is expected for OK service because these people are on below minimum wage and the 15% makes up that shortfall. Most restaurants include a helpful guide on their receipts offering 15%, 18% and 20% for OK, good and excellent service respectfully.
During our break we often gave tips greater than 15% because the service is much greater than that I am used to in the UK and so we felt it was deserved. But it doesn't stop there...
We tipped the room maid a dollar a day for cleaning our room. A small price to pay when that person has access to your room without you present. The bell boys expect around a dollar a bag for taking them to your room or calling a taxi. Remember to also tip the taxi driver 15% too :s .
Booking in advance
If you want to traverse to the pedestal or crown level of the Statue of Liberty you must book tickets at least 2 weeks in advance as these often sell out. These tickets also give you a reserved place on a ferry.
Unless you get a reserved ticket you will need to join a massive queue for available seats on which ever boat has room. Flexible tickets will also need to join this LONG queue. Reserved ticket holders get to join a MUCH shorter queue to the ferry but must get the ferry the tickets relate to. Get your tickets at http://www.statuecruises.com/choose_tickets.aspx
NOTE: Remember to check Jedward's schedule before booking
Empire state building offers tickets to the 86th and 102nd floors with an optional express privilege that lets you skip ALL the queues. We bought tickets to the 86th floor only without the express privilege. This ticket could of been used at any time within a year of purchase. We got to the ESB at about 11am and as we had a ticket we never had to queue to get one. BONUS. We then got an escalator and a express elevator to the 80th floor. So far no queuing but here it starts. Although the queuing now started it wasn't as long as the queues could be judging by the length of winding barriers we had to walk through to get to the queue. My advice is to get there as early as possible and you will save yourself $20 not getting the express ticket. Get tickets at https://ticketing.esbnyc.com/Webstore/Content.aspx?Kind=LandingPage
Subway
If you know me you will be aware how amazing I am at using metro systems... like the one in Madrid :( Compared to Madrid this subway system is EASY. Each line is named after a single letter or a number and you have a choice of a local stopping service or an express service that stops at a subset of stations.
Each trip is $2.50 so there and back again costs $5. Metrocards can be purchased from automated machines with many denominations of $10 already loaded available. As you use the card you will be notified of your current balance at the barrier. This metrocard can be topped up at any time but it maybe cheaper to get a 7day metrocard with unlimited travel for only $29. We only used the metro to get to the ferry for the statue of liberty and the Brooklyn bridge costing us only $10 in total per a person.
For more information and route planning you can go to http://www.mta.info/
Chatty Shop keepers
In every shop we entered on 5th avenue we found very friendly shop assistants who asked us how we were. It is worth being polite back as they will offer great advice. For example in Macys they told us about a 10% discount for foreigners which we made use of :)
Note: that the costs shown in the shops and restaurant do not include tax. Tax is added at the till and is a little random. We think its about 8%.
Freebies
Hours can be lost in Times Square just watching people. It has to be experienced for yourself.
Brooklyn Bridge is free to cross on foot and is great for views of lower Manhattan.
Central Park is great for a walk if the weather is nice but we took a relaxing horse ride for $50 plus tips for 20mins. This was expensive and isn't necessary but I felt it was worth it. The ice rink is closed in the summer and is used as a fair.
M&M World is an amazing shop to visit... it is free to visit if you can resist the urge to buy anything. My hint is to be gentle with the M&M dispensers as it is easy to spend a fortune on M&Ms.
If you are so inclined you can visit the New York Library and catch a glimpse of the original winnie the pooh and friends, which the stories are based upon.
The Rockefeller centre and all Starbucks offers a free WiFi network. In case your interested.
A missed opportunity
The Rockefeller Center will offer better views of central park and the empire state building than the empire state building :P
A friend of mine (Thanks John) suggests the ferry to Staten Island because it is free and offers great views of the Statue of Liberty. Alternatively
Restaurants
Everyday we went to a diner called Primeburger at 51st street east of 5th avenue for breakfast. Would recommend it for cheap pancakes and cheap coffee.
Benash was our favourite restaurant at the corner of 7th avenue and 55th street. Would recommend any of the pizzas or cheesecake.
Other places we visited:
- Tiffany's
- Apple Store
- Macys
- Madison Garden
- Grand Central Station
- China Town
- Little Italy
- Lion King - Broadway show (Book in advance - about £100 each)
Avoid
We avoided the open top buses as they were very complicated and very expensive compared to the subway.
1 comment:
Thanks Chris! Great information and I'm glad you included links :)
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