Here’s a few tips if you plan to visit New York and want to get the most out of your holiday. Firstly, I’d say if you want to see a good part of the city, you need to visit New York for at least 3-5 days.  If you spend just a couple of days here you’re not really going to get out of the Manhattan and there’s much more to the city than this. Which leads to the next point.

Get out of Manhattan.  Most tourists will stay somewhere near here and do the shopping, a broadway show, the Empire State Building and take a trip to see the Statue of Liberty but New York is so much more than Manhattan.  Get yourself to Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island. If you don’t have time to see them all, at least make sure to get to Brooklyn.

Public transport in New York is good, but it can be a bit confusing.  Taxi’s are plentiful but you can’t be shy about hailing one down from the street. If you do the polite Thai thing of hand out, not above the waist, you’re going to be standing on the road for a long time.  The Subway is usually faster but takes a bit to full master.  Don’t take express buses unless you’re sure they’re going to stop where you need them to.

Times Square I guess is a must-see as a tourist but it’s crowded and has become a bit of a tourist trap with tours, performers, tacky souvenir’s. When I was last there I lasted about 5 minutes during rush hour before having enough.  Go down late at night if you can, it’s much better to see at night than during the day.

New York has some of the best restaurants in the world and this is not the time to be feasting on McDonalds Burger King.  Not eating New York Pizza would be sinful, as would not trying a bacon and egg Bagel for breakfast.  There’s so many good restaurants here that you shouldn’t have to walk more than 5-10 minutes to find something from your favourite cuisine.  Quite a few of the local smaller restaurants only accept cash but some of these can be the best and cheapest.

New York is a bit like Hong Kong in that everybody is in a hurry. If you stand on the left side of the escalator in Hong Kong you’re going to get either a rude look or told to move aside by some dickhead like myself.  New York is the same, and blocking peoples’ way, walking slowly will no doubt get you a dirty look and/or comment.  People say New Yorkers are a bit rude but I found them alright and quite friendly.

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