Some Thoughts on NYC

I mentioned in a previous post about our visit to New York, that I would write a post about some of the practicalities of visiting the city and some thoughts on our experiences there. I'm being incredibly candid here and I hope I don't upset anyone with some of the things I've written. I've tried to categorise my thoughts into different specific areas, such as travel, sightseeing, food/eating out, shopping, etc.

So here goes:

Firstly, I have to say that we had a great time, it's a fabulous city and the vast majority of it's inhabitants are friendly and helpful. Having said this, however, we did find it a very expensive place to visit.  The exchange rate didn't help, but this alone wasn't the problem.  Some things are just expensive in the US and in NYC particularly.

The first thing we found to be expensive was food in the supermarket.  It probably didn't help that the nearest supermarket to us was a Whole Foods Supermarket, who even in this country aren't particularly well known for being inexpensive. The silliest things were so expensive, such as mozzarella (I couldn't find this for less than $4 compared to less than £1 in the UK). A tin of Heinz tomato soup (I just fancied eating this one night) was $4.99, so I just couldn't bring myself to buy it at that price.  I thought Heinz was an American company, but I'm beginning to think this product was created for the UK market and hence expensive in the US.

One night we dropped into a nearby food store (albeit a very smart one) to get some pasta and a jar of sauce for a quick and easy supper.  Big mistake.  Dry pasta $9, bar of chocolate $12, the sauce was unpriced, but by this time we had decided not to bother and left the store, promptly followed by the security guard, who I think thought we had stolen something. We hadn't and he didn't approach us, but we obviously didn't fit the profile of their regular shoppers.

Anyway, we did manage to find a local Puerto Rican food market that had normal prices and we used this market a couple of times to buy fresh salad and fruit produce, spending only $12 or $13 each time. Sadly, there is currently a campaign to save said market, because developers are trying to get it relocated, so that they can build lots of housing and presumably earn big bucks too.  A sad consequence of gentrification, that we saw other examples of and see in the East End of London all the time.

We came away thinking, thank goodness for Lidl and how cheap food is in the UK.  I'll never again complain about food being expensive here.

Eating out, on the other hand was easy and reasonably priced in our experience.  We had to eat out for lunch most days and some evenings we ate out too. Museum cafe's were a little expensive, but other diners and restaurants were reasonable.  I don't think we paid over $100 for three of us ever, but then we didn't exactly eat in swanky places either.

The only problem we had in restaurants was in one particular diner type restaurant one day, when I overheard a waiter complaining about Europeans not tipping enough. He was being quite rude. Perhaps he didn't realise that tips tend to be included as a service charge in many restaurants here, so some people aren't familiar with the need to tip more generously in the US.  We know that at least 15-20% is expected, having travelled in the US quite a bit and try to tip accordingly, but the attitude of this particular person really riled me and I got the feeling he was talking loudly enough so that we would hear him too.  Having said this, the person who served us in this particular restaurant, was very polite and attentive and we tipped him accordingly, but overhearing this conversation did leave a rather nasty taste in my mouth.

Another thing we noticed in NYC, was that the system of entry to museums is much more expensive than ours here in London where entry is essentially free, but you can donate if you wish.  Most of the big galleries and museums cost $25 to enter.  It is, however, a suggested donation, and you can pay less. We didn't, however, feel particularly comfortable paying less than was suggested, unless we went on a day when it was free, and many museums and galleries do have free entry times during the week.  You just have to research this a little.

As a consequence, we didn't visit many of the museums and galleries, but we have visited some of them in the past.  What we didn't know until half way through our holiday, is that there is a CitiPass that you can buy for $122 per adult and $98 for children (some museums and attractions charge for children).  This apparently gives free access to specified museums, galleries and tourist attractions and if you wanted to visit several, would be worthwhile purchasing.

Just one more comment about museums. We visited one where we paid the $25 entry fee and then were asked to make a voluntary donation on top of this.  Where does it end?  Does everyone assume that because you are visiting the city you have hundreds of dollars to give away? This was also after I'd been spoken to quite rudely and sarcastically on first entering the museum, because I dared to ask a question about entry. This was a very interesting museum, but this woman's treatment of me was inexcusable and I wish I'd let her know that at the time, but I didn't think quickly enough on my feet.

On a more positive note, travel around New York was pretty easy, once we'd worked out what was Uptown and what was Downtown. Asking other commuters, we soon found out, was useless as they just weren't interested in helping that much (well one commuter anyway). The Metro card took us all over on buses and subway trains for 7 days for just $33 and the only restriction was that we couldn't travel on Express subway trains, which don't stop at some stops and as a consequence travel the lines faster. Much like the Tube here in London, trains were very packed during rush hour, but at least they are air conditioned.

We did have a slight problem using a credit card to buy our Metro cards at first, as the machine doesn't allow you to enter your card pin number.  Luckily, a homeless person came over and told us how to use the machine with a card and my one regret is that we didn't think to give him some money for his trouble, as he was really helpful to us. When we used the station the next day, I looked out for him to rectify this, but I never saw him again. I would honestly rather help a homeless person, who has nothing but is helpful, than an obnoxious waiter who more or less accuses you of being cheap.

Talking of homeless people, there are a lot in New York, especially around the subways.  They don't bother you and are often very friendly, but it is sad to see so many people living on the street. Many seem to get overlooked too and little attention is paid to them. It's the same here in London and it is something that I've noticed is increasing of late. There is definitely a huge polarisation between those who have a lot of money and those who don't. To me it seemed that in NYC money talks and if you don't have much and aren't throwing it around, you don't have a voice. I'm sure that people might think this the case of London too, and it may well be at times, but to me it made London seem like a caring, cheap and cheerful village, which if you have ever visited London, you know it isn't necessarily the case.

In many ways, I was glad that LB was more interested in Thrift shopping than trawling the shops on Fifth Avenue, as I felt much more comfortable in them than I probably would have done inside the fancier stores. Besides which, I have absolutely no wish to buy high end designer clothing or other items.

Talking of the Thrift stores, the Good Will ones tend to be pretty big with rails full of every type of clothing.  The prices were on a par with Central London charity shops I'd say, which I should know working in one. Some stores are better than others, but you do get an idea of how much good stuff people donate by seeing how much is in them.

My shopping habits whilst there did get me into a little bit of trouble, as my case was just under the full weight allowed on flying out there.  When my thrift store purchases were added I ended up 9lb overweight, which would have cost $124 had a kind and patient airport employee not allowed us to repack a little to avoid the excess charge.

Just one last grumble about travelling in general and aeroplane food.  I made the decision after our flight out there never to eat aeroplane food ever again.  It is just not worth it.  It made me feel so ill. On the way home, I picked up a salad and a piece of fruit in the airport to eat on the flight and only ate uncooked food. I have vowed to do this whenever I fly in future, as it made for a much more comfortable flight.

In spite of all of the above, we did and do love New York and the US and we wouldn't be put off going again.  It is a fabulous city and some of it's sights are amazing, really good value and well worth a visit.  You don't have to pay to walk down the street and see the Chrysler building or the Empire State building or visit Grand Central Station, Central Park or the 9/11 memorials. You can get a free ferry to Staten Island or walk along the High Line for free too. Just do be prepared to spend some money on some of the other attractions whilst you're there.