Travel Tips For New York

On my recent trip to New York City for the Small Business Summit I picked up a few tips for smoother travel next time. If you're headed to Manhattan hopefully you'll find a few things helpful here, too. La Guardia Airport Unfortunately, there's not a train (subway) that goes directly to the airport. Taxis are everywhere, but expensive. They are a good option, however, if you're traveling with small children, handicapped, or elderly folks. Expect to pay $30 to $50 into Manhattan. A great website to get an estimate of cab fare is nyccabfare.com. The most economical option will be the bus. The one line going out from La Guardia (as of 3/10 is the M60. Do a search for "ny bus map" to get the latest map/route information for the buses. You could take buses all the way to your destination, but be forewarned it's a lot of stop-and-go traffic. So if you're prone to motion sickness this might not be a good option. Going into uptown or downtown Manhattan you're going to be on the bus a long time. On the way into town I decided to take the bus in order to go past Central Park, which I'd never seen before. I didn't time it, but I'm estimating it took an hour and a half into lower Manhattan from the airport! By the end of the trip it was becoming very hard for me to keep my stomach down. If you're used to bus travel this probably wouldn't be a problem for you though. The closest subway train station to LaGuardia is the N or W line picking up at Astoria (again, do a search for "ny subway map" or something similar for the latest information). You can either take a taxi that short distance– about 1 to 2 miles– or the M60 bus. As of 3/10 the bus trip is $2.25, either cash or the Metro Card (more on the Metro Card later). At a glance it looks like most people take the M60 for that short hop. Forget about renting a car! all the rumors about New York traffic are true. It's pretty much a madhouse. Metro Cards The bus & subway system use the common Metro Card, used by virtually all cities with public transportation. The card is a tough, but thin, plastic card with an embedded magnetic strip, much like a credit card but significantly thinner. It can be bent (which is bad!) so don't put it in a pocket where it'll get ruined. At LaGuardia you can only buy the card at the main terminal, so if you're coming in on Delta or US Air you'll have to take the airport bus to the main terminal, even though M60 picks up right in front of the Delta terminal. Metro Cards can be bought at automated vending machines that can take both cash and credit cards, or one of the magazine stands. Even though I was only going to be in NY for 3 days I decided to get the seven day unlimited card in anticipation of using it extensively on the subway during my stay. Not wanting the rest of the card to go to waste on my way out on the last day I gave the card to a random airport employee. With a bit of a surprised look they said "Thanks!" One thing I learned the hard way is that you're restricted to swipe your card no sooner than 18 minutes apart. So if you make a mistake and enter the subway on the wrong side of the street you'll have to wait 18 minutes before swiping in anywhere else in the system. Not sure for the reason on that rule, but it really stinks. The NY Subway It's dirty. I was half expecting to see a rat scurry through the tracks as I was waiting for a train. Avoid touching anything if you can help it. I shudder to thing of having to get out and walk if the subway broke down! Some of the train cars are newer and pretty nice, but with the older ones it's apparent they're nearing the end of their lines. The newer cars have a nice digital (LED?) display overhead of all the upcoming stops and highlighting the next one coming up. The New York subway system is huge and very complicated. Don't be afraid to ask the attendants at the "help desk" if you're headed in the right direction, especially considering the 18 minute penalty rule if you swipe into the wrong gate. NY Hotels Nowdays it's so easy to book your accomodations through one of the online travel discounters (as well as flights and car rentals). My favorite site is Hotwire; my brother's is Kayak. With Hotwire they will give you a district or region that a hotel is in, the price, the star rating, and ammenities (like wifi or continental breakfast), but not the name or exact location. If you're ok with that little bit of uncertainty you can get a pretty great hotel at a fabulous price. I needed to be in lower Manhattan, fairly close to the NY Stock Exchange building and ended up with the World Center Hotel, which was half a block from the World Trade Center site. So it was only about 6 blocks to walk to the Small Business Summit at 55 Broad St. Lower Manhattan sidewalks are full of suits & ties walking to the Wall Street jobs. Plenty of tourists too, but not like Times Square. If you're shopping for a hotel on your own definitely read up on reviews in a place like TripAdvisor or Yelp. Even if a hotel gets a bad review observe how the hotel handles that bad press. A business that responds by attacking the customer negatively affects my view of their professionalism. If you're up for really getting into the local culture you may want to contact someone through couchsurfing.com. I might be up for that next time through. Just be aware it's not free accommodations, as you really should compensate your host with something. But don't turn to a CouchSurfing host just to save money– that's just bad form. You're motivation should be one of cultural sharing. If you like to retreat to your hotel room alone at night then CouchSurfing isn't for you. Tour Buses There are several companies in Manhattan that offer bus tours around town. They are all of varying lengths, routes, and time of day. Around Times Square there are many bus company staff hawking these rides so it's easy to get in on one without advance planning. I was able to easily pick up a night tour on a double decker bus for $44. There's both open top & clear plexiglass top buses. In hindsight I should've went with a completely open top bus (with a winter hat). The plexi-topped bus turned out to be so scratched and "crazed" that it was often hard to see stuff clearly. There are also hop-on/hop-off buses where they let the people off every so often for photo opps and quick shopping. My bus was a continuous tour, but did stop once on the Brooklyn side of the East River for a fabulous photo opportunity of Manhattan. A big-bus tour is a nice way to spend a couple hours. Google Maps I am a big fan of Google Maps, especially the Street View option. I used it to look around all over the place in New York before I got there. The one issue that it really helped with was scoping out bus stops around the point where I intended to switch from the M60 bus to the 1 bus. With Street View I could see exactly where my get off stop was and the next pick up shelter, a mere walk across the street. Google Maps also helped with detailed direction from La Guardia to my hotel, and later from the hotel to a theatre I was thinking about doing a show at. The Street View would also be a good option to see an accurate picture of the hotel you're thinking of– as well as the neighborhood it's in. Just don't look at the hotel's front door, rotate your view around to see what's next door or across the street. Airport Security Airport security is tight everywhere– as it should be. If you haven't flown in awhile (especially since 9/11/01) be prepared for some very long wait times in security lines. Plan to be at any US airport at least 1 and a half hours before your departure. The TSA will have a full list of prohibited items and procedures. Do a search for "tsa flight rules" to get the latest on what not to bring. The one prohibited item that was new to me, as read on a La Guardia security sign, is snowglobes. If you really want to bring one home wait to buy it inside the airport, past the security point. Hope these few tips on traveling to New York, and Manhattan in particular, help with your travel planning down the line. Being my first time to the city I learned a lot for my own future travel planning. One thing I'll probably do next time is give myself an extra day for more sightseeing after my business obligations. Have fun in New York City! Travel Tips For New York is a post from: Traveling China from Traveling China http://www.chinaya.org

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