New York City is one of the places that everyone has heard about, read about, and seen on TV. Going there and being in the city, however, is a whole other level. One thing that I like to do when I visit new places is to attempt to be more than just a tourist - wander around to less known places, do things that the locals do, etc. On our visit to NYC in June 2014 however, I was the absolute tourist, largely because there's just so many things to see and do in this city. In fact, of the five days that we had there, about 95 percent of the time was spent just in Manhattan alone, doing touristy activities.
It doesn't really matter what types of activities you would usually prefer when visiting a city, because NYC pretty much has everything to offer. When I was planning our trip, I had considered doing the usual, and selecting just a handful of tourist locations to visit, then just wandering around for the rest of the time. But then I looked at a list of possible activities for the city, and just decided to drop that plan, because there were way too many. Instead, I decided to get the New York Pass, one of several tourist passes available for NYC that provides pre-paid entry to a large number of attractions all over Manhattan and the other boroughs of NYC (You pay for the pass, then entry to the attractions are 'free'). Note: I pre-purchased the pass, as the process of getting them when you get to NYC is apparently extremely time consuming.
I think we managed to maximize the use of our pass in the five days we had in NYC. What did we do?
Tour of the Rockefeller Center
The Top of the Rock observation deck
Madame Tussaud's
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
A two-and-a-half hour cruise around all of Manhattan Island
The Empire State Building Observation Deck
Bike rental to cycle around Central Park
The Guggenheim Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A local food Tour
The Museum of American Finance
The Skyscraper Museum
And those were the places where we used the pass. Apart from that, we also window-shopped along 5th Avenue, went to the Chelsea Markets, walked the High Line, wandered through Battery Park, and visited the 9/11 Memorial. We didn't get to go to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, because we ran out of time (but we did see them from our cruise).
We definitely maximized the time we had in NYC, and it wasn't enough. While I did get to do some of the random wandering that I liked in between all those touristy locations, I feel a need to come back for more, as there were other things that I wanted to see and do. I also didn't take as many of the photos that I wanted to take this first time, so that'll be more of a priority in a second trip.
Of all the things that I missed, I think a better photo of the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the things I would want to try for on a return trip.
So yes, I had a great time in my first visit to New York City, and it was everything that I thought it would be, and more. If I do get to revisit the city, I'd hope to go around at a slightly more leisurely pace (though knowing the pace that New Yorkers walk at, that would be difficult). But fast or slightly slower, I'm sure New York would be an interesting experience regardless.
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Till the next time,
Raylen
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*No, this is not a sponsored post. I just really liked how much use we got out of the passes.