New York Tour Guide (1)

Your Day of Arrival in the Big Apple.

Most visitors arriving from Belgium will land in New York somewhere between noon and 2 pm. Once you’ve tackled immigration and customs (don’t forget your online visa waiver and for the love of god, don’t joke around about bombs or other devices in your luggage!), the easiest way to get to your hotel is taking a yellow cab outside the airport. They will take you to any destination in NYC for a prix fixe of $45, plus about $5 toll. Now, an important lesson for the rest of your stay: if you want to avoid a nasty look (or worse) from your cab driver, don’t forget to tip! For a longer cab drive, we recommend about $5 to $10 (depending on how happy you are with your driver’s skills). For shorter cab drives, you’re fine if you round up to the higher number plus $1 (e.g., if the bill is $7.40, you pay $9).

While we are on this (at least for Europeans) strange concept of tipping, let me lay down the rules for ya. In restaurants, you always tip – not tipping is like robbing your waiter. Depending on how happy you were with the service, you tip from minimum 15% to maximum 20%, with 18% being a good number in NYC. In NY state, the rule of thumb is to double the tax (on your receipt, the tax (about 9% in NY) is always indicated separately). If you’re in a bar or club, and you’re not being served at a table, you tip the bartender about $1 per drink (unless he reenacts a scene from Cocktail in which case you give a little more). If you go to the restrooms and there is a “toilet lady”, the decent thing to do is to tip her one buck. The guy taking your bags at the hotel, gets 1 to 2 dollars. Basically, anyone providing a specific service for you is tipped (even the hairdresser and shampoo girl).

So, you have successfully hailed your first yellow cab who drops you off (about 40 to 60 minutes later) at your hotel. Now, it’s time to go explore… I would definitely start with a visit to Times Square on your first evening. Living in New York City, it is definitely not my favorite place in New York (I even try to avoid it). However, I still remember that on my first visit to this decadent symbol of capitalism and consumerism, I was simply flabbergasted. To quote a hit single, the lights will inspire you… or maybe even blind you. You have to see this place by night!

If you get hungry while you’re here, I would not recommend to have dinner on Times Square itself – most of these places are tourist traps. There are a few hidden gems nevertheless. John’s Pizzeria started as a little restaurant in the Village (btw, also a very nice location) but has a branch near Times Square in what appears to be an old church or theater, and they serve excellent pizza. Another good option, is the huge, Italian American restaurant Carmine’s. It is always packed (be prepared to wait) and serves family-style dishes (such as huge pasta plates to share with 2 to 4 people for $20 and up). A little bit further away, there is the excellent restaurant Esca by, amongst others, star chef Mario Batali serving delicious, fresh Italian seafood and pasta dishes. If you’re already missing your home country and are craving some steak frites, Marseille serves pretty good French brasserie style food. For inexpensive, simple but delicious Greek food, we recommend Dafni Taverna.

One last tip for day one, fight the jetlag and try to stay awake as long as possible! This is the best way to adjust to the new time zone. But... if there is one place in New York City that will keep you eyes wide open, it is Times Square!

Preparing Your NYC trip - Continued

When to go? If you’re flexible, try to avoid the months July and August. At that time, the city turns into the firing pits of hell. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration. But taking the subway is like stepping into an underground pizza oven and the streets get so hot (and sometimes smelly), you will be literally running from one air-conditioned building to the other. The best time to visit Manhattan is any other time of the year. If you prefer warmer weather, aim for spring (April – June) or Indian Summer (September – October). Fall foliage in Central Park can be really pretty in November. Even the cold months (December – February) are recommended. My favorite is definitely the Christmas season during which the Big Apple turns into one big Christmas Tree. Of course, it can get really cold so bring lots and lots of layers (and warm shoes!).

What to pack? Be prepared to walk a marathon! Exploring New York City can be exhausting – unless you are willing to spend a nice amount on cab rides. Even when you take the subway, just walking from the subway station to your destination can be quite a hike. So, this is not the time to show off your new pair of designer heels, instead go for comfortable flat shoes. One last tip, bring an empty suitcase! New York is a notorious shopping destination, and even the cheapest person will not be able to resist the temptation. So, in order to avoid a penalty when flying back to Belgium, either pack light or be ready to invest in an extra suitcase!

What else? In order to maximize your time, it might be useful to book some museum tickets online in order to avoid waiting lines. I would definitely recommend buying a City Pass – this is a great deal: $79 for the Empire State, MET, MoMA, Museum of Natural History, Statue of Liberty, and the Top of the Rock! These are all on our “no valid excuse to miss” list! You can buy it online or at one of the participating sites.

Another New York Tour Guide...

A lot of our friends and family have asked for tips and advice when planning their trip to New York City. Last year, we managed to streamline our tips in a long (Dutch) word document which has been distributed a few times now (maybe you have already read it?). I thought it might be a fun idea to also post our recommendations on this blog (plus, it will make our lives much easier just referring to our website). So yes, yet another New York tour guide... The idea is to make a kind of itinerary for your trip, from preparations to your last day in Manhattan. Of course, it's only a small selection of what New York has to offer, but we try to include in our little guide the things we think are crucial for any serious tourist (in our humble opinion).

Preparing Your Trip

Now, maybe you prefer to book through you local travel agency, but you might want to consider to do some online research. Thanks to Internet, the emancipation of the traveler is now a fact. I am not saying that your travel agency will not have the best deal, but it’s always good to double check with what is out there on the world wide web! For plane tickets and hotel reservations, we recommend the following sites.

1. www.kayak.com compares flight and hotel prices from different (mostly US) sites to ensure you get the best deal.
2. www.hotels.com gives you lots of good deals on hotels in the US and if you become a member, you may get your 11th night for free.
3. On www.hotwire.com, you can book hotels at discounts. The catch is that you don’t know which hotel you are actually booking – you do know the category (star rating etc.) and location. For the adventure traveler only.
4. On www.tripadvisor.com, you can check whether the hotel you are planning to stay at actually lives up to your expectations. Travelers around the world book reviews on hotels they stayed at (and some also post their pictures of the hotel), so you can get a good idea of the actual quality of the hotel (in stead of just relying on a quite vague star rating and the hotel website).
5. www.frommers.com has some good hotel recommendations and is in general, a very good website to prepare your trip! I especially love their suggested itineraries.
6. Jetsetter is an amazing site with discounts on luxury hotels around the world. Each day, different hotels come "on sale". We weren't able to try it out yet due to budget reasons - but as soon as we're back in the rat race, this will be our first place to look for that amazing hotel in New York City (or Greece, or Spain, or...).