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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To absolutely HATE New York

993 replies

GreetingsFromVenus · 10/01/2022 01:01

Dreamed of going there for many years. Thought it would be amazing. Everyone seems to think it is.

Here now and I hate it. Extortionate prices, rude ignorant locals, so many aggressive beggars. mentally ill people shouting in the street. loads of homeless people. The subway stations are disgusting and feel very menacing compared to London.

I find it really depressing actually and feel that the way Hollywood has portrayed New York is all smoke and mirrors. It is nothing special at all IMO. In fact it has a LOT of social issues and it made me feel quite sick to be spending $100 just for a mid range meal for 2 (no dessert) while there were people asking for food outside.

Central Park - pffttt!

Cannot wait to get home next week and will never complain about London prices again!

Anyone else felt the same?

OP posts:
ChiefPearlClutcher · 10/01/2022 01:04

I didn't like NY much either but you aren’t really visiting at the best time of the year to be honest! What did you expect Central Park to look like in winter?

Monty27 · 10/01/2022 01:04

I've never felt the urge to go. Passport control is enough to put me off. They sound awful.

Ionlydomassiveones · 10/01/2022 01:06

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

Mumwithapub · 10/01/2022 01:08

Yes went a couple of years ago, not a place I would go back to. Ripped off royally by a taxi driver as soon as we got off the plane. Beggars asking for 50 dollars for weed! Prefer California much nicer people.

purplepaintedpineapple · 10/01/2022 01:10

I agree - did 5 days there as part of an east coast tour - Washington is much nicer. So much to do there and all the museums and the zoo are free.

PurpleCarpets · 10/01/2022 01:11

YABU - it's just amazing. A city lover's city.

(Although I wouldn't travel to the US again because of the immigration staff.)

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/01/2022 01:11

Oh well it’s up to you how you feel obviously!

I loved it the only time I went which admittedly was 20 years ago.

RoseRedRoseBlue · 10/01/2022 01:12

I love love love NY!

Hapoydayz · 10/01/2022 01:14

Yes it's really shit there at the moment. Not very safe and has got worse.

ComtesseDeSpair · 10/01/2022 01:15

I think with NYC (with most cities but NYC in particular) you need to be visiting and guided by somebody who lives there to get a good experience. I have a good friend I (outwith Covid times) stay with there a couple of times a year and it’s way better than the first time I went as a pure tourist. I still prefer London, but maybe that’s because I’m a Londoner.

If you haven’t already, leave Manhattan and explore Brooklyn a bit, there are some ace little neighbourhoods.

Cameleongirl · 10/01/2022 01:17

I love NYC, but January wouldn’t be my favorite time to visit and the prices are extortionate. The museums are wonderful, though and if you can get tickets to a show, go!

Envoitrevisage · 10/01/2022 01:17

I adore NYC. Manhattan and the rest of it, and I love Jersey too.

I could spend days alone in NYC. It always makes me crave my younger, child free and successful and single days.

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/01/2022 01:18

American immigration in particular and their airports in general are vile. No idea why. It seems so weird.

I loved NYC but that was 20 years ago.

theoldtrout01876 · 10/01/2022 01:18

Get on a train and come to Boston, much nicer and we dont have the issues New York is having at the moment.

ridemesideway · 10/01/2022 01:19

Guess you’re staying in Manhattan?
Brooklyn is better.

Go see a show.

Cameleongirl · 10/01/2022 01:19

It’s also suffered badly during the pandemic-I read this morning that the city’s unemployment rate is now 9%, double the national average. Also hundreds of restaurants have closed so those left are probably trying to make all the $$ they can. Sorry you’re having a bad experience.

Original poster
GreetingsFromVenus · 10/01/2022 01:20

Immigration was great actually! Took about 15 mins to queue and 3 minutes to get through. Guy was very nice. Airport was practically deserted (JFK and at around midnight as plane delayed) which was slightly disconcerting!

Obviously January is frigging freezing but Central Park is just a park to walk through. Nothing special. I don’t know what I expected but it was very meh!

Same with the Empire State. Statue of Liberty, Vanderbilt Summit and the Natural History Museum. I was flabbergasted the World Trade Center is a massive Westfield shopping centre Hmm.

OP posts:
SwedishEdith · 10/01/2022 01:21

I wouldn't have thought January was the best time to go to. Extortionate prices, rude locals and homelessness if part of any major city but I found New York way friendlier than London last time I went. Without prompting, we'd be asked if we needed help if we were studying a subway map. The subway stations are definitely 'gritty' but that feels like the movies so think Hollywood has always got that spot on.

GreenLunchBox · 10/01/2022 01:22

Not been but it looks grotty, dirty and a couple of decades behind. I imagine it has lots of rats and people are rude. Not a place I want to visit.

sst1234 · 10/01/2022 01:23

I’ll nit really the best time of the year to visit. Also the pandemic has hit the city hard. Overall, the city has a very interesting history and it’s own soul from centuries of change. A great place to visit.

EachandEveryone · 10/01/2022 01:24

I’ve never had a problem with immigration there. You don’t sound like you’ve gone prepared at all. Book yourself on a couple of walking tours especially the food one freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/ they are a fantastic way to see the city. Also a hop in hop off bus. I haven’t been since covid so I do t know what the bar situation is but Marias Crisis is fantastic if you like show tunes and a proper bar.

Cameleongirl · 10/01/2022 01:24

My friend and her daughter (17) saw “Aladdin The Musical” a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing apparently. That might cheer you up.🤣

GarlandsinGreece · 10/01/2022 01:29

You are visiting at a grim time. Really grim. The city has been hit hard with businesses shuttering and people leaving for other cities/the burbs. Broadway is up and down with show closures. Restaurants aren’t at their best. There’s a sour mood everywhere.

The city has definitely lost its spirit. But it’ll come back. New York always does.

Nancydrawn · 10/01/2022 01:29

New York is a spectacular city.

New York in January in the middle of a pandemic surge is...less great.

It also entirely depends where you go. Did you go anywhere off the beaten path? Walk around the lovely neighbourhoods? Go to Brooklyn or on the river at all? Did you go to the world class museums? Libraries? Theatre is mostly closed right now, as is the ballet and the opera. Concert scene is dead at the moment. But the Knicks, the Rangers, and the Nets are playing, if you want sport.

The subway is indeed atrocious right now. The pandemic has put additional pressures on social care that make it difficult. And New York is messy, mid-covid. It hit hard and it hasn't let up.

But Central Park meh? It's gorgeous at this particular moment, all gilded with snow. And people aren't rude, if you talk with them. They're just not frosty polite on the front and rude behind your back.

One of my very favourite places in the world.

Tealightsandd · 10/01/2022 01:37

Give it 5-10 years and London will have caught up. That's unless there's government action to deal with the socioeconomic causes. Which they can if they want to.

London is the UK's epicentre of the public health housing and homelessness emergency. It's also suffering a knife crime epidemic.

There's two options here. Our government learns from NYC and takes actions to stop it getting as bad in London. Or it doesn't. Hopefully it will select the former.