To absolutely HATE New York

[GreetingsFromVenus]

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?

@LaChanticleer no I am very well travelled, so I have been to lots of Cities that are way better than NYC.

To me half of this thread reads like "I hate London, Leicester Square's a shithole, Tower Bridge is boring, the weather's shit, so is the food, there are Big Issue sellers everywhere you look and people sleeping in doorways"

Not everyone likes being in a city, fair enough. And there are cities and there are cities. But if you're going to go and visit one, particularly a big, pulsating, renowned one, and you don't have friends there, or friends who know it well, you have to do some research so you're not just skating over the touristy surface of it.

(I can't believe how many comments there are about JFK! Yes - big and annoying and takes ages to get into town - but so what. It's such a small part of your experience in NYC. You're going to sit around moaning about the airport?!)

I lived in Manhattan for a few years; the first six weeks or so, I only knew the people I worked directly with, so I didn't have a social life as such; and I was in a temporary apartment. But even then - it was all such a rich experience; the walk-ups, the BOILING apartment (it was winter, and the unturnoffable heating was on full blast), getting buses across the city, and the subway to and from the upper east side. The supermarkets; the steam coming up through the roads, the people and the accents, the SCENES everywhere. Wandering Lafayette Street, the lower east side, eating at diners with my (one ) work friend.

And then I made more friends, and moved downtown, and was catapulted into NYC proper. It's hard to describe but it was just non-stop experience - the noise, the dirt, the energy; a deserted Broadway on a Sunday afternoon after a snowstorm, infiltrating private views and drinking the champagne, rooftop parties, bars behind secret doors, lazy afternoons in Central Park, the cinema in summer to escape the heat, super fancy restaurant one day, a tiny strip-lit place in Chinatown for dumplings or pork buns the next; snow in Little Italy at Christmas, classical music at the BAM, jazz in Tribeca, some grungy band on the Lower East Side. Hanging out at Space Untitled on a Saturday afternoon; the Plaza for tea, the Waldorf for cocktails; dinner in the west village, shopping at Barneys, Urban Outfitters, Pearl River; Shabu Shabu on St Marks; movie stars and opera singers for neighbours. There was always so much to do, see, taste, feel. I had a BLAST.

As a tourist - you've got to get past the clichés and the tourist traps and get some insider information; if you want to have a good time you need to immerse yourself, not just plod from one tourist attraction to the next!

There's a reason it's so beloved, and that's its spirit and soul, which you won't find on Times Square.

@UnsureAndUnsteady...where did you stay please? I would like to take DD when she's 16. Can you recommend a hotel in a safe, central location? I think she will just want to shop mainly

I don't know about the poverty but I guess it's much worse at the moment because of the pandemic but I don't think I'd have done any of the things you've done. They're all just tourist traps.

For instance, I'd go to Bryant Park, not Central Park. I'd much rather walk the High Line for beautiful views than schlep up the Empire State.

The Tenement museum is fascinating and then you can browse through the Chelsea district, which is a lovely area.

Lunch in the beautiful Grand Central Station is so much nicer than the boring Statue of Liberty ferry ride.

As for restaurants, I found there were all price ranges and styles of food there. It may be that many of them have closed, but that's a problem in many cities I'm sure, not just NYC.

TBH I've been twice and feel I've just scratched the service of what's available there. It sounds like you've been a bit unlucky with the time you visited.

We went in 2008/9 and again in 2016. DD came with us last time and it was great. We did alot of the sights and saw Wicked on Broadway.
We went in October the first time round and in 2016 we went for Thanksgiving and the Parade.
I think you really have to throw yourself into it and definitely make a plan of what you want to see and do before you go.
We stayed at the Waldorf all 3 times. Last time it was starting to look very tired but has had a massive refurb since.
My experience of the World Trade Centre sight is different to yours. I think they've done it well. The memorial is breathtaking.
Sorry it's all disappointed you OP.

My best friends loved New York, they found the 9/11 memorial in particular very moving; and enjoyed their stay. This was about 8 or 9 years ago though.

As for Florida.. it's probably fine for families but my sister made the mistake of taking herself there for a two week beach holiday.
To a place called Saltwater I think?

Every time she went out alone either to the beach or eating in restaurants during the day or early evening she was stared at and actually treated like a prostitute because she was a lone female.
She was really scared and has never felt scared on holiday alone before.

She has travelled alone extensively on holiday & business to various places both rich & poor in Europe including Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Germany etc but has NEVER been treated as if she was some kind of prostitute for being alone like she was in Florida.

Also, immigration... being a woman of mixed race appearance my sister got the full experience. Obviously that's not unique to Florida in the US.

There isn't much to do in NY that isn't better in London. Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty is it. Everything else is better in London.

I'm sorry our museums aren't as amazing as yours

We did not have as many colonies to plunder

I love NY! We used to go for a weekend at Christmas time in the 70s and it was magical. I lived there for a year in the 80s.
Last time my daughter and I had a rickshaw ride from upper east side all the way to the central train station via Times Sq - thrilling in a 'will we survive' way, but it was great.
We did the ferry to the Stature of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Sure it's expensive - it's one of the most expensive cities in the world! Mind you I found eating out not as expensive as London. And if you think the subways are dirty you have no idea what they were like in the 80s. But that's part of it.
NY is portrayed as gritty and crime ridden or Sex in the City quaint - it's really somewhere in the middle.

As for rats, I live in a large South Coast English seaside town and there are rats everywhere, many homeless people, druggies & drunks; mentally unwell people who for whatever reason are on the streets, bedding in the doorways of shops that have closed down during the pandemic; those issues are not unique to the big cities.

@Risibisi

To me half of this thread reads like "I hate London, Leicester Square's a shithole, Tower Bridge is boring, the weather's shit, so is the food, there are Big Issue sellers everywhere you look and people sleeping in doorways"

Not everyone likes being in a city, fair enough. And there are cities and there are cities. But if you're going to go and visit one, particularly a big, pulsating, renowned one, and you don't have friends there, or friends who know it well, you have to do some research so you're not just skating over the touristy surface of it.

(I can't believe how many comments there are about JFK! Yes - big and annoying and takes ages to get into town - but so what. It's such a small part of your experience in NYC. You're going to sit around moaning about the airport?!)

I lived in Manhattan for a few years; the first six weeks or so, I only knew the people I worked directly with, so I didn't have a social life as such; and I was in a temporary apartment. But even then - it was all such a rich experience; the walk-ups, the BOILING apartment (it was winter, and the unturnoffable heating was on full blast), getting buses across the city, and the subway to and from the upper east side. The supermarkets; the steam coming up through the roads, the people and the accents, the SCENES everywhere. Wandering Lafayette Street, the lower east side, eating at diners with my (one ) work friend.

And then I made more friends, and moved downtown, and was catapulted into NYC proper. It's hard to describe but it was just non-stop experience - the noise, the dirt, the energy; a deserted Broadway on a Sunday afternoon after a snowstorm, infiltrating private views and drinking the champagne, rooftop parties, bars behind secret doors, lazy afternoons in Central Park, the cinema in summer to escape the heat, super fancy restaurant one day, a tiny strip-lit place in Chinatown for dumplings or pork buns the next; snow in Little Italy at Christmas, classical music at the BAM, jazz in Tribeca, some grungy band on the Lower East Side. Hanging out at Space Untitled on a Saturday afternoon; the Plaza for tea, the Waldorf for cocktails; dinner in the west village, shopping at Barneys, Urban Outfitters, Pearl River; Shabu Shabu on St Marks; movie stars and opera singers for neighbours. There was always so much to do, see, taste, feel. I had a BLAST.

As a tourist - you've got to get past the clichés and the tourist traps and get some insider information; if you want to have a good time you need to immerse yourself, not just plod from one tourist attraction to the next!

There's a reason it's so beloved, and that's its spirit and soul, which you won't find on Times Square.

That's a great love-song to New York but even then, it seems like everything your describe needed money. What I love about London is how easy it is to live well on very little - so many stunning parks of such variety from the ornate St James and Hyde Park to the wildness of Hampstead Heath, the quirkiness of city farms at Mudchute, the hill up to the Observatory at Greenwich, Richmond Deer Park etc. All our major museums and galleries are free, the river walks are beautiful. You can eat well for under a tenner at most street markets. We have loads of quirky markets and oddball museums etc. NYC just seemed very mainstream in comparison. But maybe we didn't manage to scratch the surface well enough.

I went about 10 years ago. Biggest let down ever. I went in November so maybe was time of year but I would not be rushing back.

YANBU. It was always no 1 on my list to visit and we got to go this time 8 years ago when we went for 5 days. I can honestly say I was so disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there were some good parts - the Empire State at night and it snowed whilst we were in Central park but the bad outweighed the good. I found it a very hostile place - from the rudeness in shops and restaurants ( refused to tip in the end) and just the general vibe. I grew in London using the tube but nothing would persuade me to use the subway again. There were clear issues with mental illness on the streets and a cab driver mentioned how all programmes that had helped had lost funding pushing people back onto the streets and the subway. I can only imagine that this has got worse in the years since.

@Risibisi

To me half of this thread reads like "I hate London, Leicester Square's a shithole, Tower Bridge is boring, the weather's shit, so is the food, there are Big Issue sellers everywhere you look and people sleeping in doorways"

Not everyone likes being in a city, fair enough. And there are cities and there are cities. But if you're going to go and visit one, particularly a big, pulsating, renowned one, and you don't have friends there, or friends who know it well, you have to do some research so you're not just skating over the touristy surface of it.

(I can't believe how many comments there are about JFK! Yes - big and annoying and takes ages to get into town - but so what. It's such a small part of your experience in NYC. You're going to sit around moaning about the airport?!)

I lived in Manhattan for a few years; the first six weeks or so, I only knew the people I worked directly with, so I didn't have a social life as such; and I was in a temporary apartment. But even then - it was all such a rich experience; the walk-ups, the BOILING apartment (it was winter, and the unturnoffable heating was on full blast), getting buses across the city, and the subway to and from the upper east side. The supermarkets; the steam coming up through the roads, the people and the accents, the SCENES everywhere. Wandering Lafayette Street, the lower east side, eating at diners with my (one ) work friend.

And then I made more friends, and moved downtown, and was catapulted into NYC proper. It's hard to describe but it was just non-stop experience - the noise, the dirt, the energy; a deserted Broadway on a Sunday afternoon after a snowstorm, infiltrating private views and drinking the champagne, rooftop parties, bars behind secret doors, lazy afternoons in Central Park, the cinema in summer to escape the heat, super fancy restaurant one day, a tiny strip-lit place in Chinatown for dumplings or pork buns the next; snow in Little Italy at Christmas, classical music at the BAM, jazz in Tribeca, some grungy band on the Lower East Side. Hanging out at Space Untitled on a Saturday afternoon; the Plaza for tea, the Waldorf for cocktails; dinner in the west village, shopping at Barneys, Urban Outfitters, Pearl River; Shabu Shabu on St Marks; movie stars and opera singers for neighbours. There was always so much to do, see, taste, feel. I had a BLAST.

As a tourist - you've got to get past the clichés and the tourist traps and get some insider information; if you want to have a good time you need to immerse yourself, not just plod from one tourist attraction to the next!

There's a reason it's so beloved, and that's its spirit and soul, which you won't find on Times Square.

This sounds like my dream- one of my bucket list things is to spend my 6 week school holiday in NYC- rent a flat and live like a local!!

I had no money! I earned absolute peanuts back then, we all did - the expensive restaurants weren't a daily occurrence. I lived in London for 5 years before I moved to New York (and I only moved for work, I had no particular longing to go there), and my time in NYC was infinitely richer. I was also surprised at how expensive food was in London when I went back. But I guess there's an element of subjective experience to all our views.

NYC has been badly affected by the pandemic. I was reading the other day about their population loss in the last 2 years.

crochetmonkey74 Do it!!

@dreamingbohemian

There isn't much to do in NY that isn't better in London. Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty is it. Everything else is better in London.

I'm sorry our museums aren't as amazing as yours

We did not have as many colonies to plunder

Yes I am well aware why London museums are so amazing.

I also think there is a big difference between places that are enjoyable to live there and places that are good as a tourist. THe City I live in has a lovely museum with interesting exhibitions. But I wouldn't expect anyone travelling internationally to be blown away by it.
But maybe ultimately I didn't like NY because I was living in London and was used to lots of things people are listing here about great places to eat and drink.

@vixeyann

YANBU. It was always no 1 on my list to visit and we got to go this time 8 years ago when we went for 5 days. I can honestly say I was so disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there were some good parts - the Empire State at night and it snowed whilst we were in Central park but the bad outweighed the good. I found it a very hostile place - from the rudeness in shops and restaurants ( refused to tip in the end) and just the general vibe. I grew in London using the tube but nothing would persuade me to use the subway again. There were clear issues with mental illness on the streets and a cab driver mentioned how all programmes that had helped had lost funding pushing people back onto the streets and the subway. I can only imagine that this has got worse in the years since.

A friend said similar to me. She lived there for a decade, then moved to London. had to go back to sort out some family business last year and couldn't believe the number of really dangerous mentally ill people on the streets.

One of my American relatives committed a very violent crime due to untreated mental illness. He was apparently psychotic and no longer knew what was real.
And this is where I don't understand the US at all. Because if you don't make such medical treatment free and easy to access, it can affect everyone. Yes I know mentally ill people are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. But even "only" having someone wandering the streets obviously out of it, is not going to create a nice public space for all the rich people.
I also know from a relative I care for who has serious mental illness that getting someone to accept treatment can be hard enough anyway. No way are they personally going to fight for treatment through all the inadequate medicare protocol.

I lived in NY, Manhattan, for 3.5 years in the late 90s - early noughties. I would not repeat the experience; it was good but I prefer Europe and London. However, it is a great place to visit and explore. 1 or 2 weeks, plenty of things to do and no time for boredom. Nowadays I like to go for a long weekend, up to a week. Shopping and just strolling and remembering good times.

Perhaps the OP had very high expectations? TV shows and movies? It is a big city, with the same problems all (or most) big cities have.

It's hard to describe but it was just non-stop experience - the noise, the dirt, the energy; a deserted Broadway on a Sunday afternoon after a snowstorm, infiltrating private views and drinking the champagne, rooftop parties, bars behind secret doors, lazy afternoons in Central Park, the cinema in summer to escape the heat, super fancy restaurant one day, a tiny strip-lit place in Chinatown for dumplings or pork buns the next; snow in Little Italy at Christmas, classical music at the BAM, jazz in Tribeca, some grungy band on the Lower East Side. Hanging out at Space Untitled on a Saturday afternoon; the Plaza for tea, the Waldorf for cocktails; dinner in the west village, shopping at Barneys, Urban Outfitters, Pearl River; Shabu Shabu on St Marks; movie stars and opera singers for neighbours. There was always so much to do, see, taste, feel. I had a BLAST.

This is making me homesick for NYC. I have friends there and I've seriously cosidered moving there, but I'd miss rural England (where I spend a lot of time) too much. BUt you capture what is so wonderful about NYC.

And speaking of rats ... as I was walking to the gym this morning, in my regional county town (it has a reputation for being vair naice) there was a big rat snuffling around the wall by the park.

We are all of us only around 2m away from a cockroach or a rat - so no-one should clutch their pearls about NYC subway rats. THey're everywhere.

OP, I really don't understand what you were expecting. Of course it's nothing like the movies! Is anywhere? It's a huge city, in the middle of winter, in the middle of a pandemic.

I worked and commuted into NYC for several years, and I now live in Florida. They are totally different places! One of the main reasons I moved to Florida was the weather, especially at this time of year. I would never in a million years choose to go on holiday to a city in the middle of winter. To be honest, city breaks at any time of year aren't my thing, but you chose one so I don't know what you thought you'd find.

I love where I live now, and I really don't miss the harsh winters, but I do miss New York sometimes, especially when the weather there is nice.

I'm sure you are finding things expensive because the pound is doing so poorly against the dollar. (Something you could have researched ahead of time.) But there is certainly good cheap food available (as well as some incredible expensive restaurants). Take yourself to China Town.

And what is your issue with Central Park? "pffttt" doesn't really tell me much. It's an enormous public park right in the middle of the city. I think it's wonderful. But it is just a park, not some magical place.

Unfortunately I think your first mistake was going in January. I know it's for birthdays, but you could still have gone in spring. We went in November once and we just ran from place to place and kept stopping for coffee to warm up. We enjoyed it, but not anywhere as good as when we went in spring. I really think weather makes all the difference. When it's warmer you can stroll, sit by the lake, sit outside at restaurants etc. We went to the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park and had the doors open and sat by the lake and it was romantic and beautiful. Music was playing in the park and we people watched, drank coffee, grabbed a pretzel and looked in awe at the architecture. Everywhere looks better in sunshine.

We were looking at a map and a guy asked us if we needed help. We did lots of tourist stuff, but still enjoyed it. Ellen's Starburst Diner was good fun. Went to Carnegie Hall, had drinks at The Waldorf, found great places for breakfast etc. Walked a bit off the beaten track as well. I did A LOT of research before going. Had a rough schedule for each day and an idea of places to eat. You get out of it what you put into it. Unfortunately I think your time of year and the pandemic made it a poor choice right now.