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?

Which is why I found San Francisco so great, There was no need for research. The places I researched were great, as were the places we nipped into because we happened to be passing them. That is the sign of a good restaurant culture.
I found the same in Paris about forty years ago, although not now sadly. Everywhere from the neighbourhood cafe to the researched places were all great.

Victoriaspongecake1 There were no Christmas lights?

We were there for Thanksgiving 2016 and the Christmas lights/displays everywhere were wonderful.
We stood outside Saks for ages just watching the light display.
The Rockefeller centre Tree, the skating!! I've never felt so Christmassy!!
So sorry you didn't get that experience.

Hmm well that wasn't my experience of SF a couple years ago but to each their own : )

I completely agree with you about Paris though!

@dreamingbohemian I went to San Francisco a long time ago. I have heard it is very different,

The cab drivers had no idea where anything was so we had to google maps everything and direct them

We found this too! The size of our group meant more than one cab and we didn't all end up in the same place despite giving the same address, we stuck to the Subway after that.

@AllThePogs Ah yes, it's very different in New York too. When I was growing up there a million years ago, you could get good food anywhere. It's all very different in all the big cities these days, I think.

Back in the 70s we lived for a while above a butcher shop in Lower Manhattan (we got a discount!) We went to the fruit and veg shop for our produce, the Italian deli for our cheese. The best pizza in Manhattan was next door, Italian gelato down the street. Now everyone in Lower Manhattan goes to Eataly apparently [eyeroll].

@dreamingbohemian

Americans get excited about it because it’s one of the few places in America that’s multicultural

Tell me you know fuck all about the US without saying you know fuck all about the US

Thank you!

You've said exactly what I wanted to say but much better than I would have! 👏🏻

Elp and Dreamingbohemian--Seriously! The US is far more multicultural than the UK.

I would not say everyone goes to Eataly in New York, but I would say that new, fancy artisanal shops have driven out a lot of the older, local markets of the type you might have had in the 70s. Still, there are institutions like Yonah Schimmel's knishes and Veselka and other places you would probably remember.

25 magical things to do at Christmas in NY
www.wanderherway.com/new-york-at-christmas/

Oh I want to go there now!!

I was there in 1989 and found it a very scary place. Got threatened by a woman demanding money in a toilet at the bus station and found the people to be rude and aggressive. There were burnt out apartment blocks and an air of menace. I'd heard it had been cleaned up since but as a previous poster said, it sounds like NY has unfortunately gone back to those days. Such a shame. Agree Boston is fantastic as was Washington.

I live near Washington and have always found it a bit bland, tbh. The museums are good, but it’s a government town and so many people are just passing through on their way to their next posting. It definitely doesn’t have the big city feel of New York or Chicago.

I like Boston, San Francisco is beautiful, but the social problems there outpace NYC, IMO. I’ve been truly scared walking around at 9 a.m. and prefer the safety in numbers feeling in NYC. I’ve been in quieter areas in SF with some v. ill people on the street, that was frightening.

@PrincessNutella Yes I'm exaggerating of course : ) I just find it depressing that the old neighbourhood is all hipster artisanal places instead of the family joints that were around for decades and much better. What can you do, all the cities are gentrified these days.

I'm also still laughing with you and @elp30 at the multicultural thing! Not only because it's ridiculous but because for a long time so many Americans hated New York because it's diverse, I mean google John Rocker ffs.

He sounds like a stupid man, but I have never heard of him before. However, I would not take his views as a serious reflection of American experience any more than I would some Sun-reading Brexiteer from the whitest of British hinterlands.

Wow we went a couple of years ago with our 3 teens on a budget and adored it. A week just wasn’t enough. Felt a real wrench driving away from it.

Times Square isn't all that bad. You get a generous quantity of lobster inside the rolls at The Red Lobster. Nowhere in London would give you a quarter of that amount for the equivalent price. Infact, the last time I visited the Big Easy, I could barely gather a teaspoon of the stuff

@Cameleongirl

I live near Washington and have always found it a bit bland, tbh. The museums are good, but it’s a government town and so many people are just passing through on their way to their next posting. It definitely doesn’t have the big city feel of New York or Chicago.

I like Boston, San Francisco is beautiful, but the social problems there outpace NYC, IMO. I’ve been truly scared walking around at 9 a.m. and prefer the safety in numbers feeling in NYC. I’ve been in quieter areas in SF with some v. ill people on the street, that was frightening.

The Museums and Galleries in Washington were brilliant. I don't think it is such a good place to live, but as a tourist it is a joy.

I lived there for 10 years, visited across four decades, haven’t been in a while but for sure it gets less and less interesting with the passage of time. Or at least manhattan does. For the equivalent of Manhattan in the 80s you might still find it in parts of Wueens, Brooklyn, etc, ie places where people from across the world come to make their way.

But back in the bad old days you had all that bustle and diversity on Manhattan, which also has all the culture vulture stuff.

@Strokethefurrywall

My first trip to NYC was in the midst of a big freeze in Feb 2004. I enjoyed it but still thought it was a bit “meh”, especially cos I was fucking freezing most of the time.

Fast forward a decade and before Covid I was there on the fairly regular for work/pleasure. It’s one of my favorite cities now, I love wandering around anonymously and how walkable it is.

DH and I took DS1 when he was about 14 months in early May 2013 and it was one of the best vacations we’ve ever had. Stayed in an apartment in the West Village and walked everywhere. Tulips out all over the place and perfect weather.

That being said, I heard it’s been hit hard since Covid which probably means it’s lost a lot of what made it so good. I was last there in August 2019 with the kids and we had a blast but suspect the pandemic has washed out much of the vibe that made it feel great.

If it makes you feel better, I was in LA in 2001 and I absolutely loathed it. Some places you just don’t get a good feeling from.

I went in January 2004 and OMG the cold. I've never been that cold in my life. It certainly took the edge off.

I went in January 2004 and OMG the cold. I've never been that cold in my life. It certainly took the edge off.

It's -9C here this morning. We don't get warmed by the gulf stream as you do.

I went to boston and ny october 1999 and i thought it would be about the same as ireland /Britain, you know, getting cooller but not COLD. i was totally unprepared.

I was really ignorant.

@Victoriaspongecake1

I went at the beginning of December after imagining it to be amazing.

Was happy to come home! Wasn’t what I thought at all.
My aunt was assaulted by a homeless woman who tried to rip her handbag from her, we would be bothered by homeless people constantly and they never would take no for an answer

The place smelt like weed

The cab drivers had no idea where anything was so we had to google maps everything and direct them

The hotel staff - like the cab drivers - had no idea about anything.

The shops weren’t festive, not a Xmas light or song on site.

Very disappointed and would never go back!

i was in NY at the end of november and plenty places had xmas lights up and were festive plenty shops like macys, saks had light displays, rockefeller centre was all done up, i missed the xmas trees being lit as i left on the 29th

If you want to have a good time in New York, don't go in January. If you want to have a truly terrible time in New York, go in February. Or August. It is a city with a harsh climate. 17 degrees f is cold but it can get a lot colder than that. That's not what makes it good or bad as a city. But it's useful to know for a vacationer.

VictoriaspongecakeI'm in NYC all the time and your experiences just don't ring true to me at all. I am not saying they didn't happen, I just can't imagine how it is that cabbies and hotel concierges knew nothing about a city that is on the grid system. I personally am rarely approached by homeless people (okay, sometimes they sing songs on subway and pass the hat) and have never been the victim of any kind of attempted crime under any circumstances in the city, whether I have been walking alone in the dark or in the subway at night or anything. I saw plenty of Christmas lights in early December. As for marijuana, it has recently been legalizedit's not a crime. At least people aren't vomiting drunks. Sometimes people have bad experiences because they have a negative attitude.