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?

I lived in NYC for a long time and loved it but even I found it super depressing in January and I’m sure it is even more so right now because of covid. All big cities are seeing rising crime right now and it is a complicated situation. For what it’s worth I live in LA bow and it is nothing like the poster above described. It’s a series of little cities linked together and some are what is described but most aren’t, even those that are a where the rich people love. More of a sense of community where I live now than I ever found in NYC or London. And the weather is obviously a big factor!

Fully agree with you. I was thoroughly disappointed and thought it looked like it stopped dead in the 90s. Everything looked old and worn and dirty to me and indeed lots of rude people. And the train and metro system just looks like it was built in the 50s and never taken care off or upgraded. Some areas even looked like a third world country to me.
The hotels as well looked like they were once great about 50 years ago.
People are horrible as well with being welcomed everywhere with an overly annoying customer friendliness that clearly isn't meant.

@dreamingbohemian

You're doing it all wrong.

Signed,
A Rude Ignorant Local

Yup! This! Written as an expect Londoner from my Brooklyn apartment while my 'ignorant local' kids sleep upstairs. Sounds like Florida would be perfect for you (in joke) 😂

You sound like a suburban Londoner who uses American sitcoms as your travel guide.

Your anger and disgust and disappointment is about your missed expectations. I mean, come ON. New York, in January? During Covid? Did you do any research at all? Read a newspaper maybe?

🙄

@britinnyc

I lived in NYC for a long time and loved it but even I found it super depressing in January and I’m sure it is even more so right now because of covid. All big cities are seeing rising crime right now and it is a complicated situation. For what it’s worth I live in LA bow and it is nothing like the poster above described. It’s a series of little cities linked together and some are what is described but most aren’t, even those that are a where the rich people love. More of a sense of community where I live now than I ever found in NYC or London. And the weather is obviously a big factor!

Yeah definitely - I spent a few days in downtown LA once for work, and that was a revelation - fantastic restaurants and bars, art, hills (!) and skyscrapers! Like a totally different city - it was like a miniature bit of Chicago had crash-landed in LA. Nothing like the rest of LA at all!

And enough with the “third world” thing, please. Have some respect (to developing countries, that is).

Glad I read this thread. Was thinking about NY for next year. Might reconsider.

TV and movies always make it look so wondeful and glamorous, I always used to want to go there. More recently though, I've realised that I would probably hate it, with all the crowds and noise!

@Ericaequites

As a New Englander since 1620, I see New York as a form of Hell, with less interesting people. The cabbies are rude and terrifying, the shops and restaurants dear, and the people are rude. People expect 20-25% tips. I shop for material in the Fashion District with many unmarked prices, and know my country mouse accent means I get worse prices. Boston has less theatre, and is less posh. It’s much more civilized and clean, with fewer beggers. The museums are great, and history far more interesting. London is better still. If only New York would leave the nation and become the free socialist dystopia it longs to be.

Also not a big fan of NYC but I have no idea what you mean about tips. most people I know in Boston give 20-25% tips, especially since the pandemic.

Laughing too at Boston being less posh. Not sure there is any posh as such in the US - I'd use a different word - but if there is, it certainly can be found in Boston.

I actually like NYC and before I first visited I never in a million years expected to. To me the city is a distillation of humanity (or at least western culture). The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s grey and dismal in the winter and smells like hot garbage (literally) in the summer but you can find anything you are looking for there and even after the past couple of years it still has an intense sense of life and vibrancy.

Also in the US tips are definitely expected in sit down restaurants and it is considered extremely rude to not tip. Bad service just gets a smaller tip (unless you basically saw them drop your food on the floor and put it back on the plate). Like it or not it is expected and most people just factor it into the cost of dining out. I don’t agree with this and think restaurant employers should pay more (and thus charge more directly) instead - it is the way things are. Culturally not tipping in the US is like queue jumping in the UK ;).

Haven’t been since 2019, but we used to go once or twice a year to break up our trip to Florida (we have a place there).

We really love it. But I’ve been in January, it was too flipping cold.

But when it’s not arctic, it’s one of our favourite places in the world. We always stay in the west village.

YANBU,

I found that they tended to pride themselves on being cold and rude; and yet if by some miracle you did end up conversing with someone half decent then they would just go on about how much like Londoners they were.

As a Londoner of decades I can count on one hand the moments of down right rudeness. I would have got run out of fingers on the first day in NYC.

I did like the Highline and the pocket parks though. Some very nice public realm design.

@Mumwithapub

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.

I was ripped off by a taxi driver as well when I got off the plane.

Another taxi driver tried to rip me off by claiming I smoked in the car (I didn't) and he wanted me to pay a fine.

There were police sirens everywhere, 24/7

Locals were aggressive/rude

It was a truly horrific, dystopian experience and I was glad to come back to the UK.

I love New York- we went exactly 5 years ago and loved being there in early Jan!

The snow made everything so beautiful and we walked for miles around the sites which kept us very warm.

There are so many great places to eat that are affordable just keep away from the tourist traps.

www.katzsdelicatessen.com/ Best pastrami on rye EVER. It's the place that was in When Harry met Sally. When you go up and order, tip your sandwich maker a couple of dollars and they'll give you a better portion

www.levainbakery.com/ Ultimate cookies.

urbanspacenyc.com/urbanspace-vanderbilt/ Great to stop off for breakfast or lunch. You need to get a coffee from Toby's Estate (it's up the back) and is my favourite coffee in the whole word! You can also get a doughnut from Dough Doughnuts here - really good doughnuts.

robertaspizza.com/ Brilliant pizza in Brooklyn. Also, Brooklyn is well worth a trip...walking the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset is a must!

I’m guessing covid etc is negatively impacting your stay.

Download todays tix app- we got Broadway tickets really cheap.

@BritWifeInUSA

Just to add I’ve been to Florida (pre Covid) a few times and loved it. Great, reasonably priced food and the people were lovely.

And that’s your problem. This country is made up of 50 states that are more like separate countries than parts of the same country. Florida is a few thousand miles from New York so of course it’s going to be different. That’s like going to Berlin and being shocked you didn’t like it because Spain is lovely.

So true, @BritWifeInUSA!

I was there last week. My first time visiting. I loved it. But I'm a city person, and I expected all the issues you described.

New York has always been very polarising. Some people find it brash, its locals rude and its streets dirty and crowded. It is all those things, but I absolutely loved it the couple of times I've been, including once over December-January. But I love lively, busy cities and I don't need pretty in a destination either. I didn't feel it was particularly expensive either.

Sometimes you vibe with a place and sometimes you don't, and that's okay.

New York is a great city. But why the hell would you go there in 1. January and 2. in the middle of a pandemic? New York has been extremely hard hit by the pandemic repeatedly. No one should be going there. It is very a very shuttered, shut down, mourning city and has been for more than a year. Normally, I would just laugh at anyone who didn't appreciate New York for being provincial, because it has every pleasure city life can offer. But right now I will say that it is a place that is suffering, as no doubt London and many other cities are, and that could affect one's pleasure being there.

I've never been, so can't judge either way. However, from everything I've heard from people who have visited/lived there, it doesn't seem like somewhere I'd enjoy. Unless, of course, they exaggerated when telling me it's fast paced over there. London is my idea of hell, so, if NYC is anything like that, I'm happy to steer clear.

@MrsTerryPratchett I think it really depends where in LA you go. I expected it to be as you described but was very pleasantly surprised. Loads of places I could walk around (I was in North Hollywood, Studio City, downtown, Pasadena , the west side and Santa Monica) and I had no trouble with public transport (buses and the subway). Took 2 buses from North Hollywood to The Getty for example, via Van Nuys. Lots of very ordinary friendly neighbourhoods and people. If you were going from LAX straight to Beverly Hills or similar, I can see how you’d only see those extremes. And the freeways terrified me, I much preferred being on the regular streets. There were certainly neighbourhoods I didn’t go and travelling by train out of LA you pass miles of really boring looking suburbs that must make a person feel seriously trapped, but amidst all that is a pretty friendly city.

But I totally agree with you about LAX!

OP, NYC is having a really difficult time. This is what 2 years of high density living through a pandemic without a decent social safety net looks like. It’s hardly comparable to what you might have expected in Jan 2020. I have no desire to travel there anytime soon but I wouldn’t write it off entirely. Take Amtrak to Boston and see a bit more that way.

@EpicGem yeah, if you hate London, don’t go to NYC.😂

Charleston, South Carolina is lovely though and might be more your thing (I went in October. Lovely weather)

@Neves7

Also in the US tips are definitely expected in sit down restaurants and it is considered extremely rude to not tip. Bad service just gets a smaller tip (unless you basically saw them drop your food on the floor and put it back on the plate). Like it or not it is expected and most people just factor it into the cost of dining out. I don’t agree with this and think restaurant employers should pay more (and thus charge more directly) instead - it is the way things are. Culturally not tipping in the US is like queue jumping in the UK ;).

Also what @Neves7 said. You tip. Bad service = lower tip. British ‘ways’ regarding this maybe different, but you aren’t in the UK.

I feel for you not enjoying it - having looked forward to going there for so long.

I was there nearly three years ago as the culmination of a big birthday trip to the East Coast and a bit of the South. I was tired having done so many miles and seen so much but I was so happy not to be disappointed. It was everything I expected it to be - yes expensive and busy but also totally exhilirating.
Hopefully you've got a couple more days left to fit in some more enjoyable stuff, as mentioned by a few other posters.
1/ Tenement Museum
2/ Ellis Island. Statue City Cruises
3/ Highline - simply stroll along it
4/ Staten Island ferry - get out on that water
5/ Bike through Central Park - might keep you warm
6/ Walk across Brooklyn Bridge at dusk - cliched but fun

I sympathise with you and appreciate your disappointment but at least some of it is pandemic-related. I hope you can make the most of the rest of your stay :)

Surely you could wait to get home before you start slagging off the city you’re visiting.