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?

It wasn’t always like this. I hear from friends who live there that it’s a very different city these days - after the pandemic and due to how it’s being run by it’s officials in general.

I went 7 years ago, thought it was OK but wouldn't hurry back. I found the staff in a lot of places to be rude. One girl in the rockerfella center really stands out. Most people I speak to love NYC, I was glad I had the experience and there were aspects I really enjoyed but one trip there was enough for me.

I’ve been lots of places and to be honest everywhere is shit if you compare it with a movie version of that place.

Rome was shit compared to how lovely it was in the Lizzie McGuire movie. Still remember how they sat around the fountain (deserted) throwing pennies in. When I went I had to stand squeezed between people like cattle. And it was impossible to find a public toilet.

And Greek islands are really nothing like Mamma Mia.

That’s just life. You have to take a place for what it is, and often what it is is varied. Like any city, like any place, there will be good bits and bad bits. If you went expecting it to be like Friends or some other fictional New York of course you’ll be disappointed. It would be like coming to England and saying ‘this really is nothing like Downton abbey.’

Also unfortunately there’s poverty and crime everywhere - it doesn’t stop just because we’re on our holidays! There are beggars and scammers galore in most big cities - I noticed it especially in Paris and Rome with police actively telling us ‘don’t give money to that man’ in one big city we holidayed in.

Just like there are many beggars in desperate situations in London. And they don’t disappear when tourists pass them by!

The fact that you like Florida better says it all… you and NY are fundamentally incompatible. London feels safer because it’s familiar to you. I spent 10 years living in London and 8 living in NY. In my experience, NY is so much safer (just a bit weird now post Covid). I’m not British or American so no particular loyalty to either. You need to do a better job of planning your holidays and strive for more than the tourist cliches. You’re missing out on one of the best cities in the world.

@epicgem such a funny post from someone who's never been !! NYC is amazing but I've always planned out a visit and researched where to go or eat etc / very gritty but that's to be expected no?! I imagine now isn't the best time to visit after they were hit so hard in the pandemic and also weather wise Jan is awful !!

@Kanaloa can't work out if you're being serious !! Did you really go to Greece bawd on the mama Mia movie ?!!

I felt the same way after visiting London - it was busy, dirty, expensive. Frankly I was quite heartsore to see it like that - I lived in London in the mid 90s and adored it.

Loved NYC - last there 15 years ago though.

I'm not sure this will help, but contrary to what a PP said, the Met opera is open and playing almost every night.

@OLP2019

Of course not! I was responding a bit jokingly to op’s comment that it was ‘so different to what you see on television’ etc.

I was just sort of making the point that if you were to go somewhere entirely based on seeing it on television then you will probably be very very disappointed because nowhere is picture perfect, everywhere is a mixed bag of reality with different issues. And of course most television programmes or movies will romanticise and idealise a place unless it’s quite a gritty and realist piece.

So if you watched Outlander then went to Scotland hoping it would be like that you’d probably be disappointed by the amount of homeless people/drug addicts out in the open, ugly tenement blocks. Whereas if you visited Scotland with an open mind you’d see so much more and experience a real place. Same with if you looked at an Instagram video of an African safari then visited Africa, you’d probably not find what you thought it would be.

I was sort of saying don’t expect to visit a movie set version of a place but maybe I didn’t make sense!

You don't really know much about a place until you've spent a lot of time there. I have moved around a lot over the years and am always amazed at the amount of people who have such strong opinions on places they barely know.

I've had an absolutely awful holiday in Belgium but I wouldn't assume that means the whole place is shite.

It's depressing to see the number of people responding to this thread saying that they have never even been to New York but have decided that they also think it's terrible.

It sounds like you've had a bad holiday, rather than discovered that you hate an entire city and everyone in it.

I think op specific comment was about how Hollywood has portrayed New York - but if I compare a Hollywood portrayal of anywhere I’ve been to the actual place the actual place looks a bit disappointing!

It's filthy especially the subway - makes you appreciate how clean London Underground is. Central Park is much smaller than you think. But I have a lot of affection for it. Some amazing restaurants. I did wonder about the Twin Towers Memorial mall though. It literally looks like a swooping plane :/

I used to live in Manhattan and visit often over the years - love it - that said, we went about 6 months ago and the pandemic has really impacted the city. Definitely a very different vibe. My DCs were not fans. I think now is just a bad time to go. But I think that is true of a lot of cities, including where I live currently.

Do have to agree with the recommendations for Boston, even during the pandemic it has remained a great place to visit (we went there a few months ago as well)

@kanaloa ok that makes complete sense I wasn't sure if you actually went to foreign places based on movies you'd seen ha ha

I’ve been to NYC a couple of times, last time was 2018 so pre covid. I enjoyed the vibe and loved Central Park. I find I enjoy city breaks if I just do what I would do at home, go for a lovely walk around the park, try to find great local restaurants, get a bit tipsy. Try not to tick off too many tourist things at once. Do your research and read ratings - get off the beaten path and go to trendy local spots rather than big tourist bits.

It does sound like you’ve had some scary experiences but they do say you usually remember the last days of the holiday more, so try to turn it around and create positive memories! :)

What a shame . I lived in NYC and went back 2017. I love it and it is my favourite place, would love to live there again.
Like most cities , there is good and bad sides.Your subway scene does sound shocking but it could also have happened easily in London.
Pity you did not have maybe an insiders view. Tourist attractions can definitely be expensive, but I find that in London too. There are so many free attractions and the museums have free days too. Central Park in January might not be at its best as part of the attraction is the outdoor activities that are available on summer.

I voted YANBU because you have gone at a really shit time, it’s kind of gone back to how it was 30 years ago due to the pandemic. Loads of homelessness, social issues etc. The subway has always been a bit scary though to be fair!

NYC in all it’s glory is an amazing city that I’ve visited many times but I wouldn’t like to be there now.

Your experiences sound truly horrible! As for tourist stuff I also found the Statue of Liberty a bit meh except the crown, the 9/11 museum I saw years ago when it was small and temporary. So harrowing and moving but I would never go back. A Circle Line cruise around Manhatten is an interesting way to see the city and walking the high line is cool although may not be safe now. Theatre is a big thing for me so that was always a big focus and I always stayed very central to mainly walk everywhere.

If you were expecting Florida (Orlando) though, that’s like nowhere else in US. It’s fun of course but completely manufactured around the theme parks and not a good representation of everywhere else.

@RoseRedRoseBlue

I love love love NY!

Can you tell us some of the things that you loved about NY for comparison?

@Envoitrevisage

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.

I don't have to go to New York to crave that

@Nancydrawn

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.

No, they're just rude to your face

I’ve been three times and loved it each time.

BUT it’s always been in the summer. I think the same about every city break I’ve been to, that the place is only great in the summer or Christmas and that includes most of Europe and North America.

What made you choose to go now OP? Didn’t you realise it was such a bad time? LA is having similar awful issues.

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

I am sure of this. It sounds a grim place to be right now and New Yorker friends of mine literally fled when the pandemic hit.

I studied there in the late 90's. It will remain one of my favourite cities in the world because of that experience. I would hate to visit now and have that memory shattered.