New York trip

[Bornin1969]

Hi !

We are going to New York in April ! It's our first time, we are going with our 2 teens. I'm starting to organise the trip but I don't know where to start really. What should I do in term of transport ? Shall I buy 4 train passes for the week ? We will be based in Brooklyn. Thank you for your help !

We went to New York last April and were also based in Brooklyn!
You haven’t said how long you’re going for, but we stayed for a week and got the seven day unlimited Metrocard whichcosts $32. The more you use it, the cheaper each ride is.15 trips = $2.13/ride, which is cheaper than the standard $2.75 per ride if you pay as you go. You need one card per person. There are several options where you can buy your MetroCard, including newsstands, grocery stores, and various other places. There is even an online option. However, most people buy their cards at a subway station from an automated vending machine. To purchase your MetroCard you will use the machines found in all stations. There are two types of machines: the big machine lets you pay with cash, credit cards or ATM/debit cards. The smaller machines do not take cash. Ifyou use your credit card (on either machine), you will be asked to enter your zip code after you dip your credit card. As you are not from the United States, you are allowed to type in 99999 for zip code.

We are there for a week! Thank you for replying ! I’m finishing reading your email now !

We went in September. We used the underground every day, DH used maps on his phone to work out where we needed to go. We also got City passes which gave us entry to all the attractions we wanted to see (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Top of the rock, 9/11 museum and The Met) and some of them it fast tracked you in. Well worth it. You can get them with bus passes too but it was cheaper for us to use the Metro and quicker too.

Thank you so much for your tips. I bought my city passes this morning. How do you do with money ? Some cash and prepaid card ? Thank you :)

Assume you have your Esta visas?

My top tips:
The first morning you are this is the morning you will be bright eyed at 4.30am. This is a great day to go for early breakfast and be at Empire State for opening at 8am- beat the crowds.
Try and plan each day geographically so you cover a few things in one area.

Highly highly recommend the Harbour Lights Cruise - excellent way to New York and Statue of Liberty.

Catch an NBA game

Have plenty of downtime if needed..a week is a nice stint to see lots.

Recommend visiting 9/11 museum as soon as it opens ( may have to pre book this ) it was pretty much empty . Also take your time around the museum , it takes a good few hours to go around it and really soak it all in .

It was a very emotion place i found - it even made my stone heart husband shed a tear ( he didn't even cry when our baby was born ! )
Should be a very educational place down r your teens to visit

No I haven't bought the esta vista yet, it's next on my to do list - thank you for all your tips, very useful. I was stressed as I didn't know where to start as I have never left the continent !

Esta needs to be your priority, without it you cannot enter the states.

Ellen’s Stardust diner was my absolute favourite thing when we went :)

And the top of the rock in the dark

I recommend it to everyone - www.famousfatdave.com/
We did this and it was BRILLIANT.
He's a really interesting bloke and knows all the little places you will never have heard of. Most definitely worth the money!!

Yes definitely make the most of the time difference and get up early to get to stuff before the crowds. We got to the 9/11 museum when it opened and spent about 3 hours there, it was busy but really busy by the time we left.

Our best night out was actually going to a Rangers game. I wasn’t bothered but DH really wanted to go. It was brilliant, so much fun! Easy to follow and they really get the crowd involved. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Thanks for this post op I am going in March myself...so I'm going to skulk in and steal some tips too! We are going for 4 days. Thanks for the first morning tip @bitofabelly may aswell lol you say make the most of the day when up at a stupid hour!!

Does anyone have any idea how lo g it takes to get through their customs and immigration when we arrive.. we all have out esta done. I've never done international flight before so do you go through a whole security deal like scanners etc like you do when leaving the UK? I really don't know what to expect when we arrive, Any tips to make this go faster

I think you can clear US customs/immigration if you flew to NY from Dublin, if that’s an option for you.

I think we queued for about 30 minutes to get through immigration, they had several queues going, they asked us a few questions and then we were through. It wasn’t too bad. We flew in to JFK.

Flying Manchester to UK. Oh 30 mins isn't too bad I just want to book the transfer and bot get charged for them waiting I'll book It for an hour after we land and hopefully that'll be sufficient with their free 45 min waiting time after selected pick up time

To jfk*

We went for Christmas last year, would have thought that was a busy time but we were all through (6 of us) in about 20 minutes, we were amazed! I think it just depends if you land at a busy time?
The early morning went on for days for us!! Find a really good diner near your hotel and have a massive breakfast and this will set you up for hours and they all seem to open about 6am!
If you like Chinese and are going to Chinatown you must call in Joe Shanghai, the most amazing food!! It’s not that big and we queued for about half an hour to get in but it’s amazing. There’s lots of photos on the wall of celebrities who have squeezed into the quite basic setting!! Do have the dumplings!
The high line for a walk in spring would be amazing, you walk between some great apartments and brings you down near 9/11 I think!! It’s about an hour’s walk but lovely. Teenagers got some cool pics!
Book 9/11 museum as it’s always busy.
I wish I was going!! Have fun.

You can just use your usual bank and credit cards.

@Bornin1969 you can go to post office or cashplus.com and order a usd MasterCard. It's a prepaid card but acts just like a credit/debit card maybe bring cash and load that too. That what im doing I've done 20 quid a week for the last 4 week's and keeping doing so untill I go and then therr is some extea emergenct cash will obly be aroun 250 usd hand for a emergency or for the last day incase cash runs low ....whuch it likely will for me so haha

Check how much your normal bank and credit cards charge before using them. Money saving expert website has some great advice on this. If you are using cc for small purchases the extra charges can really add up. We use Post office credit card and Revolut.

High line is fab. Walk over the Brooklyn bridge.

If you're around on a Saturday morning I would definitely recommend checking out Smorgasburg in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) really delicious food stalls, and stalls from some of the bakeries etc. you'd have to queue hours for in the city!

At JFK it can sometimes take hours. Queues of 2 hours to clear immigration are not at all uncommon particularly if several flights deplane at the same time.

So grateful for this thread ! X

Just booked a nba game! Cannot wait !