New York

I was on a vacation to New York (Oct. 18-Oct. 23, 1998) and Mexico(Oct. 23- Oct. 28) for two weeks. It was a wonderful experience and I really had a great time.

Before going to New York, I planned ahead by surfing the Internet, reading traveling guides and gathering information from my friends who used to live there. Hence, I had a clear idea about what I was going to do and where I would like to visit when I got to New York.

It was 11:00 at night when I arrived at La Guardia Airport in New York. Taking a Gray Line bus on the way to my hotel, I was totally amazed by the beautiful night view of New York. Within the following four days over there, I traveled around the whole Manhattan area including Upper Manhattan (above 59^th street), Midtown Manhattan (between 59^th street to 14^th street) and Lower Manhattan (below 14^th street).

There are various ways to travel around Manhattan area. Many travel companies provide different combinations of city tours. Such as helicopter tours, bus/ limo/ train tours, walking tours and water cruises.

With Gray Line and New York Apple Tours, You can hop-on and hop-off the double decker whenever you like during service time. The bus routes bring you to most of the attractions at Manhattan. Another way to travel around New York is buying a MetroCard (For more information, call: 212 METROCARD, 1-800 METROCARD) which is a transportation pass for both buses and subways. A One-Week-Pass, which is especially suitable for travelers like me, is also available for only USD17.00. Since I was not at least familiar with Manhattan, I chose the Gray Line tour to begin my exploration for the first two days. Then, I took buses and subways by myself for the third and fourth days.

If you have a chance to visit Manhattan, do not miss the Broadway Shows .

During the four days of visiting in Manhattan, I was so lucky that the weather was very nice with sunny days. I found that the most popular street foods are Hot Dog, Britziel and Shish Kebab which can be found easily along the streets. They were also my major food.

My first impression about New Yorkers was they looked cool. Everybody walked so fast as if they are all in a hurry. When I walked among those people, my pace reflected their pace. In any intersection, there was bunch of people eager to cross the street. And the people cross a street whenever there was no traffic; or among traffic. No matter whether it was a green light or red light. Beside the pedestrians, there were a lot of cars crowded on the roads during the day.

Every thing in Manhattan is extremely expensive. I saw one parking lot which showed "USD6.75 per half an hour plus tax"! The cheapest parking fee I saw was USD4.50 per half an hour plus tax. I also found things sold in NY at the same prices as at Vancouver, Canada but in different currency. For example, McDonald's No. 1 Meal costs USD4.95 which is CAD4.95 in Vancouver. Regarding the fancy merchandizes in boutiques, I just enjoyed "viewing" it and avoided "asking" the prices. As a result, I only bought one key chain of Statue of the Liberty as a souvenir and nothing else except food.

After talking to people there, I found they were truly friendly even though they looked cool. I loved the people and the environment and enjoyed visiting lots of different places every day although I was exhausted after walking all day. I really had a great time and I have lots of priceless memories.

New York

Revised: 1999/01/09