New York

[Updated Apr 2017]

Live

View of The High Line and Meatpacking from the Whitney, New YorkI stayed in an Airbnb in the (very convenient) Lower East Side. I found an amazing Airbnb loft in Williamburg, but it wasn’t available for my dates – you’d get bigger apartments for the same price out of Manhattan. I also like Long Island City, Queens, a neighbourhood by East River with lots of new condos and young families, and a view of Manhattan. Get $40 off your first Airbnb stay here.

Transport

The ridesharing apps have carpooling options here woohoo! A ride from Williamsburg to my Airbnb in LES cost me $3. A ride from Newark Airport to my Airbnb cost $24.

The MetroCard has a great 7-Day pass for $32, else per trip it’s $2.75. The subway in New York is great in that it’s extensive and runs 24 hours a day, though it’s quite smelly and dirty. The buskers in subway stations and even on the subway are always fun to watch. Often times it makes more sense to walk: if you have to transfer, if it’s only a couple of stops away, if you’re going diagonally (not North/South or East/West).

Though New York is the one city in the world that I’ve visited the most, I only tried their public bike-share system, Citibike in April 2017. Cycling in New York was surprisingly easy, give their notorious reputation for bad traffic. Many streets have bike lanes, and there are many Citibike docking stations around. You can download their mobile app to help plan routes and locate stations.

Work

Devocion, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY by Nicole FuI worked from the closest co-working space to my apartment, The Yard Delancy , whose greated rooftop is pictured here. I know they have other locations, and passed by one right by the Empire State Building. I also worked from a cafe by my apartment, Me & Terri, pseudo coworking space Passerbys Lounge (free!), and Williamsburg cafes Devocion and Freehold.

Experience

Eat/Drink

  • Shake Shack’s burgers and milkshakes in Madison Square Park
  • Grand Central Oyster Bar
  • Halal Guys!!! The have 3 food trucks on 3 of the 4 corners on W 53rd St and 6th Ave.
  • A rooftop bar. I’ve been to Gansevoort Hotel’s and The Ides at Wythe Hotel.
  • Dim Sum in Chinatown. Jin Fung is pretty good.

See/Do

  • LOST iN New York City: A City Guide

    Walk/cycle around Central Park. In the summer, catch the free and excellent Shakespeare in the Park

  • A Broadway show
  • The museums: American Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim, The Met, MoMA. The Whitney is one of my favourites, and while in that neighbourhood I love visiting Chelsea Market and walking on The High Line.
  • Take the free Staten Island Ferry, which passes by the Statue of Liberty. You start and end in the Wall Street area, home to the New York Stock Exchange, Charging Bull sculpture, Trinity Church, 9/11 Memorial, and the World Trade Center.


Cover photo credit: Samantha Fu