After walking around the internet, I found a huge number of articles “10 things you should do in New York”, “25 things you should do in New York” and even “50 things you should do in New York”. And since I do not want to do copy paste and write the 156th article on the same topic, my decision was to write a piece about 10 things that in my subjective opinion you should not do in New York.
Take a tour on a bus
Although on the one hand it is very cool to ride on the second open deck and be a little higher and closer to the height and величию of the buildings. On the other hand traffic jams on the streets and sights that can easily be walked around on foot. There is simply no point in the экскурсионный bus.
Be afraid to eat street food
New York is the birthplace of street food. And street food here is not only hot dogs and sandwiches. Street food can also be soup, salad, a side dish with meat (for example rice with chicken or veal), bagels with нежным cream cheese, falafel… In other words for every taste and budget. More about this I wrote in a piece for gloss.ua
Miss a trip to Brighton Beach
I am also not thrilled with the area where everything is in your native language, and in the stores they sell Kyiv cakes and dumplings. But the promenade… Take a thermos with tea with you (if it is not a hot summer outside), a few sandwiches and just sit on one of the benches and enjoy the ocean.
Take a tour to the island to the Statue of Liberty
Oh how many articles have been written about the wonderful Staten Island Ferry, which every 30 minutes бесплатно delivers you from Manhattan to Staten Island and its route this Ferry holds through what? Through that very famous statue!
Although of course a trip on the Staten Island Ferry is a trip past the island with the statue. If you are a big fan of architecture and all your life dreamed of being near the statue, if you are interested to look into the immigrants’ museum and get acquainted with the history of Eliss Island — then do not hesitate and take the tour!
Eat Ukrainian food
This of course is very funny you are in America, on the other end of the world, in the full sense of this word, and you post a photo of borscht to Instagram! No. Do not do this! Simply because in New York you can try so much different food! Here live national minorities from practically all known countries of the world, each of which has at least one cafe or small restaurant. Try this food. And borscht is allowed to be eaten only by those who are in a long separation from the homeland you went to New York to study for the whole summer, you are on a business trip for 1 year and the soul simply demands native food! And where to eat this very native food you can read in my piece about Ukrainian New York.
Limit yourself to exploring only Manhattan
I know such people who are even afraid to go to Brooklyn, what to say about Harlem, which, by the way, is also Manhattan, from a geographical point of view, or the Bronx. What to see in other areas of the city besides the main one, you can read in the series of pieces “Besides Manhattan” (coming soon)
Put shopping off until the last days
Of course if you are going to do shopping in expensive and elite boutiques, then you can be calm. Dresses and suits, worth several thousand dollars, are unlikely to be taken apart in a few weeks. But if you are interested to buy Levis jeans for 30 dollars, shoes for 50 dollars that you will wear for 3 years and never take in for repair, and other wardrobe items at a very cheap, sometimes even funny price, then follow the rule “saw it tried it on bought it right away”. In New York there are a lot of tourists for whom clothing prices are just as acceptable as for you. The ассортимент of goods and the collections changes every week. More about shopping in my piece “Shopping in New York”
Take a taxi at night because it is already night
The метро in New York is 24 hour and this is very VERY convenient. It does not matter how far you went from your place of living and what time your watch shows, you always know that you will get on the метро and get home. Just do not deny yourself this, because to ride on the same Kyiv metro at 3 a.m. for now is simply not possible.
Be scared shy of passers by of those sitting рядом in the метро and other people who want to talk to you
Enjoy it! There are not many places where you can meet such a sociable nation as Americans. If a person addresses you in line in a boutique or on the platform of a metro station, that means you are pleasant to him, he liked you and he simply wants to talk to you. Do not deny yourself such communication, because it is, of course, English practice, maybe a pleasant acquaintance that, who knows, will grow into a big friendship… and in general… it is just cool to talk with an unknown person, and then part ways each to your own дела….
Not go to mass events to avoid crowding and etc.
I myself do not like crowds of people, but if you are in New York, then crowds of people or simply a large number of them already surround you every day. So one crowd more, one crowd less…
In fact to see how New Yorkers spend weekends or free time is a rather interesting activity. Movie screenings in parks, parades in support of nature protection organizations, flash mobs and city festivals.