Blasphemy. Could be near Carnegie Hall, the MoMA, and 57th St has a bunch of shops and restaurants.
would really suggest otherwise. in addition to being biblically expensive, the subway will almost always get you somewhere faster
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I was going to suggest MoMA earlier but donât think itâs open late. That and Carnegie Hall arenât necessarily great attractions if you are not going to them, but I also think if you just have one night free, itâs not a crime against humanity on your first trip in New York to take in the park, go see a show, see the spectacle of Times Square, and then plan to go to a bunch of different neighborhoods on your next trip back.
One of our favorites with people visiting is to take the train to the first stop in Brooklyn (High St), get off, and walk back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe then walk up to Chinatown and eat at a random place there that looks decently busy.
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I was also going to suggest a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. However, a closer option to his location is the Roosevelt Island Tram.
Thereâs stuff there for sure, I personally prefer âneighborhoodyâ parts of NYC more than Times Square adjacent parts. Youâre right on Uber vs. subway too, it all depends on where youâre going and traffic. I will often check both at the moment Iâm going somewhere, sometimes the Uber is better if your desination isnât super close to a subway station. All depends.
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The Brooklyn Bridge walk is cool but it is SO CROWDED. Absolute insanity and angry bikers zipping by.
On of my favoriate things to do in NY is take the ferry out to Governors Island. You canât beat the views of downtown Manhattan and you can actually see the front of the Statue of Liberty from out there (from Manhattan you can only see the back). Itâs a cool way to see the skyline and a million times more fun than squeezing through a bunch of selfie takers on the bridge, IMO.
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I think theyâve reconfigured the bridge so that the elevated path is now pedestrian only and bikes have a protected lane on the road.
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Also, I doubt that a weekday night on the bridge in November is going to be that crowded.
Iâd pay a waiting premium to not have to take out my electronics, take off my shoes, rapiscan, etc.
It might be 5x depending on what x is.
I donât have Clear, but I assume it has the same rules as TSA precheck. If you have to do all that shit anyway, then WTF.
Literally the only vlaue of Clear is a different (historically much shorter) line.
I just went through regular pre-check instead.
Thanks all for the thoughts! My first free night (others are tbd) so I just did a bit walkabout, my favorite thing to do in a new city. Started at my hotel on 54th and broadway, walked over to hellâs kitchen (which needs a new name) chasing after some pizza Kenji Lopez-Alt really likes (it was fine). Wandered down a ways, over a couple of blocks, finally turned aroudn around 38th and made my way back up broadway through times square and so forth. Got a couple of more slices of pizza (also just fine?) and dumplings from some newly opened place that was quite good.
Weâre doing a team dinner tomorrow night at a place called Via Toscana which is super close to me, planning on a show Wed after work. Thurs I tenatively have a team hh 4-6 (snore-ish) then tbd
Kind of hoping to show up a tad late to work tomorrow and sneak in a park visit - maybe Iâll try to make use of those rentable bikes i see all over to get up there quicker
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Clear is totally independent of precheckâyou can have none, either, or both. Clear just lets you skip the line, subject to crazy limitations and inconsistencies.
The fact that you have to go through an annoying process to get precheck, but there are people hawking clear with instant signup at all major airports, should tell you all you need to know about the relative value of the two products.
Thatâs good to know, the last time I walked the bridge was October 2019.
I guess itâs more annoying than the Clear signup, but it was super super easy. Global Entry does sound like a hassle though.
The Central Park main loop is only about 9km around I think, you wouldnât need a lot of time to walk up to the south end of the park, rent a bike, and zip around the loop. Itâs a nice ride, although early November is not the prettiest time of year in Central Park. You do get good views of lots of cool buildings as work your way around though.
Also youâre pretty close to Bryant Park, which is not a major urban park but itâs a very pleasant space in the middle of Manhattan. A nice spot to grab a coffee and people/dog watch. I used to work sometimes in my last companyâs office on 6th avenue, I would wander down to Bryant park for a break and sometimes take my laptop and work in the NYC Public Library main branch (the famous one with the two lion statues out front). That building is a beautiful building as well, and youâre allowed to just walk in a look around.
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Global Entry wasnât too bad for me. Only annoying thing was having to go to the airport (without a flight) to get an interview.
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I know very little about the North Cascades, but Iâm almost certain you want to get a permit for this:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=fsbdev3_053607
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I went there last year. Iâm not an intense hiker though, just did a few trails.
I am not a WA native but I did hike through the northern Cascades when I did the Pacific Crest Trail. The PCT is all east of Ross Lake. But I did go through part of the National Park north of Lake Chelan. Stehekin was a fun hiker town, and Lake Chelan is great for a boat ride.
Dunno if you are looking for day trips or long hikes or what. Iâm not familiar with the NP section west of Ross Lake but it looks spectacular. The PCT did not have heavy traffic even though (I assume) itâs one of the more popular trails. So be prepared for some remoteness if you hike 10/15 miles in. I was there in late fall which probably lessened the traffic though.
The climbs were pretty heavy duty, lots of 2 and 3+ thousand foot climbs. Fairly remote in some areas so it helps if you have backpacking experience.
I saw a lot of black bears, including some right on the trail as I rounded corners. You definitely want a bear canister if you are tenting. In many places like the NP, a bear can is probably required. Bear bagging by hanging in trees is not reliable. I think they have some grizzlies in the area too but I didnât see any.
Also as someone else said there are permits you need to hike/camp in some areas. I had my PCT thru hiker permit which covered everything.
It rained a lot so have your rain and cold protection all set up. I got dumped on for days at a time. Seam seal the shit out of your tent/tarp.
Scenery was amazing, and I liked the solitude.
Thanks! Thatâs helpful. Weâd be looking to do something like a 3-4 day hike Iâd say. The visitor center there will loan you bear canisters. I would definitely not be looking to test my bear hanging skills having never done it before.
Did you do the whole PCT? What were your favourite sections? If we did the North Cascades weâd have to go in like August. I also have a friend going to California in May so another option would be to go when he goes and hike in the Sierras somewhere instead. I just really like the look of the Cascades scenery though. I was supposed to hike there last time I was in the US and it got moved to Olympic because there was too much snow still.