Last year, I ventured to New York City for the first time ever. Let me tell you, it was overwhelming. I very quickly fell in love with the city, but not before getting lost quite a few times. I went for Her Conference 2017, Her Campus’s annual conference to learn how to be a #girlboss. I am going back again this year, because duh, and I am going to plan better to avoid getting turned around in such a big city. Here are a few tips of what to do and how to plan when you make your trip to NYC.
1. Download Citymapper
Seriously. Download this app. I didn’t realize until we got into the city that we wouldn’t be like the group of friends in How I Met Your Mother and be catching a cab four times a day. Ubers, Lyfts and cabs are too expensive for a broke college girl’s budget. The best decision was to buy a week-long subway pass, rather than buying single passes, as it would pay for itself if we rode the subway five times. Like most people, I still had no idea how to use the subway. If I wanted to get from our hotel on Wall Street to Fifth Avenue, I would not have been able to had it not been for this app. It’s like Google Maps on steroids. You put in your starting point and desired destination, and it literally will tell you where to walk to get to a subway, what subway to get on, how many stops you’ll have, what stop to get on and then where to walk when you get off. #LifeSaver
2. Make reservations ahead
We really wanted to go to the restaurant Serendipity 3, which has been in movies and is known for its fampus frozen hot chocolate. We planned ahead and called a few days before to get reservations, and we were so thankful for that! The wait was crazy for parties without reservations when we got there. It was absolutely worth it — especially the hot chocolate. I mean, look at that.
3. Book an Airbnb
Hotels in NYC are stupid expensive. Like, $250 a night expensive- so Airbnb is the way to go! Last year, we paid around $300 each for 4 nights each for our Airbnb, which evens out to around $75 a night. We had a full kitchen and were right on Wall Street. Plus, the place was adorable.
4. Try and plan your days before you go
Once you get to New York, there are so many options for what you can do. My suggestion is doing research before you go to make an itinerary of your days, so you can have a rough idea of what to do each day. For example, one day we saw the NYC Public Library and Grand Central, then made our way to Fifth Avenue to shop. We ended that day by going on a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty on our way to New Jersey and back – and that’s free! We also passed by the Flatiron building that day, which is in like every movie based in New York City. The next day, we ate in Hell’s Kitchen, which is close to the Broadway shows, saw our show and then went to Times Square after. New York is huge, but it’s nice to plan so you can jump from one place to another, especially if the places are conveniently close to one another.
5. Set up a Venmo before you go
Don’t ask me why, but big cities (in my experience) have never heard of or refuse to split checks at restaurants. This is a big issue when traveling with other college girls because we don’t immediately have $100 to drop on a meal to wait for everyone else to give you cash/checks later. The app, Venmo, is a lifesaver. We could Venmo whoever bought the meal right on the spot and it could be in their account the next day. It’s a necessity. Otherwise, bring a lot of cash – which freaks me out to do, because pick-pocketing, but try and use a purse with a zipper to prevent that from happening.
6. See a musical
This is a must do for my trips to NYC. I love live theater, and seeing Broadway shows just makes me so excited, especially in New York. Even if you’re not a huge theater person, trust me when I say that you’ll feel as if you’re in the musical. I saw Wicked, and it was mind-blowing. I want to see it over and over, but of course, this summer I’ll need to shake it up, so I got tickets to the The Book of Mormon. But if someone said they were selling Wicked tickets for cheap, I’d go in a heartbeat.
I cannot wait to be back in NYC this summer. What tips have you guys learned from going to New York? HCXO!
[Pictures all taken by author.]