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My wife and I just got back from a 4-day trip to NYC and I wanted to drop a quick THANK YOU for all the immense help provided in this sub. I’ve been a lurker, but was quietly taking notes on all the suggestions and ideas that others have posted over the last few weeks. This was our first time ever visiting NYC and we had such an amazing time… we can’t wait to come back.

We never had an “angry New Yorker” experience, even with my wife’s slower walking pace, lol. But maybe that is due to all the tips I read about in the sub. On the flipside, I actually found many New Yorkers to be extremely pleasant to talk to… wanting to hear about where we were from and what brought us to the City. Ironically, I felt myself already turning into an “angry New Yorker” by the end of the trip, being tempted to smack the phone out of someone’s hand who just spontaneously decided to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and take a photo…. ugh!

I can actually appreciate the efficiency and expediency at all the to go counters, I feel like I found my people, lol. Coming from the PNW, one of my biggest pet peeves is a chatty cashier who wants to hear all about my day. I’d much rather just place my order and move on… so encountering that in NYC was refreshing.

As a bit of a rule follower myself, the biggest wakeup call was the complete disregard for traffic laws by motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists, lol. Near misses occurred at such a high frequency that it definitely gave me some anxiety at first… but then became strangely endearing by the end of the trip. We wanted a “cab ride experience” during our trip, and it was definitely an experience!

For other soon-to-be tourists, here was our rough itinerary if you find it helpful! We chose to stick to Manhattan for our first trip and do lots of “touristy” things. For our next trip we definitely want to visit the other boroughs and go off the beaten path.

Day 1

Morning, slept in due to our 4am flight arrival due to the thunderstorms. Lunch, John’s Pizzeria off Times Square Afternoon, matinee Broadway musical (Neil Diamond’s A Beautiful Noise. This was actually our primary reason for visiting, I am a lifelong Neil fan since my mom always listened to him, so I wanted to see this show before it left Broadway). Dinner, Becco (AMAZING!) Evening Broadway musical Loitering in Times Square

Day 2

Morning, 9/11 memorial & museum Lunch, Los Tacos No. 1 Afternoon, Staten Island Ferry, walking tour through the Financial District Dinner, Le Rock

Day 3

Morning, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and New York Public Library Lunch/afternoon, ate at Veselka in Grand Central Station and toured the area Dinner, Hama Sushi near Rockefeller (this one was alright, wish we had splurged on a more upscale sushi place) Evening, Top of the Rock

Day 4

Morning, explore Central Park Afternoon, visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art (this one was incredible, my wife is a huge fan of Van Gogh and was blown away by the number of pieces the museum had) Dinner, Connolly’s Irish Pub (I haven’t seen this place mentioned before, so I don’t know what the locals think, but found this to be a pretty solid Irish pub) Evening, Comedy Cellar at MacDougal St