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Staten Island Ferry
by Autumnrose So as every one knows I won a trip to New York City and I chose to go in early April. When I was talking to my husband about it and what he thought I should see The Staten Island Ferry was a top on his list. My husband visited the big apple as a child and remembers riding across on the ferry. How ever as it was many years ago things ... had changed quite dramatically I was sure but I did know that they were still running the Staten Island Ferry and that it did provide some great views of the city. As our visit to the Ferry was very impromptu and more on a spur of the moment we just sort of discovered it after walking through Battery Park and seeing the ferry leave the dock as we walked through the park brought us to the front door of the Ferry. I was excited and was very nervous as I am not a big boat type person or a boat person at all for that matter. Every time I have been on a boat I end up hanging my head over the edge with a green tint to my skin wishing I had never had the thought to get on the blasted thing. As I was not planning on getting on the boat I was not able to take any thing to help with my boat problem not that it would have mattered any way. So I had been told by my husband that when he was there they charged a small fee to ride the ferry and that you could drive your car onto the boats and pay to have them taken across to Staten Island. I had expectations of how it would look cars pulling up on one level as people that walked were on a different level. How ever it seems that they no longer allow cars on the ferry's and the best part is that several years earlier the New York City Department of Transportation took over the operations of the ferry and have since provided it free of charge. For me the expectations of having to pay and then it being free made it a great opportunity that I was thrilled to take advantage of. We walked in to the main entry way of the boarding terminal and had to wait a few minutes for a ferry to arrive and for the people that were riding it from Staten Island to get off. As we stood around and waited the closer the boat got the more people that were milling around waiting. As I looked around I did notice a place that you could buy food and drinks as you waited but not being hungry and having drinks already with us we opted to just wait but it sure did smell good. The ferry arrived and we were able to get onto it. As I knew that I needed to be close to the edge just incase we opted to sit on the outside. It was a windy day and the wind really did blow hard. I was sure that it was going to be the undoing of me. As the boat started to disembark I felt my stomach do a flip flop then even right back out. I was too interested in the sights that I was seeing and trying to skype my daughter so that I could show her every thing that I was seeing. That even the biggest wave could not have phased me. The whole ride across to Staten Island took all of 20 to 30 minutes and it was one of the coolest things I did while in New York City. From the ferry you have a great view of the Manhattan sky line as well as the Statue of Liberty. There are it seems never ending photo ops from the side of the Ferry with the skyline in the back ground. I had directions from my husband that I needed to be outside and to take a picture of me with the Manhattan skyline in the background as my husband wanted to do a then and now picture as when he went the Twin Towers were still standing. It was sad to see the void of where they used to be but was pretty cool to see the Freedom Tower rising tall in the skyline. Once we arrived at Staten Island we were disappointed to learn that every one must get off the boat at this time. If you wanted to go back to Manhattan you had to go back around and reenter. It was not a pain to do but it was rather shocking that you could not just ride the boat back. So we got off and opted to check out the boarding terminal on the Staten Island side. This side was a little more updated as they had stores and shops as you got off the boat and in the waiting area to get on the boat. I would have been happy to check out some of the shops but it seemed that they had already closed shop for the day. So we got back on the boat as we did not want to miss the last boat going back to Manhattan and have to find our way back. We figured that we would ride the boat back the same way we went out. While we were in the Staten Island Terminal the wind had picked up. As we tried to open the doors to the outside sitting area it was rather hard and really took both my cousin and I to push the doors to get them opened so we could go out side. We stood out side for a few minutes but I was not able to hear anything that my daughter was saying on skype so I tried to go in. As I tried to open the door I realized that I was not going to be able to do it alone I asked a very nice guy that was by the door if he could help me. He opened the door and in I went with the door slamming shut behind me the wind really blowing now. I was able to show my daughter on skype via a video call the entire ride on the Staten Island Ferry she was able to see the Statue of Liberty and every thing I saw while riding the Ferry. It was one of the coolest things ever and I was thrilled to have service on my phone the whole way across. As we got back to the Manhattan side and got off I noticed all the guards and police that were just standing around watching every thing that was going on. It made me feel very safe to know that they were there doing their jobs. This is one of those must see things while in New York City and the price makes it right. You can not go wrong with this freebie. Would I recommend this to my friends and family? Yes and I would raise cane if they missed it. This is one of many must see's in New York City. Read the complete review |
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Buses in New York
by Autumnrose Having the luck to win a trip to New York City that included air and lodging I knew that I would be responsible to find my own transportation around the city. I was worried that if I spent all my money on a card for the subway would it work for the buses as well or would I have to pay another charge just to get to the places that the ... subway did not go. I was thrilled when I read that my metro card could also be used to ride the bus. For me that was a great added bonus to the city's Metro Card. The Metro Card is a yellow card with blue writing across the front that says Metro Card on the back of the card is a magnetic stripe that holds all the info about the card. This is a great thing as long as your card's magnetic strip continues to work. Thankfully ours never failed while we were there. As it would turn out we were very centrally located to every thing that we wanted to visit and everything we wanted to see was easily accessible from the subway. The only thing that we would need the bus for was to save ourselves the money that a cab would cost for a ride to the airport. The cost of the cab from the airport with tip and all other expenses included was at $60.00 dollars so needless to say I was not willing to part with that kind of cash when I had a perfectly acceptable alternate way to get to the airport. The morning that we were leaving we left the hotel and walked a short distance to the subway station and caught the train to the stop that was as close as we could get to where our bus route was to pick up. All in all that took about an hour but during that ride we were serenaded by a group of nice gentlemen doing barber shop type songs with no music to back them up they all had great voices and it made the ride go by that much faster. As we walked up the stairs to the street level we were happy to see that there were signs showing us what way to go and my cousin had it programmed into his phone telling us what way to go so between the signs and a smart phone telling us where to go we were able to find our way. Don't get me wrong we would have done it just fine with out the phone but my cousin is a little bit addicted to his technology and uses it at every chance he has. I would have to say that we waited for about 10 minutes before our bus came around as we waited for every one to exit I pulled my Metro card out to have it ready so as not to hold up the line as I got on the bus I was not sure how to insert my card and the driver a very nice man had to show me how to do it. He was not angry or aggravated I could just tell that he wanted to save me the embarrassment that was showing all over my face as I held up the line. I finally had my card figured out and was sure to grab a seat right next to the driver so that I could ask him if I had any questions. I was so happy to hear the driver announce every stop if there was no one there to get on and no one pulled the string to stop he would just keep on going. It seemed that we picked the route up at the very beginning and were lucky enough to be able to ride the bus through some very historic neighborhoods and to see some very famous places. As we rode the bus down this road that seemed to go on forever I realized that we were going right through the middle of Harlem. I was thrilled to have this chance as I was sure that would I never at any other time find my self going through the middle of Harlem. As we got more into it I was blown away to see the Apollo Theater as every one knows what the Apollo is and how famous it is. I wanted to stop and get off the bus and run and see what it really looked like but was pretty sure that being the time it was that it would not be open so I went with my better judgment and stayed on the bus. It was at this time that I just really sunk into the seat and really did not look around as the only thing I wanted was to get home to my family as I had left them behind to go on this trip. I had my phone and was texting both my daughter and my husband telling them that I was on my way to the airport. I really only wanted to hear my daughters voice so rather than site see at this point I called her and we spoke for the rest of my bus ride. I can say that it was a comfortable ride and at no time was I ever worried about my safety how ever it was broad daylight and I was only going to the airport. We arrived at the airport and this is where it got tricky the bus stopped at every terminal and you had to make sure that you were paying attention to what he said so that you did not miss your terminal we were flying out United Airlines and as luck would have it our terminal was all the way at the end it was the last stop before the bus exited the airport. We got off with our luggage in tow and made our way into the airport. After visiting several large city's and using their public transportation I have seen some pretty gross stuff but I can say that the buses in New York City are probably the cleanest and nicest buses I have ever been on. Something any city could be proud of especially one as big as New York. I have to say that only using the bus this one time it was a great experience and I really did get to see things that I may not have gotten to see other wise. Being a real people watcher this was an ideal experience for me to just sit back and people watch. I think for me the best part was that not only was I on this bus with other tourists but I was riding this bus with locals as well. It was truly an experience that I will never forget and can't wait to get back and do it all over again. Read the complete review |
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Subway New York City
by Autumnrose I was lucky and won a trip to The Big Apple Air fare and lodging was provided. As I had only to worry about spending money and transportation we opted to use the Subway as our means of transportation. I had no idea what to expect as where I am at we are lucky if the buses run on time let alone run at all. When we arrived ... in New York City and checked into our hotel the first thing we wanted to do was explore so off we went to look for a subway entrance. As our hotel was in Lower Manhattan they were pretty much on every street corner we crossed. Lucky for us we were only a block away from the Lower Manhattan hub and we went down to find a way to get our Metro Cards. As the side that we went down was not a manned entrance all that they had was a vending machine to purchase our cards from. I can not remember the price of the card in the vending machine but we did not have change or small bills and the machine would not give us all the change we had coming back so we would have lost a few dollars. We opted to leave that side and wait till the next morning to find a manned counter to buy our metro cards at. The next morning we got up early and asked a random stranger that was going down into the sub way where a manned counter was he directed us and we were on our way after buying our Metro cards. The first time you use your card its kind of weird as you have to swipe your card through a reader then walk through the turnstile not leaving your card behind when you go. After the first time through and realizing that the reader did not read my card and having to reswipe it we were off on our adventure to Central Park and Times Square. We thought that we would stop at Times Square and walk down to enter Central park once on the train we asked people where we needed to get off to get the best view of Times Square. There were probably 10 people that wanted to help and they all had different opinions, soon they were all talking loudly among themselves about what was the right way to go. Needless to say we just kind of hung out and listened to what they were saying then this nice lady said to us "don't worry you will learn that in New York we all have our own idea about what is the best way to go and we are very vocal about it. I laughed it off and seen that she was right we opted for the main Times Square Stop. When we got off the train I thought it was so cool to see all the art along the walls as well as all the people coming and going it truly is an amazing place. There were performers set up performing and the whole thing was really just amazing. As we walked up the stairs I noticed that there were businesses along the stairs up tucked into little holes in the walls really. Not even what we would call a store where I am from. Then it dawned on me that the sub way system in New York City is a city all to its self below the surface. I always expected the subways to be dirty and filled with bums begging for money or criminals robbing me. Every time I got on the sub way that was the first thing that came to mind but after spending several days on the sub way nothing like that ever happened to me. As a matter of fact I have met some life long friends while riding the subway. The people were super nice and went out of their way to help. The best part of the whole trip was the fact that I was able to use my metro card the whole time I was in New York City even to ride the bus to the airport. I can't wait to get back to the city and share all that I learned with my daughter. Read the complete review |
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