Quote Cronus="Cronus"Pretty much matches my experience. NYC is an amazing place and you could spend a lifetime exploring, but the tourist traps are just that.
Been several times on leisure, and unfortunately had to do the Statue of Liberty twice and Empire State twice (the express tickets were worth skipping the queues
), amongst others, and I have fond memories of a brass band tour which took us to the top of the Twin Towers in about 1990 and to the UN, which was an amazing experience not least because we met Bill Clinton.
What you say about having a walk is spot on. The last 2 times I've stayed with a family member working on Broadway, which meant I had plenty of time to myself. One of my favourite walks was Upper West, past the Intrepid, up through Hell's Kitchen, through Theatre District and probably on to either Little Italy or the Village, stopping for a few slurps and nibbles on the way. The backstreet places are the best by far, I'll never forget an Irish bar in Hell's Kitchen where the locals made me very welcome apart from a loudmouth prick who got all "Ireland for the Irish" aggressive because I was English. That is until I told him not only was I part Irish, I had relatives over there and had visited many times - unlike him, who had never left the USA. He got shouted down. That was a great night.
Philly is worth a visit, as is Boston, but NYC is a unique beast.'"
Me and 2 pals did this as a trip in 2013 and included Washington (interesting but not always in the best way). We used trains/buses etc, staying in hostels and it was a great trip and one i'd recommend for sure.
This year I'll be off back to Paris in November and also planning on sneaking a trip to Dubai in amongst the proposed weekends in Dublin, Scotland and Cornwall!
Anyone with a nice place to stay in any of those locations would be greatly appreciated!
