I got back from New York last week after a seven day break and it was great!
I got a hotel in midtown: cheap but right in the thick of things. round the corner from Empire state building, two blocks from Macy's and a walking distance from everywhere else.
I went to to the Guugenheim, the empire state building and Ellis/Liberty Island.
And the rest of time I shopped, oh yes I shopped! The sales are great: good clothes decent sizes and crazy prices. I literally dropped: I needed a full body massage to cure my terrible backache. (And boy was it a good massage!)
I also picked up some gadgets from B&H photo. It's a huge shop with so many staff who know everthing there is to know about cameras.
Now that I'm back I'm looking at saving up to do all again next year!
i'm going to ny in march for a geography fieldtrip, im well excited never been before, the downside is we actually have to do work...like we get to got to bloomingdales&macys but have to analyse consumption patterns!! we do get free time at night, just wondering how safe you found it on the subway etc as i wanna get around a bit!
completely safe...having dais that I only travelled in the daytime.
You do meet 'life's flowery characters down there' people sharing their life's philosphies with the whole carriage, lol! There are some pretty good buskers too.
The worst thing is that the lines are so confusing! in London it's simple: on track on direction. there, you have one track which branches off in three directions so you must make sure your train is going exactly where you need it to go. Not liek me who jumped on a trin to go three stops and ended up in Brooklyn!
There are also express trains with limited stops so be careful.
Oh and to cap it all, there are no LCDs telling you when the next train is approaching. It arrives when it arrives, altough you shouldn't have to wait long.
IMHO the bus was more straightforward, lol! And the cabs are cheap compared to what you'd expect to pay for a ride in the UK.
People are always advised not to use the subway it night as it could be dangerous. Will you be on your own? The buses are 24hour and you are always safer at street level. Moreover NYC really doesn't sleep, (it's not a cliche) so there's no harm in walking about late.
You should take no more precaution than if you were out and about in London.
I used the subway infrequently, as I have always found taxi's to be fantastic. They're cheap, easy to get one and you get to see stuff while you're on the move.
I'll say one thing, even when I got confused with the lines etc. the bus drivers were really helpful. They'd show me exactly where to get off the bus and pick up the next one
