I have now visited New York City two whole times and spent an entire six days in Manhattan. In other words, I am authentically and officially an expert on how to play tourist in New York City.
Of course, there is no way for me to pack the complete expansiveness of my extensive knowledge into one post, because it is just that awesome. Instead, I give you…
6 Things You Need To Know If You Visit New York City
The opulence of a Manhattan hotel room is measured not in square footage, but in how many items are available for purchase in the minibar. And also, I think, in how good the vegetable based glycerin soap bar smells.
Do you know what people do in parks?!?!?!
They run. Or ride bikes. Or walk. A lot.
They do not wander around stylishly in black peep toed heels. Ever.
There are some very lovely people who live in the burroughs surrounding Manhattan. Make them give you a ride.
Of course, if you elect to take advantage of the Staten Island Ferry in order to save yourself a few bucks it might be a good idea to make sure the zoom on your fancy camera is working before you get on the boat.
Seriously. I got barely half way and wanted to gnaw off my own feet. Except that is obviously gross. But still. Oh my God that is a long ass walk across a freaking bridge.
If at all possible, I recommend you pack comfortable shoes. However, if you do not own “comfortable shoes” and find yourself completely shocked because you “have seen women wearing cute shoes here! If they can do it, I can do it! I AM as good a woman as they are!” Ahem. If that happens to be you – there are approximately 18 shoe stores per block in New York City. There’s no shame in purchasing hot shoes that are also flat.
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Posted in Photo Essays Tagged: New York City, Photo Essays, photoshop, tips, tourists
i too choose cute shoes over comfort. my feet feel your pain, sistah. *fist to the chest*
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Ya know, I’ve never been on the Staten Island Ferry. Been to Staten Island many times, just never on the ferry.
The beer sounds nice.
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So, each time you’ve gone to NYC, you’ve decided not to buy shoes and had to buy new ones once you got there. I wonder how many times it will take?
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I would have let you in on the cab secret if you had asked!
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I bet if your estranged husband, with whom you were deciding whether or not to move beyond certain infidelities and general bitchiness, was going to possibly meet you in the middle of the bridge and thus re-new your marriage… I bet then it wouldn’t have been so tiring.
(At least Miranda usually wore flats)
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Love the green love buttons on your bed…was that for a splash of color?
Did you guys wind up taking use of the “intimacy kit?” I would have dropped that in my purse just for the hell of it. And can I just tell you? The hotel you guys stayed at is right across the street from where I have to be all week this week for work. So every time I go out for lunch, I sniff a little bit. 
Ok – i’ll stop talking now so I can get ready and catch the train.
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So now you’re a veteran. You’ve been there, done that. But please, Britt, buy some tennis shoes before you go again. :slaphead:
Glad you had fun.
J.
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After 5 visits to NYC I’ve learned it’s all about comfort not style. Sneakers for treking about town. Sexy shoes for out on the town.
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An expanded note for #6: Do not bring shoes that merely LOOK comfortable but have not yet been tried and true. I took a pair of cute bowling-style shoes with me because SURELY they must be comfortable!
Except they weren’t. I wound up buying a pair of flip flops from some street vendor out of sheer desperation. I came home from New York and kissed my ratty old blue Airwalks.
I can’t wait to go back though. I loved it.
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Britt, you crack me up. But you are also RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT. If it’s any consolation, though, even those of us used to spending time in Manhattan still forget and end up with VERY sore feet after we convince ourselves, “but they’re SO cute, and it won’t be THAT long of a walk!”
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An excellent photo essay presented with your usual aplomb. New York is such a vibrant city. Loved the shot of Central Park!
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Ah… like steen, I reminisce so fondly about buying a pair of cheap-ass pink flip flops in one of those Five & Dime stores 28 years ago when I visited NYC while pregnant with Jane. I was meeting with an editor about a children’s book that she was interested in, and Barry and I were total city novices. We parked 300 miles away and I walked, 7 months pregnant (we used the term “months” way back then, not “weeks” to measure a pregnancy), for 3 days or so in black heels. At our luncheon meeting, I couldn’t even concentrate on what the editor was saying. I would rather she had been a shoe salesman (yes, they were only men back then) who would fondle my foot while measuring and place me in something so… so… APPROPRIATE. Directions to the city should include proper freakin’ footwear. For women. Yes? Anyway, after the lovely luncheon that I don’t remember (Barry says it was lovely), I crawled to that dirty little department store and bought the first pair of flip flops I saw. Pink. Dusty. Who cared? And then… 28 years later, on Saturday night, I WALKED 300 blocks to our restaurant in black heels. I still believe the line, “It’s just around the next corner.” But I did get my ass and my heels, in that order, in a cab for the ride back to our hotel.
Love this post. You might want to send it to the NYC tourism council!
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You crack me up. If you have to come in by subway ever again we’ll have you go to the next stop up which is farther away from the “scary” part, closer to the beautiful Park Lane South.
And thank goodness we stopped walking across that fucking bridge.
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I think the Brooklyn Bridge should take a note from the Staten Island Ferry… they should sell beer.
Also, Queens is ALOT like Manhattan… just not the part you travelled through.
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They sell beer on the ferry? I knew I always wanted to visit NYC!
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my sister warned me in august when i came to visit to ONLY bring flipflops. of course i didn’t listen. and of course i had to buy myself a lovely pair of them. because my feet were dead.
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The one who are walking around in the cute heels are on a lunch break, not walking across the entire city. They wear sneakers to and from work — when they actually have to walk.
If you walked across the bridge in those boots I know why you hated it. :poke:
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Yeah, we always stayed in Jersey when we visited. Cheaper. Scarier, but cheaper.
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Comfortable shoes are for the weak.
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I’ve always done the comfortable CUTE shoe when I’ve gone to NYC. Except that time I went and it was 3 degrees, yes 3 degrees. I chose WARM shoes.
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Written like a propa New Yawkah.
Oh and the Staten Island Ferry is awesome!
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The last time I walked over the Brooklyn bridge was September 11th.
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Fashion Smashion…comfort always takes the place of hot shoes when you are walking in NY!! Silly Girl!
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Next time, better walking shoes are in order.
And in August 2000, that’s exactly how I saw the Statue of Liberty…. Staten Island Ferry.
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So I take it you did nothing I recommended then?
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New York – we have it all. And there are now shots to get rid of most of it. Hence, my presence in the ‘burbs. Next time you’re in town, I’ll take you to Gray’s Papaya.
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You gotta wear sneakers for those kinds of treks!
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Yeah. I hate to tell you this, but I wore comfortable-as-hell Born clogs the entire five days I was in NYC and at the end of each day I still thought the lower-half of my body was going to detach itself in protest.
Awesome pictures, hon!
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I hear you with the shoes, girl. Being a former rock girl (real rocks and not just the music kind) I own about 10 pairs of awesome hiking boots, shoes and various other practical walking shoes. However even with that inventory in my closet I am the girl in 4 inch heels walking around the city with a smile on my face even though I would totally wack my shredded feet off with a hatchet if I happen to have one in my oh so fabulous but totally not practical handbag.
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Personally, I’d go for the cute shoes, pain and blisters be damned. But then I’d have to bitch all day about it so that everyone else would be just as miserable as I was. I’m thoughtful like that.
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And that’s why you saw me happily traveling around the studio on Sunday in sneakers! Ain’t no shame. I don’t think I’ve ever stepped foot in Queens. I have traveled through it by car and train, but never by (sneakered) foot. Yeah… that’s all I have to say about that.
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Did you learn NOTHING from Trip #1 about wearing comfortable shoes? Argh.
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