Tips for students & travelers on a budget 2010
If you haven't made your way to New York City yet I suggest you set a date and start planning a week or two away. The following blog is an insight into my very recent 3 day solo stay in NY. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my OS trip and already I can't wait to go back!
As an emerging designer and musician I soaked up the electric atmosphere and made the most of every second.
I opted to stay at the Hi-NY youth hostel and was pleased with the accommodation and prices. It was good to be staying in a fun and vibrant hostel with lots of other young travelers. I made some great new friends and ended up out on the town with them.
The hostel is only a couple of blocks from Central Park so I kick-started my NY adventure by walking through the beautiful park early in the morning . I'd made friends with an English fine-artist called Clairie and we headed towards the Guggenheim Museum. After realising that it didn't open till 10am we walked another block and found ourselves on Madison Avenue where we had a cup of tea at a decadent coffee house/deli.
With only three days to spend in NY I decided to let the random experiences take place instead of going to all of the 'touristy' destinations and so headed straight to the life of the party , for a cosmo in Times Square. I suggest grabbing a MetroCard 1-day fun pass for around $8 so you can jump on as many subs as you want and see as much as possible on a budget.
It was so exciting to finally walk through the Guggenheim Museum after studying it at Uni and the current exhibition was titled, Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance . It was a dark display as of works by artists such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Sophie Calle, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Zoe Leonard, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Andy Warhol as well as works created since 2001 by younger artists.
With only three days to spend in NY I decided to let the random experiences take place instead of going to all of the 'touristy' destinations and so headed straight to the life of the party , for a cosmo in Times Square. I suggest grabbing a MetroCard 1-day fun pass for around $8 so you can jump on as many subs as you want and see as much as possible on a budget. Later that night I met up with some friends in Soho and we explored the night-life...
Some great places I discovered in New York are:
1. A secretive word-of-mouth cocktail bar whose name I really 'can't tell'... Definitely a unique experience. Given careful hand written instructions on the back of a paper napkin by a local, we arrived down a rather quiet street about 5 minutes out of Soho by cab and found the hot dog shop, Criff Dogs. Sure enough, inside the hot dog shop, hidden in the back corner was a vintage phone booth. Intrigued I went into the booth, picked up the phone & pressed the button. Suddenly a secret panel slid open and a girl with a clipboard appears, guarding the front of this exclusive little bar hidden behind the wall. We had to wait for about half an hour before we could go inside as there are strict numbers allowed in, but once inside it was a fabulous experience and the cocktails lived up to the expectations...
2. Hotel Gansevoort.
The stylish penthouse Plunge Bar + Lounge was a great place to see the lights of New York and enjoy a martini or two. More of a mainstream rooftop bar with house music but definitely worth seeing while you're in the Meatpacking district. The interior design was a delicious mix of texture and colour and a bar of b&w voyeurism to vamp up the scene.
3.Pravada.
If you fancy an underground, Russian 'vodka Caviar bar' experience this is worth a late night visit. Tucked away down a flight of stairs off the corner of Lafayette St just outside of Soho, we pushed open the big carved timber doors and entered a dimly lit scene of vaulted ceilings, lamps and people clustered in the rustic looking booths. We didn't stay here for too long, but long enough to try some fruit infused vodkas. It was a nice way to have a nightcap with friends and laugh about the events of that night.
As an Aussie, 8 Mile Creek is a great home away from home. Owned and run by 3 Aussie expats, I was lucky to perform an acoustic set there one night at the downstairs bar and the atmosphere was fantastic! Located in downtown Manhattan, the food, cocktails and service was a lovely, genuine & welcoming Australian flavour.
5. Walking across Brooklyn Bridge!
Grab a subway to Brooklyn and take the time to soak in the views of New York from the Brooklyn Bridge. It's also interesting as its one of the oldest suspension bridges in the USA.
Overall New York was a fantastic experience. There was so much to see.. I could easily spend 3 months there instead of 3 days. Times Square was incredible and I found the people of New York happy and friendly. I <3 NY.
Arielle.
