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Anonymous
I'm crossing the pond nearly next year for New York Comic Con '09. As I'm probably never going to get the chance to visit NYC again, I've wisely decided to stay in the city a few days extra. Last time I didn't get the chance to see anything other than the convention centre and Times Square.

So what's worth doing in New York city? I know there's all the obvious stuff like Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. But just like science, everything I know about New York city I learnt from Marvel comics. Which means places I wanna see are either a) fictional superhero HQs that don't exist, or b) neighbourhoods like Hell's Kitchen and Harlem where Daredevil and Luke Cage hang out. I know so little about the real NY that I don't even know if "b" is a bad idea or not.
>> Anonymous
Dude, I've always wanted an excuse to go to New York and this is an AWESOME one.

Could you give me some details on how you booked it and stuff? I'm guessing you're a Britfag too?
>> Anonymous
>>82232

Yeah, Britfag here too. I've got family elsewhere in the state who I visit, but they're only out there working for a few years. To make the most of it, I've been timing my visits so I hit NYCC at the end of them.

Flights were booked with Delta Airlines, but the actual flight is whored out to Air France. I flew with them last time and it was surprisingly good. We're actually going to be staying in New Jersey, again same as last time. It's way cheaper than staying in NYC, and it's only a 10-20 minutes bus ride into the centre of Manhattan. Shop around some, we've got a room with two double-beds for four nights, breakfast included, for about £75 each. It's a really nice hotel, got a pool and a gym and all that, not that we'll be using it for anything other than crashing at the end of the day. My family has used this particular hotel a couple of times in the past, so we got a discount through some repeat customer scheme or something. Time of year heavily affects prices too. Not a lot of people holiday at the end of January/start of Febuary, so I think that helped prices too.

If you're gonna do the New York Comic Con, the whole three days is pretty good. I used Friday afternoon to see/do everything I *really* wanted to before it got busy on the Saturday (autographs and such), just did whatever on the Saturday (there's shit-tons to see and do, I got to speak on a panel last time), and returned Sunday morning to pick up last minute bargains and check out video game stands that were too busy on previous days. That was pretty good. It was dead on the Sunday so the guys working the stands were a lot more chilled out, and it was so quiet that they could really show you stuff in depth and hold a real conversation with you.
>> Anonymous
>>82234
>New Jersey, again same as last time. It's way cheaper than staying in NYC, and it's only a 10-20 minutes bus ride into the centre of Manhattan.

No. Stay in the boroughs if you want to save money. Unlike most of Jersey, they're worth seeing in their own right. And you can take the subway into Manhattan, and subway > bus, quite simply. It'll probably actually be cheaper with that transportation, as all you'll need to use is the MTA, rather than both MTA and NJ Transit.
>> Anonymous
>>82234
Cool beans man. And thanks for the advice.

I'm seriously going to consider this. Maybe I'll see you there. Ha.
>> Anonymous
>>82237

"the boroughs"?

Like I said, we're just STAYING in New Jersey, because we got a good deal on a hotel. It's not £75 per night, it's £75 for all four nights. In a real calssy hotel too, not some motel or something. And the bus was great last time, dropped us about five minutes from the convention centre. Might be worth considering whatever "the boroughs" are though, if I ever make it back again though. I've no intention of doing anything but sleeping in NJ though. Not saying NJ isn't nice, but we're only there for four nights before flying back to the UK. With the convention too, we've only got about two days to see NYC itself. So time is pretty short.
>> Anonymous
>>82244
Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island.
>> Anonymous
>>82247

What's to see in the boroughs, then?
>> Anonymous
>>82249
Lot's of wicked neighbourhoods that haven't been overrun with shitty tourists; great, cheap ethnic food; great music scene of Brooklyn; art galleries and interesting local businesses that have been chased out of Manhattan; you can ride elevated trains, etc.
>> Anonymous
>>82252

Well, given our limited time, what would you recommend in particular? If we could only hit one borough, which is best?
>> Anonymous
>>82249
Chinese Scholar's Garden on Staten Island.
>> Anonymous
>>82254
Brooklyn is by far the best. What to do depends on what you like to see.

Though I suppose you could also go to Queens. Thats were Spiderman is from.
>> Anonymous
>>82262

Eh, it'd be kinda dumb to go somewhere just because Spidey lived there. We'll be doing the Comic Con for three days straight, and I think my buddy might flip out if we spent the last two days looking for Aunt May's house or something. Brooklyn is sounding good though.
>> Anonymous
>>82254
Just stay in Manhattan. If you only have 2 days, then there's enough to do there. While Brooklyn has a few hot spots here and there. It's much too out of the way. They have a Botanical garden and a museum that are pretty good. Even still, the Met trumps theirs. Go to the top of Rockefeller Center, or the Empire State Building. I would recommend the Empire State Building. Though it's more expensive, the view isn't blocked by a plastic protective casing. Go see a live performance on Broadway, off Broadway or something. The Blue Man Group and Stomp in the East Village should appeal to just about everyone and it's a good excuse to go to the Village. Spin the cube, get some cheap eats, that sort of stuff. Other places I would recommend going to are Grand Central Terminal, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the New York Public Library by Bryant Park. The Rose Reading Room is beautiful in the sense of architecture. Too bad they're going to start changing it...

I only advise against the other boroughs because you don't want to spend the time to get to Manhattan from NJ and then spend possible hour on the subway to get to Queens or Brooklyn. My favorite spot in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Promenade and even then, it has a damn good view of downtown Manhattan. Go to the DUMBO area for a good view of midtown Manhattan.