The Days Off – Travel Guide

Having a tripod would be very convenient for steady night shots on your DSLR camera. However, with all the tightened security, finding a place to use the tripod/monopod is tricky.  I prefer taking a monopod for the convenience factor (fits in a backpack) espeically when you are travelling by subway.

My current monopod setup is the Manfrotto 790B which I purchased for ~$30. Its very compact at 15″ folded. http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-790B-Modo-Photo-Video-Monopod/dp/B000FA7PQC

Tripods and monopods are NOT allowed at:
Empire State Building (confirmed)
Statue of Liberty (confirmed, really strict security)
Many museums
Theaters (no photography allowed)
Times Square (tripping hazard, lots of police around that area checking)

My fav. locations to take photos in NYC are the Empire State Building 86th floor (since its open-air, no glass reflections to worry about), Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty.

Possible locations to use a tripod/monopod in NYC:
Grand Central Station
Central Park
Ellis Island
Brooklyn Bridge
Rockefeller Plaza
SOHO area is another possible location too

So, what to do if you can’t use a monopod or tripod? I suggest using a fast lens (f4 or faster) that has image stabilization in it. You can also “steady” the camera by placing it on a rail/concrete wall/etc. Thats why night photography is a challenge…

Popularity: 38%

Introduction
Subways are an excellent way to get around town in New York City. Some of the railcars (for instance the 4,5,6 line) are made by Kawasaki  which are  similar to the train cars in Japan. They have LED signs that tell you which stop you are heading toward, etc. One of the train cars we went on was completely covered with Boss cologne advertising, making the entire car a cool waterlike blue. The North/South trains go in two directions:  Uptown (north) and Downtown (south).  The S train connect between Grand Central and Times Square — very useful in case you want to visit both sides of Central Park for instance.

Unlimited Metro Card
Each trip on the subway or bus is $2. You can offset these costs by purchasing an unlimited Metro Card. The 7 day is a good value for $25. That makes it about $3.50 per day, which you can easily recoup in a 1 week trip. The only downside to the unlimited card is: It cannot be used again at the same subway station or the same bus route for 18 minutes. This means you can’t leave the station you just entered unless you want to wait 18 minutes.

Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard
Buy as many rides as you want from $4 to $80. Put $7 or more on your card and receive a 15 percent bonus. For example, a $20 purchase gives you $23 on your card. 11 trips for the price of 10, with $1 balance. Refill your card to use the balance. This would make sense if you only occasionally use the subway/bus on the trip.

Some useful links
Subway Map:
http://www.lirr.org/nyct/maps/submap.htm
http://www.lirr.org/nyct/maps/subwaymap.pdf
 

Popularity: 3%

New York is known for great food. We decided to try out Wolfgang’s Steakhouse on Park Ave. from all the great reviews on Yelp. Its currently ranked in the top 5 in New York.

Review:
We got the “Steak for 2″ on the menu cooked medium rare. I wouldn’t say it is the best steak I’ve ever had, but it was up there. The meat was perfectly seared where the outside was crisp and the inside was really tender. I like the fact that the steak arrives in a really hot plate with a spacer underneath so that all the juices pool to one side. Supposedly it is cooked in a broiler at 1200 degrees! It was a lot of food for us — generous portions.  The service was excellent and the atmosphere was really nice. Our waiters were very helpful and professional. The waiter even sliced the steak for us which was a great touch.

As for side dishes, we tried the creamed spinach, bacon, and german potatoes. The BACON is the best Ive ever had. Its a thick piece seared in probably the same 1200 degree oven. Definitely worth getting. The german potatoes were very tasty, a nice change from the usual garlic mashed potatoes. Creamed spinach was ok.  Onion rolls were good, and they were generous in giving extra to take home

Price is typical for a high end New York Restaurant:
~$80 for steak for two, $30 for the bacon, spinach, german potatoes, plus drinks and tip.

Overall, it was a great dining experience in New York. If you decide to go, make sure you get the bacon!

Popularity: 3%

We decided to do a quick tour of the Statue of Liberty as opposed to going through the Statue Cruise. Here’s the link for the Statue of Liberty National Monument. If you want to visit the Statue of Liberty monument (go up the pedestal area), you will need to make reservations via the website so make sure you do that before your trip.

You can get a good view of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry for free of charge. The view is probably a few thousand feet away, but with a good zoom lens you can get some nice photos. Its still a great view of the statue nevertheless. On the way to Staten Island, go to the very top of the ferry on the LEFT side. I believe on the way back from Staten Island, you also will need to get on the left side to view the Statue of Liberty. The way this works is that the ferry boards though one side and exits through the other. Once you reach Staten Island, you will need to leave the ferry and re-board onto the ferry back to Manhattan. The entire trip takes around 1 1/2 hour. I will be posting photos soon ….

Popularity: 6%

Here are some tips on getting to Manhattan from JFK.

Airplane Flight
We took advantage of some great prices on flights to JFK Airport in New York. The airport is about ~1 hour drive into Manhattan depending on traffic. Note: In case you want to do the red-eye flight, many hotels in New York do not have early check-in around 7 a.m. Thats something to consider. Make sure you sleep well the night before if you decide to do the red eye flight.

Getting into town. You have a few options on getting into the city.

Taxi is the easiest and cheapest if you have more than 2 people. It’ll run you about $50 + tips via cab. Cabs charge by the car so if you have a group of 3 or 4 it will be the cheapest way.

Note: There are some people driving regular cars looking for people to drive into town. I wouldn’t recommend this. Don’t go outside of the terminal unless you find a legitimate cab driver.

Van/Shuttle:  I wouldn’t recommend buying van tickets ahead of time since they usually have to fill the van before they can leave. We tried the Go Link since they had a van ready to go and the slightly cheaper rates. $19 into Mid-town, front door service. The driver was nice, so I can’t really complain for the money. They have to drop everyone off across town so its not recommended if you are in a rush.

Airport Service Bus: $15 each way or $27 R/T. The bus is the cheapest way into town with suitcases. They have a few stops (Grand Central Station, Port Authority, and Penn Station) http://www.nyairportservice.com/   Its a bit slow getting back to the airport since they stop at each terminal. Ours was one of the last terminals so it took around 1.5 hours from departure.

Train: This is probably the fastest way into town during rush hour if you are light in luggage (either a small bag or backpack) The train is not convenient if you have a lot of luggage since there really isn’t much room on the train. There is the Air Train which will take you to Penn Station for around $12 total.

Popularity: 7%