As you all know, I'm off to the US in a few months. Which, shall be most exciting. I cannot wait. I am counting down the sleeps like a 5 year old at Christmas. (In fact, it's 2 months tomorrow I leave Australia)
My brother, and my friend Liam both want me to go to New York while I'm over there. Liam has been there before, and said that I will love it, and I'll kick myself later on if I don't go.
So this question might be more for the Americans on my flist, but anyone who's travelled I'll listen to. As a single female, how safe do you feel in NY? I haven't been able to explain to Scott and Liam that women think differently to guys, and what they felt was safe and fun and easy can be completely different when you're a woman. Women notice things that men don't.
I'd love to go to New York City, but I need a slight push from the gusty chicks I know. And if you have been to NY, can you reccommend me places to stay**, to eat, things I should most definately see. Any and all advice will be gratefully accepted and remembered.
** I am a woman who loves her creature comforts. My idea of roughing it is 1 ply toilet papaer. Hostels and backbacker hotels aren't really my cup of tea. I likes my privacy.
Oh, and you should get tickets to see Spamalot, so you can tell me all about it and I can be intensely jealous. ;)
This is really making me wish I could fly up and join you in your exploration. I was terrified of the city when I was there, but I had a native guide in the form of my (then) boyfriend, Scott. He had an apartment right in downtown Manhattan, and showed me all the sights. We even visited the World Trade Center, as this was not long after the very first WTC bombing. I remember how proud Scott was of his city, and how it came together after the attack. He truly loved New York, and his joy was infectious. I don't know that I would ever want to live there, but I did enjoy the visit and would like to go back again someday.
I will give you fair warning about the speed with which people walk there. I'm from the South where life moves at a civilized pace, plus I have an illness that prevents me from moving quickly. NYC seemed to move at warp speed, and people on the sidewalks were openly hostile at my meandering pace. The worst that happened was the occasional exchange of obscenities--I learned to cuss like a Real New York Yankee while I was there--and I was once bumped rather hard while making my way cautiously down a flight of stairs to the subway, but that was about it.
As to activities I want to do.... I'm really taking this trip easy. I have no set plans for anywhere really. While in NY (if I do go there) a show on broadway, a looksee at Madison Square Garden and then I want to sit somewhere and watch the entire world walk by. If I do go, I'll spend at least 4 days there, after I've caught up with you (in person!!!!!), so you can tell me then where to go