New York Travel | Travel #11

New York City has always been a destination I wanted to visit since I was a kid. Looking at some of this City's stunning pictures in magazines and in some books would always capture me and imagine for God to bless me see it in reality somehow. I thought then to just continue to believe that someday I'll have my feet in this City!

Though we are living in the US now, this City is still far from where we reside and visiting it is still expensive. But here comes the day! Our Ninang or second parent from the Philippines visited New York and she invited us to join her there. Since we have free days, we gave it a shot and joined her. I couldn't imagine that this really happened.

Start the Tour

We only have 2-day to explore NYC and our Ninang has to go back to the Philippines after that. In order for us to maximize our time, she booked her hotel accommodation somewhere near the airport which I thought a wise decision. It was in Jamaica NY. Hotel in this place quite not expensive compared to the main City of NY so you would love it if you wish to save. You won't worry about going to the main city since there are trains connected widely.

• You can download the subway map and even it's app in play store.
• One way fare regardless of distance starts at $2.00
• You just have to be mindful of the changes Train schedules. It is in letters as per train code which corresponds to its destination but sometimes schedules per coding changes.

To start our City tour, we had our lunch first in this Turkish Restaurant along the bay at the beautiful place of Brooklyn. This place known to be one of New York City’s 5 boroughs, sits on the western end of Long Island.

We had a great meal at this restaurant. Food is really good! After having your meal here, you may love to have a walk outside and have fresh air while enjoying some beautiful views.

Since we have our friends on our first day who hosted us with a car living in NY, after Brooklyn, we headed straight to the City to explore the Time Square which is really beautiful at night.

The Time Square at night is truly fascinating. Tourists are populating this area for picture taking and experience these beautiful scenes. Billboards are huge, lights are dancing everywhere, shows, popular stores etc. If you only wish to have some poses for a pictorial in this place, 2 hours would probably good but you would be needing some more time to explore the whole area. It was really cold that night also so we had to cover our body with thermal clothes which you have to consider when you plan to visit at the cold season.

The next day we tried this Hop-on Hop-off Sightseeing with the Big Bus good for the whole day. You can have this sightseeing with a great package. Explore the _Uptown and Downtown_ areas. However, ticket per pax is quite expensive in this package. It starts from $60.00 per adult and $50.00 for children depending on what package you take.

In exploring the Downtown area, experience Time Square, the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, Wall Street and Battery Park. While in Uptown there are Grand Central Terminal, Central Park, Museum Mile and Upper East Side.

The good thing about this Hop-on Hop-off is that you will get to see all the tourist spot from one place to another. After exploring one place, they have a stopping point where you could board again for your next spot transfer. There's a tour guide each bus who would help you and share every spot and building's history as far as his knowledge could. Their senses of humor keep the trip alive as well.

We had or tickets $18.15 each and that includes;

• The Cruise ride to the Island and back
• Statue of liberty ground tour and Ellis Island tour
  
  

Here are some of our photos while we were on the Cruise. Enjoying every view we are passing by together with some tourists on board. It took us about 30 mins. going to the Island.

It was just a small Island which only took us about 15 mins. for a tour. People are taking pictures from here and there. When you finish strolling around, there is a romantic cafe where you can have some coffee break while waiting for your Cruise to arrive. The Cruise is coming on and off to unload and send back passengers every after 30 mins.

Coming back after the Liberty Statue, there's Ellis Island where you can explore if you like to. Although we missed to exploring this Island due to our limited time.

Also you will experience a beautiful scene going back to the City. You'll see its landscape view that is perfect to capture with your camera.

We got back to the City almost 5pm and we couldn't use our ticket in the Hop-on and Hop-off package since it ends at that time. I thought that it would be great if did not buy the city tour package if had a plan on visiting the Statue Island. Going to the island was a time consuming and additional expenses so our time for the Hop-on and off tour was consumed. What we paid for the Hop-on and off package was kinda disappointing since we were not able to use most of its time exploring some places. Nevertheless, we still enjoy the whole day tour and for other spots that we missed to visit would probably another reason for us to come back.

Tips

Here are some tips when you plan to visit NYC:

• Visit the Time Square at night, it is more beautiful to see every building with sparkling lights and huge billboards.
• Avoid booking your accommodation mids of the city. They are expensive.
• When you avail the City Tour Hop-on Hop-off package, make sure to start early morning from 8am to 5pm for you to enjoy what you paid for.
• Visit the Statue of Liberty in the afternoon to enjoy the golden hour.
• Avoid using subways at late night just for safety precaution.
  ________
  It was a beautiful experience that @fearlessfaith and I will forever treasure.

Until my next travel blog Steemians!

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