New York in 17 hours

[john122]

Im going to New York one day next week. My plane arrives saturday night (sunday morning) and then I leave in the evening at 8.30

My primary thing to do is to buy a PS3 and some things for my ipod touch. I would rather have the 60 or 80 gig console than the 40 gig. So the question is where I can find these things.

Timeline:

3 AM - Arriving
3.00-8.00 AM - What to do in New York?
8 AM - Buying PS3 at ???
8 AM - 5 PM - What to do in New York? Central park?
5? 6? PM - Going to JFK
8.30 PM - Leaving

[The Benniest]

Wow .. and I thought being in NYC for 1 week was rushed. :p

For your PS3, try looking at these places:
- Times Square Toys"R"Us (http://www1.toysrus.com/TimesSquare/)
- Game Stop (Google the stores in nyc before going to see where you'll be closest too)

For your time in New York, I would suggest reading through this thread (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3101) here at WiredNY. It has a lot of things that forumers have posted that they think visitors should do while in the city.

Hope this helps a little,
Ben

[BrooklynRider]

You can try J&R. It's easy to get to by any subway and has a huge selection.

http://www.jr.com/

[brianac]

To add to BR's post.

Directions for J&R

http://www.jr.com/templates/information/directions.tem

[brianac]

A few ideas.

Don't set off without a decent map and a subway map.

If your plane is on time you will probably get to midtown between 4.00 and 4.30am.

I would find a 24 hour diner and have an early NY breakfast.

Head downtown by subway.

Take a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry. You can return by the same ferry, just get off and back on again. This way (daylight permitting) you can see Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for free.

Back in lower Manhattan you can walk to see, Battery Park, World Financial Centre, World Trade Centre, City Hall Park, and could be ready for J & R when they open at 9.00am.

Ride up to Central Park on the East side as far as the Met. Museum.

Walk across the park (picking out the sights you want to see) to the west side.

There you have Strawberry Fields (in the park), The Dakota Appartments, The Museum of Natural History.

Take the subway south to Columbus Circle.

Walk east on Central Park South, then south on either 6th. or 5th. and head for the Rockefeller Centre. Top of the Rock if you have time.

Head back to midtown.

[lofter1]

Great ideas from all above.

Adding a couple of points:

Timeline:
3 AM - Arriving
3.00-8.00 AM - What to do in New York?

If your plane actually arrives as scheduled at 3 AM (JFK?) ...

By the time you get out of the terminal you probably won't get into Manhattan until at least 4AM . Unless you head right to a club :cool: there's not much to do in the dark of an early Sunday morning (sunrise (http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calendar.asp?comb_city_info=New%20York,%20New%20Yo rk;74;40.8;-5;1&month=4&year=2008&time_type=0) will be ~ 6:15 AM).

You might try going directly to the Apple Store (http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/week/20080406.html) at Fifth Avenue / 59th Street, which is open 24 hours. That way you get the gadget shopping out of the way and are right near Central Park for sunrise.

You could skip the full breakfast and instead grab some coffee and fruit / bagel at a nearby 24-hour deli (http://www.menupages.com/restaurants.asp?hours=24) befoe heading ot Central Park:

Delmonico Gourmet (http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=3215&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=0&hours=24)
55 E 59th St | Btwn Park & Madison Ave

Then head over towards Central Park for a stroll up Fifth Avenue and into the Park, going west across to Bethesda Terrace and then south down The Mall to W 57th / Sixth Avenue.

That also puts you right in the area to go to Top of the Rock (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/welcome.aspx) (50th / Sixth Avenue, where the first elevator (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/visitor/faq/faqAnswer.aspx?faqID=2) goes up top at 8:30 AM. From here yo can also explore Rockefeller Center. And then head over to Times Square.

By now it's getting near mid-day ...

After that you could head Downtown to J&R (near City Hall) and then from there continue exploring downtown:

Financial District / Wall Street
WTC site
Battery Park
Staten Island Ferry

This southern end of Manhattan also puts you in a good position to get a cab to JFK.

5? 6? PM - Going to JFK
8.30 PM - Leaving

Sunday traffic late afternoon out of Manhattan can be very slow going. If you are flying intenational and have bags to check then I'd say you should be in your mode of transport no later than 5 PM. If you're flying in country and / or have no bags then you could push that up as late as 6 PM.

Instead of a cab you could try:

AirTrain JFK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirTrain_JFK) provides rail service to JFK ...

[NYjetsfan]

Why do you need to fly to New York to buy a PS3 in new york? I think you could save some money by having it delivered, haha....

[john122]

Thanks for all the info. Its not this week but next I will arrive. So if I need to know anything else I will get back to you guys.

I have been traveling around south and central America for 8 weeks and have a one day landing in New York before going back home to Denmark. Thats why im going to buy a PSP (maybe two)

I guess I cant fly into New York in shorts and a t-shirt? Whats the weather like in mid April?

How do five guys get from the airport in to city center the easiest and cheapest? Is it possible to get 5 guys into a yellow cab?

[The Benniest]

You could try looking at the future forecast for New York on Weather.com (http://www.weather.com).

About getting from the airport ... as someone said in a previous post, you can take the AirTrain (http://www.panynj.gov/Airtrain/) if you are landing in JFK. If you're landing in either Newark or La Gaurdia, that's another thing.

Hope this helps...
Ben

[john122]

Im both arriving and leaving from JFK. Do they have any boxes where I can keep my luggage while I hit the town?

[brianac]

Yellow cab fare is $45 plus tolls plus tip.

Ask the cab despatcher at the airport to get you a five seater cab.

Can't help you regarding the left luggage.

Anyone????????

[brianac]

http://www.panynj.gov/airtrain/images/around_jfk.gif


Click on link below for luggage storage. Hope I am not too late with this.

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/ken_luggage.html

[lofter1]

Don't believe there is any airport storage for luggage. Not in this day and age. Or in this city.

[brianac]

Do you think this is out of date Lofter?

http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/ken_luggage.html

[lofter1]

That ^ looks official and up-to-date for luggage storage at JFK.

So I take back my previous statement :o .

But I'd call the phone number before making definite plans, just to be sure.

[Panamajack]

Is there any reason that New Yorkers seem to prefer a cab ride as THE choice for commuting from JFK to Manhattan? I'll be arriving for my first visit to New York on July 2ND and it seems to me, that the cheapest choice would be AirTran to Jamaica and then the E train to midtown. The entire trip is 7 USD per person, which is still a lot less than 50+ USD for a cab.

Seeing as there is just the two of us, is there a good reason to take the cab in favor of the public transportation link? I'm asking as it is my first visit to the States and I don't want to build a travel plan on ill informed decisions.

[The Benniest]

I think it's a matter of what the person, or people, perfer. Some prefer taking cabs, some prefer the AirTrain.

[brianac]

The opinions given here are personal choices by the individual posters.

I don't know where you are travelling from, but for me, after 3 or 4 hours of airport turmoil and a 7 hour flight there is no way I would want to take the train with luggage and all.

The time of your arrival/departure would also be a factor in deciding to use the train or not, ie overcrowding at rush hours or safety late at night.

As I travel alone, I use the shuttle ( BLUE VAN, a shared mini bus ride) but this can add up to an hour to your journey whle they are dropping off at different hotels.

The answer is you pay your money and you make your choice.

Most information is here (http://www.ny.com/transportation/airports/JFK.html)

[adchick82]

If you'd rather take public transit, I'd recommend taking the AirTrain to Jamaica and the LIRR to Penn Station (assuming you are staying somewhere in midtown). It'll be slightly more expensive than the subway, but will take far less time.

Honestly though, the only reason I don't take cabs from JFK is because I usually travel alone. If I had someone to split the fare with, you'd better believe I'd be taking a cab.