New York City is one of those travel destinations where you can go a million times and do different things every time. We take another New York City trip, this time in the summer to see the Statue of Liberty by bottomless mimosa brunch, see the skyline by rooftop, go to iconic NYC comedy clubs, eat our weight in pizza and bagels, and discover some truly unique NYC nightlife experiences.

As we said, there are so many fun things to do in NYC you can visit the city many times over and have an entirely different trip. listen to our first New York City Travel episode for another awesome itinerary.

New York City Trip – Episode Transcript

0 (44s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we are taking you on a New York City trip, the big apple for a weekend of birthday. Fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been in New York City. I think the last time Jamal and I went, ’cause we didn’t go on this trip with you, Kim was back in 2018. That was picking back off of a trip that we went to Africa and I’ve also been to New York at another time when I was in high school as well. New York has changed and it changes constantly and consistently. So I’m super excited to hear about all of the things that you did. I followed you around on your stories and I can’t wait to dive in and so that I can plan my next big trip to the big apple myself.

2 (1m 29s):
Yeah, I really want to go to New York myself, like Brittany had mentioned the one time that we had gone together, but that’s my only time that I’ve been to New York and I don’t feel like I really got the good experience. ’cause we spent a couple days in New York coming back internationally after a 14 day epic African adventure. Right. So I was winded trying to shove it all in and I’m really excited to hear about this ’cause I know it was birthday fun for you on this trip, Kim, but you did a lot, saw the sites and again, one of those cities that’s always constantly changing. So what we talk about and you did now may by the time we go or our squats go be completely different.

2 (2m 9s):
Right. And that’s okay. And that’s, I think that’s one of the great things about New York City as well is you know, regardless of what people say in the news of like New York, New York, it’s still one of those classic American cities that if you’re doing the right things, you can always have a good time, I’m sure of it.

0 (2m 26s):
The other thing is that you can go a million times and still have so much more to do.

1 (2m 33s):
Absolutely. It’s such a big city. There’s so many different areas to it. There’s so many like hidden gems to explore. So you can go back so many different times and have a completely different experience every time.

0 (2m 44s):
Yeah. You literally just cannot see it all. As much as you try to pack a lot of stuff in there is so much to do. And there’s five different boroughs in New York City. I have been there twice now and have not left Manhattan and haven’t even scratched the surface on the things to do in Manhattan.

1 (3m 1s):
Really. You didn’t even go into any of the other areas any other time?

0 (3m 6s):
No, I know next time I go we are going to eat an Airbnb in Brooklyn and really enjoy Brooklyn, Williamsburg going to Queens, do like food tasting, street food, but we didn’t make it over there on this time.

1 (3m 18s):
Well I’m really excited still to hear what you have to say, but why don’t you start us off with some of the tips about visiting New York City.

0 (3m 28s):
Two simple tips. We do have a previous episode, so a ton of other tips on that one. But two simple tips just from my trip in July, it is very humid in the summer and I live in Austin, Texas. It’s over a hundred degrees every single day. I thought, you know what people are saying it’s hot in New York, it’s not gonna be that big of a deal. But it was really humid actually. And so that was fun. My other tip is just more location. Stay in an area of town where you’re gonna be doing things so that you reduce the amount of time that you spend walking, getting on the subway, waiting for an Uber, healing a taxi and that drive time and traffic. I mean it really takes away from a lot of your time to explore the city.

0 (4m 9s):
So try to position yourself where you’re actually gonna be doing a lot of other things. Alright, so let’s dive into this trip. What was this trip all about? It was a weekender celebrating Louie’s 30th birthday. So Dirty 30. Went to New York City to really live it up. He had never been before so it was going to be a fun couple’s trip, but also celebrate his big birthday. We left on a Friday, 6:00 PM arrived in Newark at 11:00 PM And I guess here’s the tip for you too is Newark is actually closer to Soho than JFK is. So if you’re going to be staying in Soho South Manhattan, then you are probably better flying into Newark than actually going to JFK.

0 (4m 53s):
Newark is about a 30 minute drive. JFK is an hour.

1 (4m 56s):
That’s a great tip.

0 (4m 57s):
Yeah, there are multiple ways you can get from Newark into Manhattan. There is an air train that you can get on right in the airport station, take that New Jersey transit. It’s pretty inexpensive. We didn’t do that. We just got an Uber because we just wanted to get there. So we don’t wanna fuss around with things. We were staying in central Manhattan near Madison Square Garden. We picked that location because it is central, it is close to a lot of Attractions in that area. We could walk to Central Park, we could walk to other things that we knew we were gonna do and it was close to the metro station. Even though we didn’t end up taking the metro, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this area because it’s not the nicest in the middle of the night.

0 (5m 41s):
Like I would definitely, well I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t always feel comfortable walking alone by myself there. I’ll say

1 (5m 48s):
Okay, that’s fair to say. Lots of places in the US have city streets like that.

0 (5m 53s):
But then again, you know, New York City is a little more rough. It is a beautiful city and amazing place, but you know, that’s just part of the city as well. And so if you live there, I’m sure you’re totally fine walking around at night. But if you’re a visitor it might be a little different. If you are going to an event at Madison Square Garden, this is a prime location to stay in. We were literally across the street from it. So had we planned an event there, it would’ve been perfect. So what time did you get into New York City? Yeah, by the time we got into New York City it was pushing midnight, past midnight and once we got checked into the hotel. But of course we’re not just gonna go to bed. I mean we’re not pretty into mall.

2 (6m 37s):
It depends on where we’re going. I mean when we were in Spain, we were on a long flight and we landed, we were tired and we’re like, we’re going out and getting tapas. So Jamal and Brittany could rally when we wanna rally Kim, but you know, give us a little credit. But for the most part, you know, probably accurate with your assessment.

0 (6m 53s):
So I forgot to mention this, but in the Austin airport I finally got to try out the Chase Sunfire Reserve Lounge, the Terrace Lounge, that’s new. So we did go there in the Austin airport, got free drinks. They have a vending machine of food that you can order from and it’s all free. So we stocked up on food and drinks. We also drink on the plane. So by the time we got into New York at this hour, I was like a little drink stout, which is crazy for me to say, especially like landing in New York. ’cause I was like, oh the bars don’t close till four again, we’re gonna hit the town. But that just wasn’t exactly what ended up happening.

0 (7m 33s):
So what did you do when you landed? We did go out and walk around a bit. Of course going straight for New York City pizza, you gotta hit that. There is a pizza shop on every single corner of this city. It’s pretty amazing. So we went into one, it was called Little Italy Pizza. It wasn’t necessarily something I say you have to eat this in New York, but you definitely have to eat pizza. And that was the first one we saw. We kept walking around. We were actually gonna try to walk all the way to Central Park, but it would’ve been more like a a, I don’t know, 45? No, probably 35, 40 minute walk, something like that. So we didn’t end up fully going there, but we did walk down that way.

0 (8m 15s):
Got my favorite thing ever. Halal guys chicken over rice. It was so good. You guys had me worried. Actually

2 (8m 24s):
I was gonna say, you know you’re about to say we probably had you worried ’cause we told you we didn’t think it was that good and I’m just gonna chime in. As a Middle Eastern person, I was really excited when we were in New York to try halal guys. And I thought to myself, what is all this hype about? It’s not that good. It’s good, but like to go outta my way for I didn’t think so. But you apparently loved it though, Kim.

0 (8m 49s):
Oh it is amazing. So it is a food cart on the side of the street that serves Middle Eastern food. I think it actually is Egyptian technically, but it’s this delicious yellow rice chicken. They have a salad pita slices in there. They put this amazing white sauce on it and just teeny tiny dots of the red sauce because it’s really spicy and it’s very inexpensive. I think it was like eight bucks for a big circular plate slash bowl of it. And there’s a ton of those carts around this area kind of getting towards Central Park in Manhattan. There’s one original cart that had a huge line and this was like the most famous one, the original one.

0 (9m 36s):
But every other cart that you can still see from this location has no line. They’re exactly the same food and people are coming in. Like we got in line around, I don’t know, probably close to 2:00 AM There were several people in line too. And I’m sorry to say it Jamal, but it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever eaten. It was so good.

2 (9m 57s):
Well I’m glad you enjoyed it. That’s what counts, right? It made your New York experience Halal Guys is famous for being quintessential New York, probably one of the most, if not the most famous street food vendors by name. Right? Not just items to get but by name. And you had an amazing experience with it, so that’s awesome.

0 (10m 15s):
You know, I did have an amazing experience but I had a very weird experience the next morning with it. What was that? I don’t know if this is TNI for the podcast, but it’s, I said put tiny dots of that red sauce on because it is very spicy and I didn’t have any issues with the spice the next morning, but the coloration of things was red. I think that, oh it was very scary. And I was like, oh my gosh, what’s happening? It

2 (10m 46s):
May have just been the seasoning that was on the chicken.

0 (10m 48s):
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0 (13m 41s):
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1 (14m 46s):
So you guys went to bed pretty late that night, I imagine getting halal guys at like 2:00 AM Did you guys do anything after that or did you head to bed at after filling up on halal guys?

0 (14m 58s):
Yeah, pretty much went to bed after that. We knew we had stuff planned for the next day and we wanted to be good to go for it so just called it a night at that point. So next day Saturday we had booked a bottomless mimosa buffet, buffet brunch, cruise, this is all my favorite things. Bottomless mimosa’s, breakfast buffet on a boat and also seeing the Statue of Liberty.

1 (15m 25s):
That’s pretty amazing. Sounds like just up your alley.

0 (15m 28s):
This was amazing. Yeah and we did it right. So we booked through a company called Event Cruises NYC and that’s also the website if you wanna go and book there as well. And they had this bottomless mimosa buffet brunch cruise. They also have a plated option. We didn’t end up going with that one, we went with the buffet and we were very satisfied with it. It came out to about a hundred bucks per person and you get on the boat at Pier 36, so you’re right near the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side. Really great views as you’re going there and then it kind of takes you on a tour around through the Hudson River. You see the Statue of Liberty, you go up and then you take that scene route back and they actually put you really close to the Statue of Liberty.

0 (16m 16s):
So it’s an absolutely beautiful thing. But you guys, I have to tell you about this boat tour. It was such a wild experience. Just all the weirdest shit was happening right after each other. So we did it right. We got in line actually early, which if you guys know me, that never happens and not early for things. We got in line early though before they started loading the boat and I’m glad that we did and I would highly recommend you show up early. We were probably like, I don’t know, the 10th people on the boat. It’s a double decker boat filled with tables. We drank our first mimosa before they had the rest of everybody even loaded onto the boat. It was such a long line by the time they started putting people on, it was crazy.

0 (16m 59s):
So we get on this boat and it’s already kind of rocky as the waves are coming in. So like as you’re getting on the boat it like flinging things around and acted all crazy. And that continues throughout the boat tour. There was a point where the boat rocked so much and middle aged woman fell out of her seat onto the ground. Oh god. And everybody screamed. So that happened. Glasses were breaking, flying off the table and then at one point we were just cracking up like this is the craziest boat ever. We looked back, someone had tore off one of the glass doors from the back of the boat like on accident.

1 (17m 43s):
What? That’s crazy.

0 (17m 45s):
Yeah, we were like is this, is this a reality show? Like prank show like this stuff shouldn’t be happening.

1 (17m 53s):
I love boats but my least favorite part of getting on boats is one, it kinda kind of makes me nauseous and two bathrooms on boats aren’t really like comfortable or always super clean. Tell me about both. Did you get nauseous? Would it make someone seasick?

0 (18m 8s):
I don’t get seasick like that. So it wasn’t impacted. Louis said that he kind of does, but he didn’t feel anything like that. I didn’t even see anybody throwing up either. And it wasn’t like constantly rocking like one rogue wave would come in and knock a lady out of her seat. So not, not crazy on that front. And then bathrooms even it was like a two saw bathroom. So once you’re in the bathroom you don’t even feel like you’re on a boat. Okay.

1 (18m 33s):
You know, had Jamal been on that boat, that rogue wave would’ve been after him.

2 (18m 37s):
Yeah. I’m notorious for having rogue waves affect Jamal. I would’ve been the lady that fell off the the chair. But I was gonna ask and you kind of answered it, you know ’cause I’m thinking about our boat ride in Kauai on the Nepali coast and for the most part I felt it was pretty smooth. But as we were getting back into shore, I remember that’s when it started to get like a little bit choppy and it was a booze cruise too. So we were all kind of like feeling good. So it wasn’t at that level, there was just the occasional high rogue wave in the harbor. Yeah. Okay. And real quick, you did not mention what was in the buffet spread. You mentioned that it was there but you like completely negated what was in the buffet?

0 (19m 21s):
Oh, I’m so glad you asked. It was actually a pretty good one. So the brunch fries went from 12 to three right in that time of breakfast and lunch. So they had a full breakfast spread with french toast, eggs, bacon sausage, potatoes. And then they also had what was supposed to be lunch but was more like dinner. They had salad, pasta, chicken paron, mozzarella balls and tomatoes. So super good spread. I definitely had a breakfast plate and a lunch plate.

2 (19m 52s):
It sounded like they were playing to the Italians in New York with that little like lunch aspect of it, right? Yeah,

0 (19m 60s):
They totally were. And then on top of that they brought up dessert. So they had, I think it was they, they had a delicious decadent chocolate cake and I believe it was also a cheesecake and we had both of those as well.

2 (20m 16s):
So did you get your money’s worth in total? Mimosas drank Kim?

0 (20m 20s):
Yeah, I think so. We had AAF pretty much they brought Araf over to our table and we kind of split that. That is the one thing I, if I could complain about anything that would kind of be it is they were really slow to bring mimosas back over to the table and you know when you’re thinking you’re getting bottomless so then they’re not coming. It’s a little bit disappointing. But then once they brought the craft over to the table, we were good.

2 (20m 44s):
Very nice. And it sounds like the spread was good too. So I guess in the food, but if you’re gonna label it as a bottomless mimosa brunch cruise, then I want my booze on the top of that. So kind of disconcerting but at least the craft made up for

0 (20m 58s):
It. Yes, yes. So that was really fun and I think that was really one of the highlights of the weekend for sure.

2 (21m 5s):
I was gonna say so well after the cruise then, if you’re feeling pretty good off the booze, what did you guys end up doing after the fact?

0 (21m 12s):
So once the boat came back to dock at that Pier 36 we’re pretty close to walk either into Soho or into Brooklyn and we were kind of going back and forth on which one to do but ultimately decided to go into Soho because we wanted it at the Supreme Store, which is over there. And we did that. It was really cool to be in that store, their flagship store. Cool vibes.

1 (21m 36s):
What is a Supreme

0 (21m 36s):
Store? Supreme is a clothing brand. Okay.

1 (21m 40s):
I’m not super hip so I don’t know all of these

0 (21m 43s):
Things. Yeah, super hip, kind of street style and definitely very New York and they have a big store there. There’s actually a line to get in. We had to wait. Interesting.

2 (21m 54s):
So what is Soho Kim? Because I always hear soho, New York, right? It’s one of those famous neighborhoods this I know. But what is unique about that neighborhood that makes it a real popular spot for tourists and even locals to go to?

0 (22m 9s):
Soho technically is an abbreviation for south of Houston Street. Houston is a street in Manhattan that kind of divides Manhattan from southern Manhattan, which is Soho. And it’s a really hip neighborhood. They have a lot of really cool bars, restaurants, art galleries. It’s a very artsy area and I would definitely recommend staying here actually if you’re coming into this area, great area to stay in. Not as rust as maybe the Madison Square garden area, but really, really fun hip area to hang out in.

2 (22m 42s):
Very nice, excellent.

0 (22m 43s):
And there was a lot of bars, so we did a bunch of that. We went to this one called Bar 1 69. We kind of just stumbled into it. It was a tiny little door and it went into this really cool dive bar. We made friends with the bartender there, it was really nice. And he was getting off work and he walked us over to this other bar that he likes to go to and we just kind of hung out with him for a while. So we had things we were planning to do but because we kind of made friends with this person, we ended up staying there and doing things with him for longer than we necessarily would have. But that’s fine. It was great. He gave us a lot of tips and Louie made a friend so it was fun.

1 (23m 17s):
What was on your list that you wanted to do but didn’t get to because you ended up chatting away?

0 (23m 23s):
Really it was Chinatown and Little Italy. So Chinatown is actually very close to soho and where we got off the boat, I wanted to do a little Asian dumpling kind of tasting situation but we were full from the boat so we didn’t end up doing it. And then little Italy’s kind of in that area as well, just a little bit farther away and I just wanted really to show it to him ’cause he hadn’t seen it. And that’s something we kind of missed from San Diego. We didn’t quite make it there either. So we traded food tour for dive bar tour with a local.

2 (23m 57s):
Very nice.

0 (23m 58s):
Another thing that I wanted to do was go thrifting in New New York and we did do that. We went to one place called Beacon’s Closet. It was a really cool thrift store for women. There was a ton of really cool stuff and it was really crowded, which is the only thing that wasn’t amazing. And then there wasn’t men’s stuff so Lily didn’t have things to do, which meant he was rushing me and I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Did you buy anything while you were in there? No, I had a few things that I, I was pulling off the rack and looking at, but I would’ve had to go to the dressing room and then I just didn’t end up spending the time. But it was fun nonetheless and And then love to do more thrift shopping in New York but maybe go like right when it opens instead of midday.

2 (24m 44s):
Well of course thrifting is becoming really popular these days just in general. Right. But I remember when we were in Japan and by we, I mean me and Brittany ’cause unfortunately Kim you did not come on that Squad trip. But our niece Deja was with us and when we were in Harajuku district I think it was, she made it a point ’cause she’s really into thrifting to wanna go to one of the thrift shops that was there. And I can imagine in New York certain neighborhoods, you know that’s really popular also. But when I think of thrifting in New York, I think of it becoming this bougie thing even though it shouldn’t be because it’s just New York and in certain neighborhoods. Right. So what were the prices of this stuff in there, in the thrift stores?

2 (25m 25s):
’cause I could see it being like this one markup, especially if you’re saying it’s like really crowded, right? And it’s not like people are there ’cause they wanted thrift, it’s now become this popular thing to do. And I think maybe are they capitalizing on that or are they just true thrift prices in there?

0 (25m 39s):
That’s a really good question and I thought the same thing. And I was expecting New York Techs on the thrift stores too. But the thrift store prices were similar to what I see at other thrift stores. It wasn’t really bad. That main difference was the quality. They were so much pooled, vintage and different kind of style. Like if I had two hours just to fully go through the racks and then try stuff on, I could’ve came out with so much good stuff.

2 (26m 6s):
Very nice. Well you know, when Brittanie and I make it to New York, we’re gonna have to go to Beacon’s closet for herself then because yeah, I don’t wanna pull the Louie and be like, oh there’s nothing for men in here. But it sounds very intriguing, especially if you’re saying there’s high quality stuff. ’cause I would imagine, of course there’s lots of affluent people in New York, right? Maybe they’re some of the ones donating and that has that high quality ness that you’re talking about.

0 (26m 30s):
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s in the SVO area too. So that hip vibe, that’s where it was

2 (26m 36s):
Nice.

0 (26m 37s):
The other thing that we did on Saturday was explore Greenwich Village. This is just a little north of Soho, probably about 10, 15 ish minute walk up. And also a very, very popular neighborhood. A lot of NYU students go out here. So at night it’s very bustling, a lot of bars, restaurants around here. And we did explore a bit, we went to dinner at a place called Mei Italian. So we didn’t go to Little Italy, but we did get Italian food that night, which was awesome. And so the one thing that we were planning to do Saturday night, we did have a reservation for was to see a comedy show at the Comedy Cellar. It’s a famous comedy club in Greenwich Village I really wanted to go to, but we were late because of someone not me this time.

0 (27m 29s):
And we were about 10 minutes late. And if you’re late you don’t have a ticket, you make a reservation online and you pay when you get there. So if you’re not there when they call your name, your ticket is given away at the time that the show is supposed to start. So that’s what happened. And we didn’t really have anything else planned so we could have gone out to more bars and explored more in the area, but we’d already kind of been doing that all day and just kind of had enough of that. So we ended up going back to the room probably, I don’t know, like 11 or 12 and just calling it a night.

1 (28m 2s):
Kim calling it a night at 11 or 12 doesn’t sound like Kim but you know, Kim’s over 30 so maybe this is her newborn.

2 (28m 10s):
You know what, when Kim was calling us out at the beginning of the episode saying not like Jamal and Brittany, I wouldn’t have gone to bed. And then I kind of had to interject and defend ourselves. And then after that she continued on and she said something to allude to the fact that she really didn’t wanna rally or something to that. And now she’s talking about not rallying on this and you know, so she was trying to make herself feel better is what I really think.

1 (28m 34s):
And you know what’s hilarious Kim is now that I’m past 30 and I’m working these night shifts, I can rally all day. I can rally circles around you now

2 (28m 43s):
And Brittany’s becoming, I don’t wanna say an alcoholic ’cause that is a a big, big stretch to say, but what I mean in comparison to how much Brittany used to drink to now, and I don’t wanna say it’s a lot, but she’s into the vibe of like, oh yeah, let’s check out this cool bar that’s, there’s a speakeasy here where that that that used to not be Britney. So it’s just like watching the seesaw here and Kim is going to like old Britney level and Kim’s turning to like, or Britney’s turning to Kim level over here.

1 (29m 13s):
I’m aging like fine wine, you know, its getting better with age.

0 (29m 17s):
Well Sunday is my redemption because Sunday things get a little weird. Remember I said this was a weekender, it was supposed to be Friday after work, come back Sunday, no PTO, just enjoy the weekend, come back. I love that we’re a little bit closer in Austin so the flight’s a little bit less. It was great, it was gonna be great, but it got a little wrench thrown in there. So when we woke up on Sunday we had plans. We were actually thinking about going to the Mets game and it was at 1:00 PM but if we did that it was kind of going to take up the whole day. And because we ended up doing more dive bar tour with a local the day before and didn’t explore as much as we wanted to, we really did wanna explore on Sunday.

0 (29m 60s):
So we decided not to do the meds game. It was gonna be too, too far going game, too much coming back. Wanted to spend our time elsewhere. So we woke up, we of course like any classic New York experience, we had to get a bagel old breakfast sandwich and there was a place called BTS short for Bagel to sandwich just down the street. I think you could probably go to most bagel shops and get a good bagel sandwich. But this one was great. So if you’re in that area, definitely go here. If you’re not in the area, don’t necessarily make a trip out of the way to come here. But it was really good. I got a rainbow bagel with a ham cheese, egg sandwich.

0 (30m 40s):
It was actually pretty fucking long.

1 (30m 42s):
Sounds good. And you know New York people are very particular about their bagels. We were actually just with our friends, Bob and Lorraine who live in New York and you don’t get bagels the day before. Like if you’re gonna have bagels the next morning you get bagels fresh. That’s the only way to have New York bagels they say and they say because they’re better because of the water.

0 (31m 3s):
Apparently

2 (31m 3s):
Something in the water makes them taste a little bit better and you got to eat them fresh. And to what Brittany was saying too about that fresh, no day old, I love Seinfeld, the TV show, I just came across an old episode where Kramer decides to work a job and he works in a bagel shop and then he brings it and then he tells them, oh they’re day old bagels and then they like spit it out. So it’s a New York thing that you don’t eat day old bagels and they need to be fresh. So bagel culture’s real out in New York. It’s interesting.

0 (31m 36s):
Well it was good and yeah, I don’t know what’s in that water maybe I don’t wanna know. But it was good bagel. So after we got our sandwich, we walked over to Hudson Yards, which is about 10, 15 minutes from this area of Manhattan because we wanted to go to the Edge rooftop. It’s a viewing kind of rooftop similar to top of the Rock or Empire State Building. So you go up to the top, you have this amazing view of Manhattan and Central Park and from this angle you could also have a good view of like New Jersey and the Hudson River. So it was really, really pretty up there. They also had this really cool floral display all over the insides.

0 (32m 16s):
There’s hanging flowers everywhere. Really good photo ops just kind of added to it. I would recommend that one. It was really good, good area, good location, not too crowded. I think the ticket was like 30 bucks. Also a good little area to kind of just sit and hang out. There’s a lot of people there. There was a tennis game on a huge projector and public seat that they put up, like movie theater style. So you could sit there and watch the tennis match. That was cool.

2 (32m 45s):
Let me ask you a question real quick. Kim at Edge rooftop, I’m assuming they have to serve drinks up there. What are the drink prices? ’cause I know everything’s expensive in New York, let alone alcohol. And in a place like this that gives you a view. Do you recall kind of what the price range was for that? Because I’m remembering when Brittany and I were in New York, we went to the Met Museum in Central Park and they have a little rooftop and what is it, like four or five stories up? So you can’t even call it rooftop comparison to anywhere else in New York. But they were charging a pretty pity for a drink up there just in the Met. So I’m curious on a rooftop situation with a view what they would charge for that. And if you recall,

0 (33m 26s):
They did have a cafe of food and drinks. We actually didn’t go to it because we just had those bagel sandwiches. So I can’t really answer your question, but I have no doubt it’s probably a pretty penny.

2 (33m 39s):
Okay, I was just curious. So there’s a good example of Kim over 30 again, didn’t have a drink on the roof, how far,

0 (33m 44s):
But that’s okay. Well and this part where the cafe was, was actually inside, not outside. So if it had been outside it would’ve been game on.

2 (33m 54s):
Oh, I, okay, makes sense. I, I appreciate your response.

0 (33m 60s):
And then Hudson Yards is a cool area and they’re doing some really cool sustainable stuff out there too. When you kind of read the signs around there, they have some pretty cool stuff going on in that kind of community they’re building. What they also have is a park, it’s called the Highline. And it’s essentially what they did was take this very urban concrete area and they built stairs to raise up a platform and this platform curves along and I’m not sure how long it is, but it’s a good probably, I don’t know, 20 minute walk or so. And they built gardens on the whole thing. So they have kind of built an elevated garden built green space on top of concrete space, which is a really cool concept, but it’s also a really cool walk.

0 (34m 48s):
And it’s right in this area. You can leave here, hop onto the stairs and hop up there and take a nice little walk. There’s a few other people walking up there. It’s not extremely crowded, but I would, I would highly recommend that for a nice little walk in New York City. And then from there we wanted to go to Central Park and this was probably about a 45 minute walk from Hudson Yards. But a good walk, right? You’re seeing things along the way. You are popping into places maybe we walk through Hell’s Kitchen, there’s so many good restaurants over there that we ended up coming back thereafter. But along this walk I checked my email for some reason I never checked my email and I noticed our flight was canceled.

0 (35m 30s):
Oh no, we were supposed to be leaving that night. But because I noticed it, I was able to kind of look in the app through Southwest and reschedule it. So we were supposed to leave at eight 30 that night. There was a flight leaving around 3:00 PM So I book rebooked that for us it was like, all right, we’re gonna get out of here before this storm is coming in. It’s supposed to be some crazy storm that was gonna be flooding and lightning winds and all this crazy stuff. They were actually canceling flights from Philadelphia, New Jersey, all the New York airport. So apparently it seemed pretty bad. We were looking at the sky and yeah, things were getting a little gray. It was a little cooler than the humidity the days before, but it wasn’t anything crazy.

0 (36m 12s):
So that was a little bit stressful and also really reassured us that we didn’t go to the Mets game and it was a good choice. Otherwise we would’ve been scrambling to leave the Mets game early. So we go to the Central Park, we’re just enjoying sitting on a bench, having a nice time, and it does start to rain and then we’re like uhoh and we get another notification that the three 30 flight has been canceled. There are no more flights back to Austin on Sunday. And then looking in the app, there’s also no flights on Monday. Oh that would’ve been my nightmare. I would’ve been panicking. Yeah, I was panicking for sure. And this is the one trip I did not bring my laptop so I couldn’t even work from home because I didn’t have my laptop.

0 (36m 59s):
And on top of that, we specifically decided to come back on a Sunday. We had been debating Monday ’cause that was his actual birthday. We said, no, we don’t wanna take any more Quint than we have been. Let’s just come back on Sunday. But that’s what happens when you plan, right? Doesn’t always go to your plan. So we end up calling Southwest because like coming back on Tuesday or Wednesday was not going to work for us. We had left Emma at the house. We actually did have our neighbor come over and check on her, but she couldn’t get into the house. It was locked and there was no spare key. We thought we had left one and there wasn’t. So now I’m kind of freaking out like my dog is here and she’s fine for two days, but for three days I’m, you know, all these things are running through your head at that point at work and all this other stuff.

0 (37m 45s):
So we end up calling Southwest, finally getting ahold of them. You know, it takes like an hour to get through to them when you call some, especially when they’re having a storm,

2 (37m 53s):
Especially when they’re canceling flights like all over the eastern US and Major city. Yeah, right. Everybody else is doing the same thing. New are.

0 (38m 0s):
Yes. And there were no flights from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, like everything was canceled. We were willing to go to another airport, everything was canceled. So we end up getting to rebook our flight, but it’s going to be Monday to San Antonio and we live about an hour drive from San Antonio to our house in Austin. So it’s like okay, we are gonna come back on Monday instead of Tuesday, but now we have to deal with this. How do we get from San Antonio to also without a car? So there’s nothing we can do at this point. It is starting to storm, it’s raining and lightning and we are kind of just like, let’s just make the most of it right? Like Louie’s birthday’s gonna be at midnight, we’re in New York City, we really have no other choice so let’s just do it.

0 (38m 43s):
We ended up moving our hotel into the VO neighborhood to a hotel called Sheraton four Point. And it was funny because the first time I’d gone to New York on a work trip, this happened to be the same hotel that I stayed in. Oh

1 (38m 57s):
Really? That’s funny.

0 (38m 58s):
Yeah. What coincidence? Super coincidental. But it’s a good solid hotel, a good location, good price. I would recommend it. So we stayed in Soho for this night or last night here. Actually the room was a little bit better too, which was fantastic. And we decided to go out, try again for that comedy cellar and we knew there was some shows coming up. I made a reservation for like a 10:00 PM show so we were kind of walking around killing time. We went into another place called the Grizzly Pair because they’re doing comedy shows too. So we went in, we saw an amateur comedy show, it was pretty funny. Had a drink and then we were going over to the Comedy Cellar to see if we could get in with our reservation later.

0 (39m 40s):
And the bouncer said, well I have a seat open for a show that just started. So we paid the 20 bucks and went in right away. Back to back comedy shows tonight. We had redemption from the night before.

1 (39m 53s):
Good, I’m glad you guys were able to do that. That sounds fun.

0 (39m 55s):
Yeah, and that’s a good tip for anyone trying to get into the Comedy Cellar. You can get in if you just show up when the, when the show is starting, if they don’t fill up or some people that made reservations don’t show up, you could get in. So that’s always a good strategy if you’re not a planner. So that was a really good show. I’m really glad that we got in there because the level of performance was so much better than that amateur show. Really, really funny comics, great show. They actually come by and put your phones in a sealed up envelope for the show. You’re not allowed to have your phone out at all. So you’re really living in the moment. You’re sitting with other people kind of shared tables.

0 (40m 36s):
Comedy was good and you know you’re in this iconic spot that’s bred some of the top comedians in the world. So that was really, really cool.

2 (40m 45s):
That sounds really cool. You know when you were talking earlier about how you weren’t able to make it, I was about to interject and say, oh that really sucks and then now you did it and fortunately or unfortunately how you wanna look at it because of your flight being canceled. So at least you got it. But you’re right, it’s such an iconic spot and the comedy scene is really big in a couple places, right? New York and Los Angeles and let alone the Comedy Cellar like you said, where you have those famous comics. So when we go back to New York, I wanna make it a priority to go here and kind of like experience something like that. And I think that’s really awesome. I’m kind of jealous that you guys got it.

0 (41m 26s):
Yeah, highly, highly recommended. If between this and the brunch boat, those were probably the two best things that we did. And so it’s raining at this point. We’re, you know, we get out of the Comedy Cellar, we naturally just go into the next coolest place that we see and we hear live music. So we walk into this place called Up and Up. It’s a quarter spot. They had a really, really good band in there with a, an amazing singer. Like the Vibes were so, so good, but we probably only catch like the last 20 minutes of their show. So really, really enjoyed it. But then at that point we kind of, or just dumped out onto the streets and didn’t really know what to do. And Saturday to Sunday in Green Witch Village is a totally different experience.

0 (42m 11s):
Saturday was like busy and people everywhere. Sunday, by the time we got out of up and up around, I don’t know, maybe close to midnight, it was kind of dead. I don’t know if it was ’cause Sunday or the Rain or both, but if you’re looking for a vibe, definitely go on a Saturday, not a Sunday. So we’re getting close to midnight here. It wasn’t quite midnight, but Louis’s turning 30 at midnight so we’re not just gonna go back to the hotel and go to sleep like we did the other two nights before. So we end up just kind of walking around and we’re like, let’s get more pizza. ’cause we hadn’t had enough at this point. I mean the 500 slices we’d already had born enough. And as we’re walking around we stumble upon a little nightclub in the Tribeca area, which is right next to soho.

0 (42m 58s):
And the place is called The Palace seemed to have good music. I can’t even remember if they had a cover. I don’t think they did. We just ended up going in, there’s a dj, there’s dancing. It was really, really fun actually. And we were dancing on the dance floor here with drinks at our hand at midnight when he turned 30. So I think for him, this New York experience and for that to be your 30th birthday memory, that’s pretty cool.

2 (43m 26s):
That is really cool. That is a good way to ring in 30 at midnight in New York with a drink in your hand in a club like that. That’s awesome.

0 (43m 32s):
Yeah. Club that you just stumbled into because your flight got canceled and you got stuck in New York City, right? It’s like all this cool things that gotta make the most of it. Yeah, we, and we did and we partied there. I, we didn’t stay at like that crazy late. We probably left at like one or two and then we walked home and and called it a night. But you, it was fun. And as you can see, there’s no possible way in just two slash three days you can do it all. There’s absolutely no way. I mean we didn’t even leave Manhattan. So there’s a lot to do, A lot to go back for.

2 (44m 5s):
Well it sounds like you had a really fun trip. You’ve inspired me to go, I tell this to Brittany all the time too, you know, for how often We’re doing a lot of domestic trips now we need to go to New York and re-experience it and do it. But it’s one of those things if it’s a place you’ve already been, it’s a hard for us to go back. I shouldn’t say hard for us, but you know, you want to try somewhere new. But I’m really, really inspired now to, to get back to New York. ’cause I think half the fun is, yeah, you wanna see the sights. And I think a lot of people may fall into that trap of, let me see the sights of New York, but you just want to be in New York and live New York. Kind of like how you to just kind of experience things, walk, not necessarily take the subway stroll through the cities and the neighborhoods, eat a slice of pizza or a bagel on the way.

2 (44m 52s):
And it sounds like you guys made the most of that type of New York experience. Yeah,

0 (44m 58s):
Absolutely. It was a good balance of planned activities and Attractions. And then also just enjoying the city living the New Yorker life. One of the last things I’ll say here though is that New York’s expensive. I mean it’s not a mystery, it’s, it’s not a secret. So if you’re going to do a trip to New York, plan out and book out as early as you possibly can. We booked our flights only a couple weeks before we went. So of course they were expensive. But if you do book early, depending on where you’re coming from, you could probably score them for like 200 bucks a person or hey, maybe even use points. Same with hotels. If you can shop around and shop early, you can save a lot doing that.

0 (45m 40s):
The Attractions, like the viewing the Edge rooftop and the comedy show, like those prices don’t really change much. But for those bigger expenses, book out as early as possible and save some money. You will not need a rental car. Do not get a rental car.

1 (45m 55s):
Yeah, definitely not in New York. The there you can walk everywhere. If you’re central, you can take the subway. I mean, every time I’ve been to New York, I’ve never had a rental car. It’s always walking. And a combination of Subway or other ways to get around

0 (46m 9s):
The city

2 (46m 9s):
Cab or Uber. I mean, New York is a place where parking is limited. So if you are staying at a place that has parking, you’re paying to park. So you’re in the car paying probably 50 bucks a night to park. So you’re probably better off taking multiple calves or Ubers and it’ll be cheaper than the riddle and paid park price. So I think that’s a really, really solid tip. Especially if you’re staying in the city in any one of the five boroughs. Don’t even bother.

0 (46m 35s):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Squatty, thank you so much for tuning into our episode this week. Keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram TikTok and YouTube, a Travel Squad Podcast. And send us in your questions of the week.

2 (46m 49s):
If you found the information this episode to be useful or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

1 (47m 4s):
And stay tuned for next week’s episode. We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you. Bye Squadies!