I thought I would share my recent New York City experience with you as a companion to my "A Freelancers' Guide To Travelling". Full disclosure this my 6tth trip to NYC in the past 4 or 5 years. For this trip, my wife Sarah and two daughters Emily and Ella were coming with me. We were travelling in mid-February on the Ontario Family Day long weekend. I had arranged to take Friday off to make it a 4 day weekend.
Making The Work Arrangements & Prepping
As a freelancer, I am lucky enough to have a part-time, regular work from home gig. I was able to use one of my vacation days from that gig to free up my Friday. That was the easy part. My freelance clients need to be looked after regardless of family trips to NYC so I put in some yeoman's work to try and get a little bit ahead in order to ease up the amount I would have to do on the road. I am actively working on a couple of projects which are time-consuming.
By checking in with clients and getting on the same page I felt confident I was to a point where a Friday of just monitoring email and putting out any necessary fires would be manageable.
As I outlined in my "A Freelancers' Guide To Travelling" blog I packed the tech I was going to use on this trip. This includes:
- 2018 Macbook Air Retina + charger + cable bag with all the necessary dongles and cables
- Canon EOS Rebel SL2 DSLR Camera with 128GB SD card & charger
- 18mm-55mm EFS kit lens, 24mm EFS lens & 50mm EF lens
- Comica Shotgun Mic
- Manfrotto Mini Tripod
- iPhone XR with a daily roaming plan activated.
- iPad Mini 4
- Notebook + pens
- Beats Solo 3 headphones
- Apple Watch Series 2
The above list is my usual, goto tech kit.
A Couple Of New Additions
I have added a couple of new additions to my kit. A couple of weeks ago my daily use bag (the Samsonite Viz Air) suffered catastrophic zipper damage. You can read about my bag selections in a review blog I wrote here. I took this as an opportunity to bump my Timbuk2 Authority One Pack to my daily use bag and go on the search for a new travel bag.
This time around I wanted to get a true anti-theft bag. Something that opened from the back with no accessible pockets while it is being worn, had a USB charging port and I wanted. some type of slash-proof material. I settled on a couple of contenders. The first was the XD Designs Bobby. I ordered this bag from Amazon.ca and received it fairly quickly. This bag had all the features I wanted, but once I had it in hand I determined it was too small to carry what I needed. I promptly returned it and went back on the hunt. I stumbled across Mark Ryden Bags and really liked the look and features of the Tag and Tag II models. I settled on the Tag over the slightly bigger Tag II because I was afraid the Tag II wouldn't fit under the seat on an airplane as my carryon bag.
The Mark Ryden Tag
I ordered the Tag through the Mark Ryden Canada website. It came quickly and with a coupon code, they provided me including shipping and tax it came to about $130 CDN. This is a quality bag you can watch my full review here:
This is a great bag and although I would have used extra space provided in the Tag II I could fit everything I needed into it. This trip to NYC is its first field test. We flew Westjet from Toronto Pearson to NYC's LaGuardia. The plane we flew on was a Boeing 737 and it was tight to get the Tag under the seat fully loaded, but it was doable.
Becharming Power Bank
The second new addition was the Becharming power bank. This is a 25,000mAh / 92.5wh power bank that I put into my new Mark Ryden bag. As I mention above the Tag has an external USB power port that you can plug a power bank into. I used this for charging my phone, iPad and headphones on the go. This has been a good edition. Depending on how low my battery is I can charge my iPhone XR 4 to 5 times using the battery bank without recharging the battery bank.
Friday (Day 1)
We left our place in Peterborough at about 3 am for a 7:10 am Westjet flight. It is about an hour and a half drive from our place to Pearson Airport in Toronto. We wanted to have at least a couple of hours before the flight to clear security and customs. We arrived at the airport at about 4:45 am.
PRO TIP: For short stay parking I find it easier to pre-pay and park directly at the Pearsons Terminal parking. It is slightly more expensive then Park and Fly. We find that not having to wait for shuttles coming and going makes the extra expense worth the trip. You can pre-pay online and print your parking pass. You simply scan your parking pass bar code on the way into the garage and repeat the process on the way out of the garage. The time saved not waiting for shuttles is worth the extra expense to me.
We landed at LaGuardia at about 8:50 am. We deplaned and walked to the rideshare location. I used the Lyft app this time instead of Uber. I have used Uber in the past but wanted to give Lyft a try. Our driver picked us up about 8 mins after the request was made. The driver was pleasant and the ride was direct and uneventful. We were dropped at our hotel at about 9:30 am.
Andaz Wall Street
We stayed at the Andaz Wall Street. I have stayed at this property before. It is located at the corner of Wall Street and Water Street in the Financial District. I prefer the Financial District of New York as my base for a few reasons:
- It is at the very southern end of Manhattan, which is relatively narrow compared to the northern end of Manhattan. This is an advantage when walking to subway stations. There are several stations with different trains all within a few blocks of each other. I have stayed in mid-town and although the NYC subway system is extensive and everywhere, the stations seemed further apart.
- It is the oldest part of New York City and I find the old streets and layout infinitely interesting.
- You are really close to the Brooklyn bridge which makes it easy to walk or take a subway into Brooklyn.
Now I have stayed in three different properties in the Financial District on several occasions. The Andaz, The DoubleTree and the Holiday Inn. We like the "Andaz Wall Street" the best for some simple reasons:
- The rooms are larger then we have found at other NYC properties. As you can imagine space is a premium in NYC and having a relatively large room, by NYC standards, is awesome.
- The elevators are fast. By fast I mean the come when you call them in with little wait time. Every other property we have stayed at has had waits so long that the stairs become the best option for getting up and down from your room. Even if your room is 12 to 15 floors up.
- Free snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are stocked in your room daily. This includes soft drinks, water, granola bars, etc. It is a nice touch.
- There are lots of electrical outlets and at least 6 USB charging ports in your room. It made it easy to charge devices for 4 people.
We got lucky when we arrived and were able to check in to our room right away. Generally, that doesn't happen until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon in which case we leave our luggage with reception until our room is ready. We were happy to unload our luggage in our room and hit the city.
Exploration Gear
I bring a small Patagonia sling bag with me to carry my walking around essentials. This bag isn't huge, but it is large enough to carry my phone, wallet, toque, gloves, a metro card and a drink. I can fit my iPad in it as well if need be. I wear this bag on my front to make it harder for pickpockets to access it.
I use my Peak Designs Capture Camera Clip V3 on the strap to clip my Canon EOS Rebel SL2 for carrying. I generally bring one lens attached to the camera as opposed to carrying multiple lenses with this basic set up.
Day 1 Highlights
On day one, after we checked in, we went to Leo's Bagels for some breakfast. In our opinion, Leo's has the best bagels in the city. We then hit the Southside Seaport and then went onto Chelsea Market via subway (see the MetroCard section below). Chelsea Market is a great place to shop and eat. it also has Ok WIFI if you want to check email and/or do some work. I checked my email and responded to a couple of queries while I was there. I always utilize my ExpressVPN app when I am on public WIFI. This also a good time to mention that I am with Virgin Mobile and utilize the Roam Sweet Roam plan that allows me to use my existing call, text and data plan in the States for $8 per day.
After the Chelsea Market, we walked over to the High Line to the Vessel. The Vessel is a new attraction in New York. It is a part climbable jungle gym and a part artwork. It is free to visit, but you have to sign up for a time using an app. We were too late that day to secure a time to climb the Vessel. From the Vessel, we hopped on the subway and headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest for a couple of hours. I checked email and took care of a couple of things and took a bit of a nap.
At 5 pm we headed out via subway to the Museum Of Modern Art (MoMA). This our favourite musuems in NYC. On Friday nights after 5:30 pm you can tour MoMA for free. We took advantage of the free Friday night admission and toured the newly renovated galleries. If you haven't been to MoMA it is a can't miss attraction.
We left MoMA at about 8 pm and head back to the hotel via subway. Close to our hotel is a pizza place called Adrienne's Pizza Bar. We ordered a couple of pizza's and took them back to the hotel for supper. They have great pizza.
MetroCard
When in New York City we each get a MetroCard that has 7-day unlimited rides on it. This costs about $32 USD each and if you need a MetroCard they are $1 USD. If you are there for 3 days and use the Metrocard 4 times per day (which is easy to do) you will break even. If you are there longer than 3 days or use the card more than 4 times per day then you are saving money. We use the MetroCard teamed with the MYmta app. The MYmta app will tell you what subway (or bus) to take to get from one location to another. It tells you when the trains are coming and how long your trip will take. It is a really hand tool to have when visiting NYC. Also, there is free, (albeit patchy), WIFI within the NYC subway system.
Day 2 Highlights
I woke up early and when down to the lobby at 5 am on Saturday to get some work done. I worked in the lobby of the hotel because I didn't want to bother my family as the slept. I was able to take care of most things that came up on Friday and keep my inbox and to-do list relatively clear after missing Friday. I had also thought about going to the Starbucks that was maybe a 2 min walk from my hotel to work, but decided just to stick around the hotel.
At 7:30 am I went back up to the room and the rest of the family started moving. We went back to Leo's for a breakfast bagel and then headed off to do some shopping. Our first stop was the farmers market in Union Square. This is in the Flatiron Building District of NYC. After we walked around the farmers market for a little while we walked up a few blocks to Macy's flagship store. My youngest daughter is graduating grade 8 this year and she was looking for a dress. It was Presidents Day weekend so there were deals to be had. She found two dresses for under $40 USD for both. We took a short walk across the street to visit a Target and then another walk a few blocks down to go to Trader Joe's to pick up some stuff my oldest daughter wanted.
It was getting close to lunchtime and we decided to head to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. The Oyster Bar has been in business for over 100 years. It is iconic. The seafood is extremely fresh and delicious. The bill at the end of the meal is not for the faint of heart, but worth every penny. There is WIFI here, but the speeds weren't great...just enough for a check of email and that was about it. Now there is a Starbucks in Grand Central that may have better WIFI then what Grand Central was offering. On the way out we stopped by Doughnut Plant and bought a couple of their donuts to try.
From Grand Central, we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit and freshen up. My youngest daughter wanted to go to Midtown Comics Downtown to buy a couple of items she was interested in. It was close to our hotel and I walked over there with her. What a cool store it was. When we came back we gathered the rest of the crew and rounded out our shopping day with a walk over to Century 21's flagship department store which is in the Financial District. I wanted to go there to check out the architecture and it was worth the visit. The store's main floor area is iconic. My wife Sarah and daughters enjoyed looking at all the deals they had going on. We stopped on the way back from Century 21 at a small bodega called City Acres Market. It was kinda part grocery store, part corner store and part food court. We grabbed some sandwiches to take back to the hotel and called it a night.
Day 3 Highlights
On Day 3 we stopped an old school diner a couple of blocks away from our hotel called the Pearl Diner. Honestly, the food was just so-so. The real treat was the fact it was a real-life old school diner. I will say the service was very good. After breakfast, we headed for Brooklyn. We walked from the Financial District across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Dumbo District of Brooklyn. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is an experience every time. The grand scale and elegance of that bridge are amazing. I have walked across it several times in all types of weather and it is worth it every time. Once we were in Dumbo we stopped at Jacques Torres for hot chocolate. Across the road from Jacques Torres is a food hall called the TimeOut Market. It is a newer addition to Dumbo and is fantastic. It has several food options and some little shops. It is located in an old, multi-storey warehouse that has been totally renovated. The food options looked fantastic, but because we just ate we didn't have the opportunity to try any.
From there we wandered around Dumbo a little bit. We visited a local book store and just took in the sites. We decided the cross the Manhattan Bridge to go back into Manhattan. It is an interesting bridge, but not nearly as enjoyable as the Brooklyn Bridge. There was lots of graffiti and subways cross that bridge every few minutes. They are loud and shake the whole bridge. One of the redeeming qualities of the Manhattan Bridge is being able to take in the Brooklyn Bridge from another angle over the water.
Once we crossed the Manhattan Bridge we explored Chinatown for a little while. My oldest wanted to try some dumplings from Vanessa's Dumpling House. We found it and bought some, really awesome tasting, cheaply priced pork dumplings for only about $5 USD. The place was packed and the food was delicious. This was just a snack as we intended on heading to the world-famous Katz Deli for lunch. Katz was only a few blocks walk from Vanessa's. It was Sunday around noon and the line-up for Katz was about a block long, so we decided to skip it and hopped on the subway to go to Times Square to eat at another one of our favourites Junior's. Junior's is super retro inside and known for its cheesecake. The food is excellent, diner-style fare. We also enjoyed a slice of Junior's amazing strawberry cheesecake. As you can tell we spent most of our time eating our way around NYC.
The rest of the day we spent wandering and exploring.
Day 4 Heading Home
On day 4 we got up at 4:15 am to grab a Lyft to the airport. Being President's Day traffic was light. Our flight left LaGuardia at 7:30 am. LaGuardia has decent free WIFI so I used some of the time to check email and get ready for work on Tuesday. Our flight was uneventful and parking at the terminal in Pearson paid off when because we just walked off the plane, went through customs and walked right to our car. We were back at our house in Peterborough just after 11 am.
As you can tell it wasn't a heavy working weekend for me as a freelancer. Including the early Saturday morning session, it amounted to maybe 3 to 4 hours over 4 days. To me, the benefits of maintaining relate mostly to mental health. A little maintenance here and there made my anxiety decrease as to what might be waiting for me when I got back home. I only missed one working day and was able to feel like I had a bit of an adventure without regretting the time off. This is an approach that seems to work best for me as a freelancer.
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Disclaimer: All the opinions are my own and are not the views of any suppliers or manufacturers.