5 DAYS RUNNING AROUND NEW YORK CITY

Travels
Written By Jordan Hefler

This past June my boyfriend and I took a long awaited trip to NYC and I am honestly SHOCKED at how much stuff we managed to squeeze into the ~5 days we were there. BRACE YOURSELVES…THIS IS THE LONGEST BLOG POST OF ALL TIME but there are plenty of pics and info about what we did!

My Christmas present a few years ago from my boyfriend Christian was a “some expenses paid trip to NYC” and his “gift” had been sitting on our fridge ever since lol.

Between my busy schedule as a photographer and trying to coordinate dog sitters and such, we just never planned the trip….until about 1 week before our 10 year anniversary when he said LET’S JUST DO IT! We basically poured over our computers every night for less than a week to try and compile a list of all of the things we wanted to do and schedule times/tickets/logistics for the trip (which was so so much- we are ambitious travelers!)

This was our first time making a joint Google Doc to dump all of our ideas into and let me tell you, it was our greatest idea yet and made the planning process so much less overwhelming.

We structured the doc by day and then general areas of town so that we could group together different activities and efficiently see what made most sense for us logistically.

PRO-TIP: if you don’t know where to start when scheduling, figure out how many meals you have there and which restaurants you want to go to. Make reservations for as many as you can ahead of time and then build the rest of your schedule around that. This helps to dictate times/locations of everything else you want to do! You can even plug all of this info into ChatGPT and ask it to create an itinerary for you!

TLDR bullet point summary!

Scroll further if you want to see pics and read details!

*We bought the CityPASS because it included 5 tourist attractions we wanted to see.

Thursday Evening- arrival, check-in, almost Yankees Game

  • Flight to Newark- was supposed to land at 4:30PM but flight got delayed

  • Checked into The New Yorker hotel

  • Was supposed to go to the Yankees Game but we missed the whole thing- ended up just taking pics outside the stadium :(

  • Late night Joe’s Pizza before going to bed

Friday- Central Park/UES/Times Square/Broadway

Saturday- 9/11 Museum/Lower Manhattan/Jersey

Sunday- West Village/High Line/Brooklyn

Monday- Statue of Liberty/Wall Street/Top of the Rock

Tuesday- Empire State Building/General Wandering/Chinatown/Flight Home

OK LET’S GET INTO THE DETAILS!

Thursday, June 6 (Evening)

Arrive to NYC & Yankees Game (FLIGHT GOT DELAYED, WE MISSED IT)

We ended up having the travel day from HELL and sat at the airport all day with flight delays. We were supposed to land around 4:30PM and go to the hotel to drop off everything before heading to the Yankees vs. Twins game… we ended up landing so late that night and missing the whole game.

The game also ended up having a delay though due to rain so when we got there we still took the subway up to the Bronx to Yankee Stadium to see if there was ANY possibility we could still get into the game last minute- no such luck, it was literally the bottom of the 9th and everybody was streaming out of the stadium.

We took some sad, rainy pics in front of the stadium just to say we saw it and walked around a little bit before taking the subway back to Midtown and getting some late night Joe’s Pizza on Broadway (they have a few locations across the city and I thought it was solid!)

We stayed at The New Yorker because it was one of the cheaper and more centrally located options in the city. Plus, it was right across the street from Penn Station so it was really easy to hop on the subway wherever you wanted to go. It wasn’t the fanciest hotel but it had really cool history, art deco architecture, and we were only there to sleep anyways!

Friday, June 7

Central Park/Upper East Side/Midtown

I was kind of militant about trying to stick to the itinerary (within reason) because I knew if we wanted to see as much as we were planning on, it would take a lot of hauling A$$. We started Friday at 7:30AM with breakfast at Lexington Candy Shop which is an old school diner/soda shop that’s been in operation for almost a century! It was really cute and nostalgic in there (you know I live for a retro theme) and we had a very good, no nonsense breakfast. It didn’t break the bank and we didn’t have a wait either!

By 9AM we started to walk towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art just so we could see it in person and take pics on the infamous steps. XOXO, Gossip Girl!!

We decided to get the CityPASS because you could pick 5 attractions for one price and it ended up being cheaper. We never originally intended to visit the American Museum of Natural History but it was included in our CityPASS ticket so we went for a few hours to explore. Christian was really into all the dinosaur stuff and it was definitely impressive to see but TBH I was over it after about an hour.

By noon or so we decided to explore Central Park a little bit. I’m a huge Beatles fan so the John Lennon Strawberry Fields memorial (and The Dakota across the street where he lived and was shot) was at the top of my list to see.

I don’t remember which order we did things, but Central Park isn’t far from Ralph’s Coffee on the Upper East Side, which is a cute little coffee shop attached to one of the Ralph Lauren stores. It was worth stopping for a quick caffeine break and cute pics!

We walked around Central Park for a while and explored the Model Boat Sailing (hello Stuart Little?!?!) and the Belvedere Castle.

By then it was about 1:30/2PM so instead of taking too much time to go find a sit-down place to eat we decided to get gyro wraps from one of the many Halal street carts at the Park. No regrets!! Those wraps were some of the best food we had on the trip!

After that we started walking towards Midtown to pass by things like Billionaire’s Row, The Plaza, and whatever else we could see on the way to Times Square, where of course we stopped to see the new Raising Cane’s and even coincidentally popped into Krispy Kreme on National Donut Day!

5 DAYS IN NEW YORK CITY | WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO | THE PLAZA

We really wanted to see The Lion King on Broadway that night and had heard that if you went to the physical box office earlier on the day of that you could get tickets for much cheaper. We ended up getting FRONT ROW tickets for CHEAPER than what the NOSEBLEED BACK ROW tickets were going for online! So, definitely a pro-tip: VISIT THE BOX OFFICE IN PERSON BEFORE THE SHOW! The show was incredible BTW, 10/10 recommend. I can see why it’s been on Broadway for so many years!

We walked around for a little bit to see the Empire Hotel (did I mention we’re real big Gossip Girl fans?) and sightsee a bit more before we headed back to the hotel. Then we had to go find dinner and change to go back out to the Times Square/Broadway area for the show that night!

We found a great hole in the wall Indian restaurant near our hotel and had dinner there before the show. It was delicious and authentic but super tiny so we were lucky to get a table- there are only like 4 tables in the place! Patiala Indian Grill

Right after the show we hopped across the street for some gelato at Anita- it was the cutest spot and the gelato was delicious!

Saturday, June 8

9/11 Museum/Lower Manhattan/Jersey

We got Liberty Bagel for breakfast (omg amazing spectacular) then spent most of the day at the 9/11 Museum (also included in our CityPass) because we were planning on going to a concert in Jersey City that night and the subway ride to Jersey was logistically closer if we left from Lower Manhattan.

The 9/11 Museum was one of my favorite things we did (if that doesn’t sound weird) and I would recommend setting aside time for an entire day there. You can’t take pictures in most of it but the exhibits were extremely well done and it was a very impactful visit. I was particularly moved by the photography in the exhibits and I’m not just saying that because I’m a photographer- the footage and journalism that came out of 9/11 is chilling.

After spending about ~5 hours at the 9/11 museum, we checked out The Oculus and made our way to a legit Irish Pub down the street called O’Hara’s Pub for a few beers (and to decompress from all the heaviness we just consumed at the museum- you’ll need a bit of a buffer, trust me.)

We decided to not stay in Lower Manhattan until the concert and instead zipped up to Lombardi’s for lunch in Little Italy.

Lombardi’s was probably my favorite pizza of the trip and I think it’s so cool that they claim to be the first pizzeria in America!

After lunch we explored the Little Italy area for a bit and grabbed some affogato and cannolis at Ferrara, a bakery that’s been around for 125 years!

By then it was time to high-tail it to Jersey to see one of our favorite bands, The Menzingers, at White Eagle Hall! The train situation ended up taking 5ever and we missed the opening band, The Dirty Nil, which is one of Christian’s favorites and he was PISSSSED. But I got a pic of him with them after the show!

I brought a small point and shoot camera for this trip and am actually quite impressed with a lot of the photos I got with it. I used my phone for most things but here are some from the show.

Afterwards it was super late and we found a ramen place near the Exchange Place Station on the New Jersey waterfront called Yaso- it was decent food for being open so late but you had to order from a girl on a webcam??? It was bizarre but YOLO.

We were the only ones around at the waterfront and it was basically a ghost town so we took a bunch of photos with my point and shoot camera of the New York skyline!

Sunday, June 9

West Village/The High Line/Brooklyn

We started Sunday morning out by going to the OG Macy’s which wasn’t terribly far from our hotel- you can ride the original wooden escalators there and see where the infamous Macy’s Day Parade stops in Herald Square.

I wanted to see the Cornelia street apartment that Taylor Swift lived in and sings about, and it was literally right around the corner from John’s on Bleecker street where we were going for lunch. Woo!

I personally didn’t love John’s Pizza but I’m sure I’m in the minority because everyoneeee and their mother told us to go there. Christian thought it was the best pizza we had the whole trip?? To each their own! I’m not mad about it but that was one of the only places we waited in line for food and I personally don’t think it was worth it.

We then ventured to the West Village area to see the famous Carrie Bradshaw apartment, Electric Lady Studios, Washington Square Park (Christian was dying because he watches so much Impractical Jokers and they’re always at that park) and got banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery- worth the hype.

Christian really wanted to see the High Line so we went and walked that and let me tell you….I was overstimulated by that point and ready to kill everybody (this tends to happen to me when I travel by the 3rd or so day lol.) I could have lived without doing it because it’s literally just an elevated sidewalk to walk on and I was tired of walking and we were literally walking just to walk and in the wrong direction but I guess it’s a big deal to everybody so whatever!

We had dinner reservations in Brooklyn for that night so I wanted to get to Lower Manhattan with enough time to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and catch an Uber to the restaurant on the other side. Plus, I wanted to stop and see Taylor Swift’s current apartment 155 Franklin St in Tribeca on the way!

The last time I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge my phone fell out of my pocket and through the little cracks of the wooden planks and landed on a beam and the iron workers had to go up and get it the next morning before I flew out. It’s literally on Buzzfeed HA. SO! This time I was extra careful with my phone and I highly recommend you are too if you ever go!

When we got to the other side we walked around DUMBO for a bit then took an Uber to Bamonte’s where we had dinner reservations. P.S. If you ever want to go, they only take reservations over the phone: (718)-384-8831

Bamonte’s is a LEGIT old school Italian restaurant in Williamsburg and it’s been around since the early 1900’s. Several episodes of The Sopranos were filmed there and it’s known to have been a notorious hangout for celebrities, politicians, and mobsters.

There’s even a glass wall to see into the kitchen which was supposedly installed back in the day so diners could make sure they weren’t being poisoned.

To be honest, I don’t even remember what I ordered- I know that we enjoyed the food but it was more about the history and the old world Italian Brooklyn ambience that drew us in. If you do go, the restaurant is a little more upscale and nicer attire is expected.

Side note and unrelated to the restaurant, I promise- we had been keeping an eye out for those famous NYC rats and alas, we were leaving Brooklyn and at least 5 ENORMOUS rats ran out from a trash can in front of me and I swear to God if they had hit me I would have been taken out. They were SO large I SCREAMED so loud! I was afraid to take a step because every time I was about to take a step another great dane sized rat would scurry out in front of me at 100mph but I was also afraid to keep standing still and get smacked in the leg by one and roll into the street. We laughed so hard. ANYWAYS..

We ended the night by ubering back to the DUMBO area and getting ice cream before walking back over the Brooklyn Bridge!

Monday, June 10

Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island/Financial District/Top of the Rock

We had a full day ahead of us because we were planning on making the trek to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island this day. We skipped breakfast and had Katz’s Deli for an early lunch- this place is a historic Kosher style deli that’s been around since 1888. They’re world famous for their pastrami on rye sandwiches and they are GIANT (almost as big as those rats, eh!) Christian and I were able to split 1 with no problem- absolutely massive!

We had to be down at Battery Park by noon to get in line for security to board the ferries that take you to Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is.

Let me just tell you before I get into my rant- skip going to the Statue of Liberty. Everyone said it wasn’t worth it and that you could just take the Staten Island Ferry for free and get close enough to the statue to take decent pictures. We didn’t listen and decided that it was a bucket list item to go to there and Ellis Island and BOY did we underestimate how big of an ordeal it was going to be.

There is only one official way to get to the island to see the statue, and it’s run by the National Park service. Anything that’s not this website is considered a scam or just a private boat tour that will take you around the island, but nobody else is authorized to actually dock and let you off onto the island. The CityPASS we bought for everything else included official access so we figured, why not??

Let me start by saying that you need to be in line well over an hour before your scheduled boarding time because there are 40203690840820 people going to see it every single day (we thought by opting to go on a Monday it would be less busy than a weekend and omg it was still a nightmare!!)

Once you get through security, you have to stand in more giant herds of lineless clusters to get onto the ferry, which will take you to Liberty Island, and THEN to Ellis Island. There is no way to get on a boat and go directly to/only Ellis Island, you have to ride the ferry with everyone to Liberty Island first. And it’s not like you’re going far, you can see the statue from the Manhattan shore- it’s probably about a 15 min ride, but it’s at least double the amount of time to get on and then again to get off.

Once you get to Liberty Island, you can take photos in front of the statue and there is a small museum with some artifacts and info about the building of the statue. Some of it was fairly interesting but not enough to justify the insanity of the rest of the experience.

5 DAYS IN NEW YORK CITY | WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO | STATUE OF LIBERTY | LIBERTY ISLAND MUSEUM
5 DAYS IN NEW YORK CITY | WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO | STATUE OF LIBERTY | LIBERTY ISLAND MUSEUM

Taking pictures directly in front of the statue was cool to say we did, but honestly it’s pretty ratchet…I was extremely underwhelmed with the presentation and aesthetic of everything considering this is our literal Nation’s iconic symbol and one of the most photographed places in the world! You build this up in your head your whole life as a kid and then you go and it’s like what???? (To clarify, the statue is cool it’s everything else around it. Or lack thereof I guess. The presentation is nothing special.)

Like, there’s no landscaping or anything around the base of it so the background of every picture is just sad chain link fence (we were actually cracking up because they were doing some construction so right dead center in the front was a tractor doing work- people from all over the world are trying to take pictures of their families in front of this iconic monument and there’s a tractor in the background moving shit around, it’s classic American slapstick humor!! Of course I managed to avoid it in our pictures but that’s cuz I literally do this for a living 💁‍♀️)

Once you tour Liberty Island, you have to go get in ANOTHER massive line to wait to board the boat to go to Ellis Island. We were actually really excited about Ellis Island and wanted to spend more time there because the immigration history was so interesting! But at this point we didn’t even get into the building til 4PM and with how long lines/waits for the boats were there was no way we were going to have enough time to see everything and then still make it back on a boat to Manhattan for our 7:15PM Top of the Rock reservation. Which is crazy, considering we signed up for the earliest available time to leave Manhattan that day which was noon and we spent 1 hour max actively touring each island!

You literally stand in line ALL. DAMN. DAY. and there’s no music playing or food vendors or benches to sit on or nothin (the government needs to get Disney on this pronto so they can revamp the entire process.) Everyone visiting is from around the world and all I could think of was dang, not a great look America!

It took us almost 2 hours to leave Ellis Island and it’s not like we could have been touring it during that timeframe, we had to spend the whole time standing in the queue to hope that we’d make it on one of the boats that only runs like every 45 minutes.

TLDR; It’s absolute insanity, the experience and process of visiting one of the most famous landmarks in the world (and in one of the most densely populated, advanced, tourism savvy cities) should not be this treacherous! God help you if you’re traveling with kids, old people, or generally cranky/impatient people.

5 DAYS IN NEW YORK CITY | WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO | ELLIS ISLAND

By the time we got back to Manhattan, we were already late for our Top of the Rock reservation so we said screw it, let’s go pass by Wall Street, Stone Street, and the Charging Bull statue really quick since we’re already so close.

Stone Street looked like it would be such a fun spot to hang out- apparently it’s a cobblestone street dating back to the 1600’s and home to the city’s first breweries/nightlife scene!

We FINALLY got to the Rockefeller Center and even though we were much later than our scheduled time for Top of the Rock, they still let us go up and it ended up being better because it was sunset (which usually is more expensive to get tickets for but nobody asked us any questions!) This was also part of our CityPASS deal. It was a cool way to see great 360 views of the Empire State Building and the rest of the city.

After that, we had a late 10PM dinner reservation for Keen’s Steakhouse, the oldest steakhouse in NYC that has been operating since 1885 (are you sensing a trend? We’re obsessed with history and eating at the “oldest” places.) This was our official “10 year anniversary” dinner and we chose it because it’s famous for its food but also just as an institution.

They have so many artifacts on display around the place that it’s more of museum than a restaurant! For instance, they had the program that was in Abe Lincoln’s lap at the time of his assassination with his blood on it. They also have pipes that were smoked by Albert Einstein, Chuck Norris, presidents, and more. I’m so nerdy about stuff like this, it was cool!

Tuesday, June 11

Empire State Building/General Wandering/Chinatown/Flight Home

For breakfast we hit up Ess-a-Bagel and wow wow wow it was so incredible. They really are on another level in NYC with the bagels and cream cheese!! I specifically loved the blueberry bagels with strawberry cream cheese.

Our last big tourist thing to do from our CityPASS deal was the Empire State Building observation deck. We did this on our last morning since we had done Top of the Rock the evening before and it was similar but different enough to still be worth doing. I definitely recommend doing them each at different times of day for different looking pictures. They also had more of a museum situation to go through with information about the history of the building and how revolutionary it was for its time.

Ok so they also randomly had hella House of the Dragon promos everywhere in NYC- we saw a House of the Dragon banner at John’s on Bleecker and thought that was weird because like…what do the Targaryens have to do with pizza? Then we walked into the Empire State Building and they had an actual throne from Game of Thrones and a whole activation setup. And THEN right after we got back from our trip we saw they pulled a giant marketing stunt and put a ginormous dragon on the top of the Empire State Building. Honestly kind of genius marketing to do at these landmarks I guess because of the amount of people that come through?? But still kinda random?

Another reason to bring the point and shoot camera- the depth it can capture like in the skyline shots from both the Top of the Rock and Empire State Building is much better than my phone. I can actually probably blow some of these up fairly large to print if I wanted to.

We really didn’t have a ton of time this day because our flight was that afternoon, so we ran over to see the original Saks 5th Ave, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Grand Central Station for some quick pictures.

We also tried to quickly go see the Flatiron building but it was completely covered in scaffolding, so that was a bust! When we realized we were near Madison Square Park though I was like hey- I think this is where the original Shake Shack started? Sure enough, we walked up and they were decorating the outside for their birthday celebration and I recognized a girl who works for corporate that I met when I photographed the Shake Shack grand opening in Baton Rouge. She doesn’t even live in NYC! Small small world!

Also near Madison Square Park I saw this EATALY container that hadn’t been opened yet and immediately recognized the work of one of my favorite artists, Jade Purple Brown! Slay.

The last thing we squeezed in before jetting to the airport was a visit to Chinatown to eat at Wo Hop-Chinatown, one of the oldest and most famous Chinese restaurants in NYC since 1938. It’s literally a hole in the wall (or ground, you actually take stairs underground) and if you’re not looking for it, it’s easy to miss.

As soon as we got seated in the booth, I noticed a small paper taped to the wall that showed that it was where a scene from the final episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was filmed (I have not finished that show yet so I was afraid to look too much up about it!) The restaurant was sort of like a dive and I love that. They have dollar bills taped all over the place with signatures on it and there was a sign with a picture of Rihanna and ASAP Rocky eating there lol. The food wasn’t my style necessarily but you gotta give them props because modern Americanized Chinese food literally got its start from places like this.

Some more quick shots from the point and shoot before we headed to the airport! I want to go back to NYC strictly on a photography trip when I can bring my real camera and take my time to shoot everything.

Our biggest takeaways:

  • Don’t have any connecting flights lol

  • Get the CityPASS if you’re trying to do 3 or more of the typical touristy things- it’s a better deal

  • For cheaper/better Broadway tickets, visit the box office in person earlier on the day of the show you want to see

  • WEAR SNEAKERS EVERYWHERE

  • Do the Staten Island Ferry instead of going to Statue of Liberty unless you’re willing to waste an entire day standing in lines in sadness

  • Make a Google doc in advance with an itinerary/clusters of activities based on location

  • Make reservations for your meals first and then plan your days around that

  • Get a Metro Card for unlimited subway rides for $30. We had a lot of issues (probably user error because we are actually stupid) with missing trains, going the wrong direction, connecting at the wrong stations, not realizing certain tracks were closed, etc. so we did Uber a few times but overall walking and using the Subway was the cheapest option

  • Pick a hotel somewhere centrally located (and ideally near a major subway station) if you’re trying to do stuff all over the place

  • DON’T DROP YOUR PHONE ON THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

  • I randomly broke out in hives all over my face 2 days in??? My esthetician said it was probably because the water there is different. But that was weird. Something to think about and pack for if you’re sensitive!

PHEW this is by far the longest and most involved blog post I’ve ever tried to publish! Only took me 3 months to get to, oops.

All in all, NYC is notoriously overwhelming and there’s soooo much to do that it doesn’t really matter what you accomplish because there’s always going to be more you want to see next time. We had the trip of a lifetime and I hope sharing this info with you has been helpful if you’re planning a visit!🍎

Jordan Hefler
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