Nw York New York

[Pheidippides]

You can find whatever you want in Manhattan except a gas station.

129th and Broadway. Only one I know of.

[fusnik]

The suggested donation is 20 smacks per person, FYI. You'll want to check with the MET if you go, to make sure they are open to the public as they shut it down a couple of times a month for smaller parties. I'd check the CP calendar as well see if there is some cool stuff going on. NYC is best served when plns are tentative and flexible. Question why are you going up the Rock and Empire? Seems like overkill.

[RC Vikings]

129th and Broadway. Only one I know of.

I found one down on 2nd in the lower east side but I was sweating bullets until I found it. I couldn't imagine a worth place to run out of gas.

[Pheidippides]

I found one down on 2nd in the lower east side but I was sweating bullets until I found it. I couldn't imagine a worth place to run out of gas.

Driving in Manhattan generally is not for the faint of heart. I still am proud of the fact that I drove and street parked there for an entire year and did not get one parking ticket.

[Surfah]

Driving in Manhattan generally is not for the faint of heart. I still am proud of the fact that I drove and street parked there for an entire year and did not get one parking ticket.

There's a BP down in SoHo off Broadway. That was the only one I knew of. I usually filled up though off the Turnpike before getting into the city.

I drove a GMC 3500 Duramax Quad Cab towing a 16' enclosed trailer through Manhattan. I also turned off on the Holland Tunnel by accident. No trailers allowed. Had to cut across 4 lanes of morning traffic (with the help of some cops) to the access road and ramp that sent me into the ghetto of Hoboken up to the Lincoln Tunnel. Had to head over to Bellevue Hospital on the East Side. Then I had to make a delivery to a welding shop on like 54th and 12th. After that I told my boss I was never going to do that again.

I routinely drove a Suburban in the city though. I got used to driving in Manhattan. You just have to be an aggressive asshole. Being in a big suburban helps.

[Pheidippides]

There's a BP down in SoHo off Broadway. That was the only one I knew of. I usually filled up though off the Turnpike before getting into the city.

I drove a GMC 3500 Duramax Quad Cab towing a 16' enclosed trailer through Manhattan. I also turned off on the Holland Tunnel by accident. No trailers allowed. Had to cut across 4 lanes of morning traffic (with the help of some cops) to the access road and ramp that sent me into the ghetto of Hoboken up to the Lincoln Tunnel. Had to head over to Bellevue Hospital on the East Side. Then I had to make a delivery to a welding shop on like 54th and 12th. After that I told my boss I was never going to do that again.

I routinely drove a Suburban in the city though. I got used to driving in Manhattan. You just have to be an aggressive asshole. Being in a big suburban helps.

My introduction to Manhattan was from the driver's seat of a 34' Ryder moving truck. I had do do some fancy driving to make that work, let me tell you, especially when we had to go down some one-way double-parked side streets.

[Solon]

My introduction to Manhattan was from the driver's seat of a 34' Ryder moving truck. I had do do some fancy driving to make that work, let me tell you, especially when we had to go down some one-way double-parked side streets.

That sucks. I had to drive a 12-passenger van full of freshmen through Chinatown in November. Way too stressful to ever do again, but at least I got paid a boatload of money to do it.

That same day, while I was eating lunch outside in Little Italy, a U-Haul comes cruising around the corner and smashes the hell out of the little green car on the corner. I mean, it completely crumpled the front end of this crappy Dodge Neon. The driver of the U-Haul does a little jockeying to free himself up and then keeps driving on his merry way. All of this about 8 feet away from my sidewalk table.

[Hot Lunch]

Driving in Manhattan generally is not for the faint of heart. I still am proud of the fact that I drove and street parked there for an entire year and did not get one parking ticket.

no kidding. The only time I have ever been to Manhattan was for business a little over a year ago. I was only there for a little over 2 days and I had to rent a car upon leaving and drive down to Atlantic City to meet with a client later that afternoon. The Hertz place was in downtown Manhattan, they didn't have a car with never lost when I arrived to pick up my car. I told them I would wait until one came in that did. Luckily I only had to wait an hour. Driving in Manhattan sucked and there was no way I was leaving with out some kind of GPS.

[Pheidippides]

no kidding. The only time I have ever been to Manhattan was for business a little over a year ago. I was only there for a little over 2 days and I had to rent a car upon leaving and drive down to Atlantic City to meet with a client later that afternoon. The Hertz place was in downtown Manhattan, they didn't have a car with never lost when I arrived to pick up my car. I told them I would wait until one came in that did. Luckily I only had to wait an hour. Driving in Manhattan sucked and there was no way I was leaving with out some kind of GPS.

You're lucky the GPS worked - it doesn't always, when you're in the midst of the city with the buildings and such.

[clackamascoug]

My introduction to Manhattan was from the driver's seat of a 34' Ryder moving truck. I had do do some fancy driving to make that work, let me tell you, especially when we had to go down some one-way double-parked side streets.

My wife and I entered the city in a rental car on a Sunday morning at 9am.
We drove through lower Manhattan, and I think the intersection was Canal and Wall and we were they only car at the intersection waiting for a green light. Very eerie. We drove to CentralP and hardly saw another car. We pulled up to CP by the Astoria, and wanted to park the car. Every parking spot was empty, and I thought there must be a mistake, and that I'd get in trouble parking there. I triple checked the situation and it seemed OK. When went on a walking tour and got breakfast on 57th. When we can out from breakfast (about 10:45am) the city had exploded with people. It was like a zoo. My wife was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to drive with the traffic.

[Commando]

Letterman tapes two shows on Thursday so you may have a little better luck getting tickets that day if you go.

I saw Conan when I was in NY. Boy I'm glad I did that while I could.

[Surfah]

That sucks. I had to drive a 12-passenger van full of freshmen through Chinatown in November. Way too stressful to ever do again, but at least I got paid a boatload of money to do it.

That same day, while I was eating lunch outside in Little Italy, a U-Haul comes cruising around the corner and smashes the hell out of the little green car on the corner. I mean, it completely crumpled the front end of this crappy Dodge Neon. The driver of the U-Haul does a little jockeying to free himself up and then keeps driving on his merry way. All of this about 8 feet away from my sidewalk table.

I have witnessed the same thing twice in NY. A box truck taking a corner too sharp and clipping a parked car. One didn't bother stopping. The other stopped. Hopped out. Assessed the damage. Looked around. And then got back in his truck and drove off.

[Moliere]

Just wanted to say thanks for the input. We had a fabulous time and ate some extraordinary food.

The best part of the entire trip was that New York became "known" to me. For years it's always been this mysterious place that never really could put my finger on and now I feel like I know the place, or at least some small portion of it. I really got to see a lot, even though we mainly stayed on Manhattan, but flight delays and other things forced us to see Queens and Flushing.

[ERCougar]

This is a really great and well-timed thread for me, as we're planning a trip to NYC for our tenth anniversary next month. So I'll ask people to keep this alive for a few more weeks.

We've never been to NYC and only have four days to get in what we can. Where would be the best place to stay? I'm guessing Manhattan? We're interested in a lot of the same things that Eddie Jones was.

Also, I'm booking flights and probably the best price to fit our dates arrives at JFK at 11:41 pm. We won't check anything so I think we could get out of there relatively quickly--is that too late? How long would a cab ride into town be?

Thanks for all the tips everyone--lots of great ideas in here.

[Moliere]

This is a really great and well-timed thread for me, as we're planning a trip to NYC for our tenth anniversary next month. So I'll ask people to keep this alive for a few more weeks.

We've never been to NYC and only have four days to get in what we can. Where would be the best place to stay? I'm guessing Manhattan? We're interested in a lot of the same things that Eddie Jones was.

Also, I'm booking flights and probably the best price to fit our dates arrives at JFK at 11:41 pm. We won't check anything so I think we could get out of there relatively quickly--is that too late? How long would a cab ride into town be?

Thanks for all the tips everyone--lots of great ideas in here.

When I get time I'll send you some info. Just for starters, a cab ride from JFK to downtown Manhattan would be about 30 to 40 minutes with little traffic, which might be the case at that time of night. I think the cab ride will run you around $45. Oh, and under no circumstances should you ever tell the cab driver to "step on it".