Personally for me, New York City is like that crush who you would give it all to but you’re questioning how true the love is. The type you feel like you know a decent amount about; but one loose afternoon of getting to know each other and turns out you don’t know SHIT. Now I DEFINITELY CANNOT claim to be some expert on all that the Big Apple has to offer. But if you don’t know what SOHO stands for or you pronounce Houston Street like that city in TEXAS; this may not be for you. If you come to New York and stay in a hotel in “the City” (pardon me i.e MANHATTAN); you’ve never hopped the train to the Bronx off 183rd, walked Adam Clayton / Lenox in Harlem, pulled up to Wu-Tang Blocks in Park Hill or been out BK Bedstuy / Brownsville……this may not be for you. This guide is for those who really want to get into it; understand how to shift and move around New Yahk….New Yitty…..where dreams are made but it all can switch in a New York Minute.

Settle in, handle business…then be a tourist for a second.

In the realm of travel there is a serious difference between “coming in from out of town” or being a real “out of towner”. This delves into discussions of wordplay, cuisine or political correctness….but one of the prime concerns to be had is accommodations. Being able to stay with friends, family or a significant other can help you not only to have a one up on where and what is happening around town; but also can help you save funds that can be applied towards better experiences than sleep. So to start; find a spot to crash with your peoples, then handle whatever business you have to. (Go get your lotions, toothbrush that you left at home; handle paperwork, WHATEVER.) Then go hit “the city” and get that tourist itch out of your system. It’s NYC, you’re not at home….its okay…..for a LITTLE BIT.

O and I had to hit the Ghana Consulate Office so we could get Visas for a later part of this voyage. (Whole crazy experience...trust me you DON’T wanna hear about that redtape crucible). Then it was the regular degular tourist vibe. Stopped to grab a cannabis pre-roll (amazing you can openly purchase and smoke in NYC cheers!), then did the obvious like stroll past Saks 5th Avenue, Times Square, went to Chinatown and grabbed some gloves. Few other random sights in the mix but nothing too notable. If you want to do the whole Central Park, MOMA museum all of that; cool. But this was literally the intro to what was a 3.5 week vacation so we weren’t too pressed.

Must Do’s: Times Square (42nd Street), Grand Central Station (42nd & Park), Chinatown (Between Broadway & Essex, near Manhattan Bridge at Bowery)

transportation first. then Get You Some Culture, Art and Good Eats

Moving around New Yitty is NOT LIKE ANYWHERE YOU ARE FROM! It’s almost painful to really know it is SO much more efficient and faster to use public transportation then it is to drive in a vehicle. Erase whatever idea you have of “traffic” in your mind. This is different. (Unless you are from outside of the United States…..something we will touch on in further discussions). So to begin, LEARN how to jump on your phone and use the plethora of apps to understand the NYC subway, ferry and bus systems. Honestly it may be dirty…. may get hectic with delays, off-times, etc….but NYC does a great job of shifting 2.4 million people around everyday. Once you understand how to read signs and correlate that with the times of routes, then you should be money when it comes to moving around. Since me and O were staying at my Aunts out Staten Island, I would just drive to St George Ferry (Staten side), grab the 12hr parking for $20, then hop the ferry to the city.

Now you KNOW me. I am ALL about finding those small gems within a city or town. Its always the overlooked places; the hidden corners off side streets that have the best energy and vibes. Sometimes its as easy as asking a random passerby on the street “what’s jumping around here tonight?”. Sometimes you may need the inside scoop. Being that I had not hooked up with any of my homies yet, I did the regular “events near me” search on google. Then you gotta go on social media and try to find some pages, locations and venues that look interesting. For NYC my BEST recommendation would be to go on PULSD.com . This website was a GEMSTAR FIND for us. I mean the deals on experiences in the area were amazing. We found this Art Exhibition off Bowery featuring works by Banksy, then proceeded to visit a small Italian Trattoria that had a great deal on dinner for 2 plus a bottle of wine. If you take the time to do a little research you can save money and find better options than are openly available. After dinner we proceeded to another cultural event I found, that of which was a photography exhibition curated by the American Photography Association in SOHO.

Must Do’s: check out Pulsd.com , visit some type of art or cultural gallery, find a deal on dinner plus drinks at one of the local neighborhood eateries

Roam Random Blocks, Link With the Locals….then GET UP OUTTA THERE!

For this particular NYC trip, we didn’t plan on doing too much. We literally had 3 more countries to hang out in so we were being modest with playing around too much. The real beauty of NYC is that the options and fun are ENDLESS. It can take you YEARS to roam every street and cranny of all boroughs (interestingly there is a guy doing this actual project in real life click here to check it out). The locals are only going to tell you SO much. So I recommend to just take a day or two, pick random boroughs, sections or neighborhoods that you would NEVER go to……and figure it out!. Honestly I have been to DUMBO before (meaning Down-Under-Manhattan-Bridge-Overpass), but this time we just parked the car and walked out. Caught the proverbial IG shot that everyone on the block was fiending for. Got shots of tequila at a local taqueria…then walked into a great place called Time Out Market. AWESOME waterfront food and event hall that features cuisine’s from around the globe. I REALLY recommend you take a minute to “get lost” in NYC. Go see Harlem, check out Coney Island…Pop your head out the Bronx (though I know the X is on hots right now yikes….just stay near the train keep it low profile and you’ll be good LOL). This is a city where the beauty is in the diversity and you need to make a real effort to capture the various parts of that.

After you’ve done your solo thing and had your time exploring, you have to tap into the REAL experience. You need to link and vibe with some locals. You need to run through some apartments, take shots at the local bars, seedy pool halls or straight on corner blocks. Hear the chit-chat and local drama: what gas station just got robbed, the new kid on the block who had to get checked because he “thought he ran shit”. This is the REAL NYC. The one that has the friendly courtesy only found in the depths of America’s metropolitan areas; the one that say’s “excuse me” or “pardon”, but will gladly move over or through you if need be. So towards the end of our stay I linked up with my mans Danny in Bushwick. Shouts to Irving Ave and Bleecker St!!! Hopped off the train at Kickerbocker Ave, walked in the barbershop and it was all love. Danny spun us through some great spots. You got the neighborhood bars such as Boobie Trap or PartyOn (like these are the HOOD bars; stumble out of bed at 3am and walk two doors down to grab a drink). We also hit a pool hall then a bar out Ridgewood on the line of Brooklyn and Queens.

One of the BEST experiences was grabbing that late night eats at Lucys Vietnamese. (I almost feel bad for giving you all the Hood secrets but lets put on for the places that deserve it!) This spot is doors down from my mans spot…..and the food is SLAMMING!!! Its like a new-fusion Vietnamese in the sense they are putting their own spin on things. Cauliflower lo-mein with shrimp, etc… When you are with the locals you get love, so they left the spot open right before closing so we could grab a table and crush. DEFINITELY check out Lucy’s if you are around Bleecker and Irving; matter fact anytime in Bushwick PERIOD. After a full afternoon / night of mayhem, it was time to wind down to make sure we had a day to rest before our international travels. So we spent the night at Danny’s in Bushwick, then hopped the train to ferry back to my aunts out Staten. (Aunt Mich love you! Rest in Peace my cousin Marcus!). The next morning we hopped a cab to JFK airport, to which we sat around; grabbed some beers and food then made our way to the next leg of the vacation: Amsterdam in the Netherlands!!!

Must Do’s: Grab food at a local hood-eats spot like lucys out bushwick, Bar-hop to at least 3 places really only the locals go like boobie trap or Partyonbushwick, then catch you that early morning, bright and early train / “to-work-or-your-destination” vibe in NYC.

Stay tuned for more articles in our “Fresh Off The Pavement” Magazine. To follow more of the society travel guide series and to see the rest of me and goodsociety o’s international vacation, be sure to join our member list by clicking here!