Our trip to South America was a long one, with a stop in New York City. It involved a red-eye from Vancouver to Newark, about 13 hours in New York City, and then a red-eye from JFK. So anticipating some long days, we were unsure how much to do in New York, especially since it it was just a pass through.
Annika mostly wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. After much debate, research and recommendations from friends, we decided to take the free Staten Island Ferry, rather than a scheduled boat tour. We were thankful we did it that way, as our flight from Vancouver was delayed by two hours and we likely would have missed the scheduled tour. Although the ferry was free, we discovered that taxis in New York are definitely not cheap (and seem to fluctuate with the mood of the driver?!!?!).
We also debated how much to do of Manhattan give that a) we would be tired and b) we would all be carrying our full packs, and c) Julia’s ankle. We decided to simply see New York as we travelled from Newark to JFK and not try and go out of our way to see anything specific. So mostly we got to experience airports, taxi, ferries and subways but in the end, that was just right for us.
Annika getting some instructions on how to read a subway map!