New York City is the 11th largest city in the world, so there are many people here. In such a dense area with so many people connected to the city’s culture, while also offering their own flavor, it can be puzzling to find a common cultural fabric and find your way.
New York, like many other cities across the world, has its quirks and wonderful idiosyncrasies that you learn more concretely the more times you visit. In this post, we’ll discuss a few novelties you may benefit from knowing, giving you the full toolkit needed to enjoy this incredible city without learning those techniques the hard way.
The Inner-City Isn’t Prohibitively Expensive
New York is one of the most iconic cities in the world, and so it’s understandable that some would feel it impossibly expensive to travel to the main areas. Sure, you might not be buying everything from the luxury stores (in which every couture brand is represented here), but you can still have a great time. Moreover, with the Best Hotels near Empire State Building, you’ll find that even staying within the city for a few nights can remain a wise place to begin your travel journey and have a good time.
People Aren’t Rude, They’re Just Direct
If you’re used to living in less populated or dense areas, you may be surprised how people are quick to move past one another, to keep conversations short, to fight for the attention of cabs, and many more examples. This can seem quite rude to begin with, but New Yorkers are solely direct and not afraid to speak their mind. That’s how you have to live in such a dense urban environment, as the anonymity of the crowds means you have to advocate for yourself and do so with care. If you understand this, you can take certain candor a little less personally.
Everyone Is, Functionally, A Tourist
It’s true to say that New York is so big and so diverse, complex and bountiful that it can be harder to distinguish the lost tourists from the people visiting for the day to workers coming in from outside the city. In other words, everyone is represented, and so it’s much harder to distinguish yourself or look out of a place in an area where everyone is.
For this reason, it’s good to stick to touristy areas and make use of tours if you can. This allows for a more open view that provides you the freedom you’re looking for, without necessarily feeling out of place. On top of that, people who have lived in New York all of their lives, may still only be super familiar with certain boroughs and sections, and that in itself means not knowing your way around perfectly (unlike how cab drivers do), is actually quite common and nothing to be ashamed of. You’ll never feel more welcome as a guest, because this is actually the norm.
With this advice, we hope you can use a few novelties and insights to help you enjoy your New York vacation.
