New York City 2025

8–12 minutes

Overview

Date Travelled: August 7th – 10th 2025

This looks familiar, seems I’m back in New York City and what a grand time it was! This time, it was for a little more than a weekend, but it was a rail-y fun time to say the least. I went with my partner and a great friend of mine to enjoy “The City that Never Sleeps!”

On this trip, we get to see the Statue of Liberty, witness Times Square, catch a New York Yankees baseball game, and enjoy some food around New York City!

Recommendations

Update: The price for fare is now 2.90 per ride as opposed to the 2.75 per ride in 2022. The fun part of the substation is being able to ride the entire line and transfer where you need to be for only 2.90, making this an extremely affordable method of transportation throughout the city. I stand by my previous statement of walking and subway is the best way to get around New York City, since it is low cost and easy to use and understand. The MTA still holds the pay for 12 fares and ride the rest of the week for free with the same card that resets on Monday. Keep in mind, there is a restriction preventing you from paying with the same card at the same station for multiple people so if travelling with a group or family, ensure each rider has a card to tap the screen and pay for their fare.

It also still recommend flying into LaGuardia Airport to make use of the free MTA bus line to get into New York City and transfer to the subway to make way to your destination, The bus line Q70 LaGuardia Link is a free bus to take to or from the airport, so I would recommend taking your flight in and out of LaGuardia to save money on transportation to and from the airport. Leaving the JFK airport you’ll need to get to the substation by taking the AirTrain and further instructions on getting to the city from JFK will be found on the MTA website which I’ll post here: https://www.mta.info/guides/airports/jfk/jfk-airport-to-nyc

If you would like more information on the MTA in New York City, Visit: https://www.mta.info

Day 1

This time I’m with a very good friend of mine as we explore New York City for a few days! We get off the plane at LaGuardia airport and make our way to Deli Boyz in Harlem and this place was serving some delicious food!

I went with their jerk chicken and an order of mac and cheese, and that food was so good it had me wanting to go back for more! The Jerk Chicken was falling off the bone, flavorful with every bite and was such a delight to enjoy. The mac and cheese did not disappoint either and was well seasoned. My friend got an order of lamb and that smelled so delcious, make this spot a stop on your trip to New York City! Walking in, the scent tells you this place is going to be good with fragrant spices, cooking the food before your eyes, and others waiting to order. I highly recommend it!

After enjoying a delicious bite to eat, we then make our way to the Rockefeller Plaza and enjoy the view, paired with a refresher drink from Puyo Taco. The watermelon refresher was delicious, thirst quenching, and only had a price of $3 per drink! I could not resist the urge to try this drink, and my partner could not resist the urge to drink the mango lime drink. I tried a sip of the mango lime drink, and while I did not enjoy it as much it was still a good drink and preferred by my partner.

We walked around New York City for a while after enjoying our refreshers, and enjoyed looking inside the Nintendo Store,

Day 2: Lady Liberty, Times Square, & the Yankees

The next day, we start it off with a morning stop at a Halal cart for breakfast. The lamb gyro was delicious and definitely worth the about $17 in my opinion. A delicious blend of seasonings, with the sauce, and well cooked lamb made this a breakfast for champions. We then made our way to view the Statue of Liberty by taking the Staten Island Ferry to see it for free. We took train line 1 going to Whitehall Terminal, then went into the Staten Island Ferry terminal to board the ferry and gander at the statue. Again, I’d rather save $20 bucks on seeing the Statue of Liberty by taking a train and riding the FREE ferry ride. Beware of scammers trying to sell “tickets” to board the ferry, and many people will be offering charters to ride a boat to Liberty Island. It is a better deal to hop on the free ferry and see the statue on the ferry’s 25 minute ride. On the ferry, go on the right side to see the Statue of Liberty and on the way back ride on the left side. You can also get a great skyline of New York City by riding in the back on the way to Staten Island, or in the front heading back to New York City.

Upon arriving at the Staten Island Terminal, we go beyond it a bit to get a little snack, my choice was to get a fruit smoothie from one of the carts. I went with the smoothie with watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew, and it was quite the delicious drink as well. (I’m realizing at this point, I keep on going for watermelon flavors)

While we are trying to leave, one of us in the group left our phone behind accidentally so we had to go back for it. Luckily, it was still there. I took a little time to look at the Brooklyn Bridge. This time, I made sure to go over to the Charging Bull and see it, since I missed this last time! I enjoyed it. but it was quite overcrowded. I meant to go back at night where I thought it would be a bit easier to get a good picture of it, but I just didn’t get around to that.

My companions have not been to New York before, so we had to have a nice stroll through Times Square and I absolutely enjoyed the ads displayed amongst the boards! I do think Times Square is a must see, at least once for everyone. Below is a gallery of Times Square with multiple ads and boards to view, also pictures of anime figures I spotted in a store there as well. It had a nice selection of figures to choose.

After our time in Times Square, it was time to go to Yankee Stadium! I finally get to see my first MLB game and watch one of my favorite teams play! It was an experience for sure that I enjoyed! This game would be the Astros @ Yankees and it was a good ball game. 9th inning came and went with a tied ball game, needing an extra inning. The Astros would pull ahead and prevent the Yankees from scoring to secure the win.

The ale below from Yankee Stadium was a refreshing and delicious drink to partake in during the game. While I did not enjoy the price of the drink, I did enjoy it and would definitely purchase it at a store outside of the stadium again.

After the game, I got to witness subway traffic after an event as we made our way to Carnegie’s for pizza. I ordered a slice of a sweet, spicy chicken slice and Hawaiian. The sweet, spicy chicken was a delicious slice that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely get again. The Hawaiian pizza, while good, I wish would have had some marinara or another sauce since it seemed like it was lacking in flavor somewhere (Yes, I like pineapple on pizza). Upon eating their garlic knots, my opinion is leave them out of your order. They were okay, but I’d much rather spent that money on another slice of pizza than to get the knots, which to me were like a garlic buttered dinner roll.

Day 3: Library and Central Park

The next day we start off with a tour of the New York Public Library, something I didn’t do last time in the city. I enjoyed going through, looking at the library and being able to see what it has to offer. It was some pretty cool stuff to learn, and was absolutely magnificent inside!

We then found ourselves at the Rockefeller Center again, and I just had to get that watermelon refresher from Puyo Taco again! From here, my partner and I begin to slowly wander around to Central Park. We were able to observe the Atlas statue as well as look at, and inside, St. Patrick’s Cathedral across from it.

Central Park had something going on that was quite lively and enjoyable. Around this time is when my partner and I decide to eat at another Halal stand, both of us get lamb gyro which was delectable and we got some of the chili cheese fries which were delicious as well! There’s something about how good the food is from those carts that just makes me come back for more, despite the prices. The prices in my opinion aren’t bad for what you get, it’s just a more expensive area. My opinion on this does not stand firm on prices for most drinks. $4 for a bottle of soda is quite the rip off, but there are places that sell cans for $1.25 or $1.50.

Day 4: Time to leave

On the day to head out, I wanted to try a coffee shop down the street called White Noise, and it had some amazing, delectable coffee! I didn’t get a sandwich but my friend did and I was surprised by the size of it. I didn’t want to pay the price of $15 for their Bacon, Egg, Cheese sandwich. It looked and smelled delicious, had the price been a bit lower I definitely would have purchased one.

My friend had a goal to eat in all boroughs of New York City so we made a stop to eat at a restaurant, sadly I cannot remember much of where we were. The food at the establishment was good, but I would have preferred another place to eat.

While I didn’t do as much on this trip to New York City, I did get to enjoy the city, subways, and experience an MLB game at Yankee Stadium. For a 4-day retreat, I’d say it went pretty darn swell. I think the party would have enjoyed going to some of the other attractions, however we found ourselves wishing for a little more time on this trip. I’ll always enjoy New York City and what it has to offer.

As always, It’s Turtle Time!

It's Turtle Time!