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While I was surfing the net, I found a strange story that happened to a man visiting New York for the first time. It all started when he arrived at the JFK New York Airport (one of the 3 found in NY) yet I don’t think it’s a Kennedy curse! It can just happen to anyone visiting a new place..

Anyway..

He said he arrived at JFK (That’s short for Kennedy Airport) at around 1:30 p.m., and after the usual long airports procedures he and his friends were out at last.  Reaching for the transportation desk (where they could find some guiding about places and stuff) a man stopped them and asked if they need a taxi (New York yellow cabs) , and they said no because they were expecting a ride from the previously-booked famous tourism company. After a while, another man came and asked them the same question, they then told him what they were expecting and mentioned the company name.

For their surprise, the man took out a card with the company name and some details underneath, and asked them to follow him to the park. The tourist felt a little uneasy about it, specially that a professional company driver won’t start asking about their taxi  in New York needs rather than their target company!

More strangely, when they reached the park they found a car awaiting them not a bus! This was the time that the tourist insisted to see an ID card of the claimed driver, the thing which the claimed driver refused to do for reasons they couldn’t buy. So they apologized to him and went back to the desk where they found a large sign explaining how legal it is to offer a taxi ride in this area (where the desk is)!

I can’t really expect what could have happened if they went on with that guy, but it’s good to warn everybody visiting New York  about this I guess. You can always find a trustable guide at the transportation desk, unless you’ll have someone to pick you up!

For everyone visiting New York, it’s a must to know where to go shopping. Whether for your at-the-moment needs or to buy souvenirs, you have to know where to go in the big city of  New York .
 
The nice thing about New York  is there are some districts specialized in certain goods, so you can save a lot of time if you have something particular in mind and you know the place where it can be found.
 
For example, if you are aiming for books, go straight to Fourth Avenue particularly between 9th and 14th Streets where 2 huge book stores are present. One of them is called ‘Strand’ and you can not find less than 8 miles of book shelves there! In the same street you can find other smaller book stores specialized in some domains like art and science.
 
But in case you are looking for brand names, then you should go to the next Avenue which’s Fifth Avenue which includes 10 streets from 49th Street to 59th Street. There you can find the world-wide famous brand names like Gucci, Lord  & Tailor and Cartier. Also, the place is very vibrant in Christmas with all the Christmas displays. In case you get tired of shopping there, you can reach for the Central park entrance gate at 59th Street and have a little rest!

Assuming this is the first visit to NYC you must do some of the most common but worth to do activities such as:

1)      Museum of Natural history

2)      Emipre State Building

I also suggest a walk through the streets of SOHO for some shopping or maybe just window shopping. While here you can stop for lunch or dinner either at Il Barolo  or at I tre Merli  on the same avenue West Broadway and same owner. Down the avenue there is also Cipriani Downtown location  If you are in the mood for a simple Panini sandwich you can look for Café Borgia off of West Broadway on Spring Street.

Speaking of Cipriani you should book one night the Rainbow Grill (same link above) at Rockfeller Center where you can enjoy a beautiful view on Manhattan.

Manhattan has to offer great views also at the Hotel Marriott Grand Marquis at Times Square here there is “The View” Bar and restaurant you can go here for a drink, the bar rotates around the building and you get to enjoy a 360 degrees view of New York.

Also not to be missed if the weather allows, at 59th street and 5th ave the Peninsula hotel offers a rooftop garden bar which is elegant  and offers a different view in fact you can see the stylish fifth avenue from the top, nice atmosphere worth a drink .

One night you can book the World Yacht dinner cruise http://www.worldyacht.com/ which certainly is a different way of dining and enjoying the view of Manhattan from the water.

Last week we took some friends from Italy to a Brazilian restaurant http://churrascariaplataforma.com/ it was great nice atmosphere excellent food but you must love meat!

Speaking of meat a steak house is a must and I can suggest Gallagher’s  http://www.gallaghersnysteakhouse.com/index.asp

To end the night if you have energy and like to walk you can cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, something different and absolutely unique views here some info http://www.nyctourist.com/bridge2.htm Actually this can be done during the also but I only walked over the bridge at night and New York at night has a unique charm.