US Population is kind of unevenly spread across the continent and there are two opposite corners that are extremely densely populated – Los Angeles area and New York. I think it’s because of this density that NYC has it’s own energy and lives its own life. It’s funny and unexplainable, but everyone who has been there says that its a totally different city. Why so? The history? The population? The language dialect? Amazing, tempting and strangely familiar if you’ve been watching some popular TV series such as Gossip Girl.

Ok, so the rules of thumb start from NOT USING a car. If you are used to regular driving, and other people letting you in just after you’ve turned on your signal, you’ll get seriously surprised … and frustrated sooner than you think. One more thing … don’t take your hand from your horn… New Yorkers simply love to honk, almost like it was “Hi, how are you” , and don’t be offended, most of the times it should translate to: “Hi, I’m close, don’t be surprised”. Funny, but I can see that as a consequence of the city growing out of the proportion and Manhattan Island staying still the same size.

Some facts to make you realize how big of a city we’re talking about: City’s population is over 8 million folks. Which gives it a density of 10500 people per square km. This is a lot! The Metropolis is about 18 million people which is a half of entire Canadian population.

Why come to New York?

Well it’s a rhetorical question… Depending on what your desires are, you can spend all amounts of time and money shopping, entertaining, eating, sightseeing 24 hours a day. There are numerous and enormous books and guides you can buy all over the world about NYC, so I’m just going to focus on what I find very attractive about the city and whenever I’m visiting the Big Apple, I gladly come back to those places.

1. Empire State Building – going up over 80 floors or over 100 for an extra $15 is an electrifying experience especially by night. Take a good SLR camera with a tripod and be prepared for breathtaking experience! If it’s cold outside or raining it can literally be breathtaking ;) I’m still coughing after that night but I don’t regret. So be warned :)
2. Statue of Liberty – there are multiple options to see Ms Liberty – all of the water based ones start at  Battery Park at the southern end of the Manhattan Island. If you don’t like getting stuck on the island for long, the best is to take a free Staten Island ferry that goes just by Liberty Island. You can make it in 45 minutes there and back if not less than that.
3. Rockefeller Center is where you can buy gifts, have fancy coffee and take a picture at one of the most popular fountains in the world. There is also Radio City – one of the most famous music halls.
4. Times Square– an intersection you’ll never forget – when you see it, especially after dusk. Seems to be the brightest spot on Manhattan with all the electronic billboards, neon lights and flowing rivers of people speaking all possible languages. It’s a perfect place to go to after a whole day, just to hang out, maybe have a beer, buy some cheesy souvenirs.
5. South Street Seaport is where you go for a beer, food and some street performances. It’s a reconstructed historic maritime district, with its cobbled streets. It’s close to Ground Zero and New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, which both are worth seeing.
6. Broadway Musicals – not everyone is a fan of those, but all of us heard of them. So why not treat yourself and see Grease or some other performance in their original location? Musicals are a great part of American culture and New York City is definitely in the centre of this term along with London in Great Britain.
7. Central Park – an amazing and spectacular thing – an enormous chunk of land simply cut out of the skyscrapers area and turned into a park. Very popular one and present almost in every movie about New York. Definitely worth going to when you feel like taking a break from the loud city noises.

Getting in and out

Ok, so you want to get to New York… there are 3 big airports : JFK, LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR). On top of those there are minor airports as well as well as other cities. Sometimes it is a lot cheaper to fly to a distant airport and rent out a car one way to the city rather than flying to the most popular airports, especially when there are more travellers involved.

Some travelers take advantage of low-cost carriers that serve Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, New York, and Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York. Increased growth is also expected at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York.

The traffic can be a killer in that city so don’t trust your GPS timing unless you’re using train or subway. Getting to and from an airport can take you longer than you expected so leave early and have an extra coffee at the airport after your security check :) Unless you like a lot of adrenaline in your blood :)

Accommodation

You’ll quickly find out that NYC is not a cheap place to sleep at unless you’re staying 2 hours subway ride from downtown – which you don’t really want to do. So just be prepared for spending some more for your hotel and believe me, after walking most of the day, you will need a good night sleep in a comfy bad :) It’s a good idea to book a hotel in advance, especially when you’re arriving from abroad … in fact it’s a Homeland Security’s requirement.

Visit the photo gallery of my trips to New York.

This was really great time in DC. So close to New York and so different. It was my second visit to the nation’s capital, although the first one I had time to ramble around the city. Of course not as much as I’d love to, but still better than nothing.

First thing that surprised me was how green and spacious the city is. At least the tourist destination part of it. It has very spacious parks and squares stuffed with most popular buildings, statues and monuments in the world. Here’s what I recommend when you are on a business trip passing by and want to get a sip of DC.

The very first thing you will notice, no matter how and when you come to the city is Washington Monument – a large sand-colored obelisk which was constructed to commemorate the first U.S. president – George Washington. That’s as far as I’m going to get into the history since it’s not the most important thing about the obelisk. The biggest advantage is that it is a great navigation point around the town. Keep that in mind when wandering around.

From the obelisk, it’s a nice and easy walk down to The U.S. Capitol Building - Washington, DC's Meeting Chambers for the Senate & the House of Representatives. Since everything around – the parks, buildings streets is big, I would even say enormous, it takes quite a walk, but with spring weather, there is nothing more pleasant than such walk. I didn’t go in but it is possible to see the U.S. Capitol inside as a guided tour and by yourself. Here’s detailed info on that: http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/ 

From there, it’s a nice walk up Pennsylvania Avenue, just by FBI Headquartersand some other quite important institutions straight to The White House – home for every U.S. president except for George Washington. A good source of information for folks interested in visiting The White House is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours_and_events/ Make sure you prearrange your visit since there are quite strict security measures involved and you might not be able to go visit everywhere you wanted without a prior registration.

A couple of words on getting in, out and about as it came to me as a surprise that the DCA airport is situated literally 10 minutes from the Washington Monument. It is really very convenient! Similarly as for other bigger cities, I would recommend using public transit and most of all your own feet, even though there’s miles before you to walk in that city. Is there any other better way of getting to know the city’s atmosphere? Leave your car by the Washington Monument, start walking, talk to people, they are really friendly, ask other tourist what they’ve seen, how they got somewhere!

If you’re planning on staying in the town for longer, there is a pass you can obtain to save you some money and time: The Washington DC Power Pass .

Here’s some other attractions worth mentioning:

1. Washington DC is packed with monuments and memorials, and they are very impressing to the full extent of this word. Americans are very patriotic and on the contrary to what many Europeans say they do have a lot of history events to . Memorials: African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, DC War Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, George Mason Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Pentagon Memorial
2. Visit Georgetown – historic waterfront district
3. Attend a show at The Kennedy Center
4. Visit The National Archives building where you can see such documents as the Charters of Freedom: the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and lots of others.

A bit crazy and amateur video from this trip:

Just wanted to share a recipe for having New Year's Eve more than once. I got inspired during Christmas brunch when I met Katya who's originally from Australia.

For the New Year's Eve one should first go to the archipelago of the Kingdom of Tonga and drink the champagne over there than, when the party is over, catch a plane to Samoa Islands which would "send" them to the morning of the day before and still would have the whole day ahead. As soon as the Earth revolves the full 360 degrees (24 hours later) we get a chance to celebrate New Year's Eve again.

I know it's weird, but I think this is as far as we can get when talking about traveling in time in real life :).