Where are these food trucks located? I’m guessing central park? Any other locations?
Is there public transportation from Newark to NYC? Dumb question, but I’m a country boy. lol
I know I excluded the cost of airfare in my first comment, but do you think 1.5k will pay for airfare, hotel, sight seeing, food, etc?
Oh and does that NYC pass grant free access to various sites or is it just discounted?
Don’t forget the additional $300 for the escort. 
Of course LOL
Food trucks are in locations all around the city – wherever workers need lunch and there’s enough room to park (to my knowledge, no food trucks in Central Park). Mostly in midtown, financial district, or union square area… You can read about some of the popular trucks by looking for articles on google; they usually tweet their exact location.
All over.
Except there.
The street.
From Newark you can take NJ Transit into Penn Station or take the PATH train.
This is very doable. Assuming you go for a discount airline like JetBlue, your biggest expense will be lodging. You can save a lot by staying at an airport hotel or in New Jersey and taking transit to get to Manhattan.
Admission is included in the price of the pass. Note that the 3-day version costs $189.
Here is the list of places it’ll get you into.
Rockefeller Center, the ESB, and the 9/11 memorial (which is dumb) are included.
The best place in New York City is the American Museum of Natural History. Dinosaurs and shit. Your NY Pass will get you in to the main exhibits.
You like planes and boats and guns and stuff? Your pass also gets you into the USS Intrepid Museum. It’s on a boat.
$189 includes the the hop-on hop-off bus. The three-day pass is only $150 without that.
I’m not sure it’s worth it, though. Can you possibly get to enough of these sites in three days to justify the cost? Would it be better just to buy individual passes to the sites you can and do want to visit?
The pass is admission to around 80 tours & sites for 3 days for $150.00. It’s a huge discount from what you would pay if you went to each ticket window individually, but ONLY if you are trying to cram in a lot of things into three days. It helps a LOT that you get the fast track access so you don’t have to wait in long lines. If you are the type who only likes to do one or two things at the most a day, it probably won’t pay for you.
Your best bet is to organize your activities by location with the pass. IIPOP means included in price of pass.
Day 1)
9/11 Tribute Center $17 (IIPOP)
9/11 Memorial free
Schooner sail $45 (IIPOP)
walk around Seaport (free)
Wall St walking tour $25 (IIPOP)
75 minute Liberty cruise $38 (IIPOP)
eat from food carts and fruit vendors
Day 2)
Discovery Times Square Lego Sculpture exhibition $27 (IIPOP)
Madame Tussauds Wax museum $39 (IIPOP)
Rockefeller Center Tour $15 (IIPOP)
Top of the Rock $27 (IIPOP) much better view than ESB
Grand Central Station audio tour $7 (IIPOP)
Inside Broadway tour $35 (IIPOP)
have a nice meal on restaurant row
Day 3)
Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum $29 (IIPOP)
walk around Lincoln Center (free)
eat at the salad bar at Whole Foods in the Time-Warner Center
walk across the street to Central Park (you can google park highlights and where they are)
get tickets to a Broadway or Off Broadway show
For that there, you paid $150 for $304 in admission fees.
You can take the AirTrain from the airport into Newark’s Penn Station and then take NJ Transit into Penn Station in NYC or you can take the PATH train from Newark into NYC.
Riverside Tower in NYC charges $134 a night. It used to be $80. (West) 80th & Riverside Dr. It’s not fancy, but it’s safe and clean. It’s really really really low-budget and for people who want a place to sleep and shower and not get shot. The type of traveller who gets up, takes a shower and sets out for the day. Hilariously small rooms, but so are the prices. Close to the subway.
Coffee carts are out on the street in the morning. It’s easy to get coffee and a roll for breakfast. You can buy a slice for lunch or go to a deli salad bar and pay by the pound. Food carts abound near office buildings.
Sorry, but eating from food carts might be 'inadvisable." Nothing ruins a trip like a stomach distress.
The CHEAPEST method to get into the city from Newark Liberty is to take the Residence Inn shuttle (free) to the motel and then walk up to Jersey Gardens and catch the MTA bus into the city. The bus stop is located on the NORTH side of the mall.
There’s a surcharge to catch the New Jersey Transit train at Newark Airport. It was $5 a few years ago; it may have increased. This will take you to Penn Station which is is just south of Times Square. There’s a hotel across the street (the Hotel Pennsylvania)but I had a friend stay out there when he came to NYC and he didn’t speak too highly of it.
if you want a measure of flexibility, you might consider renting a car. While the parking is difficult in NYC and the cost of it is insane, with a car you can see the entire city. I drove to City Island a few times (it’s an island in Long Island Sound off of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx) and it resembles a quaint fishing village. Pretty good seafood, although it is rather pricey. There are also a lot of other things to see and do which (IMO) are better accessed with car.
Enterprise Rentals (away from the airports and Manhattan) has some very reasonable daily rates.
Hope you enjoy your trip! May I make a suggestion in terms of food? I find it a bit pricey if you want a full meal (not NYC pricey, just a bit much for what you get), but you must, must, must get a hot chocolate over at the City Bakery. You know the molten chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? It’s that, but better. Also, if you want a seriously divine bagel, go to the Bagel Hole. It’s like a religious epiphany. Lastly, swing by Arthur Ave. while you’re there. I could go on about food in NYC forever, but those are the three that are life changing.
The robbery rate in Portland is 82/100,000 so it’d be pretty safe.
But what would a tourist do for three days in Portland, Maine? Catch a concert, wander into the shops in the pretty downtown area, and, um, I know you could visit a light house or some dead famous person’s house… But how do you spend the other 60 hours?
Seriously, most of these so called 25 fun things to do in Portland involve driving to other parts of Maine, some over an hour away.
The Hotel Pennsylvania is tempting due to it’s great location and price, but you can almost touch both walls from the center of your room, it takes forever to check in, and the whole place smells like the 100 years of cigarette smoke it has absorbed. Again, use Priceline for your hotel.
Re: Statue of Liberty: there are tickets with time passes that book-out at least 2 months in advance.
http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm
Have Fun!
(Potholes in the parking lot? Hell, that’s Cobblestone son…)
Wow, so much to do! It will probably be several months, but I’m going to NYC. I just hope I remember all these places haha! I’m guessing there will be travel brochures to help me out in-case I forget.
I dont really plan on renting a car, would rather use public transport. I’m guessing almost all of NYC/ Newark is connected with public transportation?
Yes, you absolutely don’t want to rent a car. In a pinch taxis will take you anywhere you need to go, otherwise the subway will get you around.
Millions of New Yorkers eat lunch from these carts daily. They are licensed and inspected by the health department.
My personal theory is that street carts are a lot cleaner than your average restaurant kitchen. They cook everything right in front of you, after all.
Know why more than 75% of the people who live in Manhattan don’t own cars? Because you don’t need one.
You can get to City Island on the 6 train and then hopping on the BX29 bus.
Exactly.
And I have yet to see dead people stacked like lincoln logs on the sidewalk because they ate from food carts.
Yes, I know what it includes. I’ven used them to show people who want the tourist version of NYC around because of the fast track access. Anyone can go to Port Authority or the Times Square Visitor Center and get 20% off coupons to various tourist attactions, but you can’t get fast track access. Not having to stand around waiting in line for tourist attractions is a big time saver. The bus and subway will get you around much faster than their service.
I had a cousin come up from what could politely be called “the south”. Did he want to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, eat at Katz’s deli, go to the place where you ride a bike to power the blender for your drink, go to Coney Island, kayak, see Shakespeare in the Park, have an egg cream, visit some art galleries, go to a rooftop bar, see a Broadway show, go to a real Chinese restaurant, blah blah blah? Nope. He wanted the Empire State Building, walk around Times Square, stay strictly in the tourist zone version and looked like he was going to cry if I suggested anything else.
So, I gave him what he wanted. I bought two of those passes, got an extra Metrocard for him, and off we went. If you plan out your day by opening times and keep a list of tour starting times so you can adjust your schedule if needed, you can fit in quite a bit.