Category: Interview

CARLOS, BRAZIL

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My name is Carlos and I am 42 years old. I come from Sao Paulo in Brazil. I came for business to New York and I stayed 7 more days for vacations after instead of going back to my country. I usually travel inside Brazil, but I already went to Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, France and many other countries. I like going abroad to practice my English and my Spanish.

I went to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and to Soho for now. I also went on a night tour with a guide who was very funny, so it was very nice to visit New York that way. Now, I am planning to visit Brooklyn, Uptown, and the Metropolitan Museum. My dream is to go to Central Park because you can see this Park in a lot of movies, and this represents very well New York for me! I also would like to see the Phantom of the Opera: I have heard so much about the Broadway show! What I like to do in New York is to walk in the streets and to watch people. You can feel the environment and watch everybody interacting. Then you can compare with your own country, your own culture, and this is very interesting. For me, New York is the place where you can be uncommon. I have also a good Indian restaurant that I would like to recommend: Pongal. It is located on Lexington Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets. The food is very good and people are really nice! To go from one place to the other, don’t rent a car: it is impossible to drive here because there to much traffic! And the subway is very useful, even if it was almost a challenge to understand it: it is very complex and you have to pay attention to colors, numbers… so you get lost very easily! I think the city is very exciting, it is full of energy, people are always in a rush, they even eat while walking! It is also a model of diversity with lots of citizenships and religions all mixed together! I will definitely come back in one or two years. Here is my little tips for all tourists in New York: always take a sweater or a coat with you, even if the weather is nice. The AC is on everywhere and you can get a cold easily!

GERARDO, GUATEMALA

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My name is Gerardo and I am 42 years old. I am originally from Guatemala but I often travel. I often go to Europe (Germany, France, Spain…), and sometimes to the US. I stayed in New York with my friend during three days. That was my first time here.

We went to the Guggenheim Museum, to the Empire State Building, to Central Park, to Times Square, to Greenwich Village, to the Statue of Liberty and to the MoMA. We also saw the Broadway musical Jersey Boys. I really liked it since there a lot of old musics, and the set up is great.. But what I liked most was the Guggenheim Museum where I could attend a temporary event: From El Greco to Picasso. It was very interesting! We wanted to go to some bars around our hotel, but they were all closed! We went to eat to Dojo, which is a vegetarian restaurant. The menu was very good, the service too. It is located on 24 Saint Marks Pl, between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, near NYU. New York is a very beautiful city. I wish I could have stayed longer: you never have enough time to visit NY. Overall, I would definitely recommend to see a Broadway show and to visit the Guggenheim Museum. Also, everywhere you go, make sure you have a reservation to avoid the lines (such as at the Empire State Building). You can also buy a CityPass, it is very helpful. If you want to ask any question to Gerardo, you can contact him at [email protected]

ANA, SPAIN

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My name is Ana and I am from Spain. I love traveling overseas, especially in the U.S. and in Europe (London, Roma…). When I have long week-ends, I try to go away with some friends. I stayed 5 days in NYC with 4 friends for vacations at the end of June 2006, but it wasn’t my first time here.

We visited the MoMA, the Lincoln Center, Pier 18, we took the ferry to go to long Island and we went to Harlem, Soho, Tribeca, Brooklyn, the Rockefeller Center and many other places. Of course, we also did a lot of shopping! We also could see the Gay Parade during our stay and saw rap dancers in Central Park. We really liked it… Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to any Broadway show but if I had had enough time, I would have seen Cats or Mama Mia. I heard so much about these shows! We had dinner in a Coffee Shop in Union Square, at a very nice French restaurant called Felix that is located on West Broadway. But I would recommend above all to eat at the Tribeca Grill restaurant, which is a very nice place where the food was excellent and the staff was very helpful, and at Pier 18 where the atmosphere is very pleasant. We rented a car to go to Washington and it was really worth it for the week end. We didn’t have any bad experience here, only good ones: people were very nice and helpful, which made our stay very pleasant, and we discovered a new culture that is very different from the Spanish one. If you want to ask any question to Ana, you can contact her at [email protected]

MAURICE, FRANCE

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My name is Maurice and I am 57 years old. I am originally from Paris in France. I don’t usually travel a lot, and when I do so, I usually go to the French Riviera in France. However, once every one year and a half, I like to come to New York. That’s my second time in New York and I always come here with my wife.

We already visited a lot the first time we came. This time, we went to the Metropolitan Museum, we spent a lot of time in Times Square and its neighborhood. But we also went to Little Italy. We love Little Italy and its atmosphere: small streets with lots of Italian restaurants. We also shopped at Macy’s and you can find really good deals! We rented a car on Sunday to go to Woodbury. It is about 1 hour away from Manhattan, but it is definitely worth it to buy clothes, shoes, handbags and much more for nothing! Since it was our second time in New York, we also went to Philadelphia during 2 days. We took a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. No need to rent a car this time. The bus was very easy, quick and not really expensive! We went to a very good French restaurant in New York: Le Marais is located on 46th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue. The meats are very good and the service is excellent! You should definitely plan to spend one day at the Metropolitan Museum. There are so many things to see! If you are a real shopaholic like my wife, definitely go to Woodbury Premium Common Outlets and don’t forget to print a voucher from their website for a VIP booklet with additional discounts.

APARNA, INDIA

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My name is Aparna and I am 34 years old. I am from India. I am staying 10 days with two colleagues in New York for business. But it is my second trip to New York and the first one was for vacation. I don’t often travel abroad but I love New York!

I went to the Empire State Building, to the Belmont Park, to Wall Street, to the Museum of Natural History, and to the Carnegie Hall for a Jazz concert. This Jazz concert was really great! I also took the ferry from New York to New Jersey and I saw the Statue of Liberty. It was really picturesque and a very nice trip, especially because the weather was good. I went to some bars in Times Square. There are plenty of bars in this area. I also ate at a very good Indian restaurant called Utsav. It is located at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, between 46th and 47th streets. It was excellent and I was missing Indian food. The service was good and it wasn’t expensive. Overall, I love New York, but you never have enough time to visit all the museums and parks, which is disappointing! That’s my second trip here but I will definitely come back again! The only downside is that, being vegetarian, it was difficult to find places where I could easily eat in New York, so I hope that when I come back, restaurants will have vegetarian meals on their menus!

DANIELA, BRAZIL

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My name is Daniela and I am from Brazil. I am still a student so I have plenty of time to travel in the US and in Brazil. I often come to New York because I really love the City. This is actually my fourth time here and, for this trip, I stayed with my family during four days.

We took the ferry to the see the Statue of Liberty, we went to Ground Zero and to Central Park, we visited the Rockefeller Center, and we went shopping on Fifth Avenue of course! We also visited Saint Patrick Church and it was great. But what I preferred was the Statue of Liberty: you cannot miss it if you come to New York! Times Square is also amazing: you don’t know where to look. What is also very nice about New York is that you can find very old buildings in such a modern city. I find it very paradoxical but so interesting! I have had the chance to attend many Broadway shows during my several stays in the City: The Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Chicago and Mickey Mouse is Dead. They were all wonderful but I would recommend overall the Phantom of the Opera. We often go to Brazilian and Italian restaurants in Midtown. If you want to eat the best pastas and fettuccines in New York, go to Via Italia at 45 West 46th Street. It was really excellent! My best experience here was when we met a group of journalists from a Brazilian local newspaper. They interviewed us in Central Park and it was so funny! I really love New York and I will definitely come back again. When you come here, you never have enough time to see everything. I wish I could come back to live here. If you want to ask any question to Daniela, you can contact her at [email protected]

BONNIE, CANADA

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My name is Bonnie and I am 60 years old. I am from Burlington, next to Toronto in Canada. We travel quite a lot with my husband. Lately, we have visited most of the Caribbean Islands and Europe (Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, France…). But it is my first trip to New York, even though it is the third one for my husband. We are staying five days in New York.

We went to the MoMA, to the Museum of Natural History, to the Guggenheim Museum. We took bus tours downtown and uptown, and we went on a harbor cruise. We also plan to go to the Empire State Building and to Central Park. We really enjoyed the MoMA because you can see lots of works from famous artists such as Picasso, Matisse, and Warhol. We didn’t attend any temporary exhibition though. We are planning to see a Broadway show tomorrow, but we don’t know yet which one. We’ll go to TKTS to see what is available at a reasonable price. We went to a very nice Cuban restaurant located at 27 W 38th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues. There was an entertainment the night we had dinner there and the atmosphere is very good, the service is excellent and it is not expensive. Overall, we found New York very impressive. We feel like we didn’t have enough time to see everything and I think that you have to come back over and over again to see it all here. The harbor cruise was really our best experience: the panorama was so wonderful! However, we had a bad experience with the New York CityPass because we though we won’t have to do the line but these are not tickets, so we still had to do the lines! If you want to come to New York, stay in Midtown: you have all the restaurants, all the attractions, and it is convenient to walk everywhere.

JENNIFER AND DEREK, MICHIGAN (US)

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Jennifer and Derek are 33 and 29 years old and usually go away twice a year in the United States for vacations. They already went, among others, to Miami and Los Angeles, and decided to spent 5 days in New York in August.

During their stay in New York, they visited the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum, the NBC studios and the Yankee Stadium. They also went to Central Park. But, as a fan of baseball, what Derek preferred was the Yankee Stadium. Their best experience in New York was when they took the Circle Line ferry to go to the Statue of Liberty because the sights were very nice. However, their worse experience was to wait in line during more than 3 hours to attend David Letterman’s show, and security finally cut the line just I front of them! They were planning to go to the HA!, which is a comedy club located on 163 West 46th Street. On the all, they really like New York. In five days, they went pretty much to all the places they wanted to visit. They recommend doing tours because it is very interesting to have explanations on the places you are visiting. They also found the subway very convenient: their tips is to take a look at the lines when arriving in New York and then to use the subway as much as possible. They will definitely come back to New York, but before coming back, they would like to visit other cities.

NORMAN, ARIZONA (US)

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My name is Norman and I am 67 years old. I am from Scottsdale, Michigan. I am staying 6 days with my wife in New York. But, it’s not my first time in New York! I am retired, so I have plenty of time to travel. We come to New York once a year and I also travel a lot to Europe (Sicily, Amsterdam, Barcelona…).

During those last 6 days, we’ve walked a lot: we’ve been to Greenwich Village, Central Park, Battery Park…We also love Chinatown. My wife is shop-addicted, and you have every shop you want here in New York! There are Street Fairs everywhere in town on Saturdays or Sundays, and you can have nice bargains and buy some nice jewels for Christmas. We also love to go to the restaurant, but above all, we love going to the theatre! We’ve been to two excellent restaurants: Brazil Brazil, located at 330 West 46th St, has Happy Hours and you’ll pay only $4 for a Mojito; the Bangkok House, located at 360 W 46th St, serves Thai food. I would recommend both of them. Every time we come to New York, we try to go to the theatre as much as possible. We’ve seen The Color Purple, Wicked and The Drowsy Chaperone. Wicked was phenomenal and we saw The Drowsy Chaperone twice! You can win the chance to pay only $25 for front row tickets for about half of the Broadway shows: just go to the theaters 2 hours before the show and enter you name for the lottery! It’s really worth it. Of course, we’ll come back again next year! If you want to ask any question to Norman, you can contact him at [email protected]

ELLIOT, NORTH CAROLINA (US)

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My name is Elliot and I am 57 years old. I moved to North Carolina one year ago but I used to live in New York before and still have my daughter in New Jersey. This time, I stayed in New York three days with my wife. I try to travel as much as possible since I am retired (Canada, Panama, Aruba, Hawaii…).

Since I am originally from New York, I didn’t want to visit anything in particular. I just walked around the City. I am also a big fan of Music Halls! I have seen about 50 Music Halls in my life and lately, I went to see Tarzan and Jersey Boys. Jersey Boys is the best music hall I have ever seen: there were five standing ovations! We also went to two restaurants: Carmine, which is a very good Italian restaurant, and McCormick & Schmick’s, which is a seafood restaurant. At McCormick & Schmick’s, the food was excellent, the atmosphere very good, but the service was bad! I love Broadway shows, so my best experience was just to attend Music Halls. My worst one was the service at McCormick & Schmick’s! I definitely recommend coming to New York to see some Broadway shows, to see the Statue of Liberty, to have a boat ride in Battery Park, to visit the Village and Chinatown! There are so many things to do here that you have to keep busy! Don’t be afraid of taking mass transportation, it is safe and very convenient! Just make sure to find a nice hotel with a Continental Breakfast included and other amenities, because New York, along with San Francisco and Hawaii, is one of the most pricy cities in the US, but you want to see it! If you want to ask any question to Elliot, you can contact him at [email protected]