Just got home from New York City

I'm a country boy born and bred. Live on a 150 acre farm because I don't play well with others. My youngest daughter has been wanting to go to NYC for years, always told her"no". My health is deteriorating so I agreed to a 3 day trip.
Took a train from Richmond Virginia to NYC. First train ride for me except for amusement parks.
We had a great time and I realized that I am guilty of being too closed minded.
Make no mistake about it, I would never want to live there but we all made memories that will last forever.
The memorial waterfall where the twin towers used to stand was very humbling to say the least.
Saint Patrick's chapel was a sight to behold that no pictures could do justice.

I guess I learned to not be so closed minded and wherever you go if you treat people with respect you get the same in return.
Great trip, pleasantly surprised.

Nice place to visit, not to live. Glad you had a wonderful time!

Everybody needs to go for a drive there about 7:30 a.m. with a 53 foot trailer thats 8 1/2 feet wide

I am glad you enjoyed it.

My dad said he ran a load down to the docks in NYC once. Only once.

The Verrazano bridge from Jersey into Brooklyn has lanes so narrow that in a semi you literally have a steer tire on each lane divider. Bumper to bumper traffic is more common than not. When you get into Brooklyn thats when stuff gets gets really tight.

I never been as a tourist. Get edgy just thinking about going.

Last time i went was to movie set out on Long Island. That was not to bad. I went real early. Left on the G.W. bridge about 10 A.M. Most of the traffic was still coming in. Went right on across.

I live about an hour - hour and a half north of the city but work down in the city and north Jersey all the time and absolutely hate it. I guess if you never grew up by it, I could see the fascination, but between the horrible driving, the traffic, the scum bags, the crack heads, the smell of pee and garbage, the homeless standing in the middle of traffic pan handling, the prices for anything, it’s just enough to drive you insane. Not to mention as an electrician for att and Verizon wireless, and having to go into all these disgusting basements, it’s a wonder why anyone would want to visit that place. Not to mention two weeks ago I was trying to get access to a building for an att site audit, and got caught in the middle of police guns drawn and swarmed around me to arrest a guy who stabbed a chase bank security guard in the neck. I constantly walk around with my knife opened in my pocket, as I am sometimes working in places where I’m the only white person for as far as the eye can see and I’m not going to be another statistic. I, my friend, hate that place !

Been to the Newark and JFK airports on the Uncle Sam plan. That's as close as I ever want to get.

Tcap I would quit my job if I were you! Or conceal carry and tell
Att to pound sand if you need to use it.

I’m not into the big cities or the like so would probably never go there
But It’s good to hear stepping out of your comfort zone worked out for
You.

Glad you had a good trip..

It’s so stupid in New York City you can’t carry inside the city. Dumbest thing ever, once you cross into the city you’re now committing a felony for unlawful possession. Even if I did carry and actually had to use that I’d be arrested and with a hard dem/liberal state I’d never see my family again. Yet the thugs that shoot kids and sell drugs get out the next day. Even having a blade is a crime down in the city but I’m able to say it’s for my job purposes. Nothing like stripping legal gun owners of their protection and putting them in a city where the illegal firearms are everywhere, with people who don’t care about anything but “being a hustler”. It’s about time that place burns to the ground

Born and raised in NYC, best view I ever had was the last time seeing it in my rear view mirror....'91.

I'm in the same boat. I generally avoid cities as much as possible. My daughter is a world traveler and is routinely stays in DC between assignments. She has talked this old country bumpkin into visiting several times. The sights and sounds are truly fantastic. All the national museums, the zoo, the botanical gardens, the Maine Ave. Fish Market, Chinatown and on and on. I even talked her into taking me to a roller derby once in a seedy area of town for some low-brow entertainment.

And the people-watching is amazing.

I've been to some other big cities here and abroad but DC has been the most interesting so far.

Great places to visit, but like you said, I'd never want to live there.

The public transportation systems in big cities baffles me. I can find my way by moonlight to any particular spot in the woods easily but I'm lost in the city. Thank goodness she understands it. Watching her punching in info and selecting subway destinations with practiced ease amazes me.

That's why you have to hit it at 5am---particularly the GW bridge.

I was born and raised in Alabama, prefer the country over big cities. I’ve traveled most of our country and avoided the larger cities. I went to New York last year for business and was really amazed. The Manhattan area was very nice, much cleaner than I expected, and everyone we met was very nice. It was nothing like the perception I’d held all these years. The history there along with the 911 memorial was really cool. Everybody should go at least once.

I'm glad you guys had a great time.

I won't volunteer to go places I can't carry. Stinks because I would love to see the west coast and big trees.

I was born in NYC.Worked on Webster Ave. in the Bronx, Jamaica, and Bedford Stuyestant, Brooklyn. The place is awful. I left there in 1966, thank God. I'm a country boy at heart. I remember when they built the Verazzano gangplank, all the people from Brooklyn moved to Staten Island thinking they were moving to the country. If I never see that place again it would be too soon !

I'm glad you made good memories

bed-sty is not on the guided tour agenda.....

Always loved going there with a load of chicken having 19 stops. NOT!

Hauled a lot of scrap to detroit out of a scrap yard within shouting distance of bed sty. One of only 2 times i had to have gun in hand was out front of that scrap yard about dawn waiting for them to open

First time i hauled out of there i got there about 10am. Was a diner cross corner. I had to wait out on the street. A wino looking character came and told me for 3 dollars he would watch my truck if i wanted to go eat. “Anybody mess wit it I joog a hole in em. I mean it. Gots my blade right here.” I did not pay him or go eat

I loved to visit NYC back when I was a young man. The size, height, and depth of that city is quite a sight to behold. I truly believe "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." "The city that never sleeps" for sure. It's wonderful to go there and see something so different from what it is like at home. The first time I drove under the Hudson River and popped up in Manhattan was just an amazing experience. It's an exciting place and we met some very interesting people and had some great experiences there.

And, I think you are quite right that people are about the same everywhere you go. If you treat them with respect, they generally reciprocate. There's good and bad people everywhere you go.

No way would I want to live or raise a family there. But it's quite a sight to see, for sure.

Now... when I went to visit San Francisco... YUCK! I hated EVERYTHING about that city, except visiting Alcatraz island. Couldn't wait to get out. Everyone told me what a beautiful city it was and that was what I was expecting. NOT SO!

There aint 10 cents difference in any city I ever been to. Rich people areas with lots of LE. Middle class areas with some LE and poor areas with lots of crime and drugs and very little LE.

St. Louis is much nicer than Louisville. I would much prefer my farm was near St. Louis instead of Louisville.

I often tell people that comment like this, we are not mountain goats. Just because we were born on that mountain, don't mean we have to liive there the rest of our lives! lol There are lots of jobs in telecommunications all over this country. I would not stay there for two more seconds.....but what ever floats your boat!

Glad you all had a good time
That place is not for me. My youngest lived in that cesspool for 7 years. The first time I was ever there, we entered through the Holland Tunnel. We went about 3 blocks and we saw the Geico cave man. Remember that dude? One of a kind. There he was walking down the street wearing a dress. Looked at the Mrs and my daughter and said I don’t belong here. I did what I had to do for my daughter, but I’ll never go back

When the show Shipping Wars used to be on, it was surprising how many of the haulers would shy away from shipping anything either to or from NYC.

The crime alone would keep me away. If you are attacked in that screwball city, you would have to be beaten to a pulp since you would be arrested if you try to defend yourself and injure the perp.

Spent a week in Manhattan a few years ago.Stayed at a hotel on times square.
Wife had meetings at the UN so I spent the days walking around.Its a small place(manhattan island) milage wise to what i am used to.I walked all over the island in the week I was there.Walked down to where the towers used to be,and walked north up to Grants tomb and harlem.
Spent a couple afternoons at the Museum of Natural history-my favorite place.
The hotel was very nice.All the local people were very talkative and always seemed to be looking to get something,lots of people on the hustle,some agressive that had to be told to --- off..It didnt take long to figure out the locals from the visitors.
The locals always made eye contact. The visitors went out of their way to avoid eye contact at all costs.
I stared everyone in the eye.

I wouldnt live in a place like that but I would visit again to check out other museums and stuff like that.

Mr. Clifton you and I both are long time members of this site and I have always respected your opinion and still do. This was not my first trip to NYC but it was my first time as a tourist. Like you I have been there several times for work and it was no fun at all. Leave your 53 foot tractor trailer at home and try it again as a vacationer. You may be surprised.

I’m glad you had a good trip! It’s good that you were about to change your perspective and even better, admit it. Lol

I wouldn’t want to actually live any way other than I do, which is more private than most Americans can comprehend, but boy oh boy, I love visiting big cities. Like you said, the people watching is amazing.

Perhaps the nice folks you ran into were other vacationers. lol

I know some people that live in NYC that are friendly. I have met unfriendly people in NYC too. Truck drivers have it rough in NYC.

There are trucking companies that specifically tout No NYC in their recruiting efforts.