Heading into my trip, I had this notion that all New Yorkers were rude people who pushed and shoved others to get to where they needed to be. But that turned out not to be the case for all.
How does the big apple fair with Raincouver
By Mo Hussain, Contributor
On December 14, I flew out of Vancouver for the first time in over two years to take a much-needed vacation. To where you may ask? New York City. I stayed in New York City for nine nights, and there were a lot of aspects that stood out to me.
Here are three noticeable aspects that stood out in NY as a Vancouverite:
SIZE
One aspect of New York City that was distorted because of all my life experience being in Vancouver, is the sheer magnitude of the city. When I go out to downtown Vancouver, I only usually go out to Granville, B.C. Place/Rogers Arena, Coal Harbor, and English Bay.
When I went to New York, I was subconsciously applying the same formula over there. I stayed in an area of Manhattan where Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Hudson Yards, and Herald Square were pretty close to me. After Iâd seen all those attractions, I just presumed that I was done with the city.
It was only until a lengthy walk on my last day in the city that I realized Iâd barely scratched the surface. There were areas like Grand Central and Central Park that were all the way on the other side of the city. There are also other cities to check out like Brooklyn, Little Italy, Chinatown, and even the state of New Jersey.
PACE
New York City isnât nicknamed the âcity that doesnât sleepâ for no reason. The crazy amount of people that flow through the streets, trains, and malls every day is something Vancouver could never prepare you for.
Throughout most of the lower mainland, thereâs usually an unofficial curfew that the entire area abides by. But I never felt that in New York City.
If I was bored after 11:30 pm, I could easily walk over to a food cart, deli, or pizza place to grab food and walk around the city late at night.
The thing with New York City is there are always people either working late, tourists who want to make the most of their stay, or New Yorkers who just want to walk around and have fun. Thereâs rarely a time where the city doesnât have a good amount of people walking around.
After my experience in New York City, I donât think I could perceive downtown Vancouver as âbusyâ again.
FRIENDLINESS?…
Let me preface by saying that New Yorkers donât go out of their way to help you. But most of them are willing to if you just ask.
Heading into my trip, I had this notion that all New Yorkers were rude people who pushed and shoved others to get to where they needed to be. But that turned out not to be the case after all.
For example, whenever I needed directions on their complicated public transit system, staff and other people always helped.
Whenever I needed to break a bill into coins to get on public transit, some businesses owners would be very accommodating in helping turn a bill into coins without purchase.
So the next time you go to New York, make sure to take notice of those three aspects. The size of the city, the pace of it, and how people arenât as bad as you think.
