10 ROOKIE MISTAKES to avoid in New York City

If you follow me on Instagram, you know we LOVE adventuring to new places (check out our hashtag #52adventures!) . But what we don’t love is wasting time or money, or making other dumb tourist mistakes in new cities (trust me I’ve made my fair share). So please learn from these 10 rookie mistakes and those we’ve seen others make, so you can get the most out of your next trip to New York City.

Spending your whole trip in the high traffic tourist areas within a 4 block area of your hotel. We stayed in midtown and while there are great things there you shouldn’t miss: Central Park, Broadway shows, and MOMA, to name a few, if you take the initiative to explore other neighborhoods, you get to discover more of what makes NYC truly unique. A favorite neighborhood of mine was the lower east side- we went in the morning, and visited Russ & Daughters for the best bagel spread ever. Worth the long wait! We put our name on the list and wandered the neighborhood in the meantime!
Taking only tour buses instead of the subways. A tour bus is okay to orient yourself to the main route through town, but you miss so much! Plus it only goes one direction, so can be inconvenient if you have to be in a particular place at a specific time. I feel like the best way to experience a city is to go to the places the locals go. Plus it’s a much more affordable way to get around.
Overplanning. If you schedule too many events- especially if you have to be there at a particular time, that can be very stressful when you find yourself caught in traffic, or in long lines. This happened to us trying to get in to see the Hilma af Klint exhibit at the Guggenheim before it closed. We did make it in the nick of time, and it was fantastic, but very stressful getting there.
Not spending enough time in the green spaces and parks. Manhattan is surrounded on all sides by water and in addition to the the famous and spectacular Central Park, offers many other wonderful places to go for a stroll, listen to birds, and commune with nature. Bryant Park, Battery Park, Washington Square Park, and the High Line are some of the spaces where I was able to re-set my brain when feeling a little over stimulated from the noise and crowds.
Letting the weather stop you. The day we planned to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was cold and rainy. We debated about cancelling our plans, but we had brought rain gear (helpful tip: bring rain gear!) and there was no lightning or terrible winds, so we went for it, and had so much fun!! It would’ve been a mistake to hold back. Plus the best part was we missed the crowds!
Not researching ahead of time to find more unique opportunities to do the things you like to do. Thankfully, this is a mistake we did NOT make, as we both like searching the internet for cool stuff to do. This is how we discovered the King’s County Distillery in Brooklyn. We made new friends there and had so much fun we decided to skip seeing one of the touristy attractions we had planned to see. Which leads me to next mistake that we thankfully were able to avoid on this trip…
Powering through your list of touristy “must sees” when you’re tired or hungry or you’re having fun and want to stay where you are a little longer. I did this the first time I was in NYC, and ended a particular evening being able to check one more thing off the list, but wishing we had lingered longer at MOMA and Bryant Park instead.
Ignoring some of the coolest architecture in the world. Don’t forget to look up! I’m a huge fan of Frank Gehry, in particular (we have a great building on the University of Minnesota campus, in fact) and so we looked up directions beforehand, and got to see at least two of his buildings.
Feeling overly disappointed about not getting into a show everyone says you should see. I admit this was how I felt when I couldn’t get tickets to see Hamilton. But you know what, after I got over myself, I looked for another play, and I couldn’t be more happy with that choice. We saw Dear Evan Hansen with John’s niece and absolutely LOVED it! We got burgers and shakes at the Shake Shack afterward and celebrated our great choice!
Thinking you have to see everything in one trip. We had such a great time, and look forward to seeing new things that we didn’t get to see this trip, and are looking forward to returning.