Walking Holidays New York State: Fill & Download for Free

It was pretty shitty and awesome.The shitty:Rent’s too damn high - I was sharing a studio with 2 guys near the Upper East Side. When a 1 bed unit opened up, we moved in and brought in another one of our friends because the rent was ridiculous. A Mayorial candidate ran his platform on the “rent’s too damn high” motto.Food’s expensive as F - When I moved to NYC, a chicken chipotle bowl was $6.25 in CA. In NYC it was $8.25.It’s crowded and dirty - Probably because there’s 8M people living in a small part of NY state. Still blows my mind why so many people decided to stay on this tiny island of Manhattan.The people - Nobody is trying to make F.R.I.E.N.D.S in NYC. People can be superficial and cutthroat, only befriending you if you have some sort of social status. While it’s a huge city, it’s also a city of strangers. Took me a while to find a solid group of people who I could call friends.Lifestyle - Super fast paced. Feels like time goes 2x faster in NYC than any other place. People are working 60 hour weeks and can go many months without even seeing the sun (come in around 7am and leave around 2am).The awesome:The seasons - NYC is beautiful in the fall, cold as F in the winter, lively in the Spring and hot as F in the summer. The holiday season was my favorite - you could really see the city light up with smiles and giving.The diversity - You can meet all kinds of people and eat all kinds of food. When I went to Chinatown for the first time, I thought I was back in China. Got to practice my Mandarin.The bustling - There’s a lot going on in NYC from the political to the financial to the media. There’s no shortage of events/things to do. Many times, I would find myself immersed in some sort of event just by walking around the city. One time I took a company car home at 3am and saw the city still lit up. It’s truly a city that never sleeps.The subways - No cars needed, just take the subway to get around. The subways are super convenient and runs all night. You learn to develop a love/hate relationship depending when you take the subway and what subways you take. For me, the G train played hard to get with me at times.The people - Not all people are mean. I found a good group of friends in Brooklyn and a great squad through church. People are generally receptive if you put in the effort to show them that you care.While it was tough living in NYC, it was a great life experience in hindsight. I learned a lot and met a lot of really diverse and smart people. I can testify that if you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere.If you’re in your early 20s, go suffer and live it up in NYC :)Me and bunch of clueless 20-somethings with their big boss Mayor Bloomberg.

How does quality of life compare? Some people like Mercer Rankings to answer that question -- but I prefer the more personalized approach.I've lived in central London for the past two years, after having spent the better part of a decade in NYC (specifically Manhattan).First, this is absolutely critical to say and it's almost never stated in these comparisons: whether you're married with kids, coupled up, single, younger, older, a university student or professional will greatly, in my opinion, inform your opinion of both cities, and very likely be a determining factor in what you love and hate in each. In both cities, I was a single professional with an above-average, but not luxurious by any stretch, lifestyle, and that is my basis for comparison and this entire answer is based on the following:How do the two cities compare in terms of quality of life for a single professional in their 20's or 30's?Compared to NYC, London feels very much like a very large, sprawling suburb. You'll both love and hate the quiet, sometimes empty feeling you get in the streets of an international metropolis that sometimes feels like a small town. The parks, the long rows of residential housing, the often "we're closed right now" feeling was what first 'shocked' my New Yorker sensibilities."You mean I can sit quietly and not hear music blaring, people talking, car horns and emergency vehicle sirens?" was a good feeling and a pleasant adaptation compared to life in NYC, specifically noisy, crowded Manhattan. There are parks everywhere, while green spaces and peace abound. In Manhattan, if you think it's a good day to lay in the park, chances are that a thousand people who are not you are nodding in agreement and are already there waiting for you.In London, you sometimes get lost walking through twisting and turning arrays of residential housing stuck together, endlessly pretty but devoid of any open shops or restaurants. The locals know which side street to go down to find a place to eat, but you won't.It's hard to explore London without the Internet, GPS on your phone, and friends to specifically tell you where to go -- or just a lot of time. We're comparing this to New York, where the density of bars, restaurants, clothing shops, coffeeshops, music venues and everything else is like nowhere else: just plant yourself in the right neighborhood and you're set. London, though, demands a lot more investment of your time before spontaneity can be rewarding.If you're from a smaller city and you come to London, you'll really be blown away by the cultural options and the nightlife, and you won't imagine ever leaving. If you come from a place like the Lower East Side or the East Village, you'll wonder if you've just ended up in a New Jersey suburb: you'll hear: "Sorry, the kitchen's closing at 9:30" on a Friday night in a restaurant and look at your friends in bewilderment, "Sorry, last drinks, ding ding" at 10:45 on a Saturday night in pub because you weren't in one of the very tiny list of pubs open past 11 or 12 that your sarcastic Yelp buddies all wonder why you don't know about, and then you'll walk around at 1am on a weekend with your friends around Picadilly Circus, wondering why even the falafel and pizza places are totally closed, and trying to prevent your friends from going to McD's which to you is a sign of defeat (an empty stomach is a sign of victory in comparison).In London, you can find most of the same things - arguably all of the same things - as New York City in terms of nightlife... but you're very unlikely to know about them on day 1. Even on day 1001, you'll be dependent on the right circle of friends and an on-your-phone or in-your-head list of late night hotspots to achieve the same degree of nightlife that The Big Apple tosses onto your plate, and that's due to a mix of early closings and geographical expanse. Social life in London is achieved by some precarious balance of luck, the right social circles and exploration stamina. In New York, the social world tends to be a lot more in-your-face and dependent on your openness. If you move to London from New York, simmer down into introversion (especially if you are American, lest you get tossed into a 'loud American' stereotype bucket). If you move from London to New York, up the ante in your extroversion, or people might look past you. New York will challenge you to challenge yourself, whereas London might try to tame you in an English style.The Tube is salt in the wounds to this quasi-suburban city's vast size. A gilded institution, the Tube will impress you with a clean, brightly lit, civilized presentation: cushions on seats, tiny time intervals between trains with accurate next train times. No homeless people, crazies and strange smells like the mineshaft experience of NYC's subway system, with its screeching metal roar. On the other hand, every single Saturday and Sunday morning you'll be checking the TFL website, seeing which of the several lines are regularly being shut for maintenance. You'll be looking at your watch during every outing, because Last Train is a major deal, most of your friends bail at that time, even on the weekends. I really feel that if the Tube were a 24/7 operation, or even an operation past 12:30 on the weekend, it would totally change London. NYC's transit system has almost twice as many stations (468 v. 270) and more track length (656 [due to track doubling] v. 209 mi), and manages to stay afloat, and the commuter pays much less (120 GBP/mo vs. $112). Did I mention that the Tube's 100% closed on major holidays? What if I told you there are signal failures and emergencies every day (some lines like the Jubilee and Northern seem to have constant issues), and they're likely to affect you regularly?NYC's transport system may not be as pretty, but it'll get the job done for you in a far faster way. The express trains zip you at a higher speed, on a separate track, in a way that London can't do with its single track system. Tourists might tend to prefer the Tube due to its aesthetics, but daily commuters are rarely enthusiastic about the experience; sometimes it's hard to remind yourself that you're stick mid-tunnel, or you need to get out and walk, because the system you're on was build in 1863 and was the first in the world. New York's subway system first opened in 1904, was partially external, and has large tunnels today. So much the better to fit double the track (mitigating the effects of outages and maint work) and - later - air conditioning units. They're also not deep within the earth's core, where it's hot and far.Buses are ubiquitous, but a one hour commute on the drunk bus is one of the last things you want to be doing at 3 am on your way home from a small several-mile journey. Buses are a doable alternative to the Tube ordeal, if you're a patient person at night. That said, your personal quality of life goes up quite a bit in London if you find and memorize some of the bus routes near your home. You'll find that indispensable as another transportation option. On the flipside, the NYC (MTA) buses are horse-drawn carriages by comparison to the red double-deckers, and I'm not just talking about the aesthetics. I'd rather not get started on the train system - let's just say that while the UK's suburban commuter train system is often criticized for reliability and high cost, the variety and routes are 50 years ahead of the sad NJ Transit and MTA equivalents, with their overrated two, overcrowded train stations. London is light years ahead on commuter rail, and on intra-city busing as well.Taxis are -- at the minimum -- double what you're used to paying in NYC's yellow taxis. They also get to stop and ask where you're going before taking you in. "Sorry, mate, not going that way." NYC's taxies are better regulated in favor of the consumer, they're everywhere, and super cheap. Just hold your nose because sometimes the vehicle smells like it's been transporting a goat, and don't interrupt the driver's bluetooth headset phone conversation by thinking he's addressing you, and you're set. I should add, so long as you don't get bitten by something that crawls around on the driver's back seat.The nightlife is regularly touted as being far superior in London -- you'll Google all those online magazine editorials pitting the two giants, London and New York, against one another, and read how cutting edge the nightlife is in London. It's top notch for electronic music artists and dancing, which is what a lot of people typically do on the weekends. It's a club-oriented nightlife, with pubs not being a place you can typically stay late at. If you're a clubber, as many people here in London are, you might be one of those who thinks the nightlife just isn't crazy enough in NYC, where a smaller subset of the population goes clubbing (and they call themselves clubbers if they do it weekly). If you're one of those people who likes to chill in bars and lounges til very late, like me, then you'll prefer NYC's nightlife. Compared to NYC I felt a lot more beholden to schedules ("get in before 8:30 sharp or it costs 20GBP, we close at 1:30"), long travel distances and a queue or connection to get in to the places, especially the ubiquitous 'private clubs' like Home House. Londoners like their feeling of individual eliteness and exclusivity on the weekend when they go out, whereas in NYC you might find the nightlife more freewheeling, less bouncer-at-the-doorish and less of a Big Deal. If you want a Big Deal type of night out in NYC, you're more than welcome to piss your money away on 'tables' and 'bottles' in the ubiquitous clubs of that nature; we definitely won't bump into each other, because the other 90% of the nightlife is more appealing to me.Drink-wise, wine and beer seem to be a lot cheaper in London, but cocktails seem expensive and the liquor carefully measured; they also fill the glass with crushed ice, and when it's full they put another scoop of crushed ice on top, and you can't stop them! There's no tipping culture in London, so you save money, but the incentive to speed things up isn't there, so you wait longer. Pro bartending seems less common except at the priciest venues. On the other hand, the not-so-pricey venues are (tautologically) more value for your blood-alcohol level..This is very important: culturally, the most obvious difference between New York and London is how accessible strangers are. Your mileage may vary, but my experience was that it's a big no-no to talk to strangers in London. Most of your friends will be from work, friends of friends, and other trusted sources. In New York, you can easily walk up to a group of people in a bar and crack a joke. You can chat up a waitress, exchange a funny complaint or pleasantry with a stranger on the subway. In London, some people get away with it, but I never could. I always found myself accidentally talking to a group of best friends from uni in the club, a hostile Polish waitress in the restaurant, the dry cleaner who never learned my name after two years. Socially, London made me really miss New York. On the other hand, I've frequently heard (and this seems to be my experience) that social circles in London tend to be smaller but tighter, friendships more scarce but perhaps more serious. What I've just said is extremely subjective, and even more so when you compare the experience of an expat versus someone who grew up in one of these cities (and aren't most of the readers transplants or potential transplants?)For a Londoner, the American smile is plastic, and the positive chirpiness is an eye-rolling irritation. In many ways, New York is more of a socially gilded city, where it's important to show your individual prowess, your loud voice and your confidence with a jack-hammeringly headached degree of exuberance. You'll hear how the guy in the table next to you loves his job that he's successful at, as his deep voice booms to his date -- and the entire restaurant. You'll have a waitress tell your her name, smile a big smile, and ask how your day went. It is a bit fake, and sometimes a bit irritating. New York takes narcissism and individual competition to an extreme - every day is a work day, a gym workout and a boast. Everyone plays music -- and they play it loud enough for you to hear it. More guys compete for alpha status, more women for attention than what you might be used to. The English are a lot more balanced in that regard, and in some sense: more real, more self-deprecating, more down-to-Earth.More real or no, the lack of social cohesion in London can be a serious dealbreaker if you think of settling here. It's a very introverted place, and you're expected to keep to yourself and avert your eyes. Is it English Reserve? Possibly. Or perhaps mistrust?Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't rain a lot in London. However, there are two aspects to the climate that you'll either hate, or not care about. One is that winters are grey -- very grey. The sun, in mid December, rises late at its peak (past 8 am) and goes down just after 3. There's an endless, endless overcast sky so frequent that sunny days have a marked effect on people's good humor, and it lasts 3-5 months. It's also very humid, meaning the air is dense, meaning cold feels cold and hot feels hot. It never gets very cold or very hot - but the 'real feel' temperature is something the weather forecasts talk about, and which really matters. As of now, it is April and last night the real feel was about 18oF (that's about -7 or so C - it is unusual but oh-so-painful). New York has viciously cold winters where for a few weeks you stay inside, viciously hot summers where you wish you could stay inside for a few weeks, and lots of stuff in between. The stuff in between is very nice, the stuff on the edges can be a bit harsh. There are, however, four distinct seasons, so it's not "mild" but more interesting. The heat can be a challenge to some in NYC. The grey is a big challenge to many in London (vitamin D supplements and frequent trips overseas are a must).Work culture wise, London gives you 4-5 weeks minimum vacation, and this is a vacation culture. A small, chilly island necessarily dictates frequent trips to places like Spain, Italy, Greece, and so on. That's the highlight of life in London, the simplicity and cheapness of travel -- and it's very cheap (picture: a round trip to Italy for 60 Euro on a long weekend).The work culture is the Achilles' Heel of quality of life in New York, and America in general. Most people are lucky to get three weeks vacation, and you don't have the same job security. Moreover, until something changes politically, health care is tied to employment. You no workie? You can get sick and die, for all we care. That's the message, and you either love it or you hate it (I choose the latter, but then again those are my politics). Long hours are slightly more the norm in New York (although a Londoner in a role/shift that spans NY and Asia time zones may dispute this). On the other hand, most people (myself included) report that salaries are higher in NY, and the cost of living a lot lower. If you're skeptical, this link (Cost of Living Comparison Between) should help.I wish the two could be intertwined somehow: New York's 24-hour energy and happiness, combined with London's calm and love for seeing the world.I truly feel that both cities are fantastic experiences. Both cities have more in common than differences. And consider lucky to be able to choose EITHER one, much less both of them. They both are full of international people -- and contrary to other responses in this thread, please throw away the idea that New York is "American" and London is "less English" or "more international". They're both neither and both, as you'll find out. You'll hear a thousand languages every day in both cities.If you're an American, be prepared to be surprised by the number of preconceptions about you when you move to London. People here may travel a lot, but they also watch too many movies. If they still don't reconsider, then just threaten to shoot them, as is commensurate with your (British expression used in the media) "gun culture."It goes without saying that an American in London will be less appreciated than an Englishman in New York, especially considering that many people (including many British and non-British residents of London) hold strong ideas about Americans based on what they've seen/'know' from the mass media.If you're considering moving to New York, be prepared for a faster pace of life, for a lot of noise, and for chaos. Londoners, I'm talking to you: there's chaos, and I promise society doesn't collapse when there aren't a lot of rules, hours and regulations -- especially social rules -- you'll see. You'll be struck by how much dirtier things are, in particular. Remember that NYC (and perhaps America in general) is a practical place, and enjoy that things will 'just work' (see the Tube vs. subway comparison above).There's one item where London comes ahead - cleanliness. Tossing litter on the ground is highly frowned upon in London, where you scarcely see garbage cans and rarely see piles of garbage bags in the streets (that's recycling you're seeing). While London isn't perfectly clean, when compared with NYC, where tossing disused tissues and food wrappers onto the sidewalk is like some sort of unconscious flaunting of individuality, you almost feel like you could eat off the sidewalk.Crime-wise, both are low, but New York is statistically a lot lower for petty crime. Murder-wise and gun-wise, New York is higher, but it's more class-based. Unless you plan to live in the South Bronx or East New York or Canarsie, you're probably safe. London LOOKS safer, but there's more muggings, sexual attacks and violent assaults. New York LOOKS more dangerous, but women feel safer here than most other places they come from. However, the experience of most people is that of safety and comfort in both cities.Housing-wise, London comes out on top. More choice, six month break-out clauses, and furnished apartments are totally the norm. New flat, old flat, house, back yard -- it's all available for you, with a wide variety of housing for a lower cost (to rent) in many viable neighborhoods. NYC has high rents, an impersonal slumlord mentality and not a lot of tenants' rights. This is mitigated somewhat the further you live from the popular neighborhoods.Here's one I feel strongly about. Despite another comment or two about London being less commercial than NYC, I feel that this is very wrong, and perhaps based on ideas about American capitalism, movies or politics. London is far (far, far, far) more chain and corporate owned pretty much across the board than New York. Both have chains, but only one has a chain for everything: London. Your friend's fav restaurant? Chain. Pub? Chain. Eye care center? Chain. Dry cleaner? Chain. Not my cup of tea, but even the strip clubs here are chains. Why? I don't know what it is, but it's very sad and a quality of life issue that goes in the top 10 list. Let me repeat it: London a lot more uniform and corporate all over the city, whereas NYC has corporate chains in some (many) parts, but a hell of a lot more small businesses, unique bars and restaurants, and a general 'let me make my idea come true' attitude. In many neighborhoods in NYC, almost every single restaurant and bar and dry cleaner and clothing store ISN'T a chain. On the other hand, London is one of the most dynamic cities in Europe, so it's very much a relative comparison.Restaurant-wise, there is a big controversy out there on the interweb. I've tried many restaurants in both cities, and I prefer the variety, lower costs and more pleasant service of New York. In my opinion, NYC has this beat. First, while it is true you can find very good restaurants in London, it's incredibly geographically dispersed where they're likely to be: they can be in Angel, Soho, Shoreditch, they can be in Putney, and they can be in Walthamstow Village, they can be anywhere. If you pretended these places weren't miles apart, you could argue that London has incredible variety to choose from; the question is, how much do you value your time? The density of high-quality international restaurants in midtown, East Village, Williamsburg, SoHo, etc., frequently open late and every day, will make your palate explode. Second, the table service is far less interested in your 'restaurant experience' than you might experience in NY (and I would argue even Paris). I think you're far more likely to enter a dining experience with a waiter/waitress who isn't ashamed of openly hating his/her job in London than NYC; again, if my experience is any indicator. However, I find the cooking-at-home experience and supermarkets far superior in London for their variety, freshness, quality control and wide variety of EU products.Finally, since you came here looking for a comparison, I'd like to suggest -- again, based on my observations -- the following. If you're single, stay up late, like going out to eat and drink, want to live a younger lifestyle no matter how old you might be, and value random interactions with other humans, NYC might be your thing. If you're married, or have a social network before arriving already, or want to spend a lot of time traveling, or have family in Europe, or prefer leafy suburbs to crowded cities, perhaps are a morning person, then London might just be your cup of tea.That's my contribution, or at least I hope you've felt that way if you've gotten this far. ;-)Edit: this question was originally another, and was completely re-written. Would love for Quora to allow a deletion + a rewrite (with rankings reset), but it doesn't.

I had just landed at JFK after being away in Europe for school. After 5 months of being away from the States I was a bit homesick and happy to be back during break for the Holidays.After disembarking the plane and walking down the incredibly long corridor to Customs, I'm filled with smiles reading all the NY State advertisements, Big Apple logo in ENGLISH (I was in Barcelona the whole time) and just plain happy. Wearing my NY Yankees cap and in a genuine chipper mood I wait in line to be called up next. As I approach the customs officer.Me:It's such a wonderful day, it's so glad to be welcomed back and I missed this city.Officer #37:“No one welcomed you back and officer #37 didn't miss you at all.” Said in a deadpan NY accent while looking me square in my eyes…Me:“Well f*ck you too and have a nice day Officer #37”Officer #37:“Likewise, here's your passport. Move Ahead”My European Euphoria had dwindled,but I continue on to baggage claim, still holding on to a semblance of a smile.My brother called and said he's outside the terminal. As soon as the doors open, I see my Brother pull up and a Taxi cuts him off. Immediately my hot-tempered sibling goes on a cursing rampage, and the cabbie responds likewise.No longer smiling and with the European euphoria worn off, I began cursing at the cabbie too. I flipped him the bird which may or may have not proceeded me kicking his car.As me and my brother drive off, he finally acknowledged me and says “Welcome home and good to see you, don't ask me to pick you up again”This people, is how a faux-European Cosmopolitan morphs back into a Regular.A true NY welcome.