Exploring New York City with Kids

My first impression of New York City was not a good one. It was primarily because we flew in during the peak of the morning rush hour. We took the subway with all of our luggage and our three miniature humans. It. was. crazy. Now looking back, I just laugh and shake my head. We must’ve been quite the sight to the locals! Three kids is considered a lot to anyone in the east coast, but taking the subway with all three kids AND lugging bags is just plain absurd! haha Oh well, it was part of the adventure and we all came out alive!

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Welcome to New York City! This will be an adventure!

Side note: I really lucked out with my husband. I mean, REALLY. He is excellent at planning and directions. We survived New York City because of him. Simple as that. (He’s working on a post about his experience at New York soon and I can share that link with you.) Once we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we went and rode a double-decker tour bus around the city. It was a ‘hop on, hop off’ type of bus where you can ride for as little or as long as you want. They stopped at every big tourist attraction and a tour guide informed us about the city along the way. The company is called Big Bus and I highly recommend them to anyone! We were all exhausted from our red-eye flight and subway adventure, so we stayed on that bus all day, only getting off a couple times to eat. It was really nice! We saw a lot of the sights and took little naps from time to time.

After I got past the initial shock of the busy city life, I was able to adapt and live in the moment. We had a 3-day pass through Big Bus, which included a ferry ride around Lady Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge. It was the perfect package because we saw all that we wanted to see and the buses were very dependable and friendly. The kids really loved riding the bus because we got to sit on top, so we hardly heard complaints. I’ll talk more about them in a bit.

Now. Lady Liberty. Breathtaking! I’ve seen millions of pictures of her, but being there in front of her was exhilarating. I imagined what the immigrants must have felt when they saw the first sight of her. She is beautiful and, by far, my most favorite thing in New York City. And, hello, my daughter’s name is Liberty! So, she was equally as excited and has been waiting to see her as long as she can remember. It was a perfect memory!

Overall, it was a great trip to NYC! Just keep your kiddos close-by at all times and try to slow down enough to enjoy the sights. Look below for some more tips on how to enjoy New York City with little kiddos.

What I learned about New York City on this trip:

• New Yorkers are nice!
  We’ve all been told that the people of New York are mean and impatient. Our experience was contrary to that rumor. They always took the time to treat us politely and were sweet to our kids. Although they all walk around the city like drones, they do it because they’re focused on getting where they’re going, not because they want to ignore you. On one of Brandon’s trips to the convenient store, he did an experiment where he greeted as many people as he could along the way. To his surprise, all except one kindly returned his greeting. I really believe that everywhere we go, there will be good people just trying to live good lives.
• The Subway is inconveniently convenient.
  The Subway is by far the fastest way to get around in New York City; HOWEVER, it is a pain in the you-know-what when you have a stroller and bags. My advice: don’t even bother looking for the elevators! Take the kid out of the stroller and carry that bad boy up and down the stairs. We learned this the hard way. Elevators are ridiculously hard to find down there and when we finally found one, it was broken. Go figure. They are doing a lot of construction in and around Penn Station, though, so things may improve in that department.
• My kids are tough!
  I’m not kidding! With the red-eye flight, they only slept 4 hours and we immediately started the touring when we got there. We walked a lot, ran out of water about a million times a day, and the weather was HOT. They remained happy through it all and the complaints were very minimal. We would go to bed late, wake up early, and do it all over again. When I thought that they couldn’t go any further, they’d surprise me and push through it. It’s like they were born to travel!
• I kind of want a selfie stick! (Brandon, don’t divorce me!!)
  Everyone and their dog had a selfie stick in New York City. haha At first, I was making fun of them, but now when I’m looking at my selfie pictures, it makes me wonder if the selfie stick could’ve made them better. I’m definitely not one to follow crowds; in fact, I would usually deny wanting one just because everyone else is doing it. I enjoy being the outcast, but in this case, I’m 99% sure their selfies with Lady Liberty turned out better than mine!
• Slow travel is the way to go!
  When we get too busy, I turn into a crazy mom. I don’t like to think of myself as a control freak, but maybe I am. I like to make sure my kids nap when they’re tired, eat when they’re hungry, use the restroom when they need to, etc. When I’m worried about them, it’s hard to enjoy myself. Jumping from airport to hotel and then hotel to airport takes a lot out of little ones…and their parents. After this crazy trip, Brandon and I both agreed that we need to keep it slow if we’re going to make this work. We need to stay longer at places, so we can take our time. Phew, glad we got that settled!

That’s all she wrote – we did it![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]