[Closed] Anyone lived in New York?

A mate did for a couple of years. He was chased into a shop by a knife wielding mugger on the first day, got attacked by a tramp for accidently cycling over his cardboard boxes, ran over a bloke in Harlem who stood in front of his car pointing a gun at him. And then the twin towers collapsed. But apart from that I think he enjoyed himself.

I lived in New York for about 3 months nearly 10 years ago so not sure how relevant my experiences are to the city currently but here goes:

1. Its awesome. You really do feel like you're living in a film set. Loads to see and do and just people watching is fascinating.

2. Its super expensive. When I was there rents were astronomical and I can't imagine its changed much. You don't get much space for your money. You will really have to consider living off Manhattan. Consider Queens, Staten Island or Brooklyn. We nearly moved to Queens and its got some lovely neighbourhoods, parks and bars. Eating out can be done fairly cheaply.

3. Difficult making friends. Its a very cliquey place and we found it really hard breaking into established circles of friends. Obviously if you are working there or have friends / family that will make things easier.

4. The Americans. Even in New York I found most Americans to be very conservative. Also expect to work hard if you have a job. They don't get nearly as much holiday as we do and the corporate culture is highly competitive so you'll be expected to put the hours in.

Hope that helps.

Selling the move there, ian!

Only up state in Rochester, but that is a different world.

New York is an amazing place every time I have visited I can not get over how busy it is 24/7. If I had the opportunity I would do it in a flash.

i lived there for three years but like mdb a while ago now. i didn't find it expensive at all. rents can be a problem but that's life in the city and you can always move further afield. i had no real problems mixing with people but it tended to be withing the social structures that were already there. if you go across expecting it to be anything like englandshire you're in for a rude awakening.

mdb is right about the americans. they're a funny bunch. i didn't mix with them much but in ny you don't have to as there's so many immigrants.
i never had any problems with violence or the like and view it as a bit of a watershed time of my life. i'd definitely go if you have the chance.

Thanks, all. That sort of rings true to what I'd been thinking. I do worry about the riding, though....! After all, from the centre of London I can be out having fun in Swinley or the Surrey Hills very quickly, as well as being able to gun down the M4 for some playtime in Cymru.

Hmmm. Needs more pondering!

Theres some good bmx trails there apparantly.,.. Youre never to old to start

Lyons, no need to start, still riding BMX!

I lived in NYC and also Newburgh on and off for a while - just because I had a project there. I loved the food - quite cheap, a lot of variety and good sized portions. I'd probably try to live Upper West side if in Manhattan. Not sure about mtbing but cycling around Central Park has it's moments - actually I could just see you going around there on some Rollerblades....

I'm hopefully going to pop over for a long weekend to see an old friend, really looking forward to it ( she doesnt knwo i want to take a bike with me, might not tell her)

I don't know whether to be be pleased or disappointed. I'd do the US for a while, but it would have to be West Coast for me. No experience of Noo Yawk but the people I know who loved it have led me to believe I wouldn't like it.

Mudshark, I'm not that way inclined! You know what they say the hardest thing is about rollerblading? 😉

Darcy, it's an odd one, isn't it? Quite an upheaval, but I have heard so much good stuff about it (As well as quite a lot of bad, to be honest!)

I lived out there for the 3 years preceding Sept 11th. Lived in Manhattan in Union Square 14th and Broadway. Worked out in Queens. I was in my early 30's at the time, single and I absolutely loved it.

I was lucky to be offered an Expat contract with my company, so all my living expenses (rent, bill, health insurance) were covered by the company. So the money thing was not really an issue for me, that said many of the other Brits who were out there with me managed to live in Manhattan paying their own way.

I would echo what mdb said about making friends. I found it difficult with the real New Yorkers, many lived outside the city, and I think most of my new American friends were from the West Coast who found it a much of a cultural change as myself.

Not great for biking - unless repeated laps of Central Park is your thing and even then too many runners and skaters. We use to take the LIRR out to long island to explore (still road stuff), I wasn't much of a MTBer at the time. But this then took most of the day up.

If you really enjoy city life and nightlife then there can be few places that can better NY, and it is sort of a once in a lifetime experience.

I came back because my elderly father was ill and perhaps for the last 6 months I was commuting pretty much each week between the US and UK; but I was also starting to find it a bit claustrophobic living in the city - I was either in the city or x thousand miles way either in the UK or some other American city/state. There was none of this jump in your car and in an hour or so you can be in somewhere completely different that you can get in the UK.

I am really glad that I got the opportunity to live and work there, but equally now I like my much more relaxed life in SW London. I would happily go back for a relatively short fixed term, but not for an open ended commitment like last time

We are thinking of a long weekend there at easter - may be a daft question but will all shops etc be open over the bank holidays?!

I'd consider taking a look at the towns up on the Metro North Railroad.

Greenwhich, doubt that's cheap, Stamford, Rye, etc in Connecticut.

It's a simple 50 minute train ride to Grand Central from Greenwhich, and it's got a beach, and if you end up living there it's got a residents beach on an island, it's the business!!

Go take a look.

I've got 5 nights in NY coming up in June, can't wait!

I went there once for a long weekend and loved it, found the Americans there great, whether any of them were 'New Yorkers' or not I have no idea.

Maybe LCD Soundsytem said it best

[i]new york's the greatest if you get someone to pay the rent
wahoo north america
and it's the furthest you can live from the government un huh huh
some proud american christians might disagree
here in north america
but new york's the only place we're keepin them off the street
boo boo now we can't have parties like in spain where they go all night
shut down in north america
or like berlin where they go another night, alright, un huh un huh[/i]

we live in nj, summit to be exact,, its 45 mins by train to penn station there are a few parks around for mtbing but there is nothing like the legal byways of uk all land is owned and there is no public right of way anywhere i have found, i drive 30mins to a park near me there is a good 5mile loop and if i go 45mins away i can ride for miles in a huge park its all single track or rough fire roads with techy bits in it, road riding is good out here but you need to avoid busier areas, americans are crap drivers and think that each one of them has a divine right to drive a car anywhere, the locals are really friendly here and easy going havent come across the clique set yet maybe i move in to low a circle