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ht=”225″ />If you’re reading this, then chances are you survived the great New York Hurricane of 2011, Hurricane Irene. Luckily, your New York hostel wasn’t damaged; there was no flooding or anything like that.

While New York is low-lying, it’s also a giant piece of granite. So the foundations of all the buildings are safe, because not even a category five hurricane can move bedrock.

If you plan on visiting New York and staying at a New York hostel, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best and that you’ll be safe. Since the state

was colonized by the Dutch, there have only been 84 hurricanes, which averages about one every four years or so. So if you missed Irene, you probably won’t have to worry about another any time soon.

Same goes with the earthquake. Earthquakes in New York

are very rare, and are hardly ever have a magnitude stronger than a 5. Since they affect a larger area than those that occur on the West Coast, they are generally weaker as a result.

So if you’re planning to stay in hostels Manhattan anytime soon, you don’t have to worry. The fact that we had an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week means we probably won’t have any other natural disasters any time soon.

ight=”200″ />Walking around after you’ve left your New York hostel is a pretty good way to take in the city. Okay, you may want to choose a specific area

to explore. You don’t have to know what you want to see, though. If something catches your eye, follow it. You don’t have anywhere to go, you don’t have to be back at your New York hostel anytime soon. You’re free.

But, you may protest, I want to DO something. Well stop at a museum on the way home. Here are the best neighborhoods to explore in an afternoon:

Soho/NoLiTa: Beautiful people, expensive shops and nice cafes. What’s not to love?

Upper Madison Avenue: When you get tired of (window) shopping, walk over to Central Park or Museum Mile.

Bedford Ave and Williamsburg: Funkier and more affordable shopping. Great coffee nearby.

The Meatpacking District/Chelsea: The High Line makes other cities jealous. After, check out the galleries in Chelsea on 10th and 11th Aves. from 23rd to 28th.

The West Village: Picturesque streets and quaint restaurants. Walk straight up Bleecker, or over to the Hudson.

When you’re too tired to keep walking, hop on the subway and figure out the best way to get

back to your hostel New York. Only if you’re really tired can you take a cab.

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ht=”236″ />When you arrive at your

New York hostel, your mind will swim with impressions. Why is everyone so mean-looking? Are the subways dangerous? Can I eat the hot dogs off the street?

The answers to these questions are, respectively, because New York is about space, and everyone’s personal bubble is a little bit smaller and more easily infiltrated than anywhere else in the U.S. (and most of the world); only late at night at the end cars typically in the outer boroughs; and yes, but make sure to ask for onions and sauerkraut and relish or else he’ll only give you mustard and ketchup.

You may have other questions and for the answers to those, you can talk to pretty much anyone who makes eye contact with you. Although New Yorkers have a reputation for being mean and wanting people to

stay out of their business, they’re actually quite amicable when approached, which you will be able to tell by the flocks of people asking if you need directions when you hold open a map trying to find your way back to the hostel NY. Just take it to the next level and ask the guy sitting next to you on the subway about the best places to be when you’re outside your hostel NY.

When staying at

your hostel NY, you are closest to the 6 train and the NRQ. The former is the only line that runs the east side of Manhattan, while the latter is the Broadway line, transversing the city to the West Side by Times Square. This means that you can pretty easily get around town.

This weekend I took the train to Brooklyn for Smorgasburg, a food festival held every weekend next to East River State

Park. There are food vendors from all over the city and attractive people bustle all over the place.

Nearby you can take a ferry uptown to Greenpoint, Long Island City or 34th St., or downtown to South Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the South Street Seaport, or Governor’s Island. It’s a commuter ferry and it cruises at about 15 knots down the East River. It’s the only way to get to Governor’s Island and it’s beautiful passing underneath the bridges. Tickets are only $4, and you get to tell your friends that while in New York you were on a boat.

The best part is that you can get to any of these pickup spots via the subway lines close to your New York hostel. Check it out, and make sure to wear sunscreen.

>Once you arrive in

free credit score report your hostel NY, you’re probably going to be hungry. You know New York has a great selection of top ethnic restaurants but you don’t have too much cash to spend on dinner. You want some old fashioned Italian comfort food. That said, where should you go?

Obviously, there’s little Italy. This is probably your best bet. Look for the most recent Zagat signs for top tier food and service, but typically any Zagat rated restaurant within the past few years will be delicious.

There is Italian sprinkled throughout the city worth trying, but if you really want an adventure, go to the new Little Italy on Arthur Avenue, in the Bronx. It’s a half hour ride from your New York hostel without delays. It can be a haul, but it’s well worth it, especially for those on a budget. Prices are usually considerably cheaper than those in Manhattan; and plus you get to go to the Bronx, a borough vastly different from all the others.

When it comes to a slice of pizza, Joe’s right off 6th Avenue and Bleecker is pretty awesome. And if you want to head to Coney Island, check out DiFara’s on the Q train. It’s five bucks a slice, but if you’re with a friend, you can easily share a pie for twenty-five bucks. It’s definitely the best in the city; anyone who tells you otherwise hasn’t been.

tel ny

” width=”300″ height=”225″ />The United States can tend to be insular, especially the farther away you go from the coasts. But the most international city by far in our great country is New York. To not know New York is to cut your nose off to spite your face. It is a place where you can just as easily find a well priced hostel New York as you can a five star hotel, if you have the money for it.

It is a creative, financial, and industrial center and is a nonpareil jewel in the crown of global cities. Perhaps London comes closest to it in terms of renown. The reason for these two cities’ greatness is in large part due to their public transportation and New York gets the upper hand, having mastered the 24 hour operation.

Right now the title for global city goes to New York. If you need a hostel NY,

choose one downtown where the center of youth culture is still. Coupled with Brooklyn, which is experiencing a renaissance of its own and is arguably

the most artistically vibrant part of the world, now is the perfect time to stay in a hostel New York.

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Tompkins how to save money on car repairs Sqaure Park

You’re probably pretty excited about your trip to New York. And rightly so, after all it is one of the world’s biggest cities. Make a list of what you want to do, and make sure you include more than possible in the amount of time spent in your New York hostel.

While making an itinerary is important, it’s also important to be able to go with the flow and break from those once rigid plans. Meet some strangers, discover unexplored cafes, and try new things–that’s what traveling to a big city is all about.

If you’re in the mood for something relaxing–doing something without actually doing something–go to Washington Square and look past the majestic arch and up 5th avenue. Feed the pigeons and then walk east, where you’ll surely see some characters, to Tompkins Square, to watch the skateboarders ollie traffic cones.

Don’t be upset

if you don’t do everything on your list. There’s always next time. And I bet that when your friends come to you to ask what to do while staying at their hostel NY, you will be able to give them all kinds of cool tips about hidden gems. Have fun, and prepare for adventure!

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Bowery, ca. 1910

While staying in your New York hostel, it helps to know some historical facts about the area.

The Financial Center downtown was the first neighborhood in the world to be created solely for financial purposes.

Manhattan was

gridded in the early 19th century.

A long time

before the lofts and penthouses, the Lower East Side and the Bowery were areas of low-income housing for poor immigrants. Steven Crane wrote a famous novel about a poor Irish girl called Maggie: Girl of the Streets, located on Bowery.

CBGB, once located at Bowery and 2nd, stood for Country, BlueGrass and Blues. Bands such as Television, the Ramones and Patti Smith played in-house in the ’70s and soon the club acquired a reputation for playing punk rock music. It was a scene for new bands such as Blondie and Talking Heads throughout the ’80s. It closed in 2006.

A walking tour of Bowery, the East Village, SoHo and Chinatown is a great way to spend an afternoon. There are lots of great restaurants and cafes in the neighborhood as well as interesting people to meet. And best of all, most of these sites are literally a stone’s throw from your hostel NY. You don’t even have to take the subway.

into your New York hostel and you look downtown and see that

big building being constructed. What is it? The new World Trade Center.

In case you didn’t know, it’s going to be 1776 feet high. How cool is that? Already the glass facade has been installed up to the 40th floor and

the tower steel is nearing the 70th. And that’s just Tower One, otherwise known as the Freedom Tower. Right now it’s verging on being one of the taller skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan, and over the next few years it’s going to start looming.

The Memorial Plaza is nearly finished and will be ready to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

I’m excited to see this new symbol of American strength and New York business rise above lower Manhattan.

So when you are journeying from your New York hostel downtown to the South Street Seaport or the Brooklyn Bridge, check out the new World Trade Center.

>My friend is visiting New York for the first time from the West Coast. She’s staying in a New York hostel and she asked me what she should

do. At first, she said, she didn’t want to do the touristy stuff, but now that

she’s here, why wouldn’t she?

Standing beneath those lights in Times Square is incomparable to anything in the western world (though in Tokyo I’m told they have about three areas like it); Central Park and Strawberry Hill are must-sees; and I’m sure it sent chills up her neck to see the same Statue of Liberty her great grandparents saw when they came to Ellis Island at the turn of last century.

So after we did all that stuff, I took her to some of the lesser known spots: Grimaldi’s underneath the Brooklyn Bridge; Curry Hill on Lexington and 28th; the best espresso in the city at Gimme Coffee! She started to get a good idea of all that New York has to offer. Yesterday we just kind of walked around the East Village, where her hostel NY is, smoking cigarettes, eating, drinking, living the good life.

Tomorrow she wants to go to the Met and the day after we’ll go to the Bronx Zoo. Tonight for dinner we’re going to Chinatown!

I love having visitors, especially when they’re staying at a conveniently located hostel NY.