NYC Travel Checklist

bigmaz

Heading to NYC on Friday with the kids, paranoid I've forgot something, in terms of getting there.  I have sorted:

ESTA's Approved
MPC App ready to submit when we arrive at JFK
Passports all up to date
Flying with BA, so have submitted all our details
Check-In starts online tomorrow

Anything else I may be missing?

eskbanker

Do you have multiple methods of payment with you, in case of card loss/theft/block?
Do your banks need to be notified of travel?
Sufficient roaming arrangements on your phones?

bigmaz

eskbanker said:

Do you have multiple methods of payment with you, in case of card loss/theft/block?
Do your banks need to be notified of travel?
Sufficient roaming arrangements on your phones?

Got a few methods of payment yes.  Monzo said they don't need to be told, I went on to do that the other day, thought that was a bit weird...  It is the same for Chase.
Got a Uswitch esim each for roaming.  Got 5GB each, pretty cheap TBH, should be enough for us for a week.  I've told the kids no streaming outwith WiFi, 

Thank you very much for the reply, really appreciate it

Cressida100

I flew into JFK five years ago and I was a bit surprised at exactly how crazy it was trying to get a taxi on arrival. If I was going again I would try and pre-book one. It was just a bit of a shock after a long flight. Have a great time! 

bigmaz

Cressida100 said:

I flew into JFK five years ago and I was a bit surprised at exactly how crazy it was trying to get a taxi on arrival. If I was going again I would try and pre-book one. It was just a bit of a shock after a long flight. Have a great time! 

Thank you, really looking forward to it…

Ive booked us a private transfer, full size SUV

jimi_man

We went in Jan this year and had a great time. We used the subway from the airport to Manhattan. Was fine on the way there, it was late afternoon and was nice and busy. On the way back to the airport we were picking up a hire car to drive down to Washington and we got on the subway around 10am to the airport which I wouldn’t recommend. Once we’d left Manhattan it quickly emptied and the four of us were left with a drunk who was asleep and had urinated himself and a shouting woman who proceeded to get changed at the other end of the carriage as she’d also messed herself and kept looking at us. We couldn’t move carriages as they were all the same, so we were very glad to get off!!! 

It’s fine around the Manhattan area at busy times but be selective. Tbh we did a huge amount of walking. 

The SUV transfer sounds just the ticket. 

A little .. err … tip around tipping. In NY in a lot of places, you give the card to pay the bill they take it away and debit it and then bring the bill back for you to add the tip by writing in how much you want to leave, which they then debit again off your card later on. However this doesn’t work on U.K. cards like Monzo and Revolut - something to do with them not letting multiple transactions on the card. So no matter how much you leave (and we tested it!!) it will never get debited. My son goes once or twice a month and assured me it’s still the same. So probably better to leave cash if you want to tip. 

Enjoy your trip. 

400ixl

Cressida100 said:

I flew into JFK five years ago and I was a bit surprised at exactly how crazy it was trying to get a taxi on arrival. If I was going again I would try and pre-book one. It was just a bit of a shock after a long flight. Have a great time! 

Its probably the least crazy. You go to the official queue where the person running it finds you the right sized vehicle. 
That way it is a fixed cost.

Getting involved with any of the illegal cabbies touting for business should not be done.

Saying that, getting the air train to Jamacia and swapping to the subway is cheaper and quicker.

DullGreyGuy

jimi_man said:
So probably better to leave cash if you want to tip. 

Tipping is as close to mandatory as is humanly possible without it actually being so and you will be given the 10th degree if you dont tip, most will still leave a "small" (10%) tip after bad service. NYC isn't as bad as some other states, minimum wage is £12/hr but that includes tips and many places pay almost nothing unless the staff are unable to get £12/hr in tips in which case it has to be topped up; 7 states have £5.50 minimum wage inc tips. 

Most bills come with pre-set options of 15%, 20% and 25%, have seen some with 30% too, if you get a glass of tap water at a bar you're expected to give a $1 tip despite no charge for the drink.

Remember that prices displayed dont include sales tax, its 8.875% (so nice and easy to do mentally) rather than the UK's 20% so better in certain respects but it confuses a lot of Brits who see a price tag of $10 and expect to pay $10 not $10.89.