Visiting New York City can be an exciting and unforgettable experience, but it’s important to be aware of the unspoken rules and customs that can help make your trip smoother and more enjoyable. In a recent video, travel vlogger Jon Barr shares 15 common mistakes that tourists often make in NYC and provides valuable tips on how to avoid them. From navigating bike lanes to walking etiquette on busy streets, Jon covers a wide range of topics to help first-time visitors make the most of their trip.
One key piece of advice Jon shares is to be mindful of bike lanes and to avoid standing in them, as cyclists in the city can be quite assertive. He also emphasizes the importance of not blocking pedestrian traffic on busy streets, as it can frustrate locals and hinder the overall flow of foot traffic in the city.
Another important topic Jon covers is Broadway etiquette, urging visitors to refrain from using their phones during performances and to instill the same respect in children attending shows.
Tipping is another commonly misunderstood aspect of NYC travel, and Jon provides valuable insights on when and how much to tip at restaurants and bars. He also sheds light on the recent changes to tipping policies for food delivery services in the city, offering practical advice to help visitors navigate these new rules.
Additionally, Jon provides valuable insights on how to dress for the unpredictable weather in New York City, emphasizing the importance of being prepared for sudden changes in temperature and wind conditions.
Overall, Jon’s video serves as a valuable resource for tourists looking to make the most of their time in NYC while avoiding common pitfalls and faux pas. By heeding his advice, visitors can enhance their experience and make a positive impression on locals, ultimately creating lasting memories of their trip to the Big Apple.
Watch the video by Here Be Barr
Visiting New York can be intimidating for first timers and there’s certain unspoken rules and Customs that newbies tend to break many times without realizing it in this video we’ll share all of them and even a few bonuses so your next trip here is free from any embarrassing or possibly expensive
Mistakes as a tourist you are far more likely to get hit by a bike than you are by a car in my 13 years living in New York I have never come close to being hit by a car and two or three times I almost got hit by a bike and I wasn’t
Even walking in the bike lane always be aware of where the bike lanes are in the city because the cyclists already have a chip on their shoulder for so many cars and pedestrians ignoring this if you stand here and try to take a photo or just don’t pay attention to it best case
Scenario you’re going to get a warm New York City welcome and learn a few new curse words worst case scenario you are going to get crashed into and it is going to be very painful and this video is not sponsored by any kind of travel insurance so you just don’t want to get
Into that so sometimes it’s a little bit tricky to find but the easiest way to find the bike lane is to look down like this and you can see it or better yet see where all the cyclists are heading but never ever stand in the middle of this this drives locals crazier than
Anything and is one of the main reasons they love to avoid the Time Square area and that’s traffic flow and how to walk properly on a congested City street now this actually takes a little bit of effort if let’s say you have four people in your group what you don’t want to do
Is walk all four across because you are going to be stopping all the people behind you from walking around you need to be in groups of two maximum and right now Time Square is not that busy because it’s February but if you’re here during a peak period you will understand
Exactly what I mean and this advice goes for all of New York and what you never ever want to do is stop in the middle of the sidewalk to take a photo or to look for directions that is the quickest way to get New Yorkers angry at you and
Later on in this video we’re going to talk about some similar Concepts Underground on the subway I’m going to share a firstand experience that occurred about a month ago when I went to MJ the musical and this is about Broadway etiquette now I was surrounded by many tourists and halfway through the
Show there were about two teens sitting next to Adriana and I and they started to play with their phones in the middle of the show and let me tell you when it’s super dark in a theater and somebody’s looking at their phone it is completely distracting and disrespectful
And shame on those parents for not realizing what was going on the big unspoken rule here is do not play with your phone during a Broadway show and if you’re a parent make sure that your children have the attention span to sit through an entire performance or find
Out if there’s an intermission or not to avoid situations like that and if you need even more Broadway tips and tricks check out the video we shot with a Broadway Insider giving you the lowdown car mines fine Italian dining which brings me to tipping which is something that so many tourists get frustrated
With visiting New York it is such a source of complaint that I’ve even dedicated an entire video to this foreign American concept of tipping but the number one spot I hear about tourists having problems is not even at restaurants it’s at bars because you are dealing directly with the bartender and
If you do not leave a tip for your drink you’re going to hear about it my general rule of thumb is tip $1 per drink some say $2 per cocktail the bartender will be much nicer to you as well a simple rule for restaurants tip 20% of the
Pre-tax total on the bill assuming your service was good enough you know look I understand the frustration out there because in many other countries servers are paid living wages but in the United States they live off of tips and while I might not personally be a fan of it I
Still adhere to it because when you visit another city another country you have to do as the locals do something brand new in New York if you are ordering Uber Eats or door Dash delivery to your hotel they have pretty much cut out tipping this is a recent change
Where they’ve just raised fees now they have a screen where they only suggest a one two or $3 tip after the order has been delivered and I know many New Yorkers now who just don’t tip anymore on these apps because the drivers are getting $30 an hour and the fees well
They’ve got up the weather every new yorker’s favorite topic take it from me as somebody that films Outdoors all the time and relies on weather reports daily to know when to film the weather in New York City is extremely volatile first of all Manhattan you are never far from the
Water so you could catch yourself walking on a street that just has a crazy amount of wind and it’ll feel 10 to 15 degrees cooler so I’d say between November even to April sometimes even into May having a light jacket with you a sweater always a good idea another
Thing is the rain I try my hardest not to film when it’s raining even last week at the last minute rain popped up into the forecast and we had some of it for about 2 to 3 hours and I was completely unprepared having an umbrella with you
At all times never a bad idea an unspoken rule that every New Yorker knows so well many times from bad experiences is never accept anything thing when you’re walking especially in Midtown Manhattan this is how the majority of the scams that we’ve covered on this channel occur don’t say yes to a
Monk handing you a bracelet to somebody handing you a CD to a pamphlet to somebody holding a clipboard just keep your eyes lock to head avert your gaze that’s the best advice I can give anybody in New York and if you need even more advice on avoiding scams in the
City watch the whole video we have dedicated to it supporting local businesses I know how easy it is when you travel to go to franchises like Dunkin Donuts behind me to grab a coffee when you’re in a rush rather than going to one of the local Street carts and
Getting a coffee from a vendor that really relies on the income more being a New Yorker and I think visiting New York is all about supporting small local businesses like that and I encourage you to go out of your way to do so and supporting local businesses is definitely something that’ll really make
Your trip to New York a lot more memorable In some cultures it’s just common place for locals to stare at you well in New York it is the complete opposite minding your own business is something that native New Yorkers especially know all about so if you see somebody acting erratic doing weird
Things don’t stare don’t point at them just don’t get involved because if you look at somebody it could be a trigger for a confrontation or worse a signal that you even want to fight so make sure that you do not stare at strangers here and don’t get involved in Conflict here
Unless you absolutely have no other choice and don’t take a picture with a Hulk and expect him to not charge you 20 bucks for it don’t take an Uber or a taxi when you can take the subway to get there faster and don’t take the subway when it’s quicker and easier to walk
This unspoken rule is broken all the time now I would say if you’re considering taking an Uber or a taxi between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. it’s almost always faster to take the subway inside of Manhattan and a lot cheaper let me give you a good example
If I’m at Grand Central and I want to get down to Battery Park you can take the express 45 and get there in 13 minutes five stops that same Uber ride is going to take you 25 minutes probably more with traffic and cost you $30 to $40 versus the
$2.90 you would pay take in Subway Manhattan is so well connected by Subway that this example holds true in almost any way you could think of between Midtown to lower Manhattan and when it comes to walking during peak hours when traffic is terrible don’t even think about hailing a taxi and even sometimes
Waiting for the subway could be 10 minutes or more if it’s crowded walking down the steps is all going to eat up your time and if you could just walk 15 to 20 minutes I always advise walking unless the weather’s bad and since you’re going to be riding the subway
Underground there’s some unspoken rules we definitely have to go over let me repeat this for the 10th time in the Channel you do not need to buy a metro card anymore it is now official even at JFK airport the airra supports Omni pay which is contactless payment from your
Phone or even from a card with a chip now my wife’s brother was visiting from Mexico recently and he was asking me all about this and I said as long as you have this enabled in any way shape or form a metro card is completely useless
To you right now all you need to do is tap your phone or tap your card and you’re in buying a metro card I think it’s just an extra step right now look you don’t need a metro card the metro card machines even tell you you don’t
Need a metro card anymore right from the horse’s mouth okay so when you’re going up an escalator in a subway station in the city always stay to the right cuz if people are in a rush they’re late for a meeting they’re late for court I don’t
Know what they want this Lane here open do not stand to the left unless you are walking quickly another unspoken rule broken all the time and it’s really just courtesy is when people are getting out of the subway do not block the doors stand to the side let them exit and then
Go in and you would be surprised how often I see people breaking this simple rule even locals the subway intercom is likely going to sound like a toddler babbling right when you need it most or the train track noise like this is going to make it impossible to hear what the
Next stop is always be paying attention to how many stops you have left if you don’t know the city well even a few weeks ago I missed my stop cuz I zoned out it happens to everybody don’t rely on The conductor’s Voice Street unless it’s clear like that if the subway is
Super crowded during rush hour one Advance tactic is what I’ll call pre-walking is when your station is approaching standing up and moving towards the door because if you wait till the last second you could run into a sea of people head on to the train
Right as you want to get out so if you have the time get up right as your stop is approaching on a busy busy train respecting neighborhoods and this goes beyond the obvious like not littering I’m also talking about your volume and your noise if you’re going out at night
And going to bars now I used to live at that apartment right there in Greenwich Village for almost a decade and I can tell you that on weekends the volume from outside was enough to wake you up unless you had a fan or white noise going and people would sometimes even
Open up our garbage area to use the bathroom that being said always paying attention when you’re out and not being super noisy on the street late at night is going to be very considera of you when there’s people sleeping who have to go to work the next day another unspoken
Rule is if you are going to celebrity houses or even places where celebrities used to live like Richard Gear’s old townhouse behind me which sold for over $10 million in 2007 if you’re a huge Richard Gear fan you can take a photo of it that’s fine but don’t peer into the
Windows don’t open the gate don’t stand on their Stoops realize that people live here and be respectful of that Richard Gear lived there Sandra bulck and win tour from vogus somewhere here I lived on the Poor Side of the Street let’s talk fast serve restaurant etiquette and
I’m actually standing in front of my old Deli here in the village if you go to a deli a bodega a pizza spot and there’s a long line make sure you know your order before you get to the front step out of line if you have to because if you’re
Going to be asking the worker 50 questions while there’s 30 hungry construction workers behind you you’re going to be in for some trouble that is one thing respecting people’s time if it’s busy check the menu first I’m going to throw one more bonus tip out there if
You’re at a small casual eery let’s give an example shua fujo cuisine in chinat town they don’t have a ton of tables and they’re always super busy what you don’t want to do is sit there after your meal for 20 minutes just chatting if people are waiting for tables if you’re at a
Finer dining establishment take your time they’ll let you know if they need the table but if you’re at a small casual place see if people are waiting for tables and don’t sit there and chat for 30 minutes after and this is something that goes against a lot of
Cultures I know even my wife in Mexico loves to do what’s called sobre Mesa after her meal sit there and chat you can’t do it at all New York eateries especially popular ones where people need the tables if if you’re not from the US especially Latin America or
Europe listen closely a lot of tourists run into issues with ordering alcohol now one mistake they make is not bringing ID with them if they look anything under 30 I even sometimes get ided if you go to a restaurant and you order a beer have either your local ID
With you or your passport just in case and that advice goes for bars and clubs almost every bar in the city IDs no matter how old you love now something cool about New York versus where I grew up in northern New Jersey is you can buy
Beer at CVS you can buy beer at bodegas you can buy beer at deli’s and at a lot of them you can even buy single beers from a sixpack which isn’t that common everywhere else in the US now that you’ve gotten some of the unspoken rules down what about saving money because
Visiting New York is expensive enough and in this video I share my top 50 free things to do in the city these will surprise you a lot watch this next
Video “15 UNSPOKEN Rules Tourists Keep Breaking in NYC” was uploaded on 02/16/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Here Be Barr on Gretopia