Fastest. New York Tour. Ever.

A few weeks ago I was working in New Jersey for the week and the area I was both staying and working in was incredibly boring. There were plenty of places to eat but as far as finding things to pass the time, there was next to nothing. But luckily enough for me, the NJ Transit train station wasn’t that far from my hotel so hopping on the train and taking an excursion into the Manhattan was easy enough.

Unlike most weeks when I am on the road for work, I had a colleague with me. He was shadowing my work getting ramped up to do the same kind of work I do. Although he’s done some travel of his own, he’d never been to New York City. Being a massive fan of the big apple, I told him that we’d have to go into town one night that week before our work wrapped up so he could at least get a little bit of a glimpse of what the city has to offer.

When class was done on Tuesday afternoon, we headed back to the hotel and during the drive, I asked what he’d like to do and sure enough he said we should go check out the city. I told him it would be a crash course in NYC but I could give him a quick tour. He agreed and after a quick change of clothes, we set out to go find something to do in NYC.

We parked the car at the Secaucus Junction train station and headed inside to snag tickets. Driving into the city is something that has never bothered me, and is an adventure all by itself, but between the cost of the road tolls, the tunnel tolls, and midtown parking, it made a lot more sense for us to just take the train into the city. Plus, a round-trip ticket from there to the city was less than $10 so it certainly made more sense money-wise.

I had been there the day before and had to pay the $30 for parking because I had arrived in the morning. Thankfully since it was evening, the cost of parking was considerably less. A quick pop down to track A and within a couple of minutes we were on the train and heading into Manhattan.

Given my colleague had never been there, and we only had a few hours, our options of where to go and what to see were limited. There wasn’t going to be any Broadway shows, sports games, or any major events. This was going to be a quick hit on the closest things we could see in a limited amount of time.

Popping out of Penn Station onto 33rd St, we headed over to 7th Ave and started walking north towards Times Square. As we walked along the street, my colleague, Baxter, was fascinated by the sheer amount of people wandering around. It was also immediately apparent how “fast” the city is. People walking around in NYC are always in a rush to get where they are going. For anyone who takes the slow pace to try and absorb everything around them, it can be a bit of a shock at first.

As we passed 43rd St, the Walgreens on the right signaled to me that we should cross the street towards Broadway and continue north. I’d spent countless hours in this area and knew he’d want a photo in the middle of Times Square. About a block later, he starts looking up and taking a few photos here and there of the famous crossroads.

I shared a few stories of having seen television programs being filmed here including Person of Interest and God Friended Me. But since we were on such a tight timeline, we circled the square quickly then headed up 45th towards Grand Central Station.

GCT is a spot that I rarely return to when I’m in NYC mainly because it tends to be one of those attractions that once you have seen it, there;’s no real need to return. I find myself only passing through if I am showing the city to someone new, or if I have to change subways here.

Even though I don’t visit often, it is still quite the sight to see. We snapped a few photos then headed downstairs to make use of the restroom. At this point we were both starting to get a bit hungry but didn’t feel like sitting in the mass of people chowing down in the dining concourse. It was back upstairs and now time to head up 45th to 5th Avenue and on to Rockefeller Center.

The Center was an easy pick to bring Baxter to because he would have recognized it from countless movies and TV shows. It’s also one that was a bit more meaningful to both of us as the company we work for actually had held a “gala” in the center several times.

The photo seen here was taken a few years back. When our yearly conference was over, the company I work for rented the square for our private gala. It was one of the more memorable locations to have a party, especially given that everything above the center itself was still open to the public which meant there were a ton of people looking down and wondering who we were.

Baxter took a bunch of photos and reveled in being in this iconic spot. Shortly thereafter, we headed north along 5th Ave as we had one more spot in the area I wanted to try and get him to.

By the time we got to 59th street, night had set in and my hopes of being able to show off Central Park were quickly killed. Although NYC is far safer than people think it is, Central Park is still an area that I have been told to steer clear of for the most part during the dark hours. I’ve heard stories on both sides that say it is safe and others say it isn’t. I’m sure the well lit areas are fine but this is a huge park.

Even though we weren’t going to go through the biggest parts of the park, we popped in and took one walking trail that runs parallel to 59th street. I was hoping we could see Gapstow Bridge and we did get a bit of a glimpse of it but again, because it was so dark it was hard to see much of anything from a distance. Instead, Baxter answered the call of nature behind a tree which for me I found hilarious, and now he could tell folks he had peed in Central Park.

After about 20 minutes of walking, we took an exit out and continued our way to the Columbus Circle subway station. I had already purchased a Metrocard the day before when I was in the city, and I actually had another one in my wallet. When we left the hotel, I made sure I had both as I knew we’d be taking the subway at least once.

A couple of swipes later, we were standing in a subway station waiting to catch the B or D train back down towards the Empire State Building. It was only a couple of stops away and again, Baxter was soaking it all in. By the time we got out, we made our way to the famous building where he took a few photos of the outside, and then we headed back to the train station to return to our hotel.

All in all, we probably spent somewhere between three and four hours in the city. No, we didn’t get down to Battery Park to get a glance at Lady Liberty but we did manage to cover quite a bit of territory in just a few hours. If you end up with a quick stopover in NYC, you can catch quite a bit even just a few hours.