NYC Tourist Adventure

While Ken doesn’t necessarily tout the fact that he is a born and bred New Yorker (far from it), he does take pride in his ability to successfully navigate the city and its surroundings.  Tourist traps and ripoffs? He identifies and avoids them. Local roads, highways, short cuts, and parking spots? He knows them (and will be happy to tell you about it). Hidden gems off the beaten track?  He loves them. So it is somewhat ironic that we decided to celebrate Cruz’s third birthday by taking the family on the symbol of all things tourist:  the New York City sightseeing Double Decker Bus.

Cruz loves all things transportation.  And we love Cruz.  So we decided to bite our lips and make his dreams come true.

Subway on the way to the double decker bus pick up on 47th and 7th. While this may seem trivial to some, taking a subway to a double decker bus for Cruz is like watching the World Series on the way to the Super Bowl for sports fans.

Me and monkey on the train.

After twenty minutes of waiting amidst all kinds of tourists, we made it onto the bus! Cruz is so excited he can't handle himself.

"I have waited my whole life for this. And now, it is coming true."

family4

Family photo of the four of us (Zoe's hair in front).

After we boarded the bus, we waited for twenty more minutes before we left. This is our view. Times Square on a Saturday. Number of people in Times Square: probably 5,000. Number of people who lived in New York: 4.

Baby Zoe. Not as excited.

We're off! After 40 minutes of total waiting, we start moving.

And, this is where the trip got interesting.  After going 6 blocks, our bus pulled over on 41st and 7th, where we waited for another 20 minutes.  Finally, someone told us we all had to get off of the bus because the audio system wasn’t working.  The tour guide told us an empty bus would be coming to pick us up.  When that didn’t happen after 20 minutes, we decided to call it a day.  For those of you scoring at home, that was a total of about 1:20 of total time, 6 blocks of travel, and $122. (And yes, we are trying to get our money back).

Tourists: if you are coming to New York, there are DEFINITELY better ways to see the city.  Cruz will always have the thrill of getting on a double decker bus (and he was all in all kind of OK with how things turned out).  But the whole experience definitely left a lot to be desired.

Happy birthday, Cruzzie! There is nothing we would not do for you.

Anika Yael Natori, aka, The Josie Girl

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10 Comments

  1. I visited New York and tried to take that bus once. It was not a good experience. The tour guide was good, but the amount of waiting/herding kind of ruined everything for me.

  2. Aww..that’s a pity. Haaaappy 3rd birthdayyyy Cruzzzz!! Hope you enjoyed your sightseeing double decker bus adventure!

    • Despite the disaster, it was a good day. Anyday together as a full family is ultimately a good day.

  3. I would have liked to join that expedition, Times square looks busy and for a while seems that you had fun on the top of the double decker bus. Maybe you should try London next time for a better ride,

    • London is not happening for a long time…no thank you to that big of time zone with two little ones.

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  5. Wow New York looks amazing. I have grown up near San Francisco and I never thought I was missing out that much but it looks real over there. This Dad looks like an OG btw.

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