USA trip

[UtwigMU]

I'm going to NJ/NYC for a week on Friday 3d. It will be work trip to a fair but I will have a few days to roam around.

Any tips on what I should check out? As I understand there are not many active MURCers around NYC.

[Umfriend]

If you like Indian food, I have been at Aahali (Manhattan, 9th & 54th) a couple of times and liked them a lot. Very small, do not serve liquor of any kind but you can bring your own (from across the street). That's about all I know.

[UtwigMU]

Thanks for the heads up.

Not into indian food so much and there are few Indian restaurants here.

[Jammrock]

Junior's Cheesecake.

My wife and I bought a full Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake (at least I think that's what it was) because two slices was almost the same the entire cake. The plan was to nibble on it in NYC for a couple of days before we went to Ireland and pitch the leftovers.

It was so good that we couldn't bring ourselves to throw it away. We ended up flying to Ireland with the cake and finished it off over the course of several days. It was hands down the best cheesecake I've ever had.

https://www.juniorscheesecake.com

The only other place that we really liked was a Cuban restaurant named Victor's Cafe. It's been around since 1963, and the food was amazing.

[UtwigMU]

Will try that. I don't think we have quite the equivalent here. And lately I'm into mixing e-liquids and cheesecake flavor is widely used in many recipes.

[UtwigMU]

How is it cash, money wise? Hotel, etc... is paid, for transport I'll use Uber

I have 2 Maestro debit cards but as I heard they are not common in USA. I can withdraw from a supported ATM.

I have prepaid Master Card which will expire next month. I'll load couple of 100$ on it.

How normal is it to use cash there? At what size are bills frowned uppon? Say I change about 500€ into US?

How much is beer/lunch/hamburger there?

[Jammrock]

Up to a $50 bill is pretty safe in most places, except those that generally deal in small purchases like convenience stores. Those won't take anything over a $20. It get gets dicey at the $100 bill. The $20 bill and smaller is always a safe bet.

I've seen a lot of places that take Maestro here, but Master Card is the safer bet. You can also use Android/Apple pay at a lot of places now, too. Getting a bit more common in the US.

Cash is common in NYC. But it's fading out in general over NFC and card payment. Everyone still takes cash if that's your worry. Just keep your wallet safe.

Lunch in NYC depends on where you go. Burger, fries and a beer can range from $15-$30. The average lunch with an alcoholic beverage or two will run about $25-$40 at a restaurant. Under $10-$15 at a fast food place. Expect to pay upwards of $50 and more if you go to a higher-end sit-down establishment. A single beer usually runs between $5-$10 per pint, depending on whether it's generic or craft.

Though no fast food place sells alcohol here. Absolutely zero. If you want a beer or wine you need to hit a full fledged restaurant or bar.

[UtwigMU]

I'm in new Jersey now. Blew 250 bucks immediately. First I turned on data to hail Uber and got sms: 80% of your 60€ data abroad plan limit has been used up. So I got a prepaid sim with 4gb for 70$ and a USB charger for 10.89$. The guy selling cards had no problem with 100$ bill. The Uber ride from jfk to new Jersey was 130$. Uber did not like my prepaid master card nor PayPal so we used coworker's visa. The Uber lady driver was nice but when I mentioned Slovenia and Melania she said Trump is not her president. Seems like a sensitive topic.

Hotel is in middle of nowhere with nearest mall 8 miles away. Next to it is some salsa, dinner place. When I walked in security gave me a pat down (doesn't happen to me in Europe). Strangely they wanted to hold my credit card for the stay duration even if I paid cash. Burger with fries and coke was like 15$, I paid 20$ and told them to keep the change. In Slovenia it would have cost 9€. While they seemed sensitive with cards (here you pay after meal or if you look like you can't afford immediately on serving) they were completely insensitive to vaping. Seeing the couple at the next table smoking a shisha, I started vaping. No one took notice, which I like. In Slovenia it's banned as of this month. I liked the place, the music was loud and the vibe was good.

Breakfast was nice but food is sweeter. This is 150$ holiday inn and plates and cutlery are plastic. In Europe even 25€ hostels have stainless steel cutlery and plates. The tv in room is like 55 inches, in Europe hotel tv's are more like 22". Right now waiting for our distributors to pick me and coworker up. Was thinking of taking the bus to mall to buy 2 and 3 pronged us power cord but it's damn cold outside and the bus just drove past on the inner lane. Is there something about buses I should know?

[UtwigMU]

We went to Manhattan to prepare the booth for the fair. We only stopped at the Home Depot (no time for Micro Center) and they didn't have the 3-pronged cable. So I bought the us socket plug for 3$ and replaced the Euro plug on my laptop charger. Fortunately I have my vape tools (pliers, cutters, tiny screw drivers, coil jigs, ceramic tweezers) set with me.

We had dinner in some good American Steak and Hamburger place with the best old school New York accent talking waitress I've ever seen.

[UtwigMU]

burger.jpg

This is yesterday's dinner. As American as it gets

[dZeus]

I'm in new Jersey now. Blew 250 bucks immediately. First I turned on data to hail Uber and got sms: 80% of your 60€ data abroad plan limit has been used up. So I got a prepaid sim with 4gb for 70$ and a USB charger for 10.89$. The guy selling cards had no problem with 100$ bill. The Uber ride from jfk to new Jersey was 130$. Uber did not like my prepaid master card nor PayPal so we used coworker's visa. The Uber lady driver was nice but when I mentioned Slovenia and Melania she said Trump is not her president. Seems like a sensitive topic.

Hotel is in middle of nowhere with nearest mall 8 miles away. Next to it is some salsa, dinner place. When I walked in security gave me a pat down (doesn't happen to me in Europe). Strangely they wanted to hold my credit card for the stay duration even if I paid cash. Burger with fries and coke was like 15$, I paid 20$ and told them to keep the change. In Slovenia it would have cost 9€. While they seemed sensitive with cards (here you pay after meal or if you look like you can't afford immediately on serving) they were completely insensitive to vaping. Seeing the couple at the next table smoking a shisha, I started vaping. No one took notice, which I like. In Slovenia it's banned as of this month. I liked the place, the music was loud and the vibe was good.

Breakfast was nice but food is sweeter. This is 150$ holiday inn and plates and cutlery are plastic. In Europe even 25€ hostels have stainless steel cutlery and plates. The tv in room is like 55 inches, in Europe hotel tv's are more like 22". Right now waiting for our distributors to pick me and coworker up. Was thinking of taking the bus to mall to buy 2 and 3 pronged us power cord but it's damn cold outside and the bus just drove past on the inner lane. Is there something about buses I should know?

sorry, could have warned you about roaming and advised you to get a T-Mobile sim for 10 USD + 3 USD for 30 min/texts, and load a week pass for 1 GB data for an extra 10 USD. T-Mobile and AT&T are the only GSM network operators in the US, the rest all uses CDMA (LTE is finally becoming a standard for all 4G networks, but there's no VOLTE on all networks and phones yet, so the CDMA issues still plays when visiting the US).

Tipping bugs the hell out of me, makes me feel like the service personnel acts like your personal slave.. especially since the European concept of 'service' generally differs greatly from the US one. Having people greet me in a superficial way, refilling my glass with water + ice all the time, asking every 15 minutes if everything is ok (during meals) really gets on my nerves. For me, that's the exact opposite of 'service'.
Mind you, the middle east is even worse. There are plenty of shops in Dubai, where every isle has someone walking up to you asking if they can help you (these slaves get commission for every item you buy).

So you like US food? I take it, that it means you're not being served those disgusting breakfast 'biscuits' with 'sausage' then? In my experiences, the cheapest Ibis Budget hotel in France (60 euro a night) has better breakfast than a 200+ USD a night room in Marriott Residence Inn or Hilton Homewood Suites...

I have a lot of positive things to say about the US, but food is not on that list. The exception is some of the upscale restaurants I've been to in Charleston, SC, and east-asian cuisine in San Francisco. Those were pretty much up there with some of the better restaurants in UK and France. Everywhere else that I've been, it's been a total disaster food-wise.

[Jammrock]

LOL, I doubt there are many Europeans who would like American biscuits. As in the breakfast kind, not the UK biscuit, or cookies as we Yanks call them. Especially cheap, dry hotel biscuits. There are good biscuits that are light, buttery, and fluffy, but you only get those in the South, and only at a good Southern restaurant. Even then you eat them with butter and jam.

There is no such thing as a good free breakfast at a US hotel. If you want a good breakfast you have to go somewhere else. Don't even bother. You eat breakfast at a US hotel because you're cheap, not because you want to eat there.

As for service, that is a huge difference between US and EU. US restaurants can legally underpay the wait staff, so the wait staff has to earn good tips to make a living. That has changed the food service mentality. Wait staff needs to turn over tables quickly so they can get more tips per shift. So they are proactive with getting patrons their drinks and food quickly so they pay and leave faster. That won't change, except at higher end establishments, because the restaurant owners like the higher table churn because it makes them more money.

[UtwigMU]

dZeus, it seems it's not like that in New York. People here are not at all superficial. They are tough and tell things the way they are. At the place where we went on 2nd night the waitress was older than me and I was told she started in the dinner. She called us guys "baby" and she joked with us. I was told that you can piss her off and she will argue or even yell. It was an old New Jersey establishment. At the 2nd US/Mexican food place they were asking if we need anything but only after we finished eating a course.

I ate mostly burgers and they were good. On par or better than burgers at the upscale burger places in Slovenia which have become popular lately. Now on to hotel breakfast: scrambled eggs and whatever is there is bad. Bread falls apart when you grab it and sucks. Pancakes from machine are good. Cerals are good. Donuts are good. Coffee sucks but once you add french vanilla and hazelnut it's drinkable. I cannot understand how you guys in USA can get anything done there with coffee this bad. Starbucks sucks majorly. I was in Starbucks before only once and I drank the ice coffee. The coffee sizes are 3-4 times of Italian espresso sizes but they probably use less coffee per portion, so it's more like artificially coffee flavoured brown water. Also in Italy no one refers to anything coffee related as grande or venti. Coffee in Italy is 3-4 ounces, then a drop of milk for macchiato (coffee with a drop of milk), 2-3oz of milk for cappuccino or coffee with milk and 7oz of milk for latte macchiatto (milk marked with coffee). Coffee in Italy and Slovenia costs between 1.30 to 2€ per cup and is usually 2-3 grades better than Starbucks. There is a reason that there is no Starbucks in entire Italy, no one would pay 2x more for 2x worse coffee.

Also didn't have much problem with tipping. I usually rounded up the bill. For example it it was 45 I rounded to 50. Tipped between 3$ and 7$ and had no bad feedback.

Now the rest of USA story. I went to Junior's Cheesecake in Manhattan. It was great, Cheesecake was good and the design of place and music was 50's. Right up my alley. The coffee there was also good, much better than Starbucks. I went to Blue Note - if you like Jazz it's a must. I do, I spent a lot of evenings in 1990s and 00s in the local jazz club. I also found a vape shop and stocked up on good US made eliquids.

People here, especially old school New Yorkers with Italian background are really genuinely nice and they open up. I was told by locals that New Yorkers are not fake like the rest of USA. For example I popped in 150$ hotel in Manhattan and asked if I can use the restroom offering 3$ as a tip and the clerk told me to just use the rest room without paying. The other problem is the lack of public restrooms, they really are 10 miles apart and a lot of places (like Starbucks) don't have them. The only slightly bad experience I had was when two aspiring hip hop artists approached me near Times Square and gave me two CDs, they signed one. They told me to not be afraid of black people and to contribute towards their endeavors. I gave unsigned CD back and gave them 3$. Politics is a really sensitive topic there and people mostly don't like Trump. The topic came up when I was explaining where Slovenia is. I didn't even start a political debate, people reacted to just mentioning Trump. At the Jazz concert the artist dedicated one song to BLM and Ferguson.

I'm flying tomorrow evening, so I have another day in NYC. Overall I really like New York.

[cjolley]

"...and a lot of places (like Starbucks) don't have them."

That's weird. In most of the US it's illegal to not have a restroom if you serve food. If for no other reason than that the staff must have a non-foodprep area to wash their hands.

[Dr Mordrid]

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People here, especially old school New Yorkers with Italian background are really genuinely nice and they open up. I was told by locals that New Yorkers are not fake like the rest of USA.
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You want rude and loud, New York or NJ are your places.

Fake? California, Vegas and parts of Chicago, in spades.

Midwesterners often more reserved, but open up quickly. The dialects here can take getting used to, especially in MI across to the Dakotas.

Soft drinks/soda are "pop," milk is "melk," a stores name gets an 's' to make it posessesive (Kroger = Kroger's), people from the upper peninsula (You-Pee) are Yooper's (You-pers) , those from the lower are Lopers (Low-pers), Flatlanders or Trolls (we live below the Macinac Bridge.) When you make a "Michigan left" turn you turn right, then make a U-turn.

We talk really fast here, so we mash things together or...whatever. Ja-eat? = Did you eat?; Secretariah State = Secretary of State; Fyer = fire; Houghton = Ho’un; Livonia = Lih-vone-yuh, "ia" at the end of many words is definitely "yuh."

Also glottal stops and mangled vowel sounds too, worse as you go north.

Similarity to other regions