Subway Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

The Best Way To See The Statue Of Liberty

During our visit to Manhattan over Thanksgiving weekend, we planned a day where we’d have the chance to do something we hadn’t done in a long time and it involved us taking a boat. No, we weren’t going to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. We weren’t going to Ellis Island either. We’d done both of those things before. Our trip was more important, we were going to Staten Island.

Yes, that Staten Island.

Sharon lived there for much of her life and for as long as I knew her before we moved to Florida. Once I got to go back to New Jersey for my reunion, she wanted to go back to her home borough for the Staten Island versions of authentic New York pizza and Chinese food (Note from Sharon: cuz they don’t taste ANYTHING like the pizza and Chinese you get in Manhattan).

One perk of going to Staten Island is that when you take the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan, you get what might be the best view of the Statue of Liberty from the water. Even better than the boats that take you to Liberty Island. The kicker is, the Staten Island Ferry is free.

Continue reading “The Best Way To See The Statue Of Liberty”

NY Mass Transit Made A Rule About Pets, So New Yorkers Said, “Hold My Beer…”

New Yorkers are a breed unto themselves. And I can say that because I lived in New York for the first 35 years of my life (Brooklyn and Staten Island, REPRESENT!). As a general rule, we’re quick. We’re street smart. And we understand the system, to the point of knowing how to work it to our advantage. Or if not, at least how to work it over. 😉

So when the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority – they oversee the public transportation system of subways, trains, buses, etc, in 12 counties in lower New York, including the 5 boroughs of NYC) updated their rules to say, “No person may bring any animal on or into any conveyance or facility unless enclosed in a container and carried in a manner which would not annoy other passengers,” (Section 1050.9, section H, paragraph 1) New Yorkers stepped up to the challenge. Take a look…

Continue reading “NY Mass Transit Made A Rule About Pets, So New Yorkers Said, “Hold My Beer…””

Going To Be In A Big City This Weekend? Be On The Lookout For The “No Pants Subway Ride!”

If you’re going to be in one of over 20 big cities around the world this weekend, heads up that you might be exposed to something you may consider to be a little on the unusual side, especially in the dead of winter: people riding the subway without any pants on.

Yup.

Here’s more about it…

Continue reading “Going To Be In A Big City This Weekend? Be On The Lookout For The “No Pants Subway Ride!””

Here’s How To Never End Up With A Balance On Your New York MetroCard

We visit New York regularly and when we do, we eventually end up taking the subway to get around town when it’s more convenient than getting an Uber or taxi, or walking. Because it’s not on my packing list, I’ll occasionally forget to bring our old MetroCards with us and after a while, I end up with a collection of cards that looks like this.

The MTA doesn’t it make it easy to end up with an empty MetroCard. First of all, the subway doesn’t accept contactless payments like other cities such as Chicago do, so you’re forced to buy a card. The fare machines are set to offer you a set amount when purchasing a card, like $10. However, the subway fare is $2.75 per ride. It doesn’t take a genius to find out those amounts aren’t evenly divisible so if you don’t know better, you’re going to have a leftover balance on your card.

Just to make the math harder, the MTA adds a bonus when you reload your card for more than $5.50.

Put $5.50 or more on your card and receive a 5 percent bonus. For example, a $20 purchase gives you $21.00 on your card. Refill your card to use the balance.

Continue reading “Here’s How To Never End Up With A Balance On Your New York MetroCard”

Points & Bitcoin, A New Lounge in Reno, Don’t Miss Out on LOTS of Points, + More!

Hi friends! Here are the articles we saw last week, written by other travel bloggers, that we learned from, made us think or maybe made us chuckle a little bit. We hope you enjoy them!

While The Points Guy website tells you how to use points for Coachella, we managed to get the Holiday Inn Express in Palm Desert during Desert Trip for 20,000 points a night using alerts from Hotel Hustle.
Following American Express, Mastercard and Discover’s lead, Visa will no longer require signatures for transactions.
Tiffany at One Mile At A Time broke her own rule about dealing with call center representatives….
…While Ben (also at One Mile At A Time) shared what he thinks is the cutest W Hotel he’s ever stayed at.
Do you have to show your AAA card when you book with a discount? Some say no (and don’t even have one to begin with). I would never suggest this.
The 2nd Avenue subway is open and is not like your usual subway experience.
The similarity between points and bitcoin is that both can devalue overnight.
I love looking at people’s best pictures list because there’s a story behind every picture.
Having spent time in the Reno Airport before, a decent lounge is a nice addition. However, if it was there before I never would have won over $500 on a Star Wars slot machine while waiting for my flight.
Alaska Airlines still has customer friendly policies. Forgetting them can cost you a bunch of points.

Did you read anything travel-related this week that you thought was interesting? Please share!

Like this post? We have plenty more just like it and would love if you decided to hang around and clicked the button on the top (if you’re on your computer) or the bottom (if you’re on your phone/tablet) of this page to follow our blog and get emailed notifications of when we post (it’s usually just once or twice a day). Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!