MacGougan at Large

Notes from NYC - 1

How to Get There

If you’re planning to visit New York City from, say, Kalamazoo, chances are you’re going to take an airplane. If, like me, you're coming from Connecticut, you have some choices. You can drive, you can take a commuter train (aka Metro North), or you can take an Amtrak train. 

I’m leaving out bus (slow and unappealing), helicopter (no longer an option unless you have your own), and bicycle or kayak (either of which is slow and dangerous).

You can drive from Hartford, CT to NYC in about two and a half hours, provided there is no traffic - meaning at 3 am Sunday morning or during the Super Bowl. At other times, it’s likely to take you three to four hours. You only need to add or subtract about an hour for other starting points in CT. Connecticut is a charming, little bonsai of a state, not much bigger than a county in any self-respecting full-sized state. 

The key advantage of driving is that you can bring a carload of stuff with you if you want to. It’s a lot of work for you and annoying to others if you attempt to bring a carload of stuff onto a train. Also remember that, once you reach the city, you’ll need to wrestle that same carload of stuff onto the subway or into a taxi. 

The key disadvantage of driving is that it means three or four hours of, well, driving. And we are not talking here about relaxing country roads.

Either train option takes about as long to get to NYC as driving, but is less likely to vary due to traffic conditions. Metro North is the bus train. It’s cheaper, runs more often, and is all hard, plastic surfaces. Amtrak is the airplane train. It’s more expensive and less frequent but has upholstered seats with tray tables, task lighting, and free wi-fi. 

The two train options bring you to different points in the city. Metro North brings you to Grand Central Station, which is on the east side of Manhattan and near many famous attractions. Amtrak brings you to the new Moynihan Penn Station, which is on the west side of Manhattan and near Madison Square Garden but not a lot else that you’ve ever heard of before.

Metro North ends at Grand Central, but Amtrak continues on past Penn Station. Don’t fall asleep taking Amtrak to NYC or you could wake up in Philadelphia.

Old Joke: A tourist in a car stops alongside a street in Manhattan, rolls down his window, and calls out to an old man who is passing by: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The man stops, holds up his hands, and says, “Practice!”

Practice is, in fact, the coolest way to get to NYC. If you get good enough at something, the city might just suck you in by magnetism.