New York City: New Year’s Eve 2014

I've been meaning to start a travel blog and I guess I'm going to start with my New York City for New Year's Eve trip.

Let me start with my own story and hopefully something can be learned out of my experience.  So my friend and I wanted to participate in New Year's Eve in New York City, it was kind of her on her list of to do's in life.  I knew by 1:00pm that Times Square was getting pretty crowded but I didn't want to be in the thick of things so we decided to leave a little later.

We left at 4:30pm.  We were living around 31st Street and 5th Ave., so we were walking toward 43rd and 7th.  While we got to 43rd and 5th, the barriers were blocking all the flow to get into Times Square by NYPD.  So it was basically like this until 59th.  We were told by the NYPD to go to 59th and see if we could make our way down. By the time we went to 59th, the NYPD office wasn't letting us in, so we walked back to 58th, and they let us in there.  There's a series of security checks and screening before you are allowed to start to enter the barricaded gates.  No backpacks are allowed. If you bring plastic bags, it will be checked.  Once you're in, you're in. If you want to leave, you can't go back to where you were in line.  In the end, my friend and I ended up at 51st and 7th.  We were able to see the ball drop but we waited for 7.5hrs outside on about 24 F (-4 C).  After that, all the barricades are open and you are free to leave.

Can't even tell where the ball is from my picture

So my tips are in no particular order:

1. If you want to be on TV, I suggest you leave a lot earlier so you can actually make it to Times Square. It seems that they give away free things for you to wear for the TV program.  The streets close at about 3pm, so I would recommend going before 1pm to secure a spot.

2. We wore adult diapers aka Depends. Now I didn't actually have to go (this is a little TMI but it's part of the experience).  While I didn't go, I will say that I didn't think about going to the washroom at all during the 7.5hrs of waiting.  I only thought about how cold I was.  Others who did not wear this, were basically constantly thinking about the washroom or some gave up and left the line but this was after hours of waiting already.

3. Bring some hand heater things.  I didn't have this and I didn't know where to buy this but other people in the line had this and put it in their shoes.  After NYE, I found these hand heater packs at Walgreen's and they sold for under $3.  I would have LOVED for this.  Someone behind me was opening it and putting it into their shoes and they were describing how wonderful that was.  Seems a little jerk-ish but they had it so I guess they had bragging rights. Also what else will you talk about for 7.5 hrs in the cold?

4. Bring snacks.  I brought a granola bar and some other cookies with me.  I also had a bottle of water with me. By the end of it, I finished all my snacks but not my water.  Some people bought some pizza while in line. There are people who go around with a medium size pizza for you to purchase.  It was being sold for $20.   It didn't look hot but it was food, and the people who bought it looked really happy.

5. Be prepared for pushing and shoving.  Sometimes, I felt like cause the crowd was moving that I didn't really have control of my legs each time we were moving down the streets.  Also after 7.5hrs of standing, my back felt so stiff.  This is probably unavoidable.

6.  DRESS WARM.  According to the News, this past New Year's Eve to ring in 2014 was the coldest New York City had faced in 5 years?  I was old in terms of cold but my feet were frozen.  I basically had heat tech tights, heat tech turtleneck, jeans, a turtle neck sweater, my winter jacket, a scarf, gloves, and a toque.  I was ok, but my toes were frozen. I started to jump on the spot at about 7pm and for the rest of the night I was ok.  When I got back home, I still noticed that my thighs were red at wear my winter coat ended.  I think besides bundling up, everyone assumes that since there are so many people with you that it'll be hot from the body heat.  Nope not the case.  Also, I wouldn't want everyone to be so in my personal space that we were keeping each other warm.

Also I want to say that, there is this image on TV that everyone's having such a wonderful time.  I'm sure the people who are on TV are having a great time.  For us that are further, it's kind of just standing around for 7 hrs without anything. I think we all assumed that there'd be speakers or screens used to show us what was happening in Times Square.  There are none. Yet, I still think that the number of people on the street stretched until Central Park.  Around 11:30pm, a restaurant near by played music and had their people dancing outside the windows.  That was a bit better.  There was a point where the crowd was singing a part of a song. So that was fun.

Other tips if you do not want be outside

You can make a reservation near Times Square.  Believe me, when we were looking into the restaurants looking at people laughing, eating and being all warm, we were all a little bitter outside.  Or you can book a hotel at Times Square.  These alternatives are more expensive though.

I hope these tips were helpful.  Retelling is probably a lot more funny than the way I wrote it here.