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Thread: Advice on USA trip

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulbot View Post
    The Staten Island ferry is a good way of seeing the Statue of Liberty without the massive queues to actually visit the island.
    Absolutely true, just make sure you get there early before the departure time and get to the correct side, from memory right hand side as you board from NYC and left hand side from SI. We stayed on Staten Island so took this ferry a number of times. It is a free service.
    I still function.....................while killing threads. ;-)

  2. #12
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    Terrific suggestions and personal experiences guys much thx

    Tipping is a little confusing. So 15-20% for dining out (excluding fast food restaurants) everything else seems a little complex; $1-3 per bag carried, $2-5 on pillow in the morning for cleaning staff in motels.....my god.....
    Sometimes all you need is a little energon and alotta luck...

  3. #13
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    Yeah, tipping takes a little getting used to. Pretty much 20% is the standard...even for cabs. Don't be afraid to leave your cash on your table and walk away...it's pretty much the thing to do. Every night I left $1-2 on my pillow for the housecleaning...I got a 'friendly' reminder about doing it in my room when I didn't know about it !

    It sounds like a decent length trip so getting a local sim card is a MUST. Using google maps when you travel nowadays is a god-send. I think I walked into a T-Mobile store and got a pre-paid sim for $100.

    When I was in New York in September 2014, I used an app called HopStop. It basically tells you how to get from point A to point B using public transport, telling you exactly which trains to catch and when the next one is. I'm not sure if it's only available on iOS and not Android, will need to follow up on that one. But I used it constantly in NYC and highly recommend it.

    When in NY, use the subway. It's all you'll ever need. Sure it's got um..character but I felt pretty safe, even when catching it by myself at nighttime. Just ignore the beggers who make their presence known on the trains. Buy the 7-day unlimited use pass, you'll make the most of it.

    In terms of shops, I tried visiting a few toy/comic book stores. Surprisingly the pickings were rather limited, especially for a place like NYC. But here is where I went to:

    Midtown Comics - as previously suggested, I found this to be the most comprehensive comic store in NYC. I bought a few graphic novels there.

    JHU Comics - again fairly big, but don't think I bought anything there

    ImageAnime - probably the best toy store I could think of in terms of Transformers, Star Wars, nerd stuff etc.

    Toy Tokyo - chocka block with old and new Toys. I did find the Transformers collection to be lacking at the time though.

    FAO Schwartz - purportedly the biggest toy store in New York. It's basically a fancy version of Toys R US. Interestingly I found a Lego Ultimate Collectors Series B-Wing there which by then was quite rare. Sadly it was too big and bulky for me to lug home. Go there just to say that you did.

    All the touristy stuff of NY I'm sure you can look up online. My favourite bits of New York were SoHo and the Highline. Oh, and you MUST see The Book of Mormon on Broadway. Absolutely pissed my pants watching it.

  4. #14
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    I've never thought about tipping the hotel housekeepers. Another thing to worry about with their tipping culture. I think that's why wages are so bad over there because 10-20% tipping is factored into their hourly rate... and employees are then left to hope they get the difference from customers. I think they should have it automatically included in the prices and passed onto the employees, and then you can bonus tip if they did an exceptional job as an incentive (rather than being obligated to tip for an average/standard service).

  5. #15
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    In LA:
    Definitely do WB studio tour if you have time and can afford it. It is more hands on than Universal and you get to see a lot as well as walk around some of the sets... if you're lucky they might even be filming so you get a glimpse of TV/movies at work (the day I went they were filming one of the last episodes of True Blood).
    If going to LA Universal, go early and get all your favourite rides out of the way first (strongly suggesting hitting Transformers and Jurassic Park rides as many times as you can first) before the queues get horrible if you don't want to fork out for a VIP pass. Also don't leave the back lot tour too late as the wait time increases significantly in the early afternoon but remember that these days it is also just a "ride".
    I recommend walking down Hollywood Boulevard and looking at the stars as well as the Chinese theatre - you can see if Optimus' tyre track and and Peter Cullen's hand prints have been cemented there yet and let us know! The Chinese theatre has all the autographed hand prints in front of it (as opposed to just regular stars with names on them that line the boulevard, as well as some of the adjacent roads).

    Don't bother with the "celebrity home tours"... they are a waste of time unless you want to drive through neighbourhoods where the guides "speculate" people (and often only lesser stars from tv soaps) live (other than things like the Playboy mansion which are obviously well known).

    Don't be afraid to consider the LA underground/trains if your hotel/motel is close to one and you don't have a car. We used it a lot and found it more efficient than Sydney. (i know - not hard ) There is a train station right on Hollywood Boulevard that is centrally located to the touristy things there.

    As for tipping, unless the service is REALLY bad, for food always try to tip 10% - 15% minimum. The better the service, the better to tip. For example in Las Vegas we had a waitress who was utterly outstanding, so we tipped her 30% and she had tears in her eyes she was so shocked and happy.
    Americans generally don't like serving Aussies and Kiwis much because their perception is we don't really tip ( which we don't because we don't know how as it isn't a part of our culture) so by going out of your way a little bit it helps break the stereotype but also as Griffin said, a lot of these staff rely on the tips to be able to live week to week.

    We also tip the housekeeper servicing our room but on the last day normally, either by giving cash in hand to them or by leaving it on a desk or table in the room. We tend to leave $5/person sleeping in the room unless we've stayed longer than 2-3 nights in which case we would leave more.

    Also don't forget the price on the shelf in stores for most items doesn't include tax and the tax varies depending which state you are in. I think NY has the highest tax from memory?

    It's a shame the Toys R Us isn't on Time Square in NY anymore - that store was AWESOME!

    Have a GREAT time. I love going to the US. It's always so much fun. You won't lack for things to do.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gofigure View Post
    Also any toy or collectables comic stores of note I'd want to check out
    How about like, 100 stores in the same building? You should totally check out Frank & Son Collectable show. It's about 50mins from central LA, but if you can get to it it's worth it. Plus it's on twice a week. Lots of pics of the place and type of stuff you can buy there on yelp.
    I went on the Wednesday afternoon, though apparently it can be quite crowded on Saturday, so if you're parking get there early.
    "The Decepticons keep bad company - each other!" - Jazz, G2

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    As UltraMarginal suggested, rent a car if you plan to be there for a while and need to get around, or need to get to something that isn't covered by public transport.
    Taxis are pretty cheap over there compared to here, but if you are going for a while and want to do a lot of things, a rental car will be the best thing.... just be aware that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, which is a bit of fun to get used to at first.
    Good points you make, but I said that simply because driving a Mustang is fun and it's the cheapest way to do it.

    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    The store name and address is Big Lou's Toys & Collectables, at 5413 Sepulveda Blvd (almost opposite the ToysRUs).
    (some photos of the store can be seen here)

    A map I did up for last year in case I had time to check it out between flights, and for Fatbot to use while in LA if he wanted to check it out as well...


    I can't believe it has been a year and a half already since we (UltraMarginal and I) were in LA for the convention and Hollywood tours... it just feels like it was the last BotCon trip from last year, not the year before.
    ahh that's it.

    I too feel like it wasn't that long ago, I keep thinking it was last year, but it was actually the year before.


    I used readysim as a sim card for my phone while I was there last time. look them up. once I installed the sim it took an hour or so to properly function with DATA etc. but then it was working fine for the entire trip.
    My Fan interview with Big Trev

    my original collection from when I was more impressionable.
    My Current Collection Pics (Changing on occasion)

  8. #18
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    Guys I must say this has been a comprehensive list of tips and tricks and it's very much appreciated by myself and my family

    Sincerely thank you very much to the members here. It's really going to enhance our trip there I can tell. Really thankful!
    Sometimes all you need is a little energon and alotta luck...

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gofigure View Post
    Terrific suggestions and personal experiences guys much thx

    Tipping is a little confusing. So 15-20% for dining out (excluding fast food restaurants) everything else seems a little complex; $1-3 per bag carried, $2-5 on pillow in the morning for cleaning staff in motels.....my god.....
    Just on this point, make sure you have a sizeable quantity of $1 bills on you at all times. I frequently tipped more than I wanted because I ran out of dollar bills and even though it's only a couple of dollars at a time it really adds up over time.

    Don't know if this has been mentioned but the kids would get a kick out of the LEGO store in Rockefeller Plaza.

    If you have the time, take your family to Coney Island at twilight. It's a long ass train ride from Manhattan but its worth it IMO just for the boardwalk and carnival atmosphere.

    Also allow for extra travel time on the subway on weekends. They're undoubtedly closing random tracks and stations for maintenance and it can really stuff you around in terms of time AND confusion

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