Four Days with a 12-year-old in NYC
Our family has decided to celebrate a milestone in each of our children's lives with a trip of their choosing when they turn 12. They get to choose the place and plan many of the activities. Our firstborn, Jake, turns 12 this year, so he was the first up for this experience, and it was a trip to remember! I've detailed our travels below, as much of NYC was a mystery to me before I visited for the first time in 30 years. I hope it will help you.
Preparation
We found inexpensive plane tickets bundled with a hotel in Times Square. The Hotel St. James is a cost-effective, no-frills, safe hotel. I would stay there again. Honestly, all we did was sleep there, so the lack of amenities was almost unnoticeable. The central location was a big plus.
We also purchased a CityPass, which was a great deal, saved us a lot of money, and made it easy to get into the popular attractions without waiting in line for tickets.
Day 1 - Friday
We took a 7:00 flight out of Chattanooga and were on the ground at LaGuardia by 8:50. This was Jake's first flight, so just that in and of itself was an experience to remember. The new B terminal at LaGuardia is beautiful and very easy to navigate.
Instead of taxi, Lyft, or Uber, we opted for the free Q70 bus that runs you to the closest subway station. Once there, we purchased OMNI cards and loaded them with enough money to last the trip. I was most nervous about navigating the city through public transit, but it is easy with Google Maps leading the way. We saved a ton of money traveling by bus and subway and, in most cases, got places much faster than using a taxi, Lyft, or Uber.
Once we dropped our bags at the front desk of our hotel (check-in wasn't until 3:00), we went to Times Square for lunch. We were both starving, so we got the fastest thing we could, which was Jollibee. I had never eaten there before, but it was actually really good.
Next, we took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge. We planned to walk the bridge, but then we saw people biking and rented bikes from one of the numerous CitiBike stands around the city (seriously... they are everywhere). We rode over the bridge in the bike lane (separate from the walking bridge). Then, we rode around Brooklyn for a bit before ditching the bikes at the nearest CitiBike stand because we wanted the experience of actually walking the Brooklyn Bridge on the way back. This all went well until we realized about 1/4 of the way across that we were actually on the Manhattan Bridge (see photo below of The Brooklyn Bridge from the "not-Brooklyn Bridge"). We got a good laugh, and Jake took over as our navigator from then on. This was a great learning experience as he problem-solved our way traveling through the city the rest of the trip.
On the other side of the Manhattan Bridge, we both had our first bubble tea in Chinatown (not a fan) before returning to Times Square. It was then that we had the best idea of the whole trip. What if we got CitiBikes and rode from Chinatown to Times Square? Seemed crazy enough. Was I really going to allow my 12-year-old to bike through Manhattan?
However, one of my goals for this trip was to allow him to experience appropriate levels of risk, gain confidence, and experience a sense of exploration. So, we did it. It took 45 minutes to bike back, which was the best thing we did. We saw the city slowly as we moved from neighborhood to neighborhood. It felt freeing, unencumbered, and childlike. The bike lanes made the experience marginally safer, but we still had to weave between traffic and dodge tourists. So fun! Highly recommend. We did have to disregard the 16-year-old age limit posted on the CitiBike stand, but it would have been worth it if we'd gotten caught.
We rested at the hotel for a while, went and got Joe's Pizza for dinner (a 45-minute wait on the sidewalk, and SO worth it), then went back to the hotel and watched the Knicks-Bucks game because we were both exhausted.
Day 2 - Saturday
This was what Jake referred to as our "on a schedule" day, as we had three adventures with definite time stamps associated with them. But, first, we grabbed some bagels from Zucker's (great bagels... marginal coffee). Then, we hopped on the subway and went to Battery Park for our 9:00 ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Here are a few tips on the Statue of Liberty: 1. Get there early. It really does take about 30 minutes to get through security. 2. Dress warm. It was about 15 degrees colder on the top floor of the ferry. 3. On the islands, get the nerdy audio tour lanyard things. They are free and added to the experience. 4. The souvenirs on the ferry have the best prices in the city. If you want a souvenir, this is the place to get them.
Both islands were incredible, but Ellis Island was our favorite. Moving through the exact process in the same rooms and places where so many immigrants entered our country was a moving experience, and the audio tour only added to it.
We returned to Manhattan around noon and grabbed hot dogs from one of the stands outside Battery Park before taking our second biking adventure challenge. Again, we rented CitiBikes at Battery Park and rode to Herald Square. We planned our route and weaved through Wall Street, Tribeca, Soho, Greenwich Village, and everywhere in-between. It was another magical experience that helped us gain an appreciation for the different parts of the city.
Once at Herald Square, we killed some time in Macy's, which was getting set up for Christmas. So, we got to see some of the Christmas magic there. Then, we spent the afternoon at the Empire State Building. This is a fun experience, but once you are at the top, you realize that this is far from the highest point in NYC anymore. If we went again, we would do One Vanderbilt or The Edge.
After that, we went to the Ghirardelli Store on the ground floor, where we loaded up on by-the-pound chocolate squares in every variety imaginable and had a hot fudge sundae before going back to the hotel to get ready for the night's culminating activity.... Harry Potter on Broadway.
It was a great show, and I highly recommend it with a few caveats. First, it is 3 hours and 30 minutes long. This might not be the best if your children have short attention spans. Second, it helps to know the basic story outline of Harry Potter as the play assumes a lot of prior knowledge. Other than that, we were both blown away by the production, story-telling, special effects and overall magic of a real Broadway show.
After that, we grabbed some street food from one of the stands, watched the end of the Alabama-LSU game (ROLL TIDE!), and fell asleep quickly. LONG day... but totally worth it.
Day 3 - Sunday
We were exhausted when we woke up, so we slept in a little for our "not on a schedule" day. We returned to Zucker's for breakfast (seriously... SO good (coffee was still mid-tier)) before taking the subway to the Museum of Natural History.
We spent five hours there and could have spent another five (Jake LOVES museums). The fourth-floor dinosaur exhibit was the best, in our humble opinion! The museum as a whole comes from an "old-earth/creation is a random set of haphazard events" philosophy. We could see around a lot of that, though, and truly marvel at all God has created.
One pro tip... do not eat at the museum. They have a food court, but the food is overpriced and terrible. We should have left for a nearby restaurant and come back. Live and learn.
After that, we were on our next bike adventure! This time, we rented bikes and rode around Central Park. Again, SO fun. I'm so glad we took a risk on the bikes. It transformed our entire experience. I wish we had more time and had brought a frisbee or football to spend more time relaxing in the park. Oh well. Next time.
By then, it was dinner time. We took a long subway ride from the Upper East Side to Chinatown, where we had a wonderful dinner at Golden Shanghai. The dumplings were out of this world.
After that, we went back to Times Square to go hat shopping and then back to the hotel to watch Sunday Night Football and sleep, but I think we both fell asleep at halftime.
Day 4 - Monday
We were both very tired on Monday morning, but we still walked around Rockefeller Center to see the ice skating and Christmas tree (which was still being set up). We grabbed breakfast at Magnolia Bakery (muffins and carrot cake). The coffee there was the best I had in the city, BTW!
Then we strolled over to the M&Ms shop in Times Square to get some last minute gifts for the other kids back home before checking out of the hotel and heading back to the airport.
Again, this time, we did the reverse... subway to Roosevelt Ave and then the Q70 bus to the B terminal at LaGuardia. Super easy. We left Manhattan at 12:15 and were through security by 1:30.
Overall, our trip was a huge success. I can't wait for our next child to turn 12 (he wants to go skiing in Colorado). It was a fun way to connect one-on-one and watch him mature in new ways before my eyes.
Extra tips:
1. Get the public restroom app got2gonyc. Using the restroom is a nightmare in the city. The app made it much easier.
2. The whole city reeks of marijuana, there are meth users everywhere, and the homosexual population seems just as plentiful as the heterosexual. These were all eye-opening experiences for my suburban-raised boy, but they provided great topics for conversation.
3. I was prepared for this trip to be much more expensive than it was. Rarely did we spend more than $30 on a meal. I'm sure we could have, but food was not the priority of our trip.
4. There are people trying to sell you things at every turn in the road, especially in Chinatown. Do not make eye contact and you won't get harassed.
5. Yes, Jake is wearing basically the same sweatshirt in every photo. We packed light. 😂