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I'm flying to NYC this Saturday, June 1st, through Wednesday, June 5th with my daughter and a couple of friends. We're going to hit Times Square, do some shopping, maybe see the Statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and we're going to Spider-man on Broadway on Tuesday night. Any of you live close enough to NYC to meet us for lunch or shopping on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday or to join us for the show?

Sorry guys, it's a ladies' only trip.

Just too crazy with other commitments and a garden to get in. Thanks for the invite, though. I hope you have a great time in the city! I recommend South Street Seaport as a pleasant area in which to shop and hang around, especially on Sundays (that may be because we could always find parking on the street then).

Actually, second thoughts on that. I went to check for a good link and that area may still be slowly returning from Hurricane Sandy.

My daughter's tastes are very eclectic. She's dying to go to The Thing in Brooklyn to hunt for used vinyl. Our condo is in Manhattan. Is it possible/safe to ride the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn or should we just plan to take a cab?

I wouldn't worry about riding the subway anywhere during daylight hours. As long as there are at least two of you and you're not looking completely intimidated I really wouldn't worry about going anywhere at any time, though you might want to think strategically about where your purse is (and never drape it across a chair or anything). I've accidentally taken the subway into the South Bronx and intentionally gone into Spanish Harlem and frankly they're just not as scary as people think they are, though I suppose your chance of random gunshots is higher. And you can always ask New Yorkers for help. They'll help you, then warn you to never ask other New Yorkers for help.

Taking a taxi is more scenic, though they can be pretty scary if you get a crazy driver. Buses are another option.

Do avoid talking to people who are talking to themselves, although most of them are actually on blue tooth. The untreated mentally ill are everywhere, including nice neighborhoods, and they're the ones who commit random acts of violence.

Also, don't ever walk along or stand around heedlessly with your nice smart phone in your hand. Now that people can sell them to kiosks, there are a lot of grab and runs. (Though your biggest danger is probably walking into a pole or traffic.)

LOL. Thanks for the travel tips.

How was your trip, D?

We got back home Wednesday afternoon and I had to get up at 5:30 the next morning to go back to work on Thursday and Friday, so I'm really just now having a chance to recover.

There were four of us on the trip, my daughter (who's 14), her friend who just graduated from HS, the friend's mother (a psychologist about my age), and me. We stayed in a little apartment in Manhattan just a few blocks from Times Square. Taking a trip like that with two teenage girls was as much fun as you'd imagine. We managed with some difficulty to drag them out of bed every am and had to coerce them into getting off Facebook to go to bed every night, but for the most part it was a great trip. We walked or took the subway everywhere, shopped til we dropped, took in two Broadway shows, ate dinner in Chinatown, Harlem, and Brooklyn, had bagels for breakfast and deli sandwiches for lunch, and saw a good part of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum, all in 3 days.

Sounds great. Glad you had a good time!