[CoG Meetup] April 21 & 22 (2012) in NYC

[civil_dead]

Okay, it's on--April 21 & 22 here in New York. Now on to practical matters:

Google Doc for attendees to share their info.

It's party time people.

Agenda. Meetup Friday between 6-7 at the Beekman Beer Garden at South Street Seaport (Fulton & South). Event progress from there.

Saturday - (tentative) Meetup at north end of High Line elevated park (30th St bet 10th & 11th)

Sunday - Still TBD. Probably mostly indoor activities.

If we miss you text DoctorFinger (718-598-1480) and he'll let you know where the party is.

ATTENDEES (YES WITH ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE TIMES IN PARENTHESIS)

civil (lives here)
DoctorFinger (lives here)
Ink Asylum (lives here)
Ox
Ten19 (lives here)
National Kato (afternoon Friday/afternoon Monday)
Krispy
Krispy's Roommate
MagGnome (afternoon Friday/afternoon Sunday)
Panthera
bapenguin
Voodoo
pomeroy
Lint of Death
astranoir
Suave Peanut

ATTENDEES (MAYBE)

AniAko & SadiePepper (Sunday maybe)
Serapth
torrefaction
Matthias
Squidbot
diablopath
Libuke
Hawkzombie
Jboy001
Superman's Dead
Libuke
Gorvi
TheSilentDeath
Xerxes
Ghostbear
violent

Please let me know if there are corrections/changes to the above, or if I forgot to mention you (I skimmed the thread). I've made a Google Doc (link) for attendees to share their info.

GETTING TO NYC

JFK Airport - Can be a bit of a haul to get into the city, but it's often cheaper to fl into/out of.
LaGuardia Airport - The closest airport to downtown, but still involves quite a few buses/trains to get to your location. Still, the easiest of all the airports in terms of public transport.
Newark Liberty Airport - Frankly, a PITA to fly into/out of (if your ultimate destination is NYC). But that is often off-set by the cheaper airfares you can find as it is a hub for several airlines.
Long Island MacArthur - Often overlooked, but sometimes you can find cheap Southwest deals flying into this airport (IIRC they list it as Islip). The trade-off? Getting to/from there. But savings > convenience IMO.

Tip when searching for airfare: use the airport code NYC when searching for fares, that'll cover all three major airports above. Also, don't hesitate to fly into one airport and fly out of another. My mother recently saved almost $200 doing this recently (from Los Angeles).


GETTING AROUND ONCE YOU'RE HERE

Wherever you land, you'll need to get into the city (I say that in a very generic sense) and there are really only three or four things you'll need to know:

MTA - New York's public transportation system. Unless you're taking a cab no matter what airport you fly into you'll need to use this. I highly, highly recommend getting the 7 Day unlimited ride pass for $29 (as of this writing). Even though you'll be here for only a few days, considering each one-way ride is $2.50 it rapidly pays for itself. Please note that you won't be able to use it for the AirTrain or LIRR (see below). Still, just getting around the city you'll need this.
AirTrain (NJ) / AirTrain (JFK) - You'll need this if you're flying into either the Newark or JFK airports at some point (the AirTrain) will get you from the airports to the MTA.
Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) - If you fly into Islip, you'll need to take this into the city. This is also an option to get into the city from JFK, once you get from the airport to the public transport hub (including the MTA) via the AirTrain.

You may also use the PATH or NJ Transit if you fly into Newark. Please do your research! I'm not responsible for you winding up in Hoboken.


WHERE TO STAY

At the risk of offending any NYC CoGgers, I'd suggest sticking to either Brooklyn or Manhattan in terms of hotels. Now Manhattan is...well, the center of the known universe. More stuff to do than you could ever fit in a lifetime. 24 hours of activity every single day. The downside? Expense. You'll pay for all that with more expensive rooms. Though you can find good deals if you look for it, especially if you're sharing rooms. My go-to is always Hotels.com, but you can also check out Airbnb, as there are sometimes incredible deals to be found there (and hot chicks, according to a friend of a friend who hooked up with a host from there). Seriously, check it out. Regarding neighborhoods you can't go wrong (within reason) with anything from 120th Street southward (NYC people correct me if you think I'm off base here). 120th will land you within the range of Columbia University and the Morningside Heights/Harlem neighborhoods. Don't discount Harlem, either! I have a few friends who live there and have had no issues. For reference, the numbered streets go from the low numbers on the south of the island to the high numbers on the north of the island. Avenues run from low numbers on the east of the island and high numbers on the west.

As for Brooklyn, I'd recommend sticking to the waterfront neighborhoods because of proximity to Manhattan (which is most likely where a lot of activities will happen). Off the top of my head I'd suggest (going from north to south): Greenpoint; Williamsburg; DUMBO; Boerum Hill; Downtown Brooklyn; Brooklyn Heights; Cobble Hill; Carroll Gardens; Gowanus; Park Slope.

Please post if you have any questions about neighborhoods and we'll get them answered.

Okay, that's it for this post. Thankfully I have the one below where we can start to tackle things to do and other stuff. But for now this should get us going (and my fingers are tired).