The New York City Traveler

Live streaming video of New Year’s Eve in Times Square will again be offered by EarthCam.  Multiple webcams with audio will capture all the fun of the largest New Year’s Eve party in the world in New York City.  Coverage begins at 10pm EST.  EarthCam also has webcams across the world, capturing the festivities from Prague to Malta, London to Cancun.  
If you missed last year’s ball drop, here is video of Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest counting down the last moments of 2007.

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Start Exercising or Lose Weight  Good news!  You don’t have to wait for January 1st to start your new workout plan.  Bring in the new year by running the New Year’s Eve Midnight Run or biking the New Year’s Eve bike ride. 
Stop Smoking New York City is one of the may cities not allowing smoking in a large majority of public places.  In fact, the city is so committed to helping people stop smoking they are offering free nicotine replacement patches.
Work Less and Spend More Time with the Family  Timothy Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Work Week explains how …read more

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Cruise the Harbor with cheap booze: I recently sang the praises of the cheapest cruise in town but the Staten Island Ferry also happens to be one of the best places in New York to watch the fireworks.  Spectacular views of Liberty Island, New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.  Don’t forget to bundle up!
B.Y.O.B. and watch the fireworks without the crowds:  If you want to stay on land, Astoria Park (map) in Queens will have great views of the Central Park and Brooklyn fireworks.  Or, skip the crowds at Battery Park and go to Rockefeller Park (map) for views of …read more

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With Christmas safely behind us and 2008 in the near distance, I thought it would be fitting to take a look back at the year that was in New York City:

January 1, 2007 brought Elliott Spitzer’s inauguration as Governor of New York. Nine months later, Spitzer found himself in the middle of the immigration debate by issuing an executive order directing that New York State allow illegal aliens to be issued driver’s licenses. The State Senate overwhelmingly voted to oppose the plan leading Spitzer to seriously backtrack.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York State Senator Hillary Clinton …read more

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The MTA board voted last week to increase fares and tolls. This is the third increase since 2003 and is scheduled to go into effect in March.  Of course that was just in time for…
…the MTA spending $2.5 million on new uniforms for 3,500 workers.  That works out to just over $700 per employee.  Going for a more "professional look," the workers traded in their blue shirts and blue pants for white shirts and gray pants.  Women can now choose from pants or skirt.
I have a few thoughts on this:  1) I don’t think I have ever paid a toll …read more

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The New York City Traveler wishes you a very Merry Christmas!

Photo credit:  Flickr
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Technorati Tags: b5media,The New York City Traveler,New York City,New York,NYC,tourism New York,Manhattan

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Last week, a Kentucky couple brought new meaning to "I was married in a real s**t hole" by getting hitched in the Charmin Restrooms in Times Square.  Dlisted
Will flight caps at JFK mean I will never again hear "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain.  We are currently 86 in line for take-off."  Probably not.  Gothamist

The giant Virgin Megastore in Union Square will be closing.  Can the Time Square location be far behind leaving not a single Virgin in New York?  Idolator
Now you can sleep on your morning commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan with the Excubo Sleeping Jacket.  The jacket …read more

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Christmas has finally arrived here in New York: the smell of roasted nuts fills the air, happy tourists take carriage rides in Central Park, and unhappy children sit on Santa’s lap in department stores across the city. 
Each part of the world has its own way to celebrate the holidays.  FilipinaSoul.com shares the tradition of lanterns and other Christmas symbols in the Philippines and Guanabee.com discusses Christmas food traditions in the Caribbean.  But perhaps no country has such unique traditions as The Netherlands and their Sinterklauss celebrations on December 5th.    
David Sedaris takes us through the Dutch holiday traditions in …read more

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Take a walk through Brooklyn into such neighborhoods as Bedford Stuyvesant, Park Slope, and Fort Greene, and you’ll notice the incredible number of brownstones. These days, it seems that any townhouse or rowhouse is called a brownstone, but originally the term brownstone was used to describe a house that was made of the chocolatey sandstone called “brownstone.”
In the late 1800s a building boom was occurring in New York City. Thousands of single-family dwellings were being built on the standard 20-foot wide lots with the inexpensive, widely found, and workable brownstone. The brownstone was quarried in nearby New …read more

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In 1960 La Guardia Airport was voted "The Greatest Airport in the World" and in my opinion, it may still be the greatest airport in the world.  True, it is small, routinely delayed, and lacks the destinations that Newark and Kennedy offer, but La Guardia is the most convenient airport in the New York area.  In just minutes (yes, minutes!) after your plane lands you can be in Manhattan.
Public Bus to Manhattan:  Least Expensive
The best way to pay for the bus is with your MetroCard because you’ll get a free transfer.  Remember if paying by cash, you need to …read more

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