Play Time in New York

Parent Cafe
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<p>D’s very best friend completes undergrad at Rutgers this semester; she will return in May for her graduation ceremony. Anyway, the two of them met on the very first day of kindergarten, and attended school together all the way through high school graduation, and then both went to their respective colleges. Through it all, they’ve stayed in touch somewhat electronically, but mostly the old fashioned way - for four+ years they’ve actually been writing long letters to each other. It’s such a wonderful friendship - it’s fun imagining them at each other’s weddings, baby showers, etc. in years to come. The two of them are sort of like frick and frack - unseparable, actually, and over the years they never, ever seem to tire of each other’s company or have any sort of friction. </p>

<p>Anyway, D is flying up to Rutgers following her final exams; the plan is that she will take no luggage, wear best friend’s clothing for 10 days, stay with her, and help her pack up and move out of her on-campus apartment. They plan to pack everything with D to travel back with two suitcases for best friend; they booked flights to return together to our home city with all of friend’s stuff from her dorm. </p>

<p>They will have ten days together at Rutgers, and best friend has three final exams during those ten days. </p>

<p>D is excited and planning to visit every piece of NYC she possibly can, most importantly the art museums. She is also planning to arrange an appointment with one of the colleges she’s applying to for grad school. (She has never been to NYC except for connecting flights.) She wants to make sure she stays well out of best friend’s space during those three final exams, but also, the two of them want to play together in the city as much as possible once the exams are done. </p>

<p>I asked her - what’s your food budget? I got a blank stare. So I asked - “were you planning to scarf off Rutger’s meal plan”??? LOL. D has some money from her little on campus job, but, that cannot possibly take her far in NYC. </p>

<p>She did manage to figure out that $9 buys some sort of train from Rutgers into NYC, but, that’s the extent of her knowledge. </p>

<p>Bottom line, how much money should be budgeted for 10 days in this region, assuming that there will be trains and subways to take, food, and whatever it costs to visit New York’s Museums? And, can I provide anything in advance to make this easier and more enjoyable for them?</p>

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<p><a href=“CityPASS® - See 5 Top Things to Do in New York and Save 40%”>CityPASS® - See 5 Top Things to Do in New York and Save 40%;

<p>This is a link to a “combo” pass to enjoy a number of the top attractions, including some museums. Your D is right that she can use NJ Transit to get from Rutgers (New Brunswick campus, I’m assuming) to NYC’s Penn Station. It runs very frequently during the week, somewhat less so on weekends, and would cost around around $9.50 one way, less with a round trip off-peak purchase. I wouldn’t even venture a guess as to how much $$ should be budgeted. There certainly are some low cost fast food options in NYC. I would tell her NOT to plan on eating at any of the museum cafes, which tend to be quite pricey.</p>

<p>Link to the rail system, in case you want to check it out is <a href=“http://www.njtransit.com/hp/hp_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=HomePageTo[/url]”>http://www.njtransit.com/hp/hp_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=HomePageTo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;