My daughter is flying into Newark for a business meeting on Thursday - instead of flying back to mid-Ohio after the meeting she arranged to be able to stay and enjoy a weekend with my brother and his family in Brooklyn. SIL recommended she take the NJ subway to Penn Station and then either take the subway to Brooklyn (Park Slope) (SIL gave her the directions) or take a cab from Penn Station to their door. She’ll have her laptop bag and a small suitcase. I told her to just take a cab and I’d split the cost with her (if that’s what she is worried about!) for convenience and anxiety sake - she has not traveled in NYC alone before.
Is that a reasonable idea? Can she expect a cab fare in the $50 range???
Also, while I’ve got your attention , she will have the day on Friday to explore Brooklyn a bit while my bro and family are at work and school. Any fun/interesting “must sees” in the Park Slope or nearby areas??? An interesting coffee shop to enjoy morning coffee and breakfast? Unique second hand shops? Museums? Libraries?
Saturday she has a date to explore with the family as her tour guide - I hear they might be exploring the lower east side…
Having been born in Brooklyn I can tell you it should be a very easy subway ride from Penn to Park Slope - the luggage should not be an issue. Not sure what you mean by NJ subway - there is NJ transit and PATH - depending upon where she is in Newark/NJ it would be one or the other.
I recommend she purchase a metro card and put money on it to pay for all of these fares (accepted by both Path and NYC subways.)
If she does not want to venture far - there is the Brooklyn Museum which has a nice collection - she can get there easily by subway. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/home.php
Park Slope has changed dramatically (as have the nearby neighborhoods) since my youth. I am sure her relatives can point her in the direction of shops and cafes nearby to enjoy.
The cabs at Penn Station might not want to take the fare to Brooklyn (hard to get a fare back) and $50 sounds like a minimum to me.
It’s a very easy train ride from Newark airport to Penn station. I’ve taken the train several times and the station is just outside the terminal. The only issue I’ve had is the frequency of that train drops significantly at night.
I can’t speak to the subway trip to brooklyn, but I would think it would be straightforward.
Newark has a monorail that takes you to the train station. There are trains from there that take you to NY Penn, from which you can get the F train to Brooklyn (after a short walk from Penn Station). You can check the schedule with the Trip Planner at njtransit.com. Given the number of switches necessary (monorail to train, then walk to subway) I’d probably cab it.
The PATH train from Newark is super easy. People are friendly contrary to what you might think and are happy to steer her in the right direction. We took the PATH from Newark to the World Trade Center in October with no problems at all. Except that we were confused and needed to buy a metro card with more money on it. It was inexpensive also.
My MIL and FIL took the subway when they visited this fall. They were very proud of themselves. I’m sure your D can figure it out. It is so much faster and cheaper than taking a taxi. The one thing we noticed is that there is a big police presence everywhere in NYC and toll attendants that are helpful.
If you figure out that you are going the wrong way, everyone does it sometimes and it’s easy to get off and go the other way.
I like to take public transportation when I go places. Kind of a badge of honor
She won’t even have to go outside. Have her take the train from the Newark airport to NY Penn (not Newark Penn, there are two Penn stations) then a Brooklyn bound A or C subway (blue line) . Easy peasy and all for about ten bucks, depending on the time of her train. She’ll be fine.
Where is the meeting? If it is in NJ, a direct cab ride to Park Slope could cost more than $100.
If after the meeting some one can give her a ride to Path she could go to Penn or World Trade Center to catch subway to park slope.
She does not want to take a taxi in Manhattan in rush hour. She’d just be paying to sit in traffic. I’d really recommend learning how to use the subway and commuter rails.
Not sure the exact location of the meeting but she has been there before and it is apparently very easy to get to from the airport via the train (that’s the PATH train?) So I assume then that she would just reverse it and take the PATH from the business office to NY Penn and then yes, A or C and then F…
So are you saying if she puts $$ on a card at the airport upon arrival in NJ that it will “work” for the NJ transportation she will take (PATH) and then for all the NYC transportation? (subway).
This is such an easy connection and we’re not talking about a teenager here. A cab could be very expensive, traffic can be very problematic. She wants NJ Transit not Path to go from the airport directly to Penn Station. One can switch from NJ Transit to Path at Newark Penn Station for an additional fee to go directly to lower Manhattan but for her I would just ride all the way in to Penn Station and then transfer to a downtown subway.
It is very easy to take both NJ Transit or PATH. The PATH does not go directly to Penn Station however. It is easy to take the subway to Br Brooklyn and getting a cab during Friday rush will be expensive and not the easiest to hail.
I definitely recommend the Brooklyn Museum. It has some world class collections including the Judy Chicago permanently installed piece " The Dinner Party" and an important American art collection as well as their world-class Egyptian art collection. She can check out their website to see if their “art of the high heel” exhibit is still on.
Park Slope itself is filled with restaurants, cafes and shops including if a Top Chef fan, Talde’s, the restaurant owned and operated by Dale Talde as well as his Pork Slope. Adjacent to the Brooklyn Museum although snow-covered at the moment is the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and Prospect Park itself. The new Barclay Center is right near Park Slope and maybe they can take in a Nets game but pretty hot ticket and Park Slope is also not far from Brooklyn Heights, perhaps the original historic district in NYC, which gentrified back in the late 60’s. A walk on the Promenade for the skyline view or depending on the weather as not for the faint-hearted in winter is a walk to Manhattan across Brooklyn Bridge itself.
Can you get the exact location of the meeting? (Send me a PM if you don’t want to publish). Heading back into the airport will cost her an extra $10 for the train into NYC. If she’s in downtown Newark, she should just head to Newark Penn Station and take PATH train (which is subway-like). to World Trade Center and pickup subway to Brooklyn.
I don’t know the exact location of the meeting - she did say that it is only about a mile from the train that would take her to NYC Penn Station. She walked it another time she was there without a suitcase.
She was going to study some maps online and visually see her stops - I think she is leaning towards NJ to NYC Penn, the A or C train to the F train and then getting off at the stop in Brooklyn a few blocks from my brother’s house.
If I get a chance to get a closer location, I’ll message you nj2011 - thanks for the offer!
I’d recommend taking the A/C To Metrotech, then walking to Dumbo - there are so many neat shops and restaurants though it’s cold this week there are great views of Manahattan from the water. She could then walk up towards Boro Hall, down Montague Street and take in the view of Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan from there. It’s a bit of a walk but shouldn’t take more than a couple hours at a slow pace. She should wear good boots/shoes, lots of ice left from Monday’s storm.
I can’t figure out why anyone gave her those directions. If she needs to be on the F, walk one block from Penn Station to Sixth Ave/Avenue of the Americas also known as Macy’s. She can catch the F train there. Yes, she’ll have to walk outside, but it’s all of one block.
Check out directions and cost of taxi by going to www.hopstop.com.
Choose NYC and transit directions. Put in exact address and time and get an estimate of the cost of a cab. Also get subway directions there. It will tell her the names of all the stops in between.
Completely agree w Jonri on this to skip changing trains, although if her meeting is in Newark, she should consider PATH into lower Manhattan vs NJT into Penn and pickup a subway in lower Manhattan. I’m note no expert on Brooklyn, but another possible option to Brooklyn is the 2/3 from Penn to avoid walking outside or changing trains).
Thanks for the advice. She made it to NJ this morning for her meeting and seems to have a plan. She did say she downloaded a transportation app but I will share “hopstop” with her by text.
, she will have the day on Friday to explore Brooklyn a bit while my bro and family are at work and school. Any fun/interesting “must sees” in the Park Slope or nearby areas??? An interesting coffee shop to enjoy morning coffee and breakfast? Unique second hand shops? Museums? Libraries?