Quote:
Originally Posted by motion
One of Tony's all-time great quotes, IMHO:
(paraphrasing) My happy place is sitting in a tiny plastic chair on the sidewalk in Asia eating street food.
How's that for unpretentious! That quote helped give me strength to explore the rougher parts of Asia.
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I have not followed Anthony in years. He may have unwittingly influenced me. When we travel to new places we always tap into the local scene. I HATE the touristy places and try very hard to avoid them at all costs.
We usually end up talking to locals, best first person to meet is the front desk worker of the hotel we are checking into.
We just got back from a long weekend in NYC, yes we hit some sights tourists hit, we had our 15 y/o in tow.
I was honestly bummed out the stupid "Night at the Museum" movies came out. The Museum of Natural History USED to be a forgotten gem, 15 years ago you could go there and it was empty.
Now it is packed and certain obscure pieces are roped off so the sheeple can get pictures with them. Sucks!
I went for the first time since the movies and will never return.
Did hit the Guggenheim and it was empty and the picasso exhibit along with the "One hand Clapping" exhibit made the visit worth it.
The exhibit was about a Japanese man that masturbated all the time. It was hysterical to watch all the pretentious POS elitists watch and try not to react.
This guy to the left of my picture is watching it, he is like... WTF! As I was at first then quickly turned my attention to the pretentious people around me and started to die laughing.
My 15 y/o figured out fast and proclaimed, I am out of here... he exited. I looked at my wife and started to LOL!! Then left with him...
The best food we ate all weekend was at counters in little corners of the city Tourists do not go to.
Like a hole it the wall crap hole Pizza joint that locals told me was the best int he area.
They were right, how I missed proper NYC pizza.... who needs a fancy sit down when you can do a walk up counter joint and have righteous counter service pizza in minutes..
We discovered the old Nabisco Oreo factory that has sat defunct for decades in the meat packing district. It is now a local marketplace full of restaurants, bakeries and local arts and crafts. 2 places in particular we found, a noodle place making the noodles to order and a little beer joint serving up local drafts. Heaven.....
We got the noodles, they were fantastic.... The beer was called 5 boroughs
IPA, I was a happy man. Counter food at its finest.... we had to stand at a tabletop with no seat. Did not care...
My wife wanted a acai bowl for breakfast one morning, I was not about that, my son and I were intent on NYC style BAC on a Kaiser, we found them.
Almost 100 year old how can you go wrong?
We took our counter food across the street in the rain to Madison Park where we found refuge under umbrellas with the Flatiron Building in the background and close to the subway entrance we needed..
As you can tell my 15 y/o loves pictures and my wife, she is amazing, she is down for anything. Love her to pieces. This is us eating in a park near our subway station.
What a view while eating breakfast...
My friends go places then tell me AFTER they go, some places I know well, like Key West, the biggest tourist trap there is. Except, I have tapped into the local scene and know where the locals go to drink and eat. I avoid Duval at all costs and waterfront?? Over rated.. I go to the places the ship captains and workers hit after hours..
Are there exceptions? Sure!! you need to hit Pepe's because that is where HST went when he lived in KW...
Knowing the history is key and working your way into the local scene is paramount.
I hate tourist traps. I hate chains. AB rang true, there is an entire other side to cities towns regions that you need to explore, the lazy go to the chains and the joints on the beaten paths. Finding the gems off the beaten path? That takes personality and compassion and getting people to let their guard down... that means not being a pretentious prick. Some folks can turn that off others cannot.
When we left our hotel (Four Points Sheraton) in Chelsea, we made the counter staffs day. We handed them our three seven day unlimited subway passes for them to use. The joy in their faces, getting 3 free days of subway... was worth the entire effing trip.
Side note...
The bartender in the hotel bar was from Belfast Ireland. He was 6 moths into his 12 month work visa then he had to go home.
Hotel Bar:
He had worked all over the world on work visa's, I was envious of him. He had seen way more than I.
I am working my ass off to enjoy the world. He is keeping it simple and enjoying it.
I asked him why he just did not say eff it and just ignore the visa like all the Mexicans.. I was being facetious, he replied, he wanted to come back and that was a sure fire way to stop that from happening.
He loved our country. I do too,, Made me think, why would I want to wander far from it. So much of it I have not seen.