On our Long Long Honeymoon, we’ve enjoyed our share of rustic camping locations. Places like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Glacier National Park come to mind. Getting back to nature is what camping’s all about, right? But what happens when we take our “condo on wheels” into an urban environment like NEW YORK CITY?
Our marina campground, technically, was not in New York. It was in New Jersey, just across the Hudson. But the proximity to Manhattan was fantastic. We could see the Statue of Liberty from our campsite. And with a little effort, the Empire State Building could be seen on the horizon. We were near the water, and even had a waterfront club at our disposal.
From the marina, we had two easy and inexpensive means to transportation to the city: the PATH subway train, and the NY Waterway ferry. Of these choices, the ferry was by far the most enjoyable. While it cost a little more ($6 per person each way), it was a wonderful experience in itself. The ride to Manhattan was almost too brief, as it offered stunning views of the city.
This was not our first visit to the Big Apple. I’ve been dozens of times, having conducted a lot of business there over the years. In fact, when I was in school, Kristy and I rented an apartment in Greenwich Village. So how does RV camping compare to that experience?
My New York friends may not want to hear it, but our RV is arguably more comfortable and better equipped than the average Greenwich Village shoebox apartment. We had every comfort with our RV. What we lacked, however, was a campground that truly offered the best of both worlds.
The New Jersey marina has a wonderful location, but all the ambiance of a parking lot. And it lacks full hookup sites (we only had water and electric), so this necessitated the usual water rationing and visits to the dump station.
While in New York, we were blessed with fantastic weather. The city really comes alive in the springtime, and we sampled many of its charms. Of all my visits to New York City, this one stands out as among the most pleasant and enjoyable. It’s also one of our best urban camping experiences, ranking up there with Las Vegas.
I can usually determine how much we like a particular location by how many times we extend our campground stay. In New York, we extended twice. Yes, we had a blast.
I used to fly into JFK. It was usually a quick turnaround but we got weathered in for a day and a half once. The weather was lousy (obviously) but while wandering around we met some great people, ate some amazing food and saw a minuscule part of the city. Dragging a trailer in there is very brave but I realize that the city gets a bad wrap sometimes and it sounds like you had a great experience. Anyway, NICE VIDEO!
Michele wants a SMALL T. Are there any available? I will take an XL and we will order as soon as we find out about the availability of one for the tiny one. If no smalls are available she says she will order a medium and eat lots of pasta this year 🙂
AHHHH what to say man What a uh um……site. That must have been 100.00 a night. Who did the camera work in time square? I hope you have a palm corder that you took on the subway and stuff. For me I saw myself in Kristy’s eyes getting on the elevator. TOO MANY PEOPLE!. Somehow hangin’ out with all those people with no music and a mosh pit not my cup of tea.
I would not have trusted my camera on the ledge whew…..you got guts. I just love the new style of format. Thanks for this weeks fix of “the moon”
Matt
Restless, I’ve done a lot of business in New York, usually flying into LaGuardia, but also JFK and Newark. I’ve had some bad experiences in NYC (cab wrecks, business dead ends, delayed flights, and one wicked knee injury!) and I’ve had some fantastic experiences. This recent trip was awesome… beautiful weather helped a lot.
With regard to the shirt, alas! Medium is as small as they go. But the good news is that I foresee a lot of fettucine, linguine, and spaghetti in Michele’s future. 🙂
Matt, the site was about $50 a night. For a slab of asphasalt, that’s bad. For a Manhattan home base, that’s a great deal! It wasn’t a totally dumpy place, but it wasn’t nice either. I think the RV parking was an afterthought, and they were focused on the marina business.
Yeah, I like people just fine but when you pack so many people in such a small space…it’s not for me either. But in NYC the upsides are usually worth it.
I have a few small HDV cams (Canon HV20, Sony HC3) that supplement the EX1. As much as I love Black Betty (or should it be Black Bart?) the camera is a bear to haul around. And yeah, I am not risking that thing on the subway! 🙂
Oh yeah, the film crew were some guys from NYU. We helped them out, and they helped us. Fair trade!
New T’s ordered Sean. The tiny one says she’s looking forward to “eating up” to a medium! Also, the Loony is up to 90 cents today! That was a pleasant surprise.
Wow, new T Shirts and a new Trailer for us all in one week!!
Now, if I could just afford that new Panasonic HDC-SD1I have been keeping my eye on in the local camera store!
Stay warm! Lower than average temps this week.
N & M
nice….
Restless, your shirts were shipped today. Because they are going north of the border, they will take 5-7 days for delivery. So if we’re lucky they’ll be there on Friday…but more likely next Monday.
For our initial batch of shirts, we went a little light on ordering mediums and XXLs (and we have no smalls)…so it really is good to get ’em while they last!
Thanks GMAs (and that must be your shortest post ever! ;))
New York is a fun place to shoot video, that’s for sure. There’s no shortage of material…