Recently, Poppy Barley has been traveling back-and-forth to New York City. There are lots of great guides on things to do in NYC, but when you’re there to work, the city takes a bit of a different spin.
A Pillow for Your Head
We’re big fans of Airbnb. An apartment is often cheaper and more enjoyable than a hotel room. On every trip, we stay in a different part of the city (in January, we stayed in an apartment above the famous Ess-a-Bagel shop and ate an average 2 bagels per day each!). Recently, we shared a small room at the Ace Hotel which has an insane hipster vibe of turntables, bunkbeds and can’t-tell-what-time-of-day-it-is-darkness.
Here to Work!
NYC is designed for short-term working trips. With a coffee shop on every corner finding free internet and place to work is easy. To escape the bustle of NYC streets, co-working spaces like WeWork and The Grind offer drop-ins for about $35/day. These spaces offer desks, conference rooms, coffee, private phone booths and community of entrepreneurs. On my next trip to NYC, I plan make use of Breather – a network of beautiful, practical spaces (workspaces, wi-fi, lots of outlets, couches, etc) for $20/hour that you can reserve on the go (download the app). Here’s a fantastic guide to NYC’s tech scene (meetups, conferences, people, investors, startup companies, etc).
Where are the cool people?
In NYC, it’s easy to jam-pack an entire week with places to go to meet people. General Assembly offers workshops and classes on user experience, data science, marketing, programming and more. Fashion Decoded creates events that focus on the acceleration of innovation at the intersection of fashion and retail. Startup Digest curates event listings of all things startup.
Download Before You Go!
- Using New York’s Best Coffee app find specialty coffee shops in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Blue Bottle, Stumptown, Intelligentsia and 49th Parallel await you. The best $0.99 ever. (they have an app for craft beer too!)
- Make your instagram shine with VSCOcam app to edit your photos with elegant, minimal processing options. The Empire State Building should not be cropped square, use the app Image Square to get the full photo on instagram.
- Lost underground on the subway with no internet? Download this app that displays all subway maps without wi-fi so you’ll always know when to get off the train.
- Uber!!! Especially if you’re landing in Newark. This app connects you a car in a tap of a button. A taxi will cost you $90 into Manhattan, Uber is only $65 (including tolls and tip!).
- Use MapMyRun to find cool running routes in NYC and MindBodyConnect to find, book and pay for yoga, barre, pilates or cycle class on the fly.
