Question about Big Apple Greeters & what to do in NYC
 

I heard about Big Apple Greeters and decided to sign up with them to get a free tour of the city when I'm in town with my friends. We will be in town in June. <BR><BR>Have you all heard of this organization, and if so, what have you heard? What areas do you suggest that I have the Big Apple Greeter take my friends and me? My friends and I are all females, age 30 and like just about anything. <BR><BR>Please keep in mind we are thinking of taking the Grayline hop on and off tour of the city for 2 days, so we would want to see sights other than what the Grayline tour would show us. Any advice?<BR><BR>Thanks in advance for your advice.

Sign up for Big Apple Greeters ASAP: When I requested a Greeter last summer, I was matched with someone who was unfamiliar with the neighborhoods I was interested in, which sort-of defeated the whole point! If it worked well, it would have nicely complemented the Gray Line tour (which I also took) by giving on-the-ground personal insights about a neighborhood.<BR><BR>In order to suggest a neighborhood that might interest you, we need to know more than your age and &quot;just about anything&quot;.

Have you been to NYC before? If so, I would do a tour of either Harlem or Brooklyn Heights.<BR><BR>If not, either Downtown, The East Village, Central Park, or The Upper East or West Sides.

Some of the more interesting neighborhoods:<BR><BR>Manhattan:<BR>East Village<BR>Lower East Side<BR>Greenwich Village<BR>SOHO<BR>Chinatown<BR><BR>Bklyn:<BR>Broo klyn Heights<BR>Park Slope<BR><BR>I think the Lower East Side has one of the most interesting histories if you get a knowledgeable guide. I believe the Tenement Museum gives great LES tours.

After reading the B-A-G website, I am under the impression that the B-A-G host chooses the area they'd like to take you, not the other way around. Even if that is not the case, I'd rather be show the host's favorite neighborhoods and places ... I'd be more confident that I'm getting the best info. NY is such a big area that I'm sure no one person, let alone a volunteer group, has in-depth knowledge of every locale. Maybe it would be best to let B-A-G know ahead of time the areas YOU are most interested in? Of course, that doesn't mean they can find one of their volunteers whose expertise is that neighborhood on that day. It's TOUGH co-ordinating volunteers!

To clarify: I did let BAG know about my 3 top choices of neighborhoods; that was part of their request form. I was then contacted by the greeter, who said &quot;We'll be going to Greenwich Village&quot;, which was one of my 3 choices. Fine. She met me at my hotel (near Times Square). Then, AFTER we got to the Village, it became apparent that she knew nothing about it, and she told me that she lived on the Upper East Side. Well, parts of the UES would have been my fourth choice, if I'd been allowed to specify such a thing, but by then it was too late to backtrack uptown.<BR><BR>Yes, it is tough coordinating volunteers - that's why I advised the original poster about my experience. I'd also advise them to ask their Greeter where they live!

If you're going to do the Grayline tour for 2 days, they're going to &quot;show you&quot; everything (although I'm not sure they go to Brooklyn). I would pick Greenwich Village because it's got lots of history and it's one of the few areas where it's easy to get lost because the streets are largely names (not numbers) and not all square blocks.

No kidding! I knewwe were in trouble when I was starting to show my BAG &quot;guide&quot; where things were, having spotted them first.<BR><BR>The Gray Line evening tour makes part of its loop thru Brooklyn.

One of the best things that my friends and I did was to take the Lincoln Center tour. We went on a Sunday morning and it lasted approx. an hour and half and we visited the Metropolitan Opera, NY Ballet, etc.....gorgeous theaters and the guide was terrific...Just call when you get there and set up a time, well worth it.

We too were planning to arrange a BAG tour - has anyone had a good experence with them? I'm disappointed with the responses so far, as we had really looked forward to it, but am now thinking twice about it.<BR><BR>Loki, he Tenement Museum does do a great LES tour. We took it last year. I highly recommend it.<BR>

Please don't let my repeated posts/clarifications put you off of BAG. Give them a try, just make sure that you work with your guide to choose a neighborhood that they know and are enthusiastic about! <BR><BR>As with any volunteer organization, the results will be uneven. But if you look online at their application forms (for both guides and guests) you'll see that they're really trying. Don't reject them based on my one experience!

Thanks Anonymous for that truthful, insightful response. We have spent time in most of the areas of the city, including Brooklyn Heights, and were thinking about BAG for Greenwich Village.

Sorry to also be negative. We were very much looking forward to our BAG tour and were told they would contact us at our hotel. That was the last we heard of them. We sat around the hotel and wasted a few hours waiting for them to contact us.....but no..<BR>Finally our hotel got in touch with them, and they sadi they didn't have a guide available for us, and I'm not sure when they were going to let us know about it.<BR>Outside of that, I've read great things about them... it just wasn't to be for us.<BR>We did a wonderful eating and walking tour of the Village with another company and loved it.<BR>Also did a walking tour of Ground Zero with a retired cop that was very, very well done.<BR>Good luck.

Kodi, do you remember the name of the company that you used for the Village tour? That sounds interesting ... especially the eating part!

I emailed them twice with my request and never received a reply! Gave up and booked a Lower Manhattan Walking Tour instead at $15.

Nina,<BR>Sorry for the delay, but I just noticed your question. I'll get out my notes and add another post as soon as possible with the name of the tour. It was great!!

I found it! the following is their web site for the Greenwich Village tour.<BR>http://food.nyc.citysearch.com/2.html<BR><BR>We really enjoyed the tour....much more than we even expected. I highly recommend it and the food was delicious.<BR>Have fun.

Thank you Kodi, I will check it out.

Kodi, nice site. We'll book in the next week or so. Eat, walk, eat, walk.... hope it comes out even weight-wise!

Oh Nina , you'll love it!!! Just make sure you don't have much for breakfast before you go on the tour. Mmmm, I'd go on the tour again in a minute!<BR>Enjoy...