I went to New York City for a weekend recently, my first visit in several years. To put things into perspective, I stayed a month each in Cordoba and Rio, so the observations I’m about to share with you could be complete bullshit, but I don’t think they are.
- No flip flops. Not one stinking pair. The women put in effort, and they looked good. Very common were sexy high-heel boots. My lady friend wore an extremely uncomfortable pair for a couple dozen blocks including a walk through the incredibly Eurotrash Meatpacking district. She didn’t complain about her plight as a woman during the process, and neither did the men who approached her when I stepped away.
- Not as fat. Washington DC is the only place in the world where an average, plain-Jane woman with an okay body has her pick of the most desirable men. I’ve already beaten this point to death.
- A real coffee shop culture, and by real I mean cramped and snobby with passive aggressive notes about the environment strewn about, but no one in a stupid uniform asking “How are you doing?” when they really don’t give a shit. I could see it happening in one of their cafes that I meet someone in the same starving / bum boat as myself.
- Too big for its own good. With thousands of possible nightlife choices, it may never happen that I find my most fruitful niche if I lived there. Even in comparatively tiny DC it took me a few years.
- Cheap and fast public transit. Taxicabs don’t charge more for extra passengers. Taking one with a group is cheaper than the already cheap subway that blew me away with express lines that skip stops. (The subway fare is $2 for two hours.) Compare that to what I pay for a 25-minute ride from a Maryland suburb to downtown DC at 3:01pm ($4). The DC Metro system is beautiful to look at but poorly planned, and run. I’ve been on subway lines in South America that are more efficient than ours. Even the Caracas subway which appears to be modeled after DC’s Metro runs better than the Metro.
- Cuter girls. I think if DC’s girls would lose their twenty extra pounds then they’d compete somewhat well, but they won’t, and even if they did their lack of individuality when it comes to appearance and less than shoulder-length hair would always keep them a step behind. For two nights I was more inspired than I have been in nine months.
There was nothing about my visit that told me I needed to move there instead of say the two South American cities I mentioned above, but I wouldn’t mind another visit in a few months. There are plenty of dirty hostels though most seem to be located in Harlem or other undesirable neighborhoods.
