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We had a family event earlier this month in New York City; I thought I would share some of experiences in New York City during Covid. This is our first trip to New York since we moved to Florida in 2018 and were a little apprehensive due to the recent crime issues. Most of the events were in Queens, but we stayed with our niece in East Harlem. While parking was a little difficult to find, we were always able to find free on-street parking in the neighborhood.

Thursday. On our way from JFK Airport--The first problem was that I forgot to bring our Easypass, so we will be getting a large toll-by-plate bill from Alamo Car Rental. My wife did most of the driving and I did the navigating. I am not sure what is harder. Traffic was heavy driving into town. We needed to change lanes on the RFK Bridge. No problem, the car on the left was hanging back with the driver texting. Bad move. She ended up rear-ending us. There was no damage but I got out to the car, took a picture of the plate and a picture of the driver, just in case. Not too many people honked at me.

Friday. Getting ready. This was the day for the ladies to get ready for the event and for me to rest. We were parked on the side of the road which was marked for no parking due to street cleaning from 11:30 am to 1 pm. So I spent almost an hour driving around looking for a parking spot and no one else moved their car and no one got a ticket. No wonder the streets are so messy. Why have rules if you do not enforce them. That evening we took 124th St to the RFK Bridge to get to Queens. My wife pulled into what we both thought was the turn lane, with a bike lane on the right. After a few minutes of not moving, we figure out that we were in a parking lane. We got home near midnight and found a parking spot 30 minutes later about 5 blocks away. That was the only time we had difficulty finding a parking spot. Last night it was pretty quiet outside, not tonight. There were lots of people out, including the group of 4-5 guys having a champagne party across the street late into the night. The bottles were still there on Monday when we left.

Saturday. In the morning, I walked the 5 blocks to find our car and move it close our niece's apartment. Another trip to Queens for church and a family dinner. Except for being in the lane for the Mets game, the driving was okay but slow due to rain. The rain must have dampened the night life, as it was relatively quiet that night. Very different from the previous night. Go figure.

Sunday. This was party day, so we drove to Queens again. Traffic was heavy but moving.

Monday. We stopped to see our niece in Queens on the way to the airport.

All in all, we did not have any major issues. One reason we rented a car was to avoid the subways due to the high crime rates, so I cannot report on that. There were more people wearing masks than there are in Florida. About 75 percent of the people at JFK Airport wore masks. The PA system announced that masks were required at the airport about every 20 minutes, but still a significant number of people did not wear masks. Hardly any of the 100 people at our party wore masks. We did our Covid self test a few days after we returned to Florida and were negative. After we returned home, New York City went from low level risk to medium level.

Every family member of mine has left the 5 neighborhoods. Brave for you to go back. Thanks for the report.

I grew up in Queens. Took the subway to both high school and college. Now I live in NJ, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. I drive into Queens twice a week to see my dad, who still lives in the house I grew up in.

And somehow I've survived.

Dan

By the way, I got my toll charges from the rental car company the other day. It was under $100 for 8 RFK bridge crossings. I was charged at the out of town rate plus the administrative fee for toll by plate. Next time I will bring my ezpass. I will still have to pay the out of state rate.