New York City 2018


I recently took a trip to NYC with my 15 year old son, my friend Katie and her son who will turn 16 soon. He wanted to check out the city for his birthday, and so we planned lots of things two teenage boys might like to see and do in they city.
We took the train out of Harrisburg which is really my favorite way to do New York. No worry about a car or where you’ll park once you arrive.
Below I’ll provide links to all the things we did while we were there. You can also check out my previous posts from trips to NYC for ideas too, I’ll put links to these at the very bottom of this post. Some of them no longer have photos (the really old ones) but do still have active links that may be helpful when finding things to do.




Toys!
Toy Tokyo– This is my favorite spot for toys in NYC. Always some fun blind box to buy, and lots to look at.
Lego Store– There are two in NYC so we stopped into both.
Nintendo Store– I loved this for all the fun Animal Crossing stuff.

Books & Comics
Kinokuniya– My favorite book shop in NYC, a huge selection of Japanese craft books, magazines, manga, and lots of toys.
Midtown Comics– Huge comic selection, several floors with lots of toys too.
Forbidden Planet– lots of comics and toys! This place was really crowded when we went so it made it hard to look, but its also located right next to The Strand which is fun to browse too.



Other Shopping:
Elizabeth Center Git Shops– This is located in Chinatown and is a funny little mall filled with gift shops. You can find some really cute things, but keep in mind some shops only take cash.
Kam Man Supermarket-Three floors, the main floor is grocery, lower level is housewares, tea and ramen, and the top floor is gifts, stickers, and beauty items. I always find fun things here.
Flying Tiger– My friend Molly told me about this place. Amazing prices on fun little gift items from Copenhagen.
Fish Eddy– super cool dishes and a fun shop to walk around in.
David’s Tea– several locations in NYC. You can get tea to drink but also a nice sized store to shop for tea and tea merchandise.






Food
Beetlehouse– This is a themed restaurant Tim Burton/Halloween and we were all really excited to go. The only things to keep in mind are #1 its very tiny. #2 they have a policy where each person has to order an appetizer and a main entree. This means each person’s meal will range between $35-45 for the food, soda’s are $4. They do look to have a lot of fun cocktails but we stuck to soda & water. Now some of the apps are quite big and by the time we were done those we didn’t even want our meals. Its a fun place but something to keep in mind. They play themed music, and there was a gal dressed as Corpse Bride. Our phrase for the entire trip then on was “well it wasn’t as expensive as Beetlehouse”
Lillie’s Victorian Establishment– One night we walked down from our hotel to Time Square and on the way spotted this beautiful looking restaurant. We made reservations for the following day for high tea and it was wonderful. The inside has so much to look at, the tea and foods were great. We all loved it.
Totto Ramen– We all loved the ramen here. Small place but we didn’t wait long. Ramen was delicious and we all had to take some back with us to hotel.
The Donut Pub– Yummy soft donuts, we stumbled upon this when getting off the subway near The High Line. Only complaint is the girl taking our donut order was so rushy, even though there wasn’t anyone else waiting. I felt like I didn’t have a chance to even see what they had before having to just pick a donut.
Places we had coffee…
Rex Coffee Gregorys Coffee, Caffe Bene there were a few more stops but I forgot to keep track of the names.
try to go to a diner one night close to Time Square where the servers sing to you. It was raining when we set off and we were looking for a diner since there was talk of wanting Coke Floats. When we reached the restaurant the line was down and around the block, so we back tracked to a diner we had passed on the way instead.
We also had some great pizza, and pasta in Little Italy.










Everything Else:
Dowtown Abby: The Exhibition
The Evolution Store
The High Line
We also made sure to take a cab so her son could experience that and made lots of trips on the subway getting around. I’m sure I am forgetting something. We stayed at the Watson Hotel (which is where I stayed with Molly last time, so kind of funny!) I didn’t realize they had a rooftop pool, but this time we did make time to swim one evening.
NYC 2017, my trip with Molly
NYC 2013, another trip with Molly to Blythecon
NYC 2011 mini book tour
NYC 2010 blog post 1, and 2
Renegade 2008
Renegade 2007
Renegade 2006 part 1, and part 2