My Birthday in NYC: On Finding Food & Entertainment

It’s Thursday, which means the work week is coming to an end again! I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday—I had a blast celebrating it in NYC.

Today, I’m going to switch things up and write a short entry on my trip so far in NYC in relation to two big aspects of traveling: food and entertainment.

With most of my travels, good food is the defining motivation for my schedule and travels. And every trip I make to NYC I’m always getting some of the best food experiences in my life. I’ve been asked few times how I find these places, and usually the answer is Yelp–or at least while I’m traveling in the States.

Yelp is a wonderful user-generated review site and community. If you haven’t navigated some food adventures with Yelp as your navigator, you need to–especially for major cities. Go to the restaurants with high (4 star or better) reviews–and with lots f reviews (at least 100), and you can’t go wrong.

My girlfriend and I had a wonderful dinner yesterday at Trattoria Trecolori–a four star (Yelp) Italian restaurant in the theatre district of the Times Square area. The food there was absolutely heavenly. We had their special, an American Red Snapper, and their famous squid-ink pasta. Definitely some of the freshest and most flavorful seafood dishes I have ever had. The only downside is you need to make a reservation for this restaurant either in the morning or the day before (at least). We lucked out and found a few seats at the bar, where they also do full menu service. (And of course the plus is that it was closer to the wines!)

So the next time you travel (or even after work today), do yourself a favor and try something new and tasty! Good food really is a mini-adventure within itself!

After dinner, we went to the Gershwin Theatre for a showing of Wicked. It was a blast! Wicked is definitely a GREAT musical, but the decorations they had for this production were just phenomenal. For miles enthusiast, don’t forget that by going through Audience Rewards to book your tickets, you’ll earn anywhere from 200 to 2000+ miles per ticket you purchase. They have partnerships with United Airlines, Starwood Preferred Guest, and a few other reputable programs. I believe these also apply to shows in SF and not just NYC.

And if broadway shows aren’t your thing, do your research online before your trip to plan out some entertainment. Or–have a chat with a local or a frequent traveler. On my flight to NYC, I happened to sit next to a pleasant lady. At the end of our flight, we had started a conversation and it turned out it was also her birthday and that she had decided to travel to NYC to celebrate it as well! During our conversation, we talked about a few of our favorite spots in NYC, and she also suggested a few events to go to that were happening this week.

It might not be in your nature to start conversations with strangers, but break out of your comfort zone and give it a try. I personally think for air flights, it’s best to start the conversation while the plane is landing at your destination. That way, in case it doesn’t go well, at least you won’t have to sit next to them for the next few hours!

Also don’t forget to use your favorite miles earning credit card on all of your adventures, and earn base miles for everything you do. 🙂

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow, I’ll have some more travel-related deals to talk about. Enjoy the rest of Thursday!