My afternoon with a Big Apple Greeter.

Following advice on Tripadvisor, I emailed the greeters office in March ahead of a November trip. Heard no more until about ten days before, when I got a phone call at home in Ireland to say they had someone available.

As requested, I am respecting his privacy, but the outline is he is a professional gentleman who likes showing people around his city. The guy was extremely knowledgeable and listened to my likes and dislikes and took me to RELEVANT places. Here is the outline.

We walked from my hotel - chelsea lodge (see hotel review) to the ';Chelsea Market'; on 9th Avenue between 15th and 16 Street. This is an old building renovated and containging cafes, restaurants, bakeries and all sorts of unique stores - well worth a visit. Then we walked around the ';Meat Packing District'; on 14th Street and Hudson Street. Next, we walked through the fancy food store, Balducci%26#39;s in an old bank building on 14th Street and 8th Avenue. We took the C train uptown to 72nd Street where I saw the Dakota Apartment Building (where Yoko Ono still lives) and John Lennon died (I am originally from Liverpool and particularly wanted this) and Strawberry Fields inside Central Park. In the park, we visited ';The Lake'; where there are rowboats and the fancy restaurant called ';The Boathouse.'; We walked along ';The Mall'; where there are wonderful old American Elm trees. We also visited ';The Carousel'; and the ';Central Park Zoo.';

We left the park on the southwest corner (Columbus Circle) and finally visited ';The Time Warner Center'; and ';Whole Foods.';

These were places I would not have made time to visit, but thoroughly enjoyed myself. My wife had gone off with my camera so my greeter even took a few photos and emailed them to me at home in Ireland. He was a real gentleman and a credit to BIG APPLE GREETERS and New York. I hope you read this and understand how I appreciated your tour. Thanks very much.

For anyone interested in a greeter BOOK EARLY

My afternoon with a Big Apple Greeter.

It is a great service, and make sure you send back the evaluation form so that your greeter gets a copy showing him your appreciation, as he probably does not post on this forum. As far as I know only me and Bettina, who are greeters, post here, unless there are a few who wish to remain anonymous.

For everyones knowledge the greeter program has become so popular that, no matter when you apply, you are never guaranteed one, so if you get one, consider yourself lucky.

And for those of you ';locals'; who are so inclined they are in need of volunteers, they have had ads on TV and an ad was in this weeks Time Out NY. You only need to make a commitment of volunteering once a month, so it is not a lot of time. If you can do more, that is even better, but not required.

If interested check out their website, www.bigapplegreeter.org.

My afternoon with a Big Apple Greeter.

Hiya nycgirl.

I have email him directly with the address of the review and as for the evaluation form, that went in while still in NY

Cheers !

Excellent!

I am so happy that you enjoyed the service, it really is special, and now expanding to other cities. I was in Chicago a couple of years ago and they have a program as well, and it was fun being on the ';other side'; of a greet.

Toronto, Houston,Fairbanks, Adelaide %26amp; Melbourne are also members of the greeter network.

Thanks for that recap - sounds like a great trip and a lot of fun! Glad you got a Greeter and it worked out so well.

We are one of the lucky ones who have a greeter lined up to show us around next week!! I have to confess I am so so so thrilled at this as meeting and chatting to a real local means more to me than any sightseeing, etc. we could do ourselves. Could I ask is it ok to bring along a little gift for our greeter? I see tips are unacceptable but I hope a small gift to show our appreciation is ok and maybe treat them to lunch or coffee?

Glad to hear you had a good time. We are hoping to meet someone when we are there in May.

Sounds like a great time. How long were you with him? Because you saw so much!

I applied for one back in November for our trip in March, so hopefully we will get someone. Fingers crossed.

I%26#39;d never heard of this before!

Is there any chance greeters would be available over christmas/new year or is this a bad time to be looking for one?

Thanks

It really is a brilliant idea. In reply to the question about bringing along a gift, I am not sure, when we went to Central Park I suggested a coffee and the reply was only if I can but my own !!!!!

The guy I got was truly respecing of the no tipping rule. He was very polite, soft spoken and took pride in his city - New York. As for his knowledge, he had to be from the Chelsea area as his knowledge was so wide, I doubt you could get it from books.

Any questions I had about places or things he didnt know were answered using a little electronic palm pocket computer thingy that he just referred to.

As for the other question about late availability - who knows? try emailing them at bigapplegreeter.org or even ringing them. The phone numbers are on the site.

And the final question of how long the trip lasted: It lasted about four or five hours. We cover lots of ground from chelsea to Dakota at Central Park using the subway. We walked around Chelsea in a big circle and found so many things that were hidden away ( like the chelsea market) that you will never find them on your own.