Question About New York City Traveling

movingangel · Mar 6, 2012

I don't know if your questioned was answered or not. I'm new to this forum and I'm trying to get info myself. I live in NY (outside the city) and took a travel assignment there about 7 years ago. I walked to work....took about 15 minutes. I worked at a large teaching facility and I was treated like garbage. They went from traveler to traveler to traveler and I could see why. I was treated so bad, I decided to just not show up, so the company cancelled the contract and I didn't care. The housing was in a hotel. Basically a large suite. There were a lot of tourists staying there and you'd meet nurses on the elevator (you knew by their scrubs). I know Lenox Hill treats their travelers well (strong union) and it's in an upscale area of Manhattan, so the housing is probably pretty nice. I was offered an assignment at Beth Israel and I wanted to check out the apt., so my Mom and I drove in and met the housing "person" and I almost died. It was an apartment built in the 1800s. One room with a tiny bedroom and literally a cot in the BR which bordered the street. I said forget it. Then looked at another apt. There was a doorman, huge apartment; separate bedroom, bath, small kitchen but on the 15th floor. Smelled musty and smoky. A lot of the apartments are privately owned and people rent them out. You are not going to find beautiful apartments like you do out west with swimming pools, garage, fireplaces. That's NY...old, small and EXPENSIVE. So if your rate of pay is low, you'll know why. Also my lunch used to cost me over $10.00 in the hospital. Everything and I mean everything is very expensive in Manhattan. I didn't save a dime. But, there's always something going on....street fairs all through the spring and fall, theatre, parks, just sooo much to do. Plus, you can get anything ordered to your apartment 24 hours a day. You can call up the local deli and ask them for a box of cereal, toilet paper, milk, whatever and they'll deliver it free of charge. I used to order my breakfast from the local deli everyday while I was getting ready for work. Then when I returned home I was like "I have to get in my car and go get milk now?" You get spoiled. Definitely an experience. You won't save much money, but it's an experience not too many people get the chance to do.