NYC Help

[tink15823]

Hi our youth group has worked long and hard to get all of our kids to the Jesus Culture Conference at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in NYC. We need some cheaper places for them to eat around there. I know nothing is cheap in NYC but we are are on a really tight budget . TNA

Oh and not sure if this helps but they will be staying at Nyack College .

 

[NYCDiane]

Nassau Colliseum is NOT in NYC.... it's on Long Island (Uniondale to be precise).

There are plenty of cheap places around there ---- everything from fast food places to family-style restaurants.


Wait, I just re-read your post. WHY are you staying in NYACK if you're going to a conference on Long Island??????? Nyack is a good 2 hours by public transportation!! At least an hour and a half by car

I just looked on Mapquest for the heck of it. Check it out.. go to Mapquest.com and just put in Nyack as your starting point and Uniondale as your end point and it will show you the distance.

 

[tink15823]

Nassau Colliseum is NOT in NYC.... it's on Long Island (Uniondale to be precise).

There are plenty of cheap places around there ---- everything from fast food places to family-style restaurants.


Wait, I just re-read your post. WHY are you staying in NYACK if you're going to a conference on Long Island??????? Nyack is a good 2 hours by public transportation!! At least an hour and a half by car

I just looked on Mapquest for the heck of it. Check it out.. go to Mapquest.com and just put in Nyack as your starting point and Uniondale as your end point and it will show you the distance.

Our past youth Pastor went to Nyack and they were kind enough to put up our youth group for 100 a night . If we had to do hotels for that many kids the price would have been through the roof. Its hard enough feeding so many teenagers and not go broke. They just never seem to stop eating .

 

[LexiC123]

Nassau Colliseum is NOT in NYC.... it's on Long Island (Uniondale to be precise).

There are plenty of cheap places around there ---- everything from fast food places to family-style restaurants.


Wait, I just re-read your post. WHY are you staying in NYACK if you're going to a conference on Long Island??????? Nyack is a good 2 hours by public transportation!! At least an hour and a half by car

I just looked on Mapquest for the heck of it. Check it out.. go to Mapquest.com and just put in Nyack as your starting point and Uniondale as your end point and it will show you the distance.

I was just coming in to comment on the same thing. Nyack is 48 miles away from Uniondale, but it might as well be 100! The route between the two cities traverses through FIVE different counties and some of the most congested roadways in NY. To commute this distance twice a day, for a multi-day event is crazy.

 

[cornflake]

That was about where I stopped reading in your original post as well. Nyack to the Coliseum is just... honestly, if they plan on going either way anytime NEAR any rush hour (like, from 7-9:30am or from 4-6:30pm), I can't see it taking less than 2 or 2.5 hours for the one-way trip and it could conceivably be way, way more, as anyone who has ever either waited to get on the Tappan Zee, or ever driven anyplace on Long Island in daylight, ever, will tell you.

From NYC to Nyack is about an hour on a good day with no traffic. From NYC to the Coliseum is like 45 minutes - an hour on a good day.

You can cut out the middleman a bit (not go through the City itself) and go Cross Island over the Throgs Neck to the Hutch to theTappan Zee (which, btw, whatever transport they're taking, this is something like $15 in tolls each way, each time they go back or forth for each single car making the trip, buses pay more cause it's per axle) but it's still likely an hour and a half with no real traffic at all.

Around the Coliseum there's some fast food I think, off by one side... I know there's a Dunkin Donuts. There's a decent sports bar with not bad food in the hotel there but while it's not particularly expensive it's not particularly cheap either.

Oh, also be warned you CANNOT walk to anything around the Coliseum (besides the Marriott). Can not. Need a car to get to, from, to the Donuts, to anything. It's surrounded by multi-lane highways and roads and the drivers are not kidding around.

You can walk around Nyack, which has plenty of nice little restaurants (depending on where in Nyack they'll be), but not fast food really. There's the Palisades Mall but that's on its lonesome too, kind of the other side.

Honestly, I realize you're trying to save money but the geography of this makes this a really, really bad plan. Unless it was just going to Nyack, sleeping, going to the Coliseum and then going home for good, rethink.

 

[lpizzuro123]

I agree - about staying somewhere else. I needed to reread it also.

The money you are saving you will be using up in tolls, gas and time.

Linda

 

[NYCDiane]

I'm not sure how many kids are in your group but I think you would have/could have done better staying in a hotel on Long Island and getting a group rate (4 kids per room, etc). There are Howard Johnson hotels, Hilton, Marriot, and I'm sure there are Days Inn, Motel 6 or other budget hotels/motels in the area. $100/night is NOT a bargain compared to the insane commute and toll/gas cost you're going to have going to/from the Coliseum.

I wish you would have posted here MUCH sooner!! We could have helped you to find lodging, etc that would have been much more convenient and cost-effective!

 

[cornflake]

Heck, you could probably ferry from Rye or whatever if need be cheaper than the situation here.

Really, OP, we're not trying to be discouraging, we're trying to help - if you can look into switching accomodations I agree I'd do it. $100 a night isn't that cheap for noplace Long Island, which is where the Coliseum is, and there are other, closer places with reasonably priced options as well. Like Queens...

 

[lpizzuro123]

http://www.hotelplanner.com/Hotel/H...5&inDate=06/08/12&outDate=06/09/12&NumRooms=1

Lets see if this link works. I just checked this place out and this weekend they have rooms for $106.00 per night.

Linda

 

[gk90]

Please please do not stay in Nyack if the conference is at Nassau Coliseum!

I know what I'm talking about, I work a few blocks from the Coliseum and I make the drive to relatives not far from Nyack quite often. It's not an easy drive at all, even for people who live here and know the route. If you're really lucky it will take you an hour fifteen but to be safe you would have to budget at least an hour and a half, or 2 hours if it's rush hour. And you would be driving on the worst highway in NYC (the Cross-Bronx Expressway) and others which are very confusing and terribly signposted--we've had friends/relatives come from out of town through that route and even with GPS and good navigators and having done it a few times it's very easy to get lost and end up in bad neighborhoods or mazes of freeways.

Really. The trip from Nyack will be a nightmare for you. Please PLEASE stay in Queens or Long Island. You can easily find hotel rooms for $100 a night--do a search on Hotels.com or Tripadvisor.com for "Uniondale NY".
Or you could stay in a dorm at Hofstra University which is right next to the Coliseum, or at Adelphi University which is 10 minutes away. This is a safe suburban area. Across from the Coliseum and a few blocks away are all the regular fast food places like McD's, Burger King etc all of them with the dollar menus if you want to feed hungry teens.

If it were me I wouldn't stay in Nyack for an event at Nassau Coliseum even if it were free!. It will be well worth finding something closer.

Hofstra dorm info:
http://www.hofstra.edu/about/campus/oem/confservices/confservices_resources_housing.html#colonial

Adelphi:
http://www.adelphi.edu/conferenceservices/summerhousing.php

Again, please do not stay in Nyack! Do yourself a favor and find accommodations closer to the Coliseum!

I'm sorry if this looks like shouting but really if you end up staying in Nyack you are going to need lots of special prayers and blessings.

 

[lpizzuro123]

I just checked on line and the conference is not for 3 weeks. Please look into staying somewhere else.

Linda

 

[gk90]

If you're really on a tight budget it might even be worth it for you to find a church or pastor in that area and ask if the kids can sleep in sleeping bags in a church basement or some place like that--my nephew and friends did that for a church event last summer and had a great time.

Really, "roughing it" and sleeping on the floor would be much easier than the drive/commute from Nyack. Traffic is bad even on weekends. Public transport would be insane as well.

It may look like it's not that far if you look it up on mapquest or google maps but those sites are very inaccurate when it comes to NYC area directions. Nyack and Uniondale are both suburban locations but there's no way to drive from one to the other without going through some of the worst highways in NYC (unless you take a ferry or a helicopter)

 

[LIGrumpyGirl]

I live in the next town over from the Coliseum. Plenty of places to eat on Hempstead Turnpike. Don't eat at Borrelli's Pizza if you want cheap though. Good but $$$. Plenty of other pizza places/fast food places along that road. Definitely look for cheaper, closer sleeping arrangements!

 

[tink15823]

Thank you I am passing on the info to our youth Pastor. I am a bundle of nerves as it is. My kids have been to NYC and CT NJ Ri Mass NH Maine but they are the only kids that have been that way. We live in a VERY rural setting town I live in is pop of 120 people . Our kids have 76 in their grade. My kids are the few who have traveled I think they have about 150 kids going . In the past they have stayed at a church near the Broncs . I new I should of gotten more involved in the planing .

 

[Swan4Me]

QUESTION-for all you NYC Pros"s

Sort of off topic=but you all seem knowledgeable...
I will be staying in Nanuet NY and driving to laguardia...mapquest says 45 minutes,,,if I do this at 7:30 ish on a monday morning-should i allow 1 1/2 hours? or 2 hours?

 

[punkin]

QUESTION-for all you NYC Pros"s

Sort of off topic=but you all seem knowledgeable...
I will be staying in Nanuet NY and driving to laguardia...mapquest says 45 minutes,,,if I do this at 7:30 ish on a monday morning-should i allow 1 1/2 hours? or 2 hours?

Good Luck!

You will hit traffic everywhere but you will be at a dead stop on the Cross-Bronx and the Van Wyck. Two hours at a minimum and pray.

 

[cornflake]

QUESTION-for all you NYC Pros"s

Sort of off topic=but you all seem knowledgeable...
I will be staying in Nanuet NY and driving to laguardia...mapquest says 45 minutes,,,if I do this at 7:30 ish on a monday morning-should i allow 1 1/2 hours? or 2 hours?

Are you starting at 7:30 or need to be there BY 7:30?

If it's to be there by 7:30 you're fine with an hour and a half. If you're starting then you likely might make it in 1.5 or less but I'd allow 2 just in case.

 

[cornflake]

Thank you I am passing on the info to our youth Pastor. I am a bundle of nerves as it is. My kids have been to NYC and CT NJ Ri Mass NH Maine but they are the only kids that have been that way. We live in a VERY rural setting town I live in is pop of 120 people . Our kids have 76 in their grade. My kids are the few who have traveled I think they have about 150 kids going . In the past they have stayed at a church near the Broncs . I new I should of gotten more involved in the planing .

The dorms at Hofstra or wherever are a good idea if that can work.

Otherwise you might try looking at hotels around Rockville Centre, which is like 10 or so miles from the Coliseum (which means it's like 15-30 minutes, in LI driving time, depending on time of day, heh) and is a small town with hotels, restaurants, fast food, a main street, etc.

When discussing this be sure to point out that the LI/Nyack option has close to $15 in tolls each way, per car, more for buses. So if they think they're keeping the cost down, that's going to eat them like crazy. Not to mention gas, etc. and that $100 isn't particularly cheap for LI or Queens.

 

[sk!mom]

I'm sorry but I don't understand the thinking here. Is the $100 per night for the whole group, per person, per room? Unless it is for the whole group, the accommodations make no sense. $100 per room per night isn't cheap unless you are staying in Manhatten.

You can absolutely stay some where closer for that price or near it and you'll save yourself a lot of hassle.

I guess I'm just confused by organizers who think a 45 mile drive through traffic is worth it for that price. Have the organizers never traveled?

 

[cornflake]

Thank you I am passing on the info to our youth Pastor. I am a bundle of nerves as it is. My kids have been to NYC and CT NJ Ri Mass NH Maine but they are the only kids that have been that way. We live in a VERY rural setting town I live in is pop of 120 people . Our kids have 76 in their grade. My kids are the few who have traveled I think they have about 150 kids going . In the past they have stayed at a church near the Broncs . I new I should of gotten more involved in the planing .

If at all avoidable, you don't want to stay near the Bronx either. I don't quite understand what's going on with the accomodation setups here (like who's planning this stuff) but presuming the previous event was also at the Coliseum - you want to stay ON LONG ISLAND - NOT in NYC.

The Bronx is a better option than Nyack but not what I'd choose to do at all.

Getting on and off Long Island is a mess. Pretty much always, at all times. It can literally take you an hour to get the 1/2 mile or whatever from NYC into Queens by car (this is not a rare event), nevermind then onto the Island - which is on that same body of land, past Queens.

The Coliseum is on Long Island, NOT in the City. Stay there! Focus on there! Heh.