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How much money to have available?

Stanford-Le-Hope...
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How much money to have available?
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I am coming to New York in a week and a half, solo traveller with inexpensive (cheap) tastes. I have set aside money for accommodation, which includes breakfast, and have my tickets for Comic Con and broadway, I will be getting a week long unlimited metro card. I have about $250 cash from previous visits to the USA, and am hoping that $1000 in a no fees card should be sufficient. Thanks for your help

Stanford-Le-Hope...
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1. Re: How much money to have available?
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I forgot to mention that I will have fee paying credit cards available in case of emergencies

2. Re: How much money to have available?

Tripadvisor staff removed this post at the original author's request.

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London, United...
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126 reviews
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3. Re: How much money to have available?
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What do you anticipate doing? Comic Con all day or other tourist-y activities? If you give us an idea of your itinerary, people will be able to advise accordingly.

Personally, I would have thought that much for a week would be do-able if you’re not doing fancy sit-down meals or spending lots on admission fees to the sights. If longer you might want to reconsider having a bit more to hand.

Edited: 6 years ago
Stanford-Le-Hope...
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23 posts
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4. Re: How much money to have available?
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Sorry, I am staying for a week, will be doing some of the traditional tourist things, one world observatory, times square, looking round Brooklyn, chelsea. Comic con will be all day one day, and probably most of another

Toronto, Canada
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195 posts
5. Re: How much money to have available?
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I think that sounds like a adequate budget for basic day to day expenses such a food, coffee, drinks, a few admissions tickets to museums/attractions.

I personally would want a bit more cash for a week and a half. Credit card is widely accepted but it's annoying for smaller purchases (the us is way behind when it comes to chip and pin technology and tapping your card for smaller purchases is not common)

Dallas, Texas...
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27,567 posts
23 reviews
10 helpful votes
6. Re: How much money to have available?
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$1250 should be fine for a week given your description of your spending style, and assuming you don't plan on drinking lots of cocktails or wine every day. Do think about whether Comic Con is going to have lots of things you are tempted to buy,

Conneticut
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60 posts
1 review
7. Re: How much money to have available?
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When we go we ALWAYS take 3/4 of our spending funds in cash as we have noticed a trend to no cards allowed in many places,,,,both food and bars.

When we go we go to live it up and for us that means $250 in cash per person, per day PLUS credit cards for upscale restaurants and stores for merch.

NYC is an expensive city and often times depending on the time of year, the subway and its myriad of issues has gotten us sour to that method of travel The last trip we got stuck on two main line subways the last one having to get out of the car by walking through the entire line of cars then walking down a dark track to the next station. This took nearly two hours out of our day! This was supposedly because a subway car had broken down in front of us btwn stations. To top that off, we were dressed nicely for upscale lounges then dinner and when we finally reached the station we had just left, we encountered an unavoidable "water fall" from rain nearly three stories above the track.

This meant catching a taxi 4 miles back to the hotel, fare and tip, a ruined outfit (Versace shirt and Gucci jeans) three hours wasted and three must see locations off out list. This MTA delay cost us $250 when all was said and done plus the irreplaceable time THEN getting back in a taxi to the fourth place on our list after three catch up cocktails in our room. Again,,,,this was the second disasterous subway experience leaving us to take taxis only the rest of the trip which added up quickly!!

We learned 15 trips ago, ALWAYS take more money than you need, if you plan on $1000 cash....take $1500 PLUS your Credit cards. YOU NEVER KNOW what is going to happen and exactly how super expensive this city truly is.

Our last trip was in May where the two of us went through $3000 for a four day trip. And hardly any shopping other than a replacement items that were ruined by the waterfall. Better to be safe and bring cash home with you then to be there and be without $$$$ to make your trip enjoyable/

But then we never do NYC on the cheap because....well, we did that the first few trips before we graduated to thehigher end places now. NYC does that to you. YOu see all of these killer (expensive places) and the people frequenting them then you want to see the city from that rarefied point of view....and THAT takes money!!

And remember....tipping is the way many people who make your trip memorable make a living in this expensive but glorous city. so carry lots of singles and fives with which to tip those people.

New York City, New...
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8. Re: How much money to have available?
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Sorry - but the number of restaurants and bars that will not take credit cards is actually quite small. Don;t know where these people are eating or drinking -but as a native New Yorker who eats out a LOT (at least 2 or 3 dinners every week as well as entertaining clients and many lunches out as well - and I can count on one hand the places that did not take credit cards.)

Santa Fe, New Mexico
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12,094 posts
18 reviews
137 helpful votes
9. Re: How much money to have available?
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The number of cash only restaurants or bars may be small. But when you're at one -you need the cash on hand. I feel better, as a visitor, when I have at least $100 cash on me. Just in case . Also sometimes you just want to get out of a place quickly and I just want to throw cash down and get the heck out. I guess it's just where I travel but I seem to be a number of cash only places- The Lower East Side, East Village ,Chinatown And Brooklyn.

Canada
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5,791 posts
21 reviews
24 helpful votes
10. Re: How much money to have available?
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#7 and #9, the difference is that you are using your local currency. Anything you don't spend, you take home. OP would no doubt like to avoid having to pay the exchange rate and service to get US cash they may not need, when they will get the best exchange rate by using a credit card.

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