How to Enjoy a Safe New Years Eve in New York City

If you are considering visiting New York City on New Year's Eve then there are a number of safety precautions you should take. New Year's Eve is a magical time anywhere in the world; nowhere more so than in New York City, the crossroads of the world. However you do not want to fall victim to a desperate individual who has literally millions of uninformed people at their disposal. For this reason you should take care with a couple of precautionary measures before you set out on your New Year's Eve adventure.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• wits
• courage
• directions
• addresses
• friends

Four Steps for Safety

1. Know Where You Are Going: while this piece of advice may seem obvious; you would be surprised how many people coming to New York City every day with no clue about where they are going. This is a fact which is further exacerbated by the terms of visiting New York City; you generally have to walk, take a bus, take a cab, or take a train. When you factor in to the equation that many people don't really know the true names of the places that they are going, don't have the addresses of the places that they are going, and just assume that cabdrivers know where everything is, you are left with a volatile concoction which could explode at any moment. For this reason you should always write down the actual address of the place you are going to and verify it before you leave by calling the place you're going to be visiting.

2. Travel in Groups: If your New Year's Eve celebration is going to be including a number of your friends and family members then you should try to meet up before you begin to brave the crowds and travel together. In the wild there is no better way to achieve safety than in numbers and this is a fact which remains true in the Big Apple.

3. Carry a Cell Phone: Even if you do not keep it turned on, you should have some way to get in touch with people if you get lost. Keep everyone's number in your memory or in your address book on your phone and make sure that you have a number of different people you can call in the event something goes wrong.

4. Ask A Police Officer: Their job is to serve and protect and to serve part of this is to help people who are in distress. Even if your distress is relative in terms of the distress of the world you should never be afraid to approach a uniformed police officer with a question about anything. Particularly in New York as New York City officers are unusually kind and very receptive to the fact that there are millions and millions of visitors in New York City at any given moment.

Tips & Warnings

• keep your wits about you
• have written directions in a safe spot
• keep a cell phone stocked with numbers
• don't worry, be happy

[DianeD]

on 12/23/2008 hope to do this someday - visited NYC a few years ago but not on New Years

[Elitchka]

on 11/27/2007 Very good and useful information