We got back from New York City last week, and I’m still processing it.
I am broke, but worth it.
I loved New York… I didn’t think I would. But I did. Seattle is a city that seems to be for me. Nerdy and millennial. New York is a city built for anyone… including me.
There is so much of everything. And a nice balance of it. The beer scene is not as great as San Diego, Seattle, or other places I’ve been, but it does the trick. Pizza was overrated (or at least the ones I tried). Sushi was better than average, but it was cheap as fuck. Yet…
There is so much more.
So much fucking more. Living there must be a hoot.
Similar to Mexico City, it is too big, and there is also a lot of crap.
And so much content.
So much fucking content. I have to finish a video and then continue this blog. And after finishing that video, I still have so much fucking content.
I posted every day in New York City… check it out on all my social media.
Day 1 in New York.
We arrived at Newark at dawn. TikToks told us the best way was the skytrain, but it costs $18 a ticket. We figured the way by riding the bus to Penn Station (Jersey) and from there a train to World Trade Center ($3) and from there the subway to Brooklyn ($2.90 and then free).
The train in New York works this way. You pay $2.90 for the first 11 rides. On the 12th ride, it charges $2.10. Then the rest of the rides are for free that same week, assuming you paid with the same debit card (or MetroCard). So for $35 ,you get unlimited subway rides in New York.
Amazing public transit. Some of the best I’ve ever ridden. And everyone uses it. No matter how rich or broke you are, people use the subway. Even Seth Meyers, though I didn’t see the fucker…
In Brooklyn, we met with my cousin Joe and his soon-to-be wife, Peyton. Free stay in New York… THANKS, JOE!
The most expensive thing in the city is covered for free. And we got a nice basement room that felt like our own little studio in the city.
The girlfriend took a quick nap, and I couldn’t sleep, so I just chatted with my primo before heading out to explore.
We walked from Brooklyn to Manhattan. We were headed to the Brooklyn Bridge, but my navigation skills failed me, and we ended up walking the Manhattan Bridge. After half a mile of walking on that bridge, I realized we were wrong, so we headed back. My bad.
Walked the entirety of the Brooklyn Bridge. Gorgeous piece of engineering. And it’s so old. Magnificent New York City. Those are the first impressions. We already walked a lot and are loving it.
My stomach was acting up, so I didn’t get hungry, and we just kept walking and walking. Dumbfounded. Absorbing it all.
Somewhere near Wall Street, I found a brewery called Sixpoint. Beautiful location with a ton of beers, including guest beers. I got a flight of five for $20. The guest beers were not to my liking; it was the Sour Monkey by Victory Brewing. The house beers were a hit. Their standard IPA is a classic, easy-to-enjoy brew. The highlight was a lavender saison.
And after hours of walking, we decided to grab a slice of pizza. Nearby was “Sienna.”
It was meh. I mean… it was great, but when you have high expectations… it was meh. The garlic knots were better.
Since I hadn’t slept for virtually two days… I was dead tired by then.
We made it back to Brooklyn late in the afternoon to grab nightcap drinks with my primo and his wife. His favorite Brooklyn spots, and they delivered. It wasn’t anything outstanding, but they were solid choices and happy ones that I would return weekly if I lived in the area.
All of that was day 1.
Hundreds of videos and photos. All done with the GoPro. A week later, I’m still going through it. I still have to edit some photos. I will be publishing them all on my Patreon. 100+ photos available now!
Week 38.
OOooeee. Week 38 has been spent editing and posting all the content. I’m still not done yet. 200+ photos and 500+ videos all done on my GoPro. And I took more pictures and videos on my cellphone.
Posted all the days on all my social media.
All of it gets cross-posted in all of the following:
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Week 38 also included two tours in one day!
I’ve never done two tours in one day like that, but it happened, and I got paid. I needed it after so much New York.
Week 39 continues on the path of New York City content, though now I have to do more Tijuana content…
Week 39 has one tour. I have a tour on Thursday. I need more tours.
Book a Tijuana tour with Tijuana Adventure!
Still doing exclusive tours in 2025. Let’s see how much longer I last. I believe I’ll be doing tours in 2026 as well… but this influencer shit is going in the right direction, and I might be able to support myself doing content and traveling around the world… so tours might be coming to an end. Book me before I am no longer doing them!
Back to week 37 and day 2 in New York.
Oooo, what a day!
My friend Derek, aka SoupyGarbageJuice, wanted to tour us in New York. It was the day I drank the most, but we also covered a lot of ground and had a wonderful tour with Derek.
We started the day with Bagel Pub. Great and big bagels, but at a heavy price. It’s also a smoothie shop and a coffee shop. I could go there for breakfast daily.
Then we went to Battery Park, where a bunch of scammers try to sell you tickets for things that are free, like entrance to the park or the Staten Island Ferry. There we met Derek, and we took the ferry to see the views of the Statue of Liberty and back to Manhattan. You can get a beer at the store in the ferry station for around $4.50, and we drank on the ferry. From there, we took the subway to the World Trade Center. Derek hooked it up with free tickets to the World Trade Observatory (worth $39+). The entrance and the big reveal aren’t that great, but the views are amazing. Especially for free, not sure if I would pay for it.
So much New York… so much to process still.
We then went to one of New York’s oldest bars…McSorley’s…
And… I’ve read about it. A ton! It wasn’t planned… but I knew I had to visit it. If you want to get an idea of what New York was in the 1920s, read Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell. The whole story of McSorley’s is there.
And I drank there.
$8 pints. They give you two pints with foam. Only two choices, dark or light. We tried them both. Both are fantastic standard crushable beers. They also have food. Old school food. Presidents and famous people drank here. Women weren’t allowed until the 1960s. And it still has that same feeling.
The owner had a goat and a horse because horses shouldn’t sleep alone. He owned the building and lived on the first floor above his bar… And he was a quirky guy. And his shit still hangs there…
That was the beginning of the day.
We went to a Barcade that was standard but near Derek’s favorite restaurant. The restaurant was closed with no explanation. We went to a nearby bar where Bob Dylan got his fame. Back to the restaurant to confirm it was closed, so instead we went to Veselka, a traditional Ukrainian eatery. Delicious white people food.
From there to one of the two speakeasys that were open during prohibition, The Back Room. Fuck do I hate fake speakeasys because they are boring and shitty… but no… NOT THIS ONE!
This one is actually fucking historic. It used to be The Lower East Side Toy Company, and it still works the same way. After that, we were pretty loaded, but we still went for one more drink at The Library, a punkish-style bar. I barely remember the metro back, but we made it back.
This post needs a picture.
Low-quality JPEG of my favorite pic, here:
Day 3 and I already have almost 2,000 words.
New York, the last days will be in a second blog. This is too much. And another blog for the Tijuana Newsletter comparing the cities.
They both have rats.
They both are cool.
If Tijuana had good public transit, there would be more comparisons. But there aren’t that many. New York is huge, historic, and multifaceted. Tijuana is multifaceted.
Day 3…
The first thing we did was head to the Met to meet with my friend from childhood, Paz. Because she is a resident, Paz got us tickets to The Met at a cheaper price. Before going to the museum, we stopped at Levain Bakery, a place famous for its cookies. I tried the chocolate chip, and it was okay. The blueberry muffin I got was superb. Coffee was good, but nothing to rave about.
And the museum.
Fucking aye, the museum.
It’s GIGANTIC. I must say that I enjoyed the Chicago Art Institute a bit more. The Met has a lot of everything, and I wasted my time posing like paintings and sculptures around. I love impressionism, and they had plenty of it, but they also had plenty of fucking everything.
I could spend days there. I made the mistake of spending too much time appreciating old classics instead of heading to the modern. Nonetheless… The Met is a fantastic place to visit. And next to it, Central Park, where we met with Paz’s husband, Lule. Walked through Central Park and headed to the High Line. We walked the whole stretch and found ourselves at Chelsea Market… a place with dozens of options and hundreds of tourists.
Lule said that the lobster roll was his favorite, and I obliged. It was a fantastic yet expensive sandwich. The lobster blended with mayo and the buttery soft roll was exquisite, but at a price. And small. I could eat five of them.
After that, we went to Pier 57, which also offers a variety of food and drinks, but we didn’t. We just enjoyed the sunset and the views and headed to the Little Island in front of Pier 57, another place to enjoy the views. From there, we walked through Greenwich Village towards Paz and Lule’s apartment, where we drank some New York brews and chatted for a couple of hours before heading out to a sushi dinner.
Every worker in the sushi restaurant was Japanese, yet the menu was Americanized with a lot of sauces, avocados, and cream cheese. There was a private party in the back where they were serving hibachi. The sushi roll I ordered was excellent, all fish and rice. The rest ordered what looked like suchi and not sushi. It was good but not great. It was cheap though! $120 for a sushi dinner for four with drinks… yeah.
New York ain’t that expensive.
Again, we took the midtrain back to Brooklyn with no issues.
Days 4 and 5 will be in another blog spot.
On Day 5, we saw Gigi Hadid!
Day 6 was the return trip, and there wasn’t much.
I still have so much content. I’m done uploading the videos by day… but I still have so much extra content that I’m not sure if I’ll end up doing. My favorite bagels. The worst ones. The New York hacks. A lot of museum content. A bunch of food. Broadway. Times Square…
New York is so photogenic. New York is full of life (and rats). I sorta want to move to New York. It seems more possible than Seattle.
But for now… I’m still in Tijuana. Still making content and doing tours.
So you know the drill… hit like, subscribe, and share.
And buy all my shit.
More shirts, merch, and a store coming soon.
And perhaps in 2026 I will move to a different city. Ensenada, Seattle, or New York… It all could be possible if life goes the right way.
Thanks for reading.
Matingas 
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