Original Podcast Show: All Ears English

This is an All Ears English podcast. Visiting New York City, don’t miss our Insider Secrets. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We’ll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS Wiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. Coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com board slash app.

Visiting New York anytime soon, get four Insider Secrets from Lindsay and Aubrey based on their real-life experiences living in this amazing city.

Hello, Lindsay. How are you? Hey, Aubrey. I am doing fantastic. I heard that today we’re talking about New York City, which is one of my favorite topics. I know you do. We got a great question about New York. This is going to be really interesting for anyone who has either been there before or might go someday, which I think is all of us. All of us. It’s in our future, right? We love New York. We love New York. New York is a special place. I think around the world, people just have, I don’t know if it’s from movies or music or what, or media. We just have an idea of New York, and yeah. Well, what abouts a lot of it? It’s so iconic because it’s been so much in film, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts. We hear about it all the time. And anyone who’s been there before can’t wait to go back. And you can’t do it all. There’s so much to see and do that. It would take several trips, so you have to know what to hit, what to miss. It’s tricky. You got to do the right stuff. So, Aubrey, when you travel, do you like to go to touristy spots or do you tend to seek out lesser-known places? What’s your style? I love to find the hidden gems. If ever, I can ask someone who’s been there before, especially if they have lived there before, like, where should I go? What’s something that not every tourist knows about? I love that. I love that. If I can get away from the crowds and do things that not everybody sees, do more like the local haunts, I love that. Oh, so our listeners are lucky because you and I have both lived in New York in our past for a few years at a time, right? So, we have a listener question today, right? Shall I go ahead and read it? Yeah, let’s do it. All right, so hi, Lindsay. I’m not bragging, but I’m traveling to New York for a vacation next month. I love that. Humble brag. Humble brag. It is a little bit of a brag, but we’re happy for you. We’re always excited for someone that gets to go to New York. It’s amazing. Oh my gosh, we love getting your questions. If you’re going somewhere in English-speaking country, English-speaking city, send us, tell us about what’s coming up so we can help you get ready, okay? 100%. Absolutely. I hope you can dedicate an episode to talking about nice places to visit in New York. I’m asking this because you are really good advisors. As the other day, you recommended Serendipity, and now it’s one of my top places to visit, okay? If this works, could you create a new series to recommend places to visit in United States cities? I know there are a lot of videos about that on YouTube, but I would prefer to listen to my favorite podcasters’ recommendations. Thanks, Larry. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. Oh, you know, I love this so much. I love that Larry checked out Serendipity. This is a really fun dessert place in New York City and loves it, and we do have recommendations because if you Google where to go in New York City, you’re going to get the most popular touristy places, but there are a lot of spots that the average article is not going to know to tell you about, so we’re going to share those with you today, right, Lindsay? Oh, for sure, and before we get into it, I have to do a shout out for our Connected Communicator course. Now, that’s really what we did in that course. We took you, I took a road trip 12,000 miles around the United States, two months of travel, and took my camera, interviewed people all over the country. I was in New York, I was in Detroit, I was in Wyoming, Cowboy Country, California, and I’ve been interviewing a surfer on the beach in LA. You can do this through this course and improve your fluency. So go to allhearsenglish.com slash connection to get that course. It’s a pretty awesome course. It is amazing, and the way you did that trip is the way I like to travel. You were talking to the locals. You were finding out what places do we have to try for food and what places do we really need to see that the average tourist would probably have missed. Yeah, I mean, part of that was because of couch surfing, and we could do another episode, another day about couch surfing, but any way you can connect with locals, do it, all right? Good stuff. Yes, absolutely, awesome. Okay, let’s dive in here.

We are each going to share two of our favorite New York City spots that you either might not have heard about before, or if you’ve been to New York, you might have missed these. So I’ll go first with mine. Everyone knows about Empire State Building, and there are several reasons why I recommend that if you go to New York City, that you instead do top of the rock. Have you been to top of the rock? Yeah, I love this one. Why would you recommend that instead of the Empire State Building, Aubrey? There are a few reasons. The Empire State Building is extremely crowded. So you’ll get to the top, and there will just be throngs of people in front of you, and you’re trying to see over their heads, and then there are these tall rails, so you don’t really get the view that you get at top of the rock. Way less crowds, because either people don’t know about it, or they just have to go to that iconic Empire State Building. The best part about it is from the top of the rock, you can see the Empire State Building. You have this beautiful, unobstructed view of it. Amazing. Central Park is just like laid out before you. No people in front of you, because it’s usually not crowded. It never has been when I’ve been there. Yes. And it’s this glass clear to your feet, so you’re looking straight down on the street. It’s so fantastic. That’s a great recommendation. I agree. Yeah, if you only have a certain number of hours, go to top of the rock instead of Empire State, right? 100%. Yes, absolutely. If you can do both, amazing.

Of course, Empire State is amazing as well, but if you are looking to avoid crowds, avoid the really touristy things to do, go for top of the rock instead. It’s so true. My first job in New York was in the Empire State Building. It wasn’t at the top, but it was in that building. And every day when I got out of work at about noon, 1 p.m., there was a line wrapped around the building of tourists that were just wasting their time. How much time do people really have in New York, five days, six days, three days? That’s a big waste of time. Exactly. You don’t want to be waiting in really long lines, and whereas you can get a ticket, top of the rock goes straight in, check it out, amazing, and then add a few more things to your to-do list because you’re not wasting time waiting in line. Yeah, is there a restaurant at the top? I feel like there might be a place to get drinks at the top, is that right? There is. There’s a restaurant with a bar, which is really fun as well. There are a lot of cool things. I remember there’s sort of this light show almost with these mirrors. It was almost like a cool museum at the top. They make it an experience, it was fun. Yeah, anytime you can kind of make it more of a local experience, like let’s go have a drink at the top of the rock instead of waiting in line. That’s the way to go, I think, for sure. Absolutely, yeah. All right, Lindsay, share with us one of yours a must-see in New York City. We talked about food at the end, drinks, food. Well, let’s keep on the food theme. I really love a little, tiny little falafel shop that’s kind of well-known among New Yorkers in Greenwich Village right near NYU called Marmoons Falafel. It’s a tiny shop, it has like two tables. But when I was living there, the routine was this, you go get your falafel. At that time, I was like $2.50 for dinner, a full falafel sandwich. Amazing. And then go and sit in Washington Square Park, which is where you see a lot of locals come out of their apartments, people that have lived in the West Village and Greenwich Village for years and years and years, and musicians coming out. It’s much less touristy than Central Park. You can sit there, listen to someone playing the saxophone. Sometimes they set up a piano. So my recommendation is summertime Marmoons Falafel. Take it to Washington Square Park and just people watch. It’s awesome. I love that, that’s such good advice. I will never forget when I first was hired here at Allers English, the first time I met Michelle, she FaceTimed me and I immediately was like, are you in Washington Square Park? And she was so excited that I recognized the park just from the scenery behind her because we had gone down there all the time to Shake Shack or just wander around. And it was such a, we bonded immediately. Oh, I love that. She’s like, you’ve lived in New York, what? I love that, I didn’t know that. I think that’s so cool. Yeah, that was really fun. And I’m glad that you recognized it because there is something really special about that part of New York. I mean, Joni Mitchell, or is it Joan Baez, one of the two I think lived in an apartment facing down on Washington Square Park and wrote songs about Washington Square Park. I mean, there’s just so much history that you, and you feel it when you sit in that park, so. Yes, absolutely. And if you’re going to experience a park, there are so many in New York really. Central Park isn’t the only one, right? Central Park is definitely going to be more crowded, tons of tourists, whereas Washington Square Park and what I’m about to talk about are less crowded and definitely must see. We’re talking a lot about parks, which tells you a lot about New York life in New York. You do want to get into the park. Also, Central Park is just hard to conquer. It’s just so big, you know? Absolutely, right? You might see a tiny little corner of it off one subway stop. You can’t see the whole thing. Yeah, all right. Okay, I am excited, Aubrey, to get into number three. What is your next recommendation? Yes, number three is the best kept secret in New York City, uptown. You can take the Express A train up, so you can get there very quickly and you can visit the Cloisters in Fort Trion Park. So this is a giant park. It’s not quite as big as Central Park, but it’s huge. You can walk across, but all as you walk along it, the Hudson is right on your left. It’s right on the river. All of these cobblestone paths with lush greenery over you, and it’s silent, very few people. You wouldn’t even know you’re in New York City. And then in the middle of it is the Cloisters, which is like a medieval castle that has all of this. It’s actually part of the Met. It’s like a system museum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There’s all of this medieval art and tapestries in it, and they have these beautiful courtyard gardens. It is such an experience, and most people who visit New York don’t know to go up there, so don’t miss it next time you go to New York. That’s fantastic. I don’t think I ever made it up there. Unless I’m forgetting, but I think I would remember. I don’t think I ever made it up. You probably would remember. It’s north of Harlem, so a lot of people just sort of stay downtown and don’t go that far north. Don’t bother. Yeah, feels like a long trip. Yes, exactly, but because of the express train, it’s really pretty quick. Okay, that’s good to know. Next time I’m back there, I will have to go in our listeners’ Cloisters. Okay, so the Cloisters, right? That’s what it’s called? Yeah, you gotta walk through Fort Trayon Park because the express train stops at the southern tip of the park. So then you just walk through this beautiful park along the Hudson River, but it’s cool because there’s like a 200 foot drop down to the river, but there’s just sort of like, be careful with your children. There’s just like a half stone wall there. It just feels so remote. It’s amazing. Oh my gosh, okay, this is great. This is good stuff. I would say, I have one more tip here, Aubrey, but a bonus, I wanna sneak in something. Okay, let’s hear it. One other place to see New York is actually not in New York because you can’t see the skyline from within Manhattan. Go over to Hoboken and there’s a park where you can bring dinner if you’re with like a partner. It’s so romantic. You can bring a picnic and see the skyline from Hoboken is amazing, amazing. Yes, I agree. We lived near Fort Trayon Park uptown near like Washington Heights and we could take the George Washington Bridge across to New Jersey. And we did that all the time. We would just get through this in the park so we could see the New York City skyline. It’s amazing. It’s awesome. Yeah, and then my last recommendation is Prospect Park. So I don’t know what you think about Prospect Park, Aubrey. I think it’s like the local, it’s the counter to Central Park. Whereas all the, I mean, locals do go to Central Park. I used to run there every day at my lunch hour when I lived on the Upper East Side. They go, they 100% go, but a lot of tourists also go. Prospect Park in Brooklyn, you don’t see a lot of tourists at all. That’s what I like about Prospect Park. Nice, okay, I’m gonna have to go next time I go because I think I only got to Brooklyn like once or twice the whole time I lived in New York City. Oh my gosh. So I think I really got on Brooklyn. I need to do like a whole Brooklyn tour. Yes, yeah. So what I like about it on the weekend, you’ll see families coming out and setting up little grills and barbecuing. And you don’t really see that in Central Park. So you feel immediately like people live here, you know? This isn’t just a tourist city. Yeah, absolutely, right? Some of the recommendations we’re giving you here today, guys, make you feel more like a New Yorker. Like when you’re a tourist in New York, you feel like a tourist when you’re going to the crowded touristy haunts. That’s right. But some of these places, you get a little bit away from those touristy spots and you see locals. You might see, I remember in Washington Square Park, I saw Frances McDormand one time just walking through the park. They’re avoiding the tourist areas. She’s so great, yes. Remember seeing Conan once, I think Michelle and I have talked about that. I saw her and then I think I mentioned to you that I used to teach tennis to, actually I probably shouldn’t say who it was, but to their kid. So they come in and pick up their kid. They’re like, oh, I just saw you on a movie on TV. You know what I mean? It’s weird. I had a really funny experience where I was leaving. We had gone to a taping of SNL, Saturday Night Live. And when we left, I saw someone that I thought we knew from like church. I’m like, oh, we know him from church. And my husband’s like, no, we don’t keep walking. It was Jason Sudeikis was getting in his car. He’s like one of the actors from SNL. Yeah. He just looked familiar to me. I just felt like I was. That’s so funny. Those things can happen in New York. That’s kind of the magic of it. And actually for our listeners, they’re more likely to happen when you take our advice on going to these places. Like I think you’re much likely to see a movie star sitting in Washington Square Park then going up the Empire State Building. I know, right? Or in Times Square, Broadway’s the place where they’re avoiding those crowds. For sure, definitely not on the way up to the top of the Empire State Building. All right, where should we go from here, Aubrey? Okay, we wanna share two quick phrases for you guys. If you are visiting somewhere, this is a great way to start a conversation to ask someone if they’ve been, if they have recommendations. So first just, I’m visiting Blank. I’m visiting Paris. What do you think is a must see if you know someone has lived there or has been there and would have a good recommendation? Yeah, this is great. Or here’s the second one. I know you lived in Blank. What insider secrets can you share with me? Ooh, insider secrets, I love that. I really love that too, right? I know you lived in Tokyo. What insider secrets can you share with me? And now you’re creating a connection. Everyone’s excited to share about a cool place they’ve lived and they wanna share these insider secrets places that you might not know about. Yeah, because I think anytime you can ask someone a question that gets to more than just the question, you actually get to kind of how cool they are, right? What cool things do you know that most tourists don’t know? That is giving them a platform to express themselves and they’re gonna like you more for it and the connection’s gonna be stronger, right? Absolutely, I agree, right? Use these phrases anywhere you’re traveling. Find people who’ve been there, who’ve lived there. What a great way to connect and meet someone. I love it, guys. Hit follow on the show and Aubrey, great topic. We can talk about New York anytime you want. All right, me too, I’m there. All right, we’ll see you back here very soon. Awesome, thanks Lindsay. Bye. Bye.

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