In This Issue:
Wear a new hat in New York

Despite having a variety of destination notches on their travel belts, tourists often repeat the same experiences in different cities. And while you can still have a blast echoing past trips, leaving your comfort zone will always enrich your journey and give you the most bang for your travel buck. Kathy Motton, the Canadian PR representative for NYC & Company, suggests trying on a new hat when travelling and, in particular, seeing New York City in a way you've never done before. Today it's as a sports fan, a foodie and a culture lover.

Even if you're not a sports fan, everyone can appreciate the pleasure of chowing down a hot dog at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx or at the Mets' Citi Field in Queens. With a cold beverage in hand and the warm sun on your face, you can unwind like a local and enjoy a sport with a rich NYC history that includes baseball greats like Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra. Post-game enjoy a guided behind-the-scenes look at the Mets home with Citi Field Tours, who will take you into the Clubhouse, Dugout and the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum. Or ride the wave of the Post-Yankee game high back in Manhattan at Mickey Mantles where you can actually buy the memorabilia that you see around you.

But baseball is just a small piece of the sports pie. Both the men's and women's basketball associations have franchises in NYC with the New York Knicks and New York Liberty respectively. The newly opened Meadowlands Stadium is home to two National Football League teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets. Canada's favourite sport has an important presence in NYC as the New York Rangers are a part of the Original Six and Madison Square Garden is 'The World's Most Famous Arena'. Red Bull New York is the city's Major League Soccer team and NYC also supports many events outside of league sports like the U.S. Tennis Open and Amateur Boxing Golden Gloves.

New York City has long been known as a foodie destination and yet there is still so much about the city that the typical tourist misses. Did you know that there are multiple food tour companies in the city who will guide you through some of the cities best eats? Famous Fat Dave's Five Borough Eating Tour hosts customized 'eat-o-thons' in a classic Checker Cab to multiple spots throughout the five boroughs and Food on Foot Tours will have you travelling and eating the way New Yorkers do - their tour is done by subway and on foot! Scott's Pizza Tours and A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour will both take you on a mouth-watering tour of the city's best pizzerias, while A Taste of Harlem Food Tours will send your taste buds whirling through 13 miles of soul food and the cuisines of the Caribbean, Africa and Italy. For those who want to taste multiple cultures, The Enthusiastic Gourmet will take you on a food exploration of Chinatown, the Jewish Lower East Side, Little Italy and a multitude of other cuisines that are sure to impress your palate.

Travellers know that New York City features food from some of the world's best cooks and chefs and yet, there are still so many gastronomy gems that are known only to the locals. The Financial District has long been known as the home of the bull, but did you know it's also the home of the chicken, cow and pig? The financial district has been gaining notoriety as a foodie destination, with multiple restaurants in the Stone St. area like The Waterstone Grill, Mad Dog & Beans Mexican Cantina, Financier Patisserie and Adrienne's Pizzabar. And no epicure inspired expedition is complete without a visit to Williamsburg in Brooklyn with tons of buzz-worthy local favourites like My Moon, La Piazzetta, P.T. Restaurant, D.O.C. Wine Bar, Chimu Peruvian Cuisine & Steak House, Teddy's Bar & Grill and Peter Luger Steak House.

The easiest (and cheapest!) way to experience culture in New York City is with the CityPA SS. The dollar-bill-size booklet contains six real tickets to the most famous New York City attractions and choices like the Empire State Building, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, Guggenheim Museum and the Top of the Rock.

Exhibitions abound in New York City's museums this year. The American Museum of Natural History is featuring A Race to the End of the Earth until January 2, 2011, which traces the polar journeys of Roald Amundsen and Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The Bronx Museum of the Arts is featuring two exhibits until January 2, 2011: Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 and AF TER 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy. Also in NYC until January 2, 2011 is Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Discovery Times Square Exposition. And following the Egyptian theme, the Brooklyn Museum is featuring Body Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments & Amulets, while The Metropolitan Museum of Art features Tutankhamun's Funeral. Picasso will also be on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until August 1, 2010, while the MoMA will display works from the same artist until September 6, 2010. For fun, free exhibiting, travel down to the Flatiron District where Madison Square Park Conservancy is presenting a landmark public exhibition of Antony Gormley's Event Horizon until August 15, 2010. The exhibit features lifesize sculptures of the artist himself throughout the area and has received global buzz. Lastly, Motton highly recommends that travellers check out the Official NYC Information Center (ONIC) at 810 Seventh Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan. The center, recently built by NYC & Company, is a futuristic attraction in itself. It has an interactive touch-screen table that allows visitors to explore NYC hotspots and a wallsize computerized map to fly through the five boroughs. All of this and so much more are waiting for you - this is New York City.

Speak with a Flight Centre travel consultant at 1-866-317-4794 about planning your amazing trip to the 'Big Apple.'

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