Living in a city that’s fairly popular can be disgruntling sometimes. You’re just trying to get to work or class and there are about 75 thousand tourists in your way like that guy with a “I <3 NYC” hat and that person standing in the middle of the road trying to take a picture. It can get pretty annoying after the novelty of living in a big city wears off. There’s nothing you can do about the tourists, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few good ways to handle the idea of tourism in your city. If you think NYC’s bad with crowds of people that don’t know where they’re doing, Nassau is worse.
https://www.shutterstock.com/
Taken by Jainita Patel.
If you live in a big city, you’re going to eventually go through the 3 stages of tourism anxiety and here are just a few ways to cope:
Stage 1: Avoidance.
That’s right. It can be as simple as that: avoid the places with lots of tourists. Broadway? Avoid it no matter where you are. Battery Park? Nope. Midtown? Not today. Tourists can be avoided if you stick to neighborhoods that don’t have too many tourist attractions. Lesser-known tourist attractions in the boroughs are the best places to avoid the hoards of camera-wielding families. I’ve suggested it once and I’m going to suggest it again: Green-Wood cemetery is virtually empty and it’s gorgeous. Park Slope is mainly residential and has a lot of cute shops and places to eat. If you’re hell bent on staying in Manhattan, the East River is generally less tourist-filled than the Hudson. If you really want to get away, Hoboken has the best view of the skyline and only locals tend to live there. In the Bahamas it’s a bit harder to avoid tourists. The main key for Nassau is to stay away from Atlantis and avoid the straw market and downtown. That’s where the cruise ships let off and you don’t want to be there the first thing in the morning when hoards of people dock. Instead, try going to the other side of the island to Clifton Pier. If you need to stay near downtown, try going to Loop View instead, where you can get an amazing view. Cabbage Beach is also a good place on Paradise Island that’s pretty isolated but close enough to the resort to walk.
https://www.nycgo.com/i
Cabbage Beach.
Taken by Jainita Patel.
Stage 2: Acceptance.
After a while, avoiding all of the places with tourists can get a bit boring. After all, the reason people go to places is because those places are interesting. Sometimes you just have to be okay with the fact that you live in a cool part of the world that a lot of people want to see. That doesn’t mean going out of your way to avoid tourist-filled areas, but it doesn’t mean purposefully going to those areas either. Union Square get pretty touristy during the summer, but if you have to go through it, just put your headphones in and keep walking. The second stage of living in a city is just knowing that you signed up for this and being ready for it. For Nassau, if you need to go through downtown, walking through the sunlit streets can actually be pretty pleasant even with the hoards of tourists buying rum cake and souvenirs.
Union Square
https://en.wikipedia.org/
Pompeii Square in Downtown Nassau.
Taken by Jainita Patel
Stage 3: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them.
Since love and hate are pretty close emotions, if you hate tourists, eventually you’re going to become one. Whether it’s in your own city or another, but the good part about being a tourist in your own city is that you can actually go out into the world and enjoy every part of the your city that makes it so famous. Haven’t gone up the Freedom Tower yet? Now is as good as any other time. Haven’t been to the Met in a while? Go for it. Lived in New York for 3 years and haven’t walked across the Brooklyn Bridge or seen the Statue of Liberty yet? Well now’s your shot. Don’t let tourists stop you from going to see these things. Sometimes it’s just better to say “screw it” to feeling like a local and just getting out there and seeing your part of the world. For Nassau this can be especially fun. If you’ve been there for a while and haven’t gone snorkeling now’s your shot. You can even get discounted Bahamian Atlantis passes if you’re there for long enough. Downtown—except Sr. Frog’s, avoid Sr. Frog’s at all times—can be extremely fun if you’re willing to commit to just enjoying yourself instead of blending in.
Freedom Tower
http://www.theepochtimes.com/
Atlantis Resort.
Taken by Jainita Patel
Have fun with it. You’re going to go through the three stages of tourism anxiety no matter where you move. At first you feel like one of them and then you become jaded enough to try to avoid being one of them, but like most things in life, that too will come full circle in the end. So if you like New York for how many tourist attractions it has, you’ll love Nassau and vice versa. Hopefully you’ll get to visit both some day.
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By Jainita Patel
Jainita is a Campus Clipper publishing intern who is double majoring in English and Environmental Studies at NYU. Though writing fiction and painting are her two main passions, she also has a love of travel and adventure that has taken her across the globe. Jainita writes under the pseudonym Jordan C. Rider. If you like her posts, you can find more of her work here or follow her on Twitter. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.
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