Dining on a Budget

Planning to celebrate New Year's Eve at Times Square? Living a scant 5 hours away [3 on the Acela Express], I've always planned on going but ended up not because, seriously, I've lived in New York for a whole year, and Times Square was a little too chaotic for my taste, the thought of a New Year's crush brings me the chills. Well, that and the thought that I could be mugged soon after [lol, that's where I saw a mugging anyway].

But, if you're planning to go to NYC to be part of history and you live close enough to either drive or ride the train, hooray to you! Not only can you just hop on the train, be in New York for the whole day and the dropping of the ball event, you can be on your way home when everyone else is scrambling to get a room somewhere or preparing to bunk at the Amtrak station.

Before any NYC outing, whether you've been there once or a gazillion times, make it a point to plan your trip and get all your tickets and whatever else you need online before hitting the streets of Manhattan to cut down on time and cost.

That's where my next recommended web site comes in. I used one to grab a bite with my friend at John's Pizzeria [lol, of all the nice places, I went back to the good ol' standby, Pizza.].

Supposedly, Restaurant.com offers a national database of more than 6,000 restaurants where customers may search by state, city, neighborhood, zip code and cuisine type to find their restaurant of choice. Then, you can purchase dining certificates at half or more than half the face value. Menu please!