Sometimes it's sad to see or hear yet another headline stating the unfortunate experience of this or that tourist in the city. For example that this one young woman got robbed or worse, or this man got attacked or swindled ---and so it goes. We hear this, and just shake our heads--what the heck is wrong with these people? It seems that once they get here to New York --common sense flies out the window, and they do stuff here that they wouldn't dream of doing at home.
We blame this on all the movies, commercials, TV series and so on, that portray the city in such cheerful, wonderful, marvelous way, that reality gets pushed aside. In any big city you have your good and your bad, but it seems that New York is portrayed in extremes--either supremely evil or just so great that it's a wonderland. Well--guess what--it falls somewhere in between--just like many other places on the planet.
A few words of advice for when you visit. Do not, for example, attempt to jog or walk by yourself in Central Park at the wee hours in the night--bad idea! Flashing your jewelry or cash on the subway...also a no-no. Same goes for standing there in the middle of the sidewalk with this huge map in your hands... there are predators watching, be careful. Certain neighborhoods, may sound charming, chic, and quaint --on paper--but, unless accompanied by a native--don't go there. And please, do yourself a favor, go to a recognized authority if you get lost, don't think that some strange-looking guy or gal, hanging around the bus terminal offering to "help" you , is actually going to do that.
In short, don't abandon here the same precautions you use back home-- because guess what--- we humans are funny people, we behave the same all over the world.
