The Tourist's guide to being a Non-Tourist in New York City

-So I'm an English person. With an English accent. Living in New York City. 

It is extremely annoying being hounded by the guys consistently trying to sell you tour bus passes. Me and my New Zealander friend were walking down the street behind one of the tour bus touts and as soon as he caught our accents he spun around and started trying to sell us stuff. No Sir. "We live here," (kindly piss off, k?)

It's an ongoing joke that we could write a book for those wanting to blend in with the locals whilst still hitting up the best places in the city and so here I am, writing some of them down as I go.

First things first.

GETTING AROUND

The big one - jaywalking is a thing. Roll with it.

I have been here over a year and have never once seen anyone be pulled up for crossing the road without using a crossing and everyone does it. I have crossed right in front of a police car and had no issues, in fact it hit the news when an old man got pulled for it. (Here) If the road is clear - cross it. Also, if you can get to the front of the crowd waiting to cross, do so and be prepared to march across before you get lost in the crowd. Finally, it is totally acceptable to stand in the road as you wait probably no more than 5 feet or so but just so you can easily peer down the street. You'll look like a true New Yorker in no time.

Yellow cabs are NOT the best way to get around.

New York traffic is horrendous. Once you've checked it off your bucket list and then want to get anywhere productively - Go on foot/subway.

The Subway is not as scary as it may seem.

The subway (note; not 'The Metro') is actually super easy to use. I recommend downloading the app which has the map and train times so instead of screaming 'tourist' you could just be checking your smartphone. Uptown trains go up on the map, downtown trains go down on the map. Stations indicated by a white dot are express line stops and black/white are local. Sure there are weirdos but this is New York. Keep your head down and don't give in to the guys who come onto the train and shout at everyone asking for money. Avoid eye contact and you'll do grand.