re: NYC trip -tour outer boroughs

What is your goal for a tour, to see as much as you can in one day, to visit 3-4 unique/historic site or neighborhoods, or somewhere in between? I ask because NYC is (obviously) a huge city, but there are cool/unique/fun/interesting places in many of the literally hundreds of neighborhoods spread across the boroughs.

You probably need to narrow down a little bit about what you want to find (parks, museums, interesting architecture, good food, historic sites, etc.), if for no other reason that the subway is a great way to get around, but once you get out of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn subway stops can be really far from one another and many great neighborhoods are more accessible via bus the train.