1. Bus tour, be sure you can get a seat up top. If you do the Grey Line tours, channel 2 on the bus is really cool jazz :)

--This is THE BEST WAY to see lots of things in a short amount of time in NYC. Period. If you've never done a bus tour before, here's how it works:

You buy a pass from that bus line. That pass is good for x hours (24, 48, 72) and can be good for just a specific route (ex: The Bronx), multiple routes or all of them (I've done all of Gray Line's tours in NYC over the years). You can then use your ticket to get on and off any of that company's buses on the routes you've purchased for that time period at will. Want to eat in Little Italy? Go ahead. Want to get off at Central Park and walk through it then catch another bus on the other side? Great!

2. DO GO TO TIMES SQUARE! Take in all of the billboards and sites, check out the network studios. After the 10 minutes that takes though, never go back (unless you want to try for cheap Broadway tickets from TKTS). Not going to Times Square your first time to New York is like going to New Orleans for the first time and not having a hurricane from Pat O's or a beignet. Sure you can get by without doing it, but it's like missing out on a rite of passage.

3. Empire State Bldg. This is a stop for all the tourist bus lines so it's easy to get to if you are doing point #1 ;) Get the VIP pass. It's a little more expensive but to be able to skirt around everyone else (and hear them bitch) and then have the employees stop the non-VIPs from getting on the elevator just so you can... that's fricking priceless.

4. If you time your Empire State Bldg visit just right, go around the corner to the back of the building and cross the street then look for Legends. This is the LSU alum bar (during football season this is where all the LSU folks go to watch the game, they play the band music, Calling Baton Rouge, etc during the games - tons of fun). If there's an LSU baseball game going, they may have it on.

5. Go see a play on Broadway. Any of them. You can't go wrong.

6. Have a picnic in Central Park.

7. Museum of Natural History (it's on a bus route - see how convenient those things are??). You don't realize how insanely big a brontosaurus was until you stand next to its skeleton.

8. Staten Island Ferry. The ferry goes right by the Statue of Liberty and it's FREE! Ride the ferry across, then follow the crowd out and around to the next ferry taking the trip back.

9. Cheesecake at Juniors (just off Times Square and in Brooklyn). The food is okay, the cheesecake is fricking spectacular.

This is your first time in NYC so don't be afraid to be a tourist and do touristy things on this trip ;)

Addendum: wear comfortable walking shoes. If you have a wife/girlfriend/daughter/whatever coming with you make sure she does the same (no matter how pretty and comfortable she thinks her flats or sandals are, they are going to suck donkey balls from all the walking you'll be doing).

Addendum 2: With the warmer weather, bring some water (especially if you do the bus tours).

This post was edited on 5/21/15 at 4:59 pm