What should I pack for New York?

Shoes matter more here than in any other city you'll visit. New York is a walking city in a way that Los Angeles and London are not — you will cover eight to fifteen miles a day without trying, almost all of it on concrete sidewalks and metal subway grating. Fashion sneakers with thin soles will leave your feet aching by dinner on day one. Bring shoes you've already walked hard miles in, with real cushioning and arch support. Leave the new ones at home. The subway means stairs, too — lots of them, often wet — so tread matters. Heels for a Broadway show or a dinner in the West Village are fine to pack separately, but your daytime shoe needs to be a workhorse.

The temperature gap between outdoors and indoors will catch you off guard. In April, you're dealing with mornings around 6-9°C that warm to 15-18°C by afternoon, but step into any Midtown office lobby or department store and it's 22°C. Summer is the reverse problem: 33°C and humid on the street, then aggressive air conditioning drops restaurants to 19°C. The answer is layers you can stuff into a bag fast. A packable rain shell doubles as a wind layer on the Staten Island Ferry, where the harbor wind cuts right through cotton. One light fleece or merino pullover handles the AC problem year-round. Mind you, New Yorkers dress in black — not as a rule, just as a fact — and you'll feel less conspicuous if your outerwear isn't neon.

Pack a refillable water bottle. New York's tap water comes from the Catskill watershed and tastes clean — better than most bottled water, and locals are vocal about this. Filling up at a water fountain saves you $3-4 per bottle at a bodega. A compact crossbody bag or slim daypack beats a backpack on crowded subway cars during rush hour, where a bulky pack earns you glares and elbow contact. Keep your phone charged: Google Maps and the MTA app are how you'll navigate, and a dead phone at a transfer station in Queens is not a situation you want.

What not to pack: formal clothes unless you have a specific reservation at somewhere like Le Bernardin or Per Se. New York restaurants have relaxed dramatically — dark jeans and clean sneakers get you into 95% of places, including most spots in SoHo and the Lower East Side. Skip the travel towel, the universal sink plug, the voltage converter if you're from the US. You won't need binoculars unless you're heading to the Ramble in Central Park for spring birding, which — to be fair — is worth doing. Leave the bulky rain gear behind. A $5 umbrella from a street cart vendor appears like magic the instant drops start falling, and honestly, those cheap umbrellas work fine for the 20-minute squalls that define New York rain.