If a stranger came up to me said, “I’m only in NY for 24 hours, what do I do to gain an authentic NY experience?” My first response would be to go get some pizza, but after that, I would tell them to go sit on a subway- any line, any time of day, any stop. Just ride it until you no longer can.
The subway is where you can see real New Yorker’s living their real life. Everyone has to take the subway at some point, so there is a wide array of people and high rates of diversity. You can see anyone from the mayor, or Jay Z, to a full folk band, or a homeless man asking for money. I’ve seen some crazy things on the subway. I’ve witnessed fights, acrobatics, and some interesting outfit choices. But, nothing compares to the time I thought I was going to die on the London Tube.
First off, let me start off by saying that the tube is way better than the subway. Not only is it cleaner and smell’s way nicer, but it’s a lot easier to navigate. From my experience, there is also less abrasive asking for money. As a seasoned New Yorker at my ripe age of 20 years old, I was not surprised by anything that I saw on the tube…until one beautiful spring day. It was just warming up in London and my friend and I had decided to go see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. After a lovely day of strolling through the gardens, we hopped on the tube back to our flat.
It was a pretty standard tube ride, not too many people, and everyone was mostly sitting. My friend and I were lost in conversation, when we started hearing this sort of clicking noise. I looked up and locked eyes with the woman across from me. She pulled her eyes from mine to look at the man sitting next to her. I followed her gaze to find that this man was throwing up and then catching a lighter. Weird thing to be playing with, I thought, but went back to my conversation. A minute later I looked up to find that the man was no longer tossing the lighter, but lighting it. It clicked on, then off, then on, then off- over and over again. Everyone around him was looking around at each other incredulously. At that point, he either didn’t realize everyone was staring, or he didn’t care, because he took a receipt out of his pocket and started to light the corner. In an enclosed train. With other people on it. Who does that?!
My friend and I looked at each other, and made an unspoken agreement to get off at the next stop, even though it wasn’t ours. We did not want to stick around to see what would come of that fire.
Two Years in the Life 
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