Here’s the thing about living in New York during the summer: it gets really hot and the air conditioner in your apartment is never good enough to keep you cool. Of course, when you go outside things get even worse with all that hot concrete and asphalt. Sure, you can travel around town on air-conditioned subways, but the platforms are always stuffy and steaming. So what can one do to escape the heat? Escape!
Now usually taking a trip of out of New York is a huge chore because of all the traffic, but if you take the subway down to the tip of Manhattan, there’s a cool and fun way out of the city: the Staten Island Ferry! While the city is always unbearably hot, the water surrounding it is always cool. Couple that with the fact that the Ferry is free and serves 24 oz cans of beer and what better way is there to escape the heat and have a cool, relaxing day. The Ferry’s path past the Statue of Liberty even lets you pretend that you are doing something worthwhile. If you have guests in town, it’s the best way to see the legendary statue: slowly cruising past it and enjoying a cold beer. True, you have to disembark when you reach Staten Island, but you can get right back on within a few minutes of arriving. Figure six or seven trips across the water, mixed with three or four beers and you have a cheap and cool way to beat the heat.
