Compare And Contrast Paper

Myrtle Beach vs. New York City

Picture a beautiful city surrounded by tall skyscrapers soaring into the clouds and the beautiful statue of liberty standing still on the water. You walk down the street passing hundreds of little shops and restaurants, all the while you are taken a back by the breathtaking beauty of the city that you are gazing upon. Now picture laying on the beach at sunset listening to the ocean waves. The air is crisp and the smell of saltwater is bitter sweet. The locations I'm describing are New York City and Myrtle Beach. I have 2500 dollars to take on vacation to one of these destinations and I am comparing and contrasting the two. I will be considering the cost of travel, food, hotel, and also activity and miscellaneous expenses.

Both locations offer a wide variety of fun. Shopping, sightseeing, dance clubs, and scenery are among both places. To get to New York would take about nine and a half hour's or approximately 554 miles. My car gets about 40 miles to the gallon and gas prices are about $2.30 a gallon. I would have to fill up twice to get to New York City and twice to get back, which would cost about $120.00. If I stayed for three nights and four days, I would need to set aside another $100.00 dollar's for gas while traveling the city. If I traveled by plane it would cost $201.00 dollars round trip if tickets were purchased on www.orbitz.com.

Hotels in New York City are very costly especially near the holiday's. After reviewing some hotels that were near Times Square, I chose to go with a three star hotel at the rate of $184.00 a night. For a total of three nights it would cost $552.00 tax included. That cost would include a room with two double beds, television, high speed internet access, a full kitchen, and a great view of Times Square.

There are a wide variety of restaurants in New York City. You can eat cheap at places like Arturo's Pizzeria, McHales, Hi Life, and Zen Palate just to name a few. On the other hand you don't want to miss out on the celebrity owned restaurant's like Fashion Cafй, Planet Hollywood, Tribeca Grill, and Nobu. Since I'm going to be staying for three whole days, we'll just say that I will eat approximately three meals a day which is a total of nine meals. If I ate four of those meals at twenty dollars or less and the other five at seventy or less, I would need approximately $430.00 for food in New York City.

There are so many things to do and see in New York City. Some of the activity's I would like to do are seeing the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, and Soho. I also want to experience Times Square to the fullest. For $37.00 I can do the hop on hop off double decker bus tour and experience all of these things in one day. Times Square will probably take a little longer. The price of shopping will be up to me. It will depend on how much I can control the urge to buy everything I see. I will need at least $500.00 to shop. I also must go see a Broadway show. The hottest show in New York right now is The Producers, created by Mel Brooks. Tickets are $120.00 a piece and that is for the nose bleed section. All together I will need approximately $800 dollars for activities.

I expect that there will be other expenses to come up such as cab fares, attractions that I want to do spontaneously, and midnight snacks. Just in case I will set aside the remaining $500.00 for these things and also emergencies'. My grand total in New York City is basically every penny of the $2500.00.

My second choice is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I find it fascinating that it is more expensive to take a plane here then it is to New York City. The cost of airfare round trip to Myrtle Beach is $242.00. However, the cheaper route would be to take my car. It is approximately four hours or 169 miles to get there. Since I have been there before, I already know that it takes a half a tank of gas to get to the beach. I would be using my car the whole time I'm there so I will have to fill up at least twice. I will need about $70.00 for transportation to Myrtle