Updated December 19, 2003 -- New York gets richer and more complex the deeper you go; it's 350 years of history piled onto residents of 200 countries, blended and boiled together until it's a true melting pot. My neighborhood alone, Astoria, is Bangladeshi on top of Greek on top of Irish on top of German, home to movies and grand pianos and museums. To taste the foods of all the cultures in a five-block radius, I'd have to go weeks without eating at home.
I love New York so much that I had to share it with someone, so I signed up to be a Big Apple Greeter, a free, volunteer don't-call-me-a-tour-guide who walks tourists around neighborhoods and talks about the city. About twice a month, I call into the Big Apple Greeter office and pick the name of a likely soul off their list of tourists looking for friends. I've led architecture-buff Germans around the pre-Civil War townhouses of Brooklyn Heights. I met a winsome South African girl whose boyfriend was an American minor league baseball player, so we went to Shea Stadium. On a tour of ethnic desserts with a couple from California, a Filipino-American guy named Ed introduced me to halo-halo, a delicious sweet served at a barbecue joint under the elevated tracks on Roosevelt Avenue.
Just to make sure I wasn't the only one who had fun, I e-mailed Eryn Pullen, Ed's fiancée. Between the three of us, we'd had desserts from four or five countries in one afternoon, and I was hoping she didn't associate that October afternoon with a sense of sugar-borne wooziness. Fortunately, the baklava didn't seem to have been crippling. "It was definitely a great greet," she wrote back to me. "I loved the Greek café."
(I'm not a tour guide because in New York, tour guides are licensed by the city. I'm just a guy who likes to show off New York.)
Ten years old now, the Big Apple Greeter service is thriving; they've got more than 350 greeters serving more than 200 groups of visitors a month. Some, like me, are peripatetic and passionate young people. Many are retirees with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city and too much free time, and I know of at least one bona fide Wall Street broker who leads tourists around the financial district.
If you want to take advantage of the Big Apple Greeter service, go to www.bigapplegreeter.org or call 212/669-8159 and sign up. One to six people, including children, can go on a Greeter trip. Then sooner you sign up -- the minimum is three weeks in advance -- the earlier it is for a Greeter like me to plan. The Greeter service will contact you as soon as a Greeter has picked you out. Greeter trips last two to four hours.
I found I have the most fun, and tourists are the most amazed, when I take them somewhere they wouldn't otherwise have gone -- in my case, usually Queens. If you're willing to be open-minded, pick "Greeter's Choice" as your favored destination -- you'll probably end up with a pleasant surprise.
Different Places, Different People, Same Idea
The Greeter concept is so great, it's no wonder it's been duplicated by other cities. Chicago's Greeter program is going on two years old. Chicago Greeters will take tourists anywhere in the city, but the most popular spots are the downtown Loop and the city's ethnic neighborhoods, according to Donna Metz of the Chicago tourism office. "The experience of a new city is generally better with someone who is familiar with the background of a city ... having someone who knows that information and is willing to share it makes any trip more enjoyable," e-mailed Shani Hendricks of Grand Rapids, Mich. Sign up for Chicago Greeters at www.chicagogreeter.com at least 7 business days before your visit. If you're a spur-of-the-moment type, try Chicago's "InstaGreeter" service, which offers a one-hour spin around downtown on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-4pm and Sundays from 11am-4pm, with no advance notice necessary. Find details for InstaGreeter at www.chicagogreeter.com/Instagreeter.html.
In Australia, both Melbourne and Adelaide have greeter programs on the New York model. To sign up for a visit in Melbourne, head to or call +61 3 9658 9658; for a visit in Adelaide, go to www.adelaidegreeters.asn.au.
Many cities throughout Japan and Korea have "goodwill guides," similar to Greeters. Japan has dozens of Goodwill Guide groups, with different capabilities; the groups in Nara prefecture "take you around at your request," while the Tokyo group offers a set guided tour. Check here for a full list: www.jnto.go.jp/eng/GJ/BTG/lvg.html.
Korea's national Goodwill Guides provide pre-trip advice, walking tours and even double as interpreters if necessary. To find one, you need to fill out the application at www.goodwillguide.com at least two weeks in advance. The Web site lists "guides available today" for last-minute advice and visits, but we wouldn't rely on that feature -- it's best to plan ahead.
In Jamaica, the greeter-type program is called "Meet the People" and is run by the tourist board. They say they'll match you up with Jamaicans of similar religious, occupational or leisure interests and get you out from behind the walls of your resort. Not all of Jamaica's greeters are adults -- Meet the People will match up your kids with Jamaican playmates of similar ages and interests. You can even sign up when you arrive on the island, although signing up more in advance is better, as it is with all of these programs. Go to meetthepeople.visitjamaica.com to sign up.
Finally, the program in the Bahamas is called People-to-People, takes place in both Nassau and Freeport, and is very informal. You can't sign up online -- you need to write a letter or call 242/356-0435. Find the postal addresses at www.bahamas.co.uk/activities/bahamas_activities_people.asp.