The epicentre of global trends, the media and publishing hub, the core for the financial industry, the greatest city on earth and certainly up there with the most expensive – New York is the city that has inspired a thousand reputations. Call it what you will but you can’t call it boring. There is so much going on all the time that it’s hard keeping up – it’s a rat race, with millions of fellow New Yorkers pounding the pavement, pushing for the A train, and competing for that better job or bigger apartment.

The aim of this chapter is to talk you through every imaginable aspect of living here – whether you are reading this in the comfort of your home country contemplating a sojourn abroad, already preparing to pack your bags, are fresh off a plane with your whole life in a suitcase, have lived in the city for months or even years, or are about to say your bittersweet farewells.