New York, the Best Day of Your Life is almost here

Zimmer on BDOYL with a beer

June 21st will not be a normal Friday. It will be the Best Day of Your Life, and you've got Thrillist to thank for it. Here's exactly how you need to navigate it.

What you need to do: 1) practice your fake cough and call in sick, 2) download the printable itinerary with a sexy map, 3) follow all the #BDOYL social action here, and 4) get ready to enjoy the longest day of the year with stuff like free coffee from La Colombe and beers at the Frying Pan come sundown.


5:24 am: Rise with the sun and do a sweet dance, because it’s the Best Day of Your Life. Zero Dark 30: Hit the gym to train only glamor muscles. Totally ignore cardio, legs, and core. Asscrack Of Dawn: Home for a shower, belt out "Feels Like the First Time". Flip on NY1 in time for In the Papers, watch through Weather on the 1s. Dress in your finest man-tank, because it’s your goddamn day. Early Morning: Your first real stop is
La Colombe Soho for one serious cup of coffee -- we’re giving away 200+ cups starting at 8a, so get there nice and early. And if La Colombe is jammed because everyone wants free coffee, head to... the other La Colombe just five blocks North on Lafayette!! Gasoline Alley’s pretty great too, especially if you’re a kombucha fiend. Breakfast: You know what you’ve got to do -- savor a stroll through the LES when there’s not a zillion people, and get to Clinton St. Baking Company, where you can enjoy those famous pancakes people will wait for five hours to eat come Saturdays. If that’s packed, Remedy Diner’s a few blocks over on Houston, and 7A’s breakfast tastes as good at 9a as it does at 4a

11ish: It’s time to head South to Randolph Beer, for, well, beer. The really good craft kind. On the Best Day of Your Life, you get one in you before noon. Don’t worry, they’ll be open. Also open and pouring delicious micros pre-noon: Spring Lounge on Mulberry. Also open and pouring delicious macros pre-noon: Milady’s on Thompson. It's Time For Lunch: You’re doing Jing Fong for dim sum. Do not get the chicken feet no matter how bold you're feeling, as they are gross. Get there early enough, and we’ll be treating. If somehow the restaurant so massive it has its own escalators is full, Oriental Garden’s right next door

Post-Lunch: Cruise a little South to the middle of crooked old Doyers St, so you can tell people you survived the “deadliest street in the world”. Oh, you wacky Chinatown gangs of the '20s and '30s! Also, Confucius Plaza is a block away, so go there and say something mad wise.

Post-Post-Lunch: Swing back to Soho and select a stoge from OK Cigars on West Broadway. It’s infinitely better than the name. Don’t you dare smoke it yet -- you’ll need it in a few. If you hate cigars, freak yourself out with saber tooth skulls at The Evolution Store

3:30 pm: Happy hour doesn’t usually start until 5p, but it’s #BDOYL, so it starts when you want it to. Head to The Standard Biergarten to have a happy two hours. Pretzels and beer on us if you get there nice and early. Ping pong is always free. Or if you like to watch people from above, head up to the High Line to drink at Terroir

5:30 pm: Shoot right over to the Hudson River Park path and bust out that cigar. Blow smoke rings, even if you can’t.

6:00 pm: Now that’s a spicy meatball! …And the not-spicy ones are great, too. It’s all at the Chelsea branch of the Meatball Shop, and its connected/hilariously named Underballs. Not a fan of hilarious names? Then Co. is your spot for serious pizza pies. And if you’re second-guessing the name thing, the Tipsy Parson’s right there too. 7:30 pm: Get to the Frying Pan for buckets of beer and free food, plus the 831p sunset you hoped would never come. Congratulations. You just had the Best Day of Your Life.

Best Day of Your Life -- New York