Originally Posted by
annihilistic
St Johns Pl, or Bedford Ave, Brooklyn.
I'm also entertaining the idea of Manhattan itself. W 173rd St or W 184th St.
Long commutes don't bother me at all, but the idea of switching stations a lot does make me nervous.
From my experience, switching lines in the same station (if that's what you mean) is not too bad. In most stations, there is good signage. There are a few in which I had to look around a bit, but I can't remember which these were.
W 173rd or W 184th is relatively easy, close to the A or the 1 lines. It'll be a long commute (the A is something like 2.5 hours end to end?), but pretty easy. But I wouldn't recommend it; that's not a particularly great area.
What are you planning to do in NYC and where do you plan on going? I'm not too familiar with Brooklyn (though those aren't the best neighborhoods in Brooklyn either), but there are some rather decent and cheap places in Queens that you can consider, which should be easier to get to from JFK.