Wherever you go, there you are, but sometimes you need to be yourself somewhere else.
December 14, 2012 2:44 PM Subscribe
Urgent need for a Plan B, low budget, holiday retreat, greater NYC area (probably).
This has been a bad year. A rare-in-a-lifetime, Very. Bad. Year. I beat it all back and survived, but for a variety of reasons (that are friend- and therapist-approved), I think it's going to be very important for me to be away, and especially out of the house, in either a gently structured or at least relaxing environment from Dec 25 to Jan 2 or so. (Quiet is great, but complete and total isolation--as in seldom spotting another person--is not; I can get that too easily at home.)
I came to this realization too late, apparently: my first choice, Blue Cliff Monastery, doesn't take admissions between Dec 22 and Dec 29, and the retreat from Dec 29 to Jan 2 already has a waiting list.
I'm desperate, and flexible. Here are the only conditions it needs to meet:
--Total budget of $800 or less (inc. travel, room, board)
--Reasonably accessible to a carless person without a drivers licence (Blue Cliff was going to be a train ride and then a $15 cab fare from my location)
which likely means:
--Somewhere in the Northeast Corridor (CT, NY, NJ, PA, MA)
Thank you in advance for any help. I can't tell you how grateful I will be to you all, and to AskMe, if I can still work something out. I'm willing to look at any suggestions you can brainstorm for me (I haven't been on anything resembling a vacation or time off away from home in 4+ years for economic reasons), no matter how off-beat or creative.
Throwaway email:
NotHomeForTheHolidays@gmail.com
This has been a bad year. A rare-in-a-lifetime, Very. Bad. Year. I beat it all back and survived, but for a variety of reasons (that are friend- and therapist-approved), I think it's going to be very important for me to be away, and especially out of the house, in either a gently structured or at least relaxing environment from Dec 25 to Jan 2 or so. (Quiet is great, but complete and total isolation--as in seldom spotting another person--is not; I can get that too easily at home.)
I came to this realization too late, apparently: my first choice, Blue Cliff Monastery, doesn't take admissions between Dec 22 and Dec 29, and the retreat from Dec 29 to Jan 2 already has a waiting list.
I'm desperate, and flexible. Here are the only conditions it needs to meet:
--Total budget of $800 or less (inc. travel, room, board)
--Reasonably accessible to a carless person without a drivers licence (Blue Cliff was going to be a train ride and then a $15 cab fare from my location)
which likely means:
--Somewhere in the Northeast Corridor (CT, NY, NJ, PA, MA)
Thank you in advance for any help. I can't tell you how grateful I will be to you all, and to AskMe, if I can still work something out. I'm willing to look at any suggestions you can brainstorm for me (I haven't been on anything resembling a vacation or time off away from home in 4+ years for economic reasons), no matter how off-beat or creative.
Throwaway email:
NotHomeForTheHolidays@gmail.com
I hit up Air BNB in the Hudson Valley and Catskills just now, searching for your dates and focusing on towns served by public bus.
My friends have a rental place in Fleischmanns, NY - their space is taken, but I'm suggesting that town anyway because it is SERIOUSLY easy to get there on public transportation, and it is a TINY tiny little town. This is a spot in Fleischmanns that is available those dates. There's a bus from Port Authority that stops right in the center of Fleischmanns; and the whole town is seriously just, like, ten blocks.
If that doesn't work, Here's a log cabin in Phonecia, which also has a bus from Port authority that goes there. And another place in Phonecia. And here's one in Woodstock, which is a four-minute walk from where the bus leaves you in Woodstock - Woodstock gets really spread-out if you walk just a couple blocks away from the town center. Millstream Road is also really pretty. And here's another Woodstock place - I think I know a guy who used to live there and recommended it as a retreat because it was indeed remote (despite being only a 5 minute walk from the bus stop). And this place says there's a bus stop at the end of her driveway.
A lot of the Air BNB people can help you get a ride from where the bus leaves you off if you reach out to them, too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:41 PM on December 14, 2012
My friends have a rental place in Fleischmanns, NY - their space is taken, but I'm suggesting that town anyway because it is SERIOUSLY easy to get there on public transportation, and it is a TINY tiny little town. This is a spot in Fleischmanns that is available those dates. There's a bus from Port Authority that stops right in the center of Fleischmanns; and the whole town is seriously just, like, ten blocks.
If that doesn't work, Here's a log cabin in Phonecia, which also has a bus from Port authority that goes there. And another place in Phonecia. And here's one in Woodstock, which is a four-minute walk from where the bus leaves you in Woodstock - Woodstock gets really spread-out if you walk just a couple blocks away from the town center. Millstream Road is also really pretty. And here's another Woodstock place - I think I know a guy who used to live there and recommended it as a retreat because it was indeed remote (despite being only a 5 minute walk from the bus stop). And this place says there's a bus stop at the end of her driveway.
A lot of the Air BNB people can help you get a ride from where the bus leaves you off if you reach out to them, too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:41 PM on December 14, 2012
Ooooh, just noticed the $800 total for the whole thing limit - two of my recommendations go over that. But the place in Fleischmanns would only be $650 for the whole stay, and the round trip on bus from Port authority would be about $75.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 PM on December 14, 2012
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 PM on December 14, 2012
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posted by kayzie at 3:03 PM on December 14, 2012