help me get away from it all
December 5, 2010 1:19 PM Subscribe
Help me retreat from NYC. Where can I get away from it all next weekend -- and go somewhere without wifi and or cell reception?
[Asking for a friend.] I'd like to take a mini-vacation from hectic New York next weekend. Ideally, I'll go somewhere a few hours away or less, and stay for the weekend. Some ideas: a retreat center, yoga center, meditation center, convent, or other technology-free environs. Any ideas about where I could go and get away from it all? Thanks.
[Asking for a friend.] I'd like to take a mini-vacation from hectic New York next weekend. Ideally, I'll go somewhere a few hours away or less, and stay for the weekend. Some ideas: a retreat center, yoga center, meditation center, convent, or other technology-free environs. Any ideas about where I could go and get away from it all? Thanks.
Are you looking for an activity to participate in? Maybe check out Kripalu. They're a yoga/meditation center in the Berkshires that does lots of retreats and workshops and the like. Not sure exactly how far the drive is (or how fast their stuff fills up), but I have a lot of friends in NYC who've gone.
If you just want a location, without organized activities - maybe Bear Mountain? Much closer to the city, but deceptively remote feeling. I don't remember the cell reception situation from last time I went, but it should be easy to leave the laptop behind and turn the phone off. There are cabins for rent (google Harriman State Park), lots of hiking and outdoorsy stuff to do.
posted by Sara C. at 1:32 PM on December 5, 2010
If you just want a location, without organized activities - maybe Bear Mountain? Much closer to the city, but deceptively remote feeling. I don't remember the cell reception situation from last time I went, but it should be easy to leave the laptop behind and turn the phone off. There are cabins for rent (google Harriman State Park), lots of hiking and outdoorsy stuff to do.
posted by Sara C. at 1:32 PM on December 5, 2010
Just something that works for me - just leave your phones and mobile stuff at home and go do something different?
posted by TravellingDen at 1:33 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by TravellingDen at 1:33 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Left-field answer: Quebec City.
A lot less English, a lot more winter, probably no cell reception if your phone won't work up there, and North America's only fortified walled city. It's probably as close to "foreign" as you can get without going across the ocean. You'd have to fly to make it worth the weekend, which is stressful, but once there? A mini-Paris.
posted by mdonley at 2:11 PM on December 5, 2010
A lot less English, a lot more winter, probably no cell reception if your phone won't work up there, and North America's only fortified walled city. It's probably as close to "foreign" as you can get without going across the ocean. You'd have to fly to make it worth the weekend, which is stressful, but once there? A mini-Paris.
posted by mdonley at 2:11 PM on December 5, 2010
Quebec City is much, MUCH further away from New York than a couple hours' drive. From what I understand it's a few hours from Montreal, which is itself a 5-6 hour drive from New York.
Though I have always wanted to go there. And you could always fly to Montreal for cheap and take the train to QC.
posted by Sara C. at 2:16 PM on December 5, 2010
Though I have always wanted to go there. And you could always fly to Montreal for cheap and take the train to QC.
posted by Sara C. at 2:16 PM on December 5, 2010
Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskills?
http://mro.org/zmm/retreats/
posted by bashos_frog at 5:31 PM on December 5, 2010
http://mro.org/zmm/retreats/
posted by bashos_frog at 5:31 PM on December 5, 2010
I asked a somewhat similar question in the past.
posted by falameufilho at 7:00 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by falameufilho at 7:00 PM on December 9, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 1:29 PM on December 5, 2010