How to Get Away from New York Without Getting Away.

I’ve always been in a love-hate relationship with New York City. In the early years the relationship leaned towards hate, but it wasn’t the city’s fault at all. As a child of an expat family, I simply missed my home country. I missed the family and friends left behind, my old school and the little apartment in which I grew up, and which I would never call home again. It was inevitable that it would take me years to warm up to the idea of living in a different city, even one as great at New York.

Over the years, the memories of my home country grew fainter and the roots I’ve been forced to put down in New York burrowed deeper. New York became my new home. A place where I attended school, and then later on college; where I made friends and lovers; where I took dance classes, (every kind, from ballet and modern to fuerza bruta and kpop); worked (not as many odd jobs as an average New Yorker but still), and wasted an endless amount of money on food and booze. New York became a place where I found my passion and where I despaired and where I did all those things that one will do when one stays in a place for far too long.

At some point I also fell in love with New York.

I fell in love with its strangeness and diversity and enormity and incredible potential for adventure.

At some point I also got fed up with New York.

With its crazy pace, its dysfunctional public transport, its traffic and road rage, its inability to just let you breathe sometimes.

In the moments when my frustration threatens to overpower my love for this city, I try to get away. If I can’t get away then I retreat to the places in the city that make me happy and zen. Parks, beaches, cemeteries, coffee shops.

This blog was created to show appreciation for those places. I call them “cozy” but they could be anything–grungy, crazy, loud–as long as they let me re-charge and let me get back to life without going mad.

If you know a place like that in New York, or in your city (which I might visit one day), please drop me a line.

Thank you for stopping by.