I do love the winter. But if the sun in the glass doesn’t do the trick any more it’s time set sail for lands of milk and honey. Where several layers of isolation are no longer required. The world is getting smaller by the minute for I can fly, sail or swim (if I take my vitamins) to Bora Bora, Tanzania or Easter Island any day I like. But here we will talk about places where you can make it in a jiffy (two to five hours from the center of the universe – NYC). Pack those bags. Because traveling is like a prayer, a song, a mouthful of fat, a kiss, it is a moment outside time (because time is boring). Drop your square-point shovel and the bags of concrete-repair mortar let life slide. It’s time for a bourbon tasting in Kentucky.
That is an option to escape the winter blues geographically but mostly spiritually. (Redefine where the wild things are!) For the sand lovers there are too many to choose from. The two that I always gravitated to are Miami and Jamaica. Miami because the water is warm, art deco is in fashion and I like to stick to the classics. Jamaica because the water is warm the sky is a different colors of blue. My favorite three are a different shade of green and the danger, the danger is beautiful. (Plus you can dive in the crystal clear water from a cliff.) The sun is the sun, but if you like gray beauty you can skip to Iceland. Not for their beaches. But! For their DJs and electricity generating dance floors (both literally and metaphorically). Their steam-bath resorts on top of cliffs are not to be ignored either.
We do have ice at home as well. I never miss a chance to join the crew for trip to Vermont. The fireplace in the lodge (and the whiskey) does the trick for me. And the mountains! When you are on the top of the slope with nothing but your board and your skills (the smoking chimneys in the distance humming away) the world goes quiet. If Vermont is not far enough for you, I invite you to the island of Nova Scotia. It doesn’t get warmer up there, but the food, the people and views are as poetic and as mind silencing as whiskey. If you want to keep it close to base camp, visit Tarrytown House (in Tarrytown upstate). Two venerable establishments converted into a resort. Steam baths, rococo, wine and cheesecake, works for me. I promise when you come back you will start calling everybody ‘buddy’. Stay frosty buddies!
— Milen Vasilev
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