Dreams of winter: How it all started
It is quite relaxing to watch falling snowflakes. I usually zoom out, stop thinking about student loans, credit card bills and other daily crap that tends to pile up just like powder. So, on that early and snowy December evening, none of that back-to-earth stuff was crossing my mind. I was sitting behind my computer desk, surfing the web, listening to Chris Botti’s smooth jazz and sipping hot tea. Hmm…winter wonderland…
”Next stop is the Main Street!” loudly barked MTA bus’ announcement system right outside a window. “Jesus Christ!” I immediately snapped out of the romantic mood. “There are absolutely no city buses in the winter wonderland! Ok, there might be a place for Santa’s carriage, but the NYC bus? Never!” I thought while frantically trying to recreate that perfect winter picture. But all was in vain -the picture perfect winter setting disappeared together with the MTA bus and the reality of NYC settled in. The city that never sleeps is famous for many things, but a romantic winter vacation is not one of them. I had to do something about it. I just could not fit the city bus and striking winter sceneries in one image. And an idea came out of nowhere: “Why not take a vacation outside of the city? Why not drive somewhere? Some place without buses, traffic, subways, ritzy night clubs…Why not Vermont!”
Now, I can’t really tell you why I picked Vermont and not upstate New York, or New Hampshire, Maine etc. Human brain is a complicated thing and regardless of what went inside of my mind, a decision was made: I was going to Vermont, a state that I had never visited before. Of course, I was not going there alone; I needed a company to make a winter vacation fun. And so, I immediately start thinking who should I invite.
First things first: I pitched the Vermont idea to my girlfriend. She just started a career in finance, and had already been tired of working on a trading desk. You know, some traders fart, and curse. Naturally, it had taken a toll on her, and she was more than willing to trade the “fart” desk for something more relaxing.
My friend Ales was the next target on my radar. “Dood! What are you up to these days?” I asked him even though we just spent a long weekend together renovating my apartment on Long Island. “Not much,” he cautiously replied wary of the fact that I still had to finish painting one bedroom. “Look, I was thinking about spending Christmas in Vermont with some close friends. Are you up to a ‘short’ drive?” Ales was single at that moment, and I had a gut feeling that he would agree. Sure enough, he quickly agreed to join us.
Dreams of winter
And now, we had a problem: I could not think of any other friend who did not mind winter vacations, or had to work during the Christmas week. We needed more people, and my girlfriend pitched an idea to her friend Angelina. Angelina was working investment banking hours, loved the city clubs and had never been to Vermont. I doubt she would sign up but life is full of surprises: not only she agreed to spend that week with us, but she also brought her boyfriend on board. Bingo! Now there were five of us.
Restless, I dug through my girlfriends’ contacts and sold the idea to her friend Lily, whose boyfriend Sergio was the only one who actually visited and skied in Vermont. So, with a little bit of luck, I managed to turn two contacts into a group of seven passionate skiers who, with an exception of one, had never skied or been to Vermont before. In other words, social networking and word of mouth worked fine for me. The next step was to find a picture perfect ski house to fit this newly formed group of “city adventurers.” And it figured to be a challenging task because it was December 10th already.
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