Somehow a work trip to New York ended up being the most relaxing thing I did in 2019

On a six-day trip to NYC for a major public event and an important series of intense meetings I made time between my professional obligations to chill out, eradicate stress, and reset my life.

Sister City

The relaxation began at the hotel I stayed in. Sister City is a new concept hotel by Atelier Ace, the creative studio behind Ace Hotel. The space looked just right for what I knew would be an intense week.

My decision was confirmed the moment I entered the lobby. Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music For Airports played as the smell of aromatherapy diffusers wafted through the large open lobby. The space is airy and elegant but also unfussy and down to earth.  I felt comfortable immediately.

I checked in through a self-serve kiosk which allows you to imprint your own key. I took the elevator up to my room which deeply embodied Sister City’s theme of essentialism.

Sister City is a hotel distilled to its most beautiful working parts. We thought about small houses of the Hudson Valley, we thought about Finnish saunas, we thought about Japanese architecture, we thought about John Cage’s 4’33” and we thought about the first cliff dwellings of Buddhist monks. We asked ourselves what was truly needed when traveling, a list that includes but is not limited to:

Water

A Roof

Outlets

Plants

Soft Feeling

Courage

Spirit

from the Sister City website

The rooms are small, cozy, and pared down to only the essential; a lovely plush bed, wood and paper finishes on the walls, a small wooden desk and stool, a bottle of filtered water refillable via a tap in the hallway, sunlight a Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speaker, and a small but very comfortable bathroom.

DAY 1

I’ve been using Nick Crocker’s excellent annual goal setting / accountability  process laid out in his essay The Elephants. Quarterly reviews are an essential mechanism of the process for holding yourself accountable. I decided before the trip that I plan some additional time to visit friends and to work on my 2019 first quarter review. For most of the rest of the first day I worked from the comfort of my room evaluating how things have been going in my life and work.

The other critical element laid out in The Elephants is sharing goals and progress with close friends. In my case that friend is Jac, who also happens to live in New York not far from Sister City. Late in the afternoon we met up and explored the area taking in bookstores like Bluestockings, Karma, and Mast Books, then enjoyed a nice vegetarian szechuan meal at Spicy Moon.

The most important and valuable part of the experience was just walking and talking; spending time with a close friend surrounded by the infinite and delirious jungle of New York.

DAY 2

The next morning I grabbed an iced coffee and a bodega bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich then took an Uber across the East River to Brooklyn to see my dear friend Casey. Her house is in the absolutely gorgeous Clinton Hill neighborhood. After a tour and a nice conversation we grabbed some coffee and walked through cherry blossom lined streets and parks, through sculpture gardens and farmers markets, and did a little shopping at Greenlight Books and Blick Art. 

We talked about our life and work, our kids, and how far we’ve come since high school and college. It was a wonderful day walking and talking and spending time with a great friend. I went back to my room in the late afternoon full of energy and wrote the second part of my quarterly report.

Later that evening I walked across town to meet my sister and her family for dinner at Cowgirl, a West Village institution. It was great to catch up with them. The walk there and back was absolutely magical.

DAY 3

The next day I explored SoHo, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. Originally home to factories housed in cast iron buildings SoHo became a dilapidated wreck until the artists started moving in during the 1960s. Donald Judd’s 101 Spring Street, now lovingly preserved by the Judd Foundation, and a few installations preserved by the Dia Foundation are among the last remnants of the artists movements that thrived in the neighborhood in the 60s and 70s.

SoHo is now essentially a giant mall full of national and global retailers. Gross consumerism has replaced the artists lofts and galleries. I’m not ashamed to say I enjoy taking in the spectacle of it all. On this trip my favorite stops were Westerlind, an outdoor sportswear retailer specializing in scandanavian and japanese brands, Patagonia, REI, and McNally Jackson.

After a brief stop back at the hotel to drop off my purchases and to refresh myself I took a very long walk up to midtown Manhattan to meet my colleagues for cocktails. We discussed final plans for the event we were all in town for and then I walked back downtown.

Coming down 2nd Ave I thought of Momofuku Ssam Bar and decided to stop in for dinner. It was a wise choice. Over a couple more cocktails I had all-time favorite pork buns and the rice cakes were as spicy and delicious as I remembered.  The dish that blew me away was Max’s Curry & Potatoes.

DAY 4

Finally, on Monday, it was time to get to work. I had a series of meetings in the morning but found time in the afternoon to take in the new exhibition of The Met’s modern paintings, Epic Abstraction. It’s a chronological exploration of abstraction starting with the New York School and meanders through painting and sculpture of the 20th century up until the present moment.

It wasn’t revelatory and definitely did not produce much new narrative but there are some truly remarkable paintings in the collection. I was really taken with Kazuo Shiraga’s untitled 1958 painting, which were shown in the same gallery as the Jackson Pollock canvases that inspired it including Autumn Rhythm (1950). Joan Mitchell’s soaring La Vie en Rose (1979) was really wonderful to see up close.

After the show I walked across Central Park to the main event, an evening at the New York Historical Society. It was a sold-out crowd and the presentation came off just as we had planned it.

DAY 5

I woke up early the next morning for the last bodega bacon, egg, and cheese of the trip and worked on putting together the last of the quarterly report. Then I headed back to midtown for a day full of PR meetings to strategize two major upcoming initiatives.

After the meetings I met Jac once again, this time at the Highline. We walked and  talked most of the length of the trail, this time focusing on the final quarterly review. We exited back down to street level and found a pizza spot then walked across town back to the Bowery and Chinatown respectively.

THE END

As the sun went down and I put together the last of my quarterly report presentation then headed up to Last Light, a bar located on Sister City’s rooftop. Reflecting on the last few days I realized with certainty it is possible to make time for a life outside of work even under the most intense of work circumstances; a reaffirmation that work is a part of my life, not my entire life.

It was a rare perfect moment of completion. I thought about all the components that made it happen:

A beautiful soft space for living

self-reflection

close friends and family

meaningful work

endless walking

all experienced in one of the world’s great cities. But, in the end, walking was the central component that held it all together. I need more of that in my daily life.

Elements + Patterns

Sister City

Water

A Roof

Outlets

Plants

Soft Feeling

Courage

Spirit

Bookstores

Museums

Restaurants

Time to walk

Time to think

Time to work

Time to assess

Abstraction

Karma

Mast Books

Spicy Moon

Sublime views, beautiful weather, punk rock music

Commend

Myplasticheart

Westerlind

McNally Jackson

Patagonia

The Met

Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, Clyfford Still, Isamu Noguchi, Morris Louis, Helen Frankenthaler, Bill De Kooning, Mark Rothko, John Graham

Lower East Side, East Village, Washington Square, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Midtown, West Village, Soho, Nolita, Central Park East, Central Park West

Casey, Jac, Marcianis <3