The Masai Mara game reserve.   (Photo: Paul Souders)

The Escapee:
Laurie Rice, 50, internist
“I’d like to escape the subway rush hour, and the urge to see as many patients in one twelve-hour day as possible, and instead go to a place that is more simple and, in a way, more gratifying. Kenya is the most beautiful place I know. I’ve been there as a volunteer physician for the Hope Alliance. I’d like to go back and make it a vacation this time, go on safari, visit the enchanted Lamu Island off the coast of Mombasa. There’s no cars, just donkeys and traditional boats. I wouldn’t mind a shower this time—we usually camp.”

The Escape: Kenya
Gabrielle Nijdam, a consultant at the Kensington Tours agency, which specializes in trips to East Africa (from $4,015 for ten days; kensingtontours.com), suggests hitting the savannah of Masai Mara, the expansive park reserve in southwestern Kenya. Time the trip as the seasons change in August and September to see hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra running to greener pastures. You’ll get your own private guide and a four-by-four vehicle to experience the hot desert-scape of Samburu National Reserve, the lush greenery of the Aberdares National Park, and the savannah of Masai Mara National Reserve during morning and evening wildlife drives. At night, you’ll retire to a breezy riverbank tent base camp with antique-style furnishings, electricity, and showers. For the final two days, fly to sleepy Lamu, an island famous for its fourteenth-century Swahili architecture and narrow, rush-hour-free streets.

Stilted cabanas at 9 Beaches.   (Photo: Courtesy of 9 Beaches)

(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

The Escapee:
Jennie Alexander, 33, office manager at Simon, Eisenberg & Baum, LLP
“I’m escaping from work. I manage a law firm that’s actually expanding at the moment. Because I’m the office manager, I’m the one on the front lines, reporting directly to the senior partners. I get home from work late, and have only a bit of time with my son before he goes to bed. I want to sleep on the beach in the Bermuda Triangle, drink margaritas, and hang out with the locals.”

The Escape: Bermuda
Bermuda feels pretty escape-y to begin with, and the biggest and best public beach, Somerset Long Bay, is on the western side of the island, far from the airport and the busier parishes. Book one of 84 stilt cabanas at 9 Beaches (from $342; 9beaches.com), which has plenty of nap-friendly hammocks scattered about the property. Enjoy the lack of cars by mopeding around the neighborhood, or snorkel over some of the Atlantic’s best coral reefs. Margaritas? Not so much. The Dark ’n Stormy (ginger beer and rum) is the local drink—which is also, conveniently, the name of 9 Beaches’ own bar.