As the temperature starts its steep and seemingly bottomless winter descent, it’s hard not to dream about ditching New York. Just a break, a respite. Nothing permanent. But where? In this town, vacations are too precious to take chances on—or to waste on places you’ve been ten times before. Another trip to South Beach seems as refreshing as a 70-hour work week. You’ve skied Stratton Mountain so many times you mutter the names of the trails in your sleep. To help in these matters, we found a group of New Yorkers, quizzed them about their travel experiences and vacation fantasies, and prescribed for each of them a personalized solution, a destination that offers everything they’d normally want, but in an exciting new place. The result is a fresh roster of itineraries to suit every New Yorker’s taste. A foodie trip to Vietnam. An ice-climbing expedition in New Hampshire. An exotic honeymoon in the Andes. If those aren’t new enough for you, try Libya, where we’re willing to bet you haven’t been. Yet.

Workaholic
Andros Island, The Bahamas

The Foodie
Hanoi, Vietnam

Honeymooners
Cuzco, Peru

The Ski Family
Whistler, British Columbia

The Africaphile
Gabon, West Africa

The Pioneer
Libya, North Africa

Trendsetter
Bahia, Brazil

Adenaline Junkie
Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

Related:

• Archive: “Travel Column”
• Table of Contents: October 25, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!