Get away while you can

This post is sponsored by Carpingo.

Carpingo is Brooklyn’s car sharing community. Cars by the hour or day, available 24/7.

Spring is almost here and you’ve totally missed all your chances to get out of the city: ski trips fell through; snow-shoeing plans cancelled for lack of snow; or maybe you find it impossible to get out of bed on the weekend before the sun sets at 4 p.m. We’ve got just the tonic for those hibernation blues: a weekend trip to the country!

We have teamed up with Carpingo to give one lucky reader a Friday-through-Monday car share and a $500 gift certificate* to the Inn at Lake Joseph, a beautiful upstate retreat near Forestburgh, New York. Finally you and your honey can flee the concrete jungle for grass, trees, and a body of water that isn’t the Gowanus Canal.

Carpingo is New York City’s only home-grown hourly car sharing company. Their service is easy – reserve a car online for when and where you need it, and it’ll be there. No lines, no paperwork, no office hours – just unlock and drive. Cars are available by the hour or the day, 24/7. Carpingo will even cover gas and insurance.

We know how it is. Sometimes you bought too many groceries at Trader Joe’s or have to move that kayak that’s been lying in your hallway since May. You just can’t do it without a car. But why bother with the hassle of alternate-side parking and mooching friends who “forget” to offer gas money? Sign up and you’ll not only get access to a car whenever you want, you’ll support a Brooklyn business that partners with great NYC organizations like Rooftop Films, St. Francis College Athletics, and Gotham Girls Roller Derby. With Carpingo, your money stays local even if you’re on the move.

So get out of those pajamas and enter our contest by submitting your email below, and as usual – earn extra entries by following/liking/retweeting and referring friends! It’ll be the perfect way to usher in the warm weather and support a great new business.

*Applicable to room rate only. Gratuity and taxes not included.

Looks like we picked the right week to start being cheap

Despite the fact that it involves partaking in the miracle of human flight, air travel is a pain in the ass. It’s expensive too. But it’s less expensive this week on JetBlue owing to NYC Flight Week, a veritable orgy of discounted flights, to the tune of 80% off. Each day this week, the carrier is offering three bargains. But like all great deals in life, there’s a catch. (more…)

Train travel was so simple once.

Trains! We want so desperately to love you, use you and abuse you to cut travel scars across the great big face of this countryside like those lucky jerks in Europe. And it would be nice to not be forced to relinquish our liquids before we board, or be crammed in like cattle on the Megabus, be forced to suffer interminable delays watching airport CNN ad nauseum or feel guilty about guzzling up fuel and spraying it across the sky. Yet every time we go to book a trip on you, your prices are practically as high as riding on an airplane, which makes none much sense at all.

This very week, Amtrak is testing a 165-mph high-speed train, which still clocks in 40-100mph slower than the ones in Europe and Asia. While we wait for super speed rail to come along (or until they discover that motor from Atlas Shrugged, at least): Amtrak is having a sale this week: It’s $25 to go one way to Philly or $29 to Wilmington, Del., which, come to think of it, is not really a deal over taking the bus, seeing as a one-way to Philly normally runs about $36. You have to book by Thursday, and the travel is only good for Nov. 28 – Dec. 13. So that kinda sucks. Does anyone out there take trains regularly any more?  (more…)

Contains cats. Via FB.

This one comes directly out of the Brooklynite wet dream fantasy vacation package file: The owners of this adorable Tales of Lonesome Pine used bookstore in Big Stone Gap, Va. are looking for a store sitter for October and November. You’d get lodging and provisions in exchange for selling some books and feeding the bookstore’s two dogs and two cats. And why are the owners leaving, you ask? For an also adorable reason: Co-owner Wendy Welch is releasing a memoir about the bookstore, and is doing a book tour with her husband. Big Stone Gap is in the heart of Appalachia, right next to the Kentucky border, so this is probably the best possible no-distractions scenario you can think of to go finish that book you’re working on/prepare for the eventual Romney/Ryan presidency. (more…)

The view at North/South Lake in the Catskills. Not pictured: bears. Via Flick'rs Anton de Flon.

It’s almost travel season! Travel site OffMetro.com reached out to a bunch of local journalists and bloggers to find their suggestions for easy getaways close to NYC, and came up with a list of fun options from Nicole Davis of Brooklyn Based, Tracy Greenstein of Forbes.com, Richard Blakely of Thrillist, Paul Brady of Huffington Post Travel, Dortohy McGivney of Jauntsetter, Lauren Shockey of the Village Voice and more (including yours truly). My pick is for a quick jaunt up to North/South Lake in the Catskills up past Saugerties, where some of team Brokelyn took a lovely bro-caction last summer free of cell phone service (although notably not free of bears). Other highlights from the list: Nicole’s recommends a trip out to North Fork on Long Island where you can shop for $20 7 jeans at TJ Maxx; and Paul says under-appreciated Baltimore is worth your visit in the spring. Check the whole list!

OffMetro has some other great travel guides including a self-guided Brooklyn food tour, outdoor volunteer opportunities, and best babymoon packages, which has the added bonus of teaching us that “babymoons” are a thing.

Catch our drift? Photo by Rachel DeLetto

Ominous implications of the-winter-that-wasn’t aside, we still have a few more weeks of it, according to the calendar. That means there’s still time to take advantage of off-season deals at beach vacation destinations we Brokesters can’t afford (or be bothered with) during the summer.

One of my favorites is Montauk. Unfortunately, the Hamptons’ summer crowds, traffic and $9 beers overshadow its real allure: it’s friggin’ beautiful. Miles of white-sand beaches, legendary surf breaks, wildlife, hiking trails, fishing villages and meditative vistas. Save the Flea and farmers market and running in Prospect Park for every other spring-like weekend in Brooklyn and head east for a sanity restoring winter getaway in Montauk. Here’s how to do it on the cheap(ish): (more…)

Dig the loft bed in the corner!

Jetsetter, the luxe hotel discount site that makes us weep for Machu Picchu hideaways and beachfront huts in Bali, features its first Brooklyn property this week, and it’s the NU Hotel at Smith and Atlantic. For four more days, you can book NU Hotel rooms on Jetsetter for $116 (normally $179 and up elsewhere). We haven’t stayed there, cause we live here, but at these prices (and solid NU Hotel reviews on TripAdvisor), we’ll suggest it to our parents / cousins / friends. Those Jetsetters love this 93-room gem because, and we quote: (more…)

See also: stalking Taylor Swift. Via The Onion.

A lot of us will be in an airport this holiday season: sitting through long layovers, awaiting never-ending delays or just picking up lost family members. If you’re not lucky enough to be addicted to Words with Friends, you might have more trouble passing the time. Unfortunately, not all airports can be like Singapore’s, which has a freaking pool you can use while you wait, but did you know that a lot of airports are packed with microbreweries? And some give you tons of coupons to use or free gym passes? Or that you might be able to see a free Taylor Swift concert while you wait for the crew to clean the vomit off the Skymall catalog?

To save you time, here is a cheat sheet on 12 airports you’re likely to be stuck in around the country (and one international one), including deals worth checking out, beer worth trying and which terminals have free wifi. Best advice? Always, always check out an airport website before you go (all linked below). (more…)

Saturday is national Passport Day, which means you can apply for a passport, get advice or anything else passport-related in person without going through the sometimes grueling process of making an appointment to do the same. The Brooklyn event is at 271 Cadman Plaza East. It won’t save you any money off the $135 fee, but it will save you some hassle, especially if you took advantage of those late-winter travel deals. And this is a good time to remind you why paying for passport rush services is one big scam. Take it from us: just having a new passport teasing you with its blank, stamp-less pages is motivation enough to figure out a way to travel, whatever your budget.

A treehouse grows in Vermont. Photos by Lauren Glucksman.

Oh the new year. The first couple months get bullied and hated on for good reason. The best way to escape the winter blues is to take it literally: escape somewhere to take your head out of the daily city grind. Weekend trips to the wilderness can add up quickly, but there are a few ways to keep it reasonable, if you dig around. For under $100, you could stay in a fully functional treehouse less than half a day’s drive away (No, really). For even cheaper, someone will pick you up from the city, give you outdoor equipment and feed you wine. Here’s how: (more…)