Local Travel During Covid19 - A Weekend Away!

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I love traveling. Not being able to travel much at the moment, due to the pandemic, is one of my biggest not-actually-all-that-important complaints. 

My husband and I originally wanted to celebrate being newlyweds with ten days in Hawaii, but those plans are on hold until next year at the earliest. Boo. So we decided to take a little trip locally!

Where: Montauk (specifically Gurney's Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa)
How: Car service there and back (ca. 3.5 hour drive each way)
When: A 4 day weekend

Transport:

I was pleased with the ease of organizing the car service. We had different drivers for the trip there and back, but both were polite, punctual, and wore their masks at all times (as did we). There were also large plastic shields in both cars, separating the passenger seating from the driver's area. I really appreciated that during covid!

The cars themselves were pretty standard - large black SUVs - but comfy and the seats leaned back quite a bit. 

My one complaint on the way there was that it felt like a really bumpy ride. I'm not sure how good of a judge I can be of that at the moment, as I still have my struggles with morning sickness now at 14.5 weeks, but my husband also felt that it could have been smoother. The way back was much more comfortable, so maybe the first car didn't have as great tires or needed a new suspension system or whatever it is that makes cars drive smoothly (look at me, pretending I know anything about cars).

Resort:

The resort was beautiful. The staff was attentive. The private beach the resort sits on was sandy, nice, and never too crowded. 

However (isn't there always a however?) a lot of the amenities that would ordinarily distinguish a resort from a hotel were unavailable. 

The spa and pools were closed. The bikes were unavailable. Activities were canceled (aside from a few things, like lobster bakes, that I'd consider more dining options than activities). 

I totally understand that they have to cut back offerings a lot due to the pandemic (safety first!) but that they kept their hundreds-of-dollars-a-day resort fee despite the fact that hardly any resort amenities are available seemed a little brazen to me.

Dining:

The room service menus were pretty uninspired, especially because they're currently touting their room service as 'expanded offerings for in-room dining.' Um... what? There are minimal options for a pregnant pescatarian, as most of the fish included are medium- to high-mercury fish, like Chilean sea bass and tuna. 

Dinner at Scarpetta's, on the other hand, was delicious, flavorful, and creatively plated. The eggplant dish was so, so good, as was the roasted zucchini on avocado creme (?) and the rosemary lentil dish. The dining area was beautiful, as well. 

Breakfast at Tillie's was also delicious (my favorite was the greens and grains bowl, my husband really liked the steak and eggs). Breakfast is served on the terrace, overlooking the ocean. Make sure to get a table in the shade, as it can get pretty hot in the sun, but as long as you have a bit of shade, it's lovely!

We ventured off property for a few meals, but didn't find it on the whole worth it. Maybe we're spoiled from living in a culinary center of the world, but the food wasn't exciting enough to bother with the trip to town (about 3 miles each way) and the disorganization of a lot of the dining establishments. 

I thought the food at Joni's was really good - fresh, flavorful, creative - but my husband thought it was only so-so and was really not a fan of the actual dining experience. Despite being a favorite breakfast and lunch spot in a primarily tourist town, they didn't have an outdoor (or indoor, though we wouldn't have wanted that) dining area! There were a bunch of stacked picnic tables and benches in the back, but they weren't available to use. People were placing their orders, waiting the ~30 minutes for the food to be ready (they weren't fast by any means) and then finding a curb or spot of grass to eat on. That seemed like a real lost opportunity for the business, as well as streamlining the ordering and pickup lines/processes so people weren't just milling about by the windows for ages, trying to hear their names. 

Ah well, c'est la vie! On future visits, we'll likely just stick to on-property dining for the most part.

Overall:

I love NYC, but after four months of quarantining in our apartment we were both thrilled to get away. We're lucky to live in a nice, spacious apartment where being locked in all day is far from the worst thing, but no matter how nice your home is there'll always eventually come the desire for fresh air and seeing something new. Our long weekend away was the perfect remedy!
I'd recommend Montauk for families and couples alike. It was peaceful enough to be romantic, as well as fun enough to keep the kids happy. And it's just so beautiful. Plus, the people watching is so fun! Sure, I saw more Balenciaga sweaters and Lululemon leggings at once than maybe ever before, but there was also a good variety of fashion to see and a lot of fun characters and fun character pairings. 

We also always felt safe there and, even though Montauk is already in stage 3 of reopening (NYC is only in stage 2), we were happy to find that people were still very good about wearing masks, keeping 6' distance, sanitizing, etc. We'd recommend!

To follow my adventures live, and see travel videos and more photos, follow me on Instagram @danainygard !

Are you planning any travel this summer? Where to?