Urban Escapes takes people out of the "concrete jungle" of Manhattan and gives them the chance to experience nature, Peter Sokol-Hessner '04, a senior trip guide for the company, said. The trips are targeted for people in their late twenties.
"It's the street, the subway, these huge crowds and tons of people," he said. "There are a lot of people in [New York City,] especially in Manhattan, who can feel kind of corralled by the metal and asphalt. It's a great opportunity to get outside and get fresh air. Get into nature and get back in touch with the things that can get suppressed when you live in the city full time."
Josebachvili, an avid skydiver, coordinated outdoor trips while she was a student at Dartmouth, she said.
"In order to go skydiving for free, I kind of organized trips off the big blitz lists, and started running trips kind of like a mini-Urban Escapes out of Dartmouth," Josebachvili said.
After graduating, she spent two years working on Wall Street while taking hiking and camping trips with friends in her spare time.
"It was hard to get out and make plans," she said. "The things that we do at Dartmouth and take for granted take so much orchestrating in New York. It wasn't a business it was just me doing it for my own sanity and for my friends."
Josebachvili began Urban Escapes a year ago with a simple web site and her savings from her Wall Street job.
The company, which organized trips for roughly 1,000 people its first year, will welcome 1,000 participants this August alone, according to Josebachvili.
Josebachvili also runs trips specifically targeted toward Dartmouth alumni. This year, Dartmouth-alumni specific trips include river tubing, wine tasting and a potential combined foliage hike and whiskey tasting trip.
Sokol-Hessner most recently led a yoga-hiking trip to Bear Mountain State Park in New York, he said.
"Along the way during the hike we would stop and had a yoga instructor and he would lead us in some yoga," Sokol-Hessner said. "It takes the normal vanilla hike and makes it much more interesting."
Maisie Breit '10, one of the company's summer interns, has worked closely with Josebachvili and Urban Escapes Director Bram Levy to confirm logistics for trips, reserve vans, shop for groceries and scout new locations.
"It's really fun, and I'm just hanging out with these 20-something-year-olds who are obviously incredibly intelligent and so fun and so silly," Breit said,
Josebachvili said the trips have a similar feel to the Dartmouth Outing Club's First-Year Trips.
"It's the same concept trying to get people outside, and it's just a nice way to meet people in a different low-pressure setting," Josebachvili said.
Breit, who has led trips and is now a trip leader trainer for First-Year Trips, said the experience is different from First-Year Trips because of the company's target demographic.
"They don't take these 25-30 year olds and play Wah,'" Breit said, referring to the game commonly played on First-Year Trips.
Urban Escapes tries to separate itself from the competition by focusing on social networking, Breit said. Sokol-Hessner also emphasized the social aspect of the program.
"It's like the DOC Trips in that you're out there in the woods with a bunch of random people," he said. "Being in that kind of situation, sharing the sort of things you do when you hike, is a great way to break the ice with these folks."
Many trips have follow-up get-togethers and happy hours to keep people involved with the program, Breit said.
Breit, a New York native, said the company fills a niche in the city.
"Living in the city, it's amazing and sometimes you just need to go hiking for a weekend but don't know where to go," she said.
Josebachvili enjoys her job as a chance to get outdoors, she said.
"I've basically combined my two passions which are playing outside and meeting new people," Josebachvili said. "I think when you combine them, literally it's kind of just in the pursuit of fun."
