Are you a recent college graduate living in Manhattan? Does the white-collar job you kept at the expense of thousands of others not excite you anymore? Has New York City turned dull after living and working there for nearly three months? Well you don't have to stay in your comfortable rut anymore!

Dartmouth grad and former Wall Streeter Maia Josebachvili started Urban Escapes NYC, a company that organizes outdoor expeditions--backpacking, rock climbing, fruit picking, and the like--for yuppies bored with New York. Excursions on offer for the gainfully employed range from one-day hikes for $55 to a week in the Yucatan Peninsula for $600. Of course if you opt for the latter, you may not be gainfully employed for much longer once those photos from that nightclub in Playa del Carmen are posted on Flickr.

The high costs of these trips are actually fair deals when you consider transportation, guides, and food. And when compared to other enterprises from Ivy Leaguers, Urban Escapes is a worthwhile venture. However, there is still this air of pretentiousness about Josebachvili's company. Urban professionals who have already lost interest in New York paying a significant amount of money (whitewater rafting costs about the same as a senior week wine tour) to leave the city and rough it for a day or two. The website also says that on these trips you'll "meet fantastic and interesting new people in a totally different setting." Because it's so hard to meet new people on your own when you're in a city of 8 million people. You can't really Facebook friend someone until you share a kayak with them. Read the rest of this entry »