Your perspective can change in a day, sometimes less; this was one of those times. In a brief one-hour flight from New York City, no sooner than you’ve begun your ascent, you find yourself floating easily down to the comforting embrace of the western foothills of northern Vermont. As you approach Burlington International Airport (BTV) you spy countless plots of wooded acreage with sudden adjacent meadows attached to what surely must be quaint one-family farmhouses. It is a birds-eye revelation to city dwellers.

Upon arrival at the charming countryside airport, you will be relieved to find even the efforts of air travel (check-in, security lines, taxi stands) are only slightly less worrisome than a cloudy day here. It is eye opening how life can feel so uncompacted, so unfolded, so unbelievably more livable when the population of your periphery reduces to few.

Anywhere you go, your adventure starts at your front door, but surely nowhere so much as in Vermont. Burlington is a college town at heart that leans graciously on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain. The water is the centerpiece of the town, but you don’t have to sail or fish to enjoy it, as the fresh breeze off its surface brings an additional crispness to the air while you enjoy many activities available downtown. Church Street houses many eateries and cafés. It is unique in that both college students and families with small children enjoy the same space at the same time. From Ben & Jerry’s al fresco to beers under an umbrella, this mini-Times Square is a special experience.

Amid the farmland and pastures, there’s a sense of moment, that this instant you are living in belongs to you unencumbered and that breathing easy is something you don’t do often enough. Take pictures and remember what you saw, then put pen to paper and remember what you felt that day your perspective changed in Vermont.

— David Coker, account manager