A Quiet Garden by the Sea: My Favourite View on Long Island

 It didn’t feel like New York.

I stood on the edge of a garden balcony, sunlight warming the black iron rail, and in front of me — a bay filled with gently drifting sailboats. The kind of scene that doesn’t ask to be photographed, only remembered.

This spot, just over an hour from Manhattan, was somewhere near Oyster Bay on Long Island. I hadn’t planned to find it. It was the kind of place you stumble into when you give yourself permission to wander.

I didn’t bring much — just my expandable backpack with a windbreaker, water bottle, a small book I never opened, and some space for lavender sachets I picked up later in the day.

I walked the garden quietly, then sat on a shaded bench for an hour without checking the time. That’s the kind of quiet this place gives you.

Sometimes, travel isn’t about doing more. It’s about feeling less noise.

And sometimes, stillness lives right outside your city — if you leave room in your backpack and your schedule for it.

👉 Click here for my extend backpack