My Review of Getaway.House in DC - 'Glamping' at its Finest
Getaway basically builds glamping (glamorous camping) trailer-houses in the woods. It's currently in Boston, NYC, and DC. The houses are all in a campground that falls within a 2 hour drive of the aforementioned cities--far enough to remove yourself, but not so far that you feel like you're running away from problems or anything like that. At $125/night for 2 people for the nights we chose, it's a pretty great value for the experience. There are 2- and 4-occupant homes. The 4-occupant homes have bunk beds, while the 2-occupant homes have a queen sized bed.
Arriving
My boyfriend and I arrived at our Getaway House rather late at night (check-in was at 3pm, but we were caught up in work and errands for a majority of the day), and it was kind of hard to find the campground. Imagine trying to see these signs in the dark while you're going 55 mph on an unlit road:
So as I mentioned before, this is a campground. It seems like it's exclusively leased to Getaway.House (not sure how it is in Boston and NYC, but that's how it is for the DC leg), and there are multiple Getaway.House cabins throughout the campground. We were told that our house was called "Alvin on Halibut Point." So Alvin was the name of the house, and Halibut Point was the name of the arbitrary 'section' that they carved out; there were other houses in Halibut Point. There were signs that pointed us to Halibut Point, and eventually we found a sign with "Alvin" written on it. This is a picture of our house in the daytime:
Interior Set-Up
So here is our view upon entering, from left to right: |
| A desk with two chairs, a bed, and a large window |
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| Radio and books (card games, camping tips) on the shelf, with provisions on the 'kitchen' counter above the mini-fridge. There's also a landline phone, but it's right in that corner blocked by the kitchen counter. |
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| The rest of the kitchen--with two electric stove tops, a sink, and some cookware. A bathroom raised 2 steps up on our right-hand side! |
The leathery book has "Things to Do" around the campsite, including where to go for the best hiking trails and views.
What's Included (and Not Included)
So Getaway does provide a lot of the things you'll need in terms of supplies. Note that the provisions are at an extra cost, though, and are rather pricy:
Everything you use on this list will simply be invoiced to you after your trip. I assume they just keep an exact inventory of everything they have, and whatever's missing (i.e. used), they'll bill you for it!
In the kitchen
The house does come with a mini-fridge, as well as cookware either on the shelves or in mason jars by the sink: a spatula, two serving spoons (one has holes to strain out liquid), scissors, a large knife, a small knife, a bottle opener, a can opener, 2 bowls, 2 plates, 2 cups, 2 forks, 2 hand towels, a trash can (with 1 extra trash bag), a cutting board, a stainless steel kettle and pot and pan, soap, sponge, paper towels, olive oil in packets, salt & pepper in packets, balsamic vinegar in packets, sriracha garlic sauce in packets, and packets of cream and sugar.Seems like they've got everything, right? The following stuff that's not included, then, might not seem like a big deal to you, but I thought I would mention them just in case: no microwave, no aluminum foil, no plastic wrap, and no tongs (i.e. if you wanted to grill something on the grate over the fire).
In the bathroom
As I said, they have shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. They also have toilet paper (with one extra refill) and two bath towels. They do have a functional toilet, and not a smelly porta-potty deal. What's not included: toothpaste, mouthwash, or any oral hygiene stuff, really. Also--no mirror. They mention this in the welcome guide; you are to stop spending time looking at yourself, and start looking outward at nature instead! There's also no sink, but the kitchen sink is right there. We ended up washing our hands and faces as well as brushing our teeth at this sink. There is also a first aid kid attached to the wall right next the toilet with burn cream, bandages, disinfecting alcohol swipes, and latex gloves. Keep your showers short--if you can, turn off the water while you're not really using it, such as when you're applying shampoo or conditioner or body wash, or when you're shaving. The water is sourced from a nearby well, shared with other campers nearby. My biggest fear was that I would have to take cold showers in the middle of winter--but the water warmed up pretty quickly. Really only use your water to rinse things, if you can. I never had a problem with running out of water or anything (didn't even come close, according to the water gauge that was on the wall), but it's nice to be environmentally conscious. The water gauge has two displays--one is the water available, and one is how full our 'used water' tank is. Expect an inverse relationship between the two readings!In the 'bedroom'
4 fluffy pillows and 2 throw pillows, along with a fully made bed (sheet, duvet, and thin comforter) are included. There's also a separate overhead light for the bed area; there are two overhead lights in the living/kitchen space. And, of course, the awesome window:
And should it ever get too bright for you, there's a shade screen you can unfurl.
Living space / General
As I said, there's a desk and two chairs, as well as two long stem lighters, some complimentary s'mores, and a portable lamp. There's also a thermostat to regulate your temperature. There are also outlets all around. It's not advisable that you bring blowdryers or blenders or other energy-consuming appliances, but you can charge your phones, iPads, laptops, and whatever. Furthermore, although it said that signal may be intermittent, both my boyfriend and I had 4G LTE cell and data service (he's on Verizon and I'm on Sprint). I was even able to use my hotspot to fuel some Friends binge-watching sessions on his laptop.
Outside
There are two chairs as well as a fire pit with a grate over it. There's also a box with quick-lighting firestarters (which actually didn't work out for us very well, and we ended up having to go to a nearby Walmart--only 13 minutes away--to get some fire starting blocks, which were so much easier and more effective) and firewood, which you can use by purchasing. If you plan on using nearby twigs to help feed your fire, make sure you're only picking them up off the ground, and not breaking them off the trees. Not only does it hurt the trees, but the twigs would still have too much moisture in them anyway, as compared to twigs that are already dead and have been on the ground for some time. |
| You can see the neighboring cabin as well! |
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| The left one included broccoli florets with olive oil, salt&pepper, and minced garlic. The right one was diced steak, green bell pepper, onion, and seasonings. |
What You Should Bring
In my opinion, you should bring a roll of foil (to cook over the fire with--foil pack recipes are the best), at the least. I also personally would have liked some Lysol wipes to clean surfaces with, because the stainless steel counters and the stove top got really dirty really quickly. Hand sanitizer is also something I like to keep on my person in general. And, as I mentioned before, I think having some stainless steel tongs to grab my foil packs from the top of the fire grate would have been useful. We ended up using the provided spatula, but it was still clumsy. Bring your own oral hygiene stuff, such as toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash, as none of that is included. I would actually also recommend bringing your own olive oil and seasonings, because they barely give you any. As I mentioned, it's in packets. We had to call the Getaway.House guest services number and ask them to bring us extra, and that still wasn't enough. I ended up purchasing a small bottle of olive oil at the nearby Walmart. I personally also brought some peeled raw garlic, which I love. I minced and used it on my broccoli, chicken, and potatoes. I personally would also bring bug spray and/or citronella tiki torches if you're going in the warmer months. We also brought our own supply of drinking water, but the 'tap' water (well water) is safe to drink.Room for Improvement
So there were things here and there that could have definitely been improved on with just a little effort from the Getaway.House staff. They seemed like careless and lazy mistakes, and while they weren't so bad that they hindered our experience, they were little things that could have made the experience a bit better.
- The first thing was that the big window--you know, the whole reason you fell in love with the pictures on the Getaway.House website--had smudges all over it, hand prints or otherwise. It was kind of gross, and it also impeded our great view of the forest and sky.
- The body wash in the shower was completely empty. Whoever was in charge of turning over the house for the next guests just forgot to refill the bottle, I guess. My boyfriend didn't realize it was empty until he was already in the shower showering, and I had to call their guest services number to ask for it to be filled. They ended up not coming until later in the day, though.
- There were stains on the throw pillow, as well as some stains on the sheets, which led me to believe they either don't launder/change these things between guests, or they have crappy laundry soap.
see the stains at the top left and bottom right corners? That's just one pillow, one side. 
It's faint, but it's there--weird brown stains in the sheets. Hopefully it's just dirt and not poop or old blood.
- The window by the desk was broken. It would open, but it wouldn't close, because the hinges weren't attached. We couldn't find the bolt/hinge to connect the pieces together, so every time we wanted to close the window, one of us would have to go outside and shut it. This might have just been our house, and just that one window; the other windows worked fine. But given that this was the most frequently used window, it was annoying.
- This may only really have been a problem for us and not so much for other people, but the trash can and one extra trash can liner were not enough to contain our trash. We did cook a lot, so maybe it was just us. But between wrappers, skewers, foil, bottles, cans, and scraps, our trash bags ended up filling up real quick. Not sure if we were supposed to call guest services to come get our trash or not.
- This may also only have been a problem for us, but some highlighter/reflective tape near the edges of steps would be helpful. The campground is entirely unlit, and when the lights are off during bed time, it's very difficult to see steps and ledges. My boyfriend tripped off the first ledge near the sleeping area and almost ran into the kitchen counter. I myself used the restroom in the middle of the night, and didn't see that there were not one but two steps going down from the toilet, so I took a tumble and almost hit my head on the corner of the shoe rack near the entrance. I actually have a pretty bruised up knee and elbow over it. The steps are not only a little steeper than normal steps, but they're also painted a really dark color, too. Seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe some reflective tape or something near the edges of each step would help!
- The signage, as I mentioned at the top, could definitely be improved. We barely saw where to turn into--I feel like I would have missed it even in the day time at first passing. The Google Maps directions stop you literally in the middle of the road, instead of being off to one side or the other as locations usually are.
Checking Out
I would honestly do it all over again. It was a great reprise from city hustle and bustle, and I think I'll bring my dog next time, too. I'll definitely miss waking up to that view with the great big window.
All information in this entry, including pricing and available amenities, are as of December 17, 2017 for a stay on December 15 - December 17, 2017.
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