With the start of a new year, I thought I’d take a trip to one of my favourite SL settings: Reality Escape, the Full private region held by Tripty (triptychlysl).
It’s a place I’ve appreciated over the years both for the way each iteration presents something new to appreciate whilst each carries forward motifs from Tripty’s original Books, Coffee and Chairs, Oh My! which I’d visited in 2023. I’ve been back some four times since then, and Reality Escape have never failed to feel like a safe and welcoming retreat.
From here, three routes of exploration present themselves to new arrivals. Two take the form of raised wooden walkways and the third a hop over a very narrow channel to a flat, grassy island, home to a bench “borrowed” from a waiting room. The first of the two walkways runs along the southern shore of the the island to the Reality Escape Coffee Shop, whilst the second winds northwards and turns a little inland to arrive at the Reality Escape reading nook.
The Coffee Shop is an open-air affair marked by Tripty’s familiar chair sculptures, the place made cosy by the ivy-hung trelliswork extending out from the cliff and ancient wall adjoining it at a right angle.
Another walkway here offers a route to the shingles close to the island’s edge and offering a further route onwards, watched over by the island’s Siamese ruler, sitting in his rather novel throne. Beyond the shingle, under an archway of chairs, the walkway continues up the island’s east coast. As it does so, it passes a summer house of unusual design offering a place of retreat.
For those who prefer to stay on the shingle path, this points the way – with the aid of stepping stones – to the crooked finger of another island as it points south and east, wooden decking running over the grass and around a firepit, offering another place for friends to gather.
The walk to the island’s bookshop also offers a way to a raised deck built out over the water, and guarded to one side by a further trellis line of Ivy, whilst below it sits something of a damp orchard. Up the hill, the reading nook is really more of an old tram repurposed as a place to enjoy books, perhaps in the Lewis Carroll-esque garden sitting behind the tram.
Beyond this, the walkway loops around westward to link-up with the route running on from the summer house. As it does so, steps lead down to a grass trail, a little muddy and wet in places, running out to north-pointing, low-lying headland. beyond an arch formed by an aged tree trunk, the path is bordered by candle-lit snowdrops as they form a candle-lit fairy spiral. Beyond these, another raised deck awaits, two pontoon rafts tethered to it. The latter perhaps invite people to take a dip in the water as they are watched over by a rather large goldfish enjoying the shade of a bunta tree which adds its own little sci-fi twist to the setting.
Tripty’s Reality Escape designs always presents setting rich in detail, and this version is no exception. There is much to be found and appreciated throughout – more than I’ve covered here (such as a little island hithertofore unmentioned in this piece and the various animals and wildfowl waiting to be found).
When exploring, I would recommend sticking with the region’s shared environment – although, as again is the case with Tripty’s work, the region does work very well with many other environment settings. Also, do make sure you have local sounds enabled for the fullest experience.
SLurl Details
- Reality Escape, rated Moderate
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 