I started a new job last week and on the second day, they sprung it on me that they're planning a department retreat in January. When I was looking for a new job, I didn't want anything that required travel and when I asked in my first interview for this job I was told there was no required travel.
My main issue with this retreat is that it's on the West Coast and I live in New England. A good portion of my department lives in the same town where they're having the retreat and think it's a little unreasonable to ask me to travel for 7-8 hours when most just have to drive down the street. The head of the department said it's optional, but I don't have kids or a “reason” to not go other than I don't want to and I have social anxiety. How can I politely decline?