When you need to put some real distance between yourself and your woes, traveling to the typical, everyday destination simply won’t do. You need somewhere seriously remote, a place that’s detached from the outside world, away from cell phones, computers, television and crowds of people. Somewhere like…
- Barrow – Alaska
Barrow is the northernmost city in the United States and the ninth northernmost in the world. But that’s not its only claim to fame. For more than two and a half months each year (May through August) the sun doesn’t set here. That’s the good news. The bad news is outside of June through September temperatures don’t reach beyond 21.8 F, and at their worst drop to -19.5 F. Thankfully, local accommodation of choice King Eider Inn has a steamy sauna and a snug fireplace that keeps visitors thawed out. - Edinburgh of the Seven Seas – Tristan da Cunha
If you want a place that’s as disconnected as Hawaii was 200 years ago, you’ll need to head to the single-most remote inhabited place in the world – Tristan de Cunha. The largest island of the southern Atlantic Ocean archipelago of the same name, it lies roughly 1,700 miles southwest of its nearest landfall, South Africa. Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, home to roughly 250 people, is the main settlement on the island is (its name a reflection of its UK sovereignty). The only way to Tristan da Cunha is to hitch a ride on a deep-sea fishing boat or cargo vessel. On approach, the island’s volcanic profile is simply staggering – you’ll quickly see why it hasn’t been possible to build an airstrip. - Supai – Arizona
To find that elusive spot that has the rare combination of inaccessibility and proximity to civilization, you need to seek out a pretty spectacular landscape, namely the Grand Canyon. Deep within its rim, beside a tributary on the south side of the Colorado River, sits the village of Supai. This quaint ranch-style town of around 500 people is the seat of government for the Havasupai Native American tribe. There are no roads here. Visitors have to come in the same way as the mail does – on foot or on a mule. - Ittoqqortoormiit – East Greenland
Greenland is the world’s largest island, yet it has a population of less than 60,000 people. And no wonder – large swaths of its territory are essentially desolate. The 500 or so inhabitants of the small outpost of Ittoqqortoormiit (try pronouncing that!) know all about desolation. The village on the far eastern coast of the territory is surrounded by uninhabited lands the size of England on one side, and by perpetually frozen seas on the other (it’s almost as far north as Barrow). They survive by fishing halibut during the three months of summer when the ice isn’t frozen, and hunting polar bears and whales.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Image: brian.gratwicke)
