BY: MATTHEW CHIN
Maybe you watched Tom Hanks struggle to stay alive on a deserted island in Cast Away and thought “small potatoes,” or thought the entire cast of hit TV series, Lost, were massive wussies. Well guess what—it’s time to nut-the-fuck up.
A new Hong Kong-based travel company called Docastaway, lets you choose an uninhabited island varying from an ideal Tropical Island to barren rocks with minimal vegetation to test your survival skills for a pre-determined length of time. The average trip lasts around 10 days, where, for $90 per night, you can have your own private island.
A new Hong Kong-based travel company called Docastaway, lets you choose to vacation on an uninhabited island to test your survival skills for a pre-determined length of time.
The company offers two types of trips: comfort and adventure. Comfort is the more expensive but luxurious option where islands have an eco-resort with food, transportation and living expenses all paid for. The price is slightly elevated, ranging from $100 to $200 per night, which includes personal food services.
Alternatively, if you’re not a huge pansy you might prefer the adventure-option, geared toward those eager to live off the land and learn how to make a fire, catch fish, and drink from a coconut to survive. Adventure has become the more popular choice of vacation, with islands varying in biodiversity and offering challenges from finding freshwater to finding food.
Live off the land and learn how to make a fire, catch fish, and drink from a coconut to survive.
In either situation, comfort or adventure, the company will drive you from the airport to the local market to get any supplies needed to live on the island; rice and noodle rations, to spear-guns, fishing line, machetes, life-jackets, and other necessities. From there, they will drive you to the nearest coastline and transport you by boat to the island. Once they drop you off, the island is yours for however long you rented it for. One traveller said, “Over the next few days our main diet consisted of coconuts and fish, as the island was covered with palm trees. We were able to learn to spear-fish fairly quickly, catching our first one in under 30 minutes.”
The islands range from Indonesia to the Philippines, where some indigenous tribes live and travellers can learn how to forage the wilderness for food. Most islands have a resort or makeshift huts made of compiled pieces of wood.
Most islands have a resort or makeshift huts made of compiled pieces of wood.
The travel company is the brainchild of Alvaro Cerezo, who has searched the globe for lost paradises to escape to. He ensures there is the maximum amount of safety possible, and if anything unexpected were to happen, there are emergency responders on standby—if you’re a wuss, that is.
Sources: netdna-cdn.com, docastaway.com, infinitelegroom.com, mnn.com, docastaway.com, infinitelegroom.com, earnthis.net
