Long -distance trips: Is the pain worth it?

Long -distance trips: Is the pain worth it?

Peter overlooked our surroundings. "Will you be fine here?" He asked nervous and remembered my collapse in Beverly’s Beach.

We had just finished our tour through the facilities of the eco-lodge of Mafana Island off the Vava’U coast in Tonga. Peter, who spent months of his life with wild camping, was unimpressed, but I hadn't dealt with something fundamental since my trip to Bangladesh 20 years ago. Would I finish?

The pain points

  1. Rainwater showers: Since there is no flowing water on the island, we had to take a shower in standing rainwater, which dripped from a barrel lying above with annoying frequency. Washing my hair required a zen -like patience that I just don't have.

  2. salted cutlery: the rainwater on the island is precious, so we had to rinse our entire dishes in the sea - which does not exactly go beyond my hygiene standards.

  3. Food disposal: Our leftovers had to be disposed of in a tree stump so that "the mice remain from the kitchen".

  4. compost toilet: This was a bucket in a sheet metal shed with a few wooden boards that were assembled as seating. There was no flushing; Just a bucket ash to cover up your business.

  5. complete isolation: there was nowhere drinking water. There were no shops, streets or people. Apart from me, Peter and Vinnie, who heads the place, was actually nobody on the whole island, which gave him a very scary feeling.

  6. The turning point

    On our second day we decided to drive the kayak to some small, unnamed islands nearby. We were lucky enough to have some incredible experiences (e.g. a private dinner on a sandbar in the middle of the Indian Ocean), but these were always organized by a resort.

    This time we were there on our own drive. There was no hundred dollar deposit to take us there, no captain who was waiting to bring us back, no safety briefing, no food basket, no accompanying person.

    We had these Pacific islands for ourselves. The rarity of this experience was really breathtaking. When I looked back over the water back to the island of Mafana, I realized that I would probably never be in such a position again.

    the judgment

    long -distance travel is worth the pain. Yes, we had to take two flights and a boat to get there, and yes, we went out of drinking water, and yes, our meals contained more sea salt than a chic bag of Waitrose chips, but the sheer miracle, uninhabited pacific islands to explore the pain.

    main picture: Google Maps
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