Borrow a Private Lighthouse Island for the Price of a Bed & Breakfast

A stone’s throw from a medieval sea fortress in the heart of Morlaix Bay in Brittany, France, on a little rocky island with a 19th century lighthouse and a white and powder-blue cottage, your Robinson Crusoe moment is waiting. The keys to the lighthouse keeper’s old cottage –and absolute sovereignty over your own island for the…

Paradise Lost: The Hippie Refugee Camp

Let me tell you about a place called Taylor Camp, a tropical ocean-front utopia without rules, politics or bills to pay. Anti-establishment all the way, clothing was optional and decisions were made according to the “vibes”. It was the ultimate hippie fantasy. Taylor Camp began in the Spring of 1969, with thirteen hippies seeking refuge…

10 Photos of the Caribbean Pompeii

This is the caribbean island of Montseratt in the West Indies. In the 17th century, Britain colonized the island and held on to it ever since. But the British didn’t consider the consequences of building their paradise around a volcano (probably because they were too busy benefiting from the sugar and rum economy they built…

The River Café Waiting at the End of a Hidden Valley

The internet can be sometimes be terribly misleading. I stumbled upon the above photograph on Pinterest, but the photograph’s location had been erroneously captioned and gone viral with its misinformation. As far back as I could go on the internet search pages, the paradisiac spot purported to be among “10 Unique things to do in Santorini”. Never one to…

All Aboard the Ghost Ship Hotel of Koh Chang

While most sun-seekers are happy sipping cocktails on a beach while relaxing on holiday, you’re more likely find me trekking through the overgrowth in my flip flops looking for an abandoned site, courtesy of an internet tip-off, determination and a bit of explorer’s luck. Now, if I could just get myself a ticket to the island of Koh Chang in Thailand…

The Hippie Caves of Matala that housed Joni Mitchell

In a sleepy fishing village on the island of Crete, where Joni Mitchell had found herself a nomadic home inside manmade Neolithic caves carved into the sandstone cliff, she sang her folk songs, “under a starry dome…beneath the Matala Moon.” It was the 1960s and a community of backpacking hippies had settled in Matala, a remote corner of…

Robinson Crusoe’s Private Island is now Available on Airbnb

On the AirBnb listing, where the host is required to describe “the neighbourhood”, the owner simply writes: There are other nearby islands for exploring. And it just so happens that Bird Island is plonked right in one of the best snorkeling and fishing areas in Belize… Traditionally the concept of renting a private island usually requires being a…

Paradise Lost at the Moonhole Mansion: An Abandoned Crusoe Dream

At night, the rising moon peers through the natural volcanic arch, revealing the silhouettes of windows and doorways alluding to a crumbling fortress, guarding a paradise lost. It shares its walls with the rocks, built haphazardly into the Caribbean cliff on the western tail of the island of Bequia, but the rooms are empty, the whole structure eerily lifeless. Like the centrepiece of…

Nearly 50 Years On, a Forbidden Seaside Ghost Town is about to Re-Open

Imagine a millionaire’s resort; one to rival St. Tropez, Italy’s Portofino, or Miami’s South Beach – abandoned overnight. Imagine the luxury hotels suddenly emptied of their guests and left to slowly decay, the boutiques, bars and nightclubs reclaimed by nature, sunbathers replaced by sea turtles nesting on the deserted beaches and the once vibrant holiday…

This Paradise on Earth just Stole the Number 1 Spot on my Bucket List

These must be photoshopped, I thought, when I first laid my eyes on the waves of silky sand and perfect patterns of turquoise blue. Turns out, you should never underestimate the beauty planet Earth is capable of. No mirage in the desert, this is the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northeast Brazil, a name which so…