Most exotic tourist spotOctober 24th, 2007 by Roy Berman |
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Until today I had thought that it might be Antarctica or the Aral Sea, but there’s a new contender: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
A looming environmental threat the size of Texas should be hard to miss, but when that threat is floating in a rarely-visited section of the Pacific Ocean and composed of a diffuse mass of plastic, it’s easy for it to avoid public attention. The recent establishment of a marine preserve north of the Hawaiian Islands has refocused attention on this floating refuse heap, which has picked up the moniker the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:29 am
I dunno – I’m not going to think of this as an exotic tourist spot until there’s at least three or four decent resort hotels there and JTB starts offering tours. At the moment I doubt there is even one decent Hilton or Nikko hotel on the entire Patch. And what about a proper DFS Shoppers? They have that branch at Amundsen Base (in the new ANA Nankyoku Hotel and Spa) so why not here?
October 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am
If JTB offers tours there, isn’t it be definition no longer exotic?
October 24th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Not to the Japanese.
(And yes, I am aware that is a blatant stereotype and that there are many Japanese far far more adventurous than I am, but I can’t help thinking of travel brochures for “Exotic Asia” that feature such recherché destinations as Hong Kong….)
October 24th, 2007 at 10:49 am
JTB “Grand Tour”would take you afar to Patagonia.
http://www.jtb-grandtours.jp/tour/latin_america/2007b1233/
This packaged tour start from one person tour.The destination is Madagascar,Bhutan,Papua New Guinea etc.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
OK, those are respectably exotic destinations. Still, call me when JTB has a Polar Tour.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
How about this, Roy: http://www.jtb.co.jp/med/ryojo/CRU/UR0806/index.asp
A “16-day Antarctica Cruise.”
Not strictly polar in that there is no actual stay at the ANA Nankyoku Hotel and Spa, but not a bad effort. Call it the ANA Shackleton Hotel and Spa….
October 24th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Obviously I should have checked the web page before I spoke. I must admit, I am impressed.
Curzon and I actually considered a trip to the Aral Sea a few years ago, when we met up at our friend’s place in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Still interested?
October 24th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Yeah, the Aral Sea looks like a most pleasant destination. Here’s your cruise ship:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AralShip.jpg
October 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Did I kill this blog, or have all the authors signed up on for that luxury Aral Sea cruise?
October 29th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Well, I spent all of last week being extremely sick, and I’m going to spend this week cramming for the GRE math section, which mostly consists of crap I haven’t done in a decade.