Staying home for holidays? A little armchair travelling can be pure therapy – especially with a houseful of tiresome guests as the alternative.
When you need a mental escape, just imagine travelling to some of the most remotest places on Earth. Here are 10 places for your imaginary list.
1. Inn at the end of the earth
The secret holidaying spot of Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau and Gwyneth Paltrow, Fogo Island, off Newfoundland’s iceberg alley, is a curious place where coyotes roam the misty beaches and giant squid wash ashore in storms.
The remote Fogo Island Inn is an architectural marvel, rising on stilts out of the North Atlantic, while Brimstone Head, a massive rock jutting out from the island’s north-west coast, has been designated by the eccentric Flat Earth Society as one of the four corners of the earth.
2. The edges of Indonesia
With more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia is one of the longest archipelagos in the world. An expedition cruise is a fine way to explore its very edges, trekking little-known paths and sailing quiet, history-rich waters.
SeaTrek voyage to the Maluku Islands, from Ternate and the Sula archipelago to Sulawesi.
3. Hole up in Haida Gwaii
The archipelago of Haida Gwaii – filled with First Nations history – is often described as Canada’s answer to the Galapagos Islands.
Flung off the coast of British Columbia, across the choppy Hecate Strait, the 280km-long chain reaps the benefits of extreme isolation, with some of the oldest spruce trees on the planet and animal subspecies that exist nowhere else.
4. Due South in Australia
Wilsons Promontory is the southernmost spot of mainland Australia. Home to kangaroos, wombats and an array of native birds, the region is also filled with lush fern gullies, pristine white beaches, cool-climate rainforests and well-preserved walking tracks, perfect for exploring on foot.
5. Get active in Antarctica
Hop aboard the M/V Plancius for an icy adventure. Drift by kayak among crackling icebergs and playful fur seals, snowshoe through incredible untouched wilderness, and become one of only a few people to have slept on the seventh continent, camping under a fierce canopy of stars.
6. Eagles eyed in Mongolia
Head into the wilds of Mongolia to learn how to lasso horses and round up camels far away from the restraints of cell-phone reception.
Camp with nomadic families and set off on horseback deep into the Altai Mountains to watch the locals use their eagles to hunt; the animals soaring to monumental heights before swooping down to grasp rabbits or foxes.
7. St Helena in style
Marooned in the waters of the South Atlantic, until recently St Helena could only be reached by postal ship. Now, new flights from Johannesburg have opened up to the island and its pristine surrounding waters.
The warm oceans around St Helena teem with more than 750 marine species. But the opportunity to snorkel with fully grown whale sharks is the real draw.
8. Unexplored East Greenland
Head into the unknown on a pioneering small ship safari that takes you through the rugged fjords and towering, other-worldly landscapes of unexplored east Greenland.
Cruise past palace-sized icebergs, scout for polar bears padding across the tundra, and watch the still waters for narwhals, before disembarking for blustery hikes across the land in search of musk ox, arctic foxes and other wildlife. You won’t see another tourist for days.
9. The land that time forgot
Wrangel Island is 140km off the coast of Siberia. The undisturbed tundra dates to ancient times when woolly mammoths lived here (their tusks litter the island).
Now a dedicated haven for wildlife, visitors are few and far between and you’ll need a special permit and ice-strengthened vessel.
What you’ll find is staggering – hundreds of polar-bear mothers raise their cubs here, and the island is home to huge populations of walruses, snow geese, arctic foxes and reindeer.
10. South specific in Patagonia
The Dientes Circuit, on Navarino Island in the far south of Patagonia, is the southernmost hiking trail on earth. The remote wilderness trek takes you through glassy alpine lakes, vast glaciers and dramatic rocky pinnacles.
This is some of the most picturesque scenery on the planet, from the windswept Wollaston Islands, to Cape Horn (where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans crash together to exhilarating effect).
– The Telegraph; additional reporting by Louise Liebenberg