Strange destinations

Sometimes it’s nice to get REALLY off the beaten track.

• Socotra Island, Yemen: This place is the strangest looking place on earth, pretty much.  The location of dragon’s blood trees among other endemic landscaping (meaning it only exists there), Socotra is off the coast of Yemen and reachable by plane from Sana’a or Aden.
• Bhutan: This tiny country between India and Nepal is essentially closed to all but the very wealthy; it notoriously costs $200 a day to travel there (although this includes all fees, meals, and transportation, as well as guides), on top of a government-applied levee of $20-40 per day, depending on if you’re a solo traveler or not, and a visa.  The closest airports are Bangkok and Calcutta, and the only airline that flies to Bhutan is Druk Air.  It’s kind of worth it, though.
• Pitcairn Island: Where Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers finally landed, Pitcairn (population: 50) is isolated, remote, and windswept, but stunningly beautiful.  It is a British Overseas Territory, located about 1350 miles east-south-east of Tahiti and 4100 miles from Panama, and overnight stays on the island are prohibited without filling out an application for residency, available at the island’s headquarters in New Zealand.  Ocean Voyages offers yacht sailings to Pitcairn from French Polynesia, and the Bounty Bay sails from Mangareva.