I just went to Panama City where I threw a new dart at the world map, but I felt like sharing with you a few experiences I had while there. In this article, you’ll see suggestions about what to do in Panama City, and I’ll give you some insights about main attractions, tours around the Panama Canal, places to party at, financial aspects, and local beaches.
But first, let me pinpoint five interesting things that stuck with me during my visit:
1. Prices in Panama City are actually quite high, very similar to the ones in US or Canada. Food is almost the same, while drinks and clothing, for example, are a bit cheaper.
2. There are Police patrols everywhere, including in the darkest corners of Panama City. One or two soldiers are planted almost every second corner, which made us feel safe despite the dangerous-looking neighborhoods.
3. Panama City is split into two different worlds. Beautiful luxury and cultural buildings one street, EXTREME poverty 400 meters away. There are amazing areas of town mixed with very scary looking neighborhoods, tied to each other.
4. People in Panama are extremely polite, from every single Uber driver (we had over 30) to clerks, neighbors, kids, etc.
5. Time in Panama is a bit slower if you know what I mean. It always takes longer to get everything you order. One restaurant on Amador Causeway, called Pencas, probably holds the record for the slowest service ever. It was the first restaurant that I went to in my life where the drinks came out 30 minutes later after the food was ready. And no, the waitress didn’t forget about them, as she acknowledged the fact that she has to bring them during our wait.
Now let’s take a look at what to do in Panama City:
What To Do In Panama City? Start With Casco Viejo And The Best Restaurants
The question every traveler in this country has is: What to do in Panama City and where to go? One place I really liked was Casco Viejo, which is the old town. It has great patios and bars, beautiful cobblestone streets, and great views of the city.
The neighborhood is surrounded by extreme poverty areas, so don’t be surprised if during your Uber ride you will go through some scary streets, populated with garbage and dubious looking characters. It’s not as dangerous as it looks, though.
If you want to dance, go to Teatro Amador (jazz on Thursdays, salsa/Latino beats on Fridays) or Zaza. I also like a patio on Zaza’s rooftop.
The best patios are Acentos and, located right in front of Hard Rock Cafe Hotel. Tell your Uber driver to take you to the Multicentro Mall and drop you off at the Hard Rock Cafe doors. Cross the alley and walk up the stairs, there are four different great patios tied to each other.
Breathtaking Views Of Panama City
One last recommendation is to go to the Trump Tower rooftop, to a restaurant called Panaviera, for amazing views of Panama City.
The best time to go is around 5 or 6 PM for the magic hour, right before it gets dark (it depends on the time of the year), but obviously, you can do it anytime.
The restaurant also has an infinity pool (smaller, just for design, not for use) that looks amazing.
Prices here are a bit expensive – you pay for the view.
Last but not least, someone recommended us to go to Calle Uruguay, as they said it’s a touristy spot. Although popular, I didn’t like it one bit. I got a weird vibe.
The most recognizable building on the Panama City skyline is BBA (242.9 m), also known as the “Screw” or the “BBA building.” BBA is a Panamanian bank that resides in this modern shape building. Although not a place to visit per se (inside), BBA is a majestic work of art that needs to be seen from the very bottom up. Emporis selected the F&F Tower amongst the Top 10 best skyscrapers in the world, in 2011.
BioMuseo
This amazing building below is Biomuseo. It was designed by Frank Gehry, who also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Biomuseo is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, on the Amador Causeway. Its purpose is to change the way the world see, understand and preserve our environment.
The cost for the building 95 million dollars project. The funding was received from over 100 local companies and the government. The Panama Tourism Authority, which also helped finance the museum, was hoping for an “instant icon” – an it certainly happened.
You can visit Biomuseo’s official website HERE for more information.
Unfortunately, there are no amazing beaches within Panama City. The Bay in Panama City (Cinta Costera) and Amador Causeway, also in the city, are apparently polluted – say some locals like Paul K. Apart from that, there’s no sand. There’s a small beach in Casco Viejo which is also polluted and not safe.
To the East of the city is a large new residential area with mangrove (no beach) and highways (rocks), to the west is the Panama Canal which has no beaches either.
Playa Bonita is not great but is about 30–45 minutes driving from Panama City. It’s safe but just not too nice.
Veracruz is a beach and local village nearby Playa Bonita that apparently doesn’t have a good record. Some locals say there have been quite a lot of robberies and it’s unsafe here, due to the shacks and people living in this place.
Relatively good beaches are Gorgona and Coronado (1.5 hours by car). Some have black sand, but they aren’t too busy with people on weekdays, and it’s green around. On weekends without rain, it gets busy with families doing barbecues.
However, if you look for awesome unspoiled beaches with pristine clear waters the best “nearby” option is Ilha Grande up North, but it will take you 2+ hours to get there. By bus or boat, it probably takes you over 2.5 hours.
Along the way, you can visit the historical place where Columbus had his fortification. Note that in rainy season that coast gets a lot of rain, make sure to check the forecast the same day.
If you have more time and money to spend the island group San Blas is your best choice. It’s expensive and isolated to get there because native inhabitants are the only ones that are allowed to organize the trip.
Another option nearby is taking the boat to Isla Taboga from Panama City. It is the most affordable beach tour. It is a 30-minute ferry ride for $20US. The ferry leaves at 8 AM, 9.30AM, 11 AM, and 3 PM from the Balboa Yacht Club. You can return on the same day at 8.45AM, 10.15AM, 2.45PM, 4 PM or 5 PM (the 5 PM departure is added only in the weekends).
You can stay overnight if you want. Taboga has only one main beach, but there is not much to do there otherwise – if you are looking for other activities.
I spent my birthday in Panama City and that day my desire was to be on a ship, a speedboat, or a yacht. The best deal I found was a 45-minute tour of the city on water, on a speedboat. And boy, you can see a lot in that time when you go with 80km/h.
It costed $250US to rent for four people, but we saw an amazing view of the downtown, the Trump Tower up close, the Panama Canal, and went under the American Bridge and got a great little history of the city and the Canal from our guides, Charlie and Alberto (photo above).
Not to mention that we stopped to have a birthday champagne on the boat, with the music blasting, right in the heart of the Panama City-bay.
If you are interested in renting this speedboat you can call Dennis, the owner of Pana Thriller Speed Boat Tours, at (507) 6934-1546. I don’t get any commission from him, so do whatever you want or ask him what else he can offer.
Fishing In Panama City
If you are still wondering what to do in Panama City, here is another option. If you are into fishing trips, there are a few companies in Panama City that take you offshore if you don’t have your tools with you. My friend Raz (photo below) found the best deal at $250 for a full day, from 7 AM to 3 PM.
The actual fishing trip was $100, but to get to the lake, he had to pay $120 for a driver, as the location was an hour and a half away from the city. A part of the road was also in very bad condition, with a bunch of potholes.
In terms of the captures, they were fishing for Bass (photo below) and Oscars. Oscars (Raz is holding one in the picture above) are a bit sweeter if you can say that about a fish taste. We cooked it on our grill at the house we rented and came out delicious.
If you want to go out with the same people you can call Dennis (a different Dennis from the speedboat) at …***
The next best deal Raz found was for $375US, for the same amount of time. However, unlike the first company, this one would pick you up from home and offer you lunch and drinks (beers) during the day. You can take this deal by calling ***.
Prices in Panama
I was surprised to see that prices are higher than I thought. A dish at pretty much every restaurant we were eating was between $12-30US ($15 for a Cordon Bleu, $30 for a high-end steak), while the drinks were a bit cheaper. For example, a local beer is $2-3, and import is over $4.
We preferred to stick with Panamanian beers for the whole trip: Balboa, Panama and Soberana, which we could buy from the grocery store for $0.65 a pop.
On the other hand, a little airport souvenir (mini statue of a landmark, for example) that you would buy in other countries for $4-5 is from $10 up in Panama City.
Check this panel here for a good understanding of the prices in Panama.
The average salary in Panama is around $33,000US per year.
Weather in Panama
I visited Panama City at the beginning of April, so the temperature was always between 31-36 Celsius during the day, and just about $22-28 during the night.
Make sure the place you rent (if you use Airbnb) has air conditioning system. Ours broke a day before we left and the last night was horrible. However, we loved where we stayed, as the place had two pools and a hot tub (not hot 🙂 ) – see below, view from our balcony.
In four of the eight days we spent there, it rained but only for a half an hour. Needless to say, it evaporates quickly, so don’t worry about being rained on, unless you have a video camera or laptop that you are using in an open space (like I did).
I went to Cinta Costera 3, which is a beautiful strip facing downtown offering amazing views of the city. While I was recording a time-lapse of the skyline (and the picture of this article), it started pouring. The closest roof was about 5 minutes away walking distance, so I got soaked with my camera and gimble under my shirt.
Random Immigration Issues
A very bizarre incident happened while we were having drinks at Acentos, a great patio by the Hard Rock Cafe Hotel. It must have been 1.30am or even later when I went to pay my bill.
As I walked into the bar to use my credit card and use my PIN, all of a sudden all the waitresses started running around like crazy. It was like switch that generated an unprecedented chaos.
They were stepping on each other’s toes (including mine), and although I picked on some Spanish, I couldn’t understand what they were saying. The bar staff and even some ‘familiar with the bar’-looking patrons (or maybe owners – you know, those who always have a reserved table by the bar) were also agitated.
My waitress asked me to sign the bill in a huge rush and left me there for a few seconds. Then she came back as she forgot to give me my copy. When I asked, what’s going on, she said with a grimace on her face: “Immigration is here.”
What that means, I could only imagine, so I am not going to share an uneducated opinion on the topic, but my Uber driver said that many workers in Panama City are illegal immigrants from countries like Venezuela or Costa Rica. There are definitely a few more layers deep down, so I will try to find that out.
Panama, The Fiscal Paradise
Many people say that Panama is the best when it comes to saving on taxes, yet legal. I was curious to find out if anything has changed after the Panama Papers scandal. What is the aftermath of that? Here is what Vishal, a financial guru from Panama City, says:
“Nothing has changed so far, and like everything that comes on the media, this will too fade away. It’s tough for me to believe this is a conspiracy against someone specific because there are many tax havens or fiscal paradises around the world. If a person is using an offshore company to hold assets, he/she would most likely spread the risk between different jurisdictions, depending on the size and value of his/her assets.
Before passing of law 18, on 23rd April 2015, Panamanian law did not require disclosure of the names of shareholders of a corporation. It means pre-2015, you could have issued bearer shares, and the corporation could be directed by people assigned by shareholders. Directors of a corporation, and owners are different people. Since they were bearer shares, the shares could change owners, without requiring disclosure or a person, trust or corporation’s name on the shares.
What Mossack Fonseca did pre and post-2015 was within the legal limits. They built companies and sold them to corporate clients such as other law firms or banks. Mossack Fonseca was not directly responsible for who owned these corporations and their shares, but, unfortunately, this big scandal broke out and made the law firm look like it was engaged in some evil business, which was not the case.
In fact, there were thousands of law firms or lawyers doing the same business, but Mossack came into attention, when after Law 18 passed, the names of shares bearers came to light, and because the number of registered companies was staggering for the size of our country.
What people don’t realize is that Panama is truly international, it has parties conducting business with people from all around the world. What is legal in this jurisdiction, might not be legal in other jurisdictions. All countries have different tax codes suited for their major industries, but not designed with a specific purpose of facilitating criminal businesses.”
Travel Inspiration: Travel with Me!
Thanks for taking the time to read my article. As I mentioned, in Panama I threw a dart at the world map (see the throw here) and I hit Indonesia! I just went there and had an amazing time – see the Travel by Dart: Indonesia episode HERE. If you want to see my next destinations feel free to subscribe to my newsletter using the form on this page or follow on the social media channels.
Meanwhile, you can travel with me! I am going to the following destinations within the next 12 months, so why don’t you join me – click on the links if you’re interested:
To every single country of the ones mentioned above, I will go with an exclusive group of only 10 people (selected applicants only). I call it The Spark Experience. It’s for those people who work hard enough and rarely treat themselves, is for those who don’t want to have regrets, is for those who want to do something they’ve never done before. Is that you?
Feel free to let me know if you want to join at the bottom of every page listed above. Cheers!
These three elements only begin to describe magical Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua.
We filmed this episode of Travel by Dart there, after the dart I threw hit the Pacific Ocean, somewhere in between Rapa Nui and Isla Sala y Gomez, which is uninhabited. So, off we went for a trip of a lifetime.
I’ll tell you everything you need to know about this remote and enchanting place, including:
The history of Rapa Nui
The real facts about the Moai statues and the answer to the question: do the Easter Island heads have bodies?
How to get to Easter Island and what kind of visas and permits you need
Indigenous dances, body painting and tattoos
Scuba Diving on Easter Island
Nightlife in Hanga Roa
Accommodation and food in Rapa Nui
What to do on Easter Island
Social and political issues the people of Rapa Nui are facing
And much more
See more pictures like this by following me on Instagram HERE.
You also have the opportunity to travel with me to my next destinations, see the end of the article. Let’s start:
How to Get to Easter Island
To get to Hanga Roa, which is the capital of the island, you need to fly with LATAM, the national Chilean airline, from either Santiago (Chile) or Tahiti. There are no other commercial airlines flying to Easter Island.
Although the crew members of LATAM were immeasurably kind, friendly, funny, and helpful, booking with LATAM was a horrendous and frustrating experience. I’ve pretty much flown with every airline, and theirs takes the prize for making something so simple as booking a flight an exercise in trying not to lose your mind.
After several attempts, over several days, we were still unable to book a flight via their website. When we finally gave up and called them, they had to take all our information – full names, addresses, passport numbers, etc. – LETTER by LETTER. And, after our flights were booked, we noticed they charged us an extra $20 dollars for some mysterious reason (I blame it on the Rapa Nui mystery).
See more pictures like this by following me on Instagram HERE.
When we contacted LATAM to ask about this extra fee, it took several days for their customer services representatives to respond, ultimately with no valid explanation for the charge.
Basically, when you’re booking your Easter Island trip, make sure you’ve stored up sufficient patience and stamina to deal with the labyrinthine and inefficient system of LATAM.
Easter Island Arrival, Visas, and Entry Fees
The Hanga Roa airport–Mataveri International–is small and rather exotic looking. You don’t need a visa per se to visit Rapa Nui, but you will need to pay an $80 USD (54,000 Chilean pesos) entry fee when you arrive. Cash only. You will receive a ticket that looks just like the one below.
If you don’t have cash on you, you’ll have to pay at the post office downtown when you leave the airport. They’ll give you a cool Easter Island stamp in your passport!
Hanga Roa’s “downtown” essentially consists of one main street that has everything you need, from grocery stores to coffee shops.
About the Easter Island Statues
Rapa Nui is known for its famous statues, carved in the shape of human heads. I heard so many legends about them before going to Easter Island. So, I wanted to find out for myself why these statues were made, who did them, whether they have bodies, and so on. Here’s what I discovered.
There are 887 Moai statues erected in Rapa Nui. In the beginning, they were carved to honor important people who passed away, essentially functioning as tombstones.
The first Moai statue is about 800 years old (see photo below) and called Tai Hare Atua, which was the name of the artist who carved it.
All the Moai statues were carved at the mountain, Rano Raraku, “the factory” (the quarry). This mountain offered the carving artists a way to showcase their work, which was sold to other Polynesian tribes in exchange for their goods or services. This trade was critical back in the day.
After the Moai were carved in the mountain (see photo below), they were scooped out, pushed onto a bunch of logs, then rolled all the way to a pre-dug hole in which the head was to be erected.
At Raro Raraku there are many statues that were never completed. They stand half-carved in the mountain, and are a big attraction for the 100,000 tourists that visit Rapa Nui annually.
Are You Ready For This? The Easter Island Heads Symbolize the Phallus
The most surprising thing I learned about the Moai, is that the heads are meant to resemble and symbolize—wait for it–the phallus!
One of the respected leaders of the local community, Mario Tuki, explained to me that the ancient Rapa Nui culture was a “phallic-centered” one. Here is what he said:
“The shape of the phallus was very important to represent the power, the virility, and the status of every person. When an important person died, the whole family would need to work in order to pay for the carving of the Moai. Everyone was cropping, fishing, working and worshipping the figure of this passed away ancestor. The Moai is just a generic name for the statues, but every statue actually has a name according to the deceased”.
This resonates with claims by archaeologists that the statues were symbols of authority and power, both religious and political.
Do the Easter Island Heads Have Bodies?
The short answer is: some do, some don’t. Many statues are planted on flat surfaces with nothing buried underneath, just like any statue you’d see in your town. However, more than three quarters of them are erected on the hills of the island, meaning they are standing at an angle.
Consequently, to pass the test of time and withstand erosion, they needed to be carved with a long foundation (i.e., the ‘body’), so the incline angle would not be affected, causing the statue to collapse.
Some of these ‘bodies’ are as long as 12 meters. However, they don’t have arms, hips, legs, or any such anthropomorphic features (see pic above); these bodies simply act as leverage to keep the statue erect. There are apparently a few statues that actually have bodies with visible anatomical features, which were carved to glorify the members of noble families.
Interestingly, some of the Easter Island heads even have hats. I’m told that these, too, also were reserved to commemorate only the elite members of the ancient society.
You can learn more about the Moai statues on our Travel by Dart episode. If you sign up on our newsletter at TravelbyDart.com or Sorin.tv, I will notify you when the show is ready.
How Many People Live on Easter Island? And…a Little History Lesson
There are 6,600 souls living on Easter Island, according to Wikipedia. However, according to the locals, there are about 8,000. Whichever it is, it’s an astonishingly small number considering the fact that, more than 200 years ago, when the island was discovered, there were about 3,000 people on the island.
Easter Island was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen on April 5th, 1772, which was Easter Sunday. Needless to say, that inspired the name of the island which is sometimes called by its Spanish translation, Isla de Pascua.
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However, the majority of locals don’t really like either of these names. They prefer Rapa Nui, as the origins of the island, and the population of most of the island’s current inhabitants, are Polynesian, and not Chilean.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the population of Rapa Nui was somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000. By the time Roggeveen set foot on it, a century later, there were only 3,000 inhabitants.
The population was later significantly decimated by a series of devastating events in the 1860s. In December 1862, Peruvian slave raiders struck. Violent abductions continued for several months, eventually capturing half of the island’s population. Among those captured were the island’s paramount chief, his heir, and those who knew how to read and write the Rongorongo script, the only Polynesian script to have been found to date.
I’m not gonna go into too much history here, as that’s best left to the specialists. You can read more about the history of the island on the Wikipedia page here.
What to Do on Easter Island
Okay, let’s talk about fun things! There are many things to do in and around the capital, Hanga Roa: scuba diving, quadding around the island, surfing, watching a traditional Rapa Nui indigenous dancing show, going on tours, caving, getting a tattoo, or even partying at one of their two night clubs, etc.
Let’s take a look at some of the activities you can embrace.
Scuba Diving on Easter Island
There are a few scuba diving shops in Hanga Roa to choose from, but we really had a blast with the folks at Carlu Dive. Carlos and Luka gave us an amazing experience taking us offshore, and even filming our dive underwater. Check out the quick 2-minute video below:
It was my first time diving, but their expertise made me feel at ease and comfortable.
The highlight of the dive is a Moai statue that is resting right at the bottom of the ocean!
If you are heading to Easter Island, you can contact Carlos and Luka by visiting their Facebook page here, or sending an email to [email protected].
Rent a Quad and Go Nuts
While in Hanga Roa, we decided to rent a couple of quads. It’s an incredible way to travel the entire island and see all it has to offer in one day, from hundreds of Moai statues, to wild horses, phenomenal sceneries, and mysterious caves. We paid about $100US for two quads per day.
Make a friend while you are roaming around the island, and not only will you get a free guide, but you’ll discover a new face of the island.
Watch a Polynesian Show at Kari Kari
One of the best nights we had on Rapa Nui was at a place called Kari Kari, located on the main street. It’s a cultural centre featuring indigenous shows a couple of times a week.
From what I remember, it costs around $20 USD to get in, and definitely worth it. You’ll get a taste of what the Rapa Nui culture is all about, when it comes to entertainment.
The show is about an hour and a half and truly dynamic. Watch the video below to see a sample of this amazing show:
Not too many people know that the origin of the tattoo comes from Polynesia! So, while we were on the island we wanted to get one so bad.
The best tattoo place in town is arguably Mokomae (the name of the artist), but he was on the mainland while we were in Hanga Roa, so couldn’t do it. The second option was to do it at one of the other three places that offer tattoos in town, however we made a rookie mistake.
We scheduled our tattoo appointments on our second last day on the island. Unfortunately, we ended up having so much to do right before we left, that we ran out of time to get our tattoos.
However, all was not lost. We may have not got our tattoos, but we got some amazing body painting done instead.
Our hostess, Hanana Riroroco, contacted her brother and set up a fantastic evening on our last night there. Her brother (who is also called Rapa Nui, just like the island), spent the day going around the island to collect a special soil for body paint. He mixed it with some colorants and painted our bodies as ancient Rapa Nui warriors.
Not gonna lie, the traditional body paint on a couple of white dudes looked a bit ridiculous, but it’s all about the experience.
Rapa Nui also taught us a traditional dance, and we danced like ancient warriors around the fire. It was a fantastic evening with great new friends that we’ll keep for life.
I’ll re-enact and perform the tribal warrior dance for anyone that will buy me a drink. :)))
Nightlife in Hanga Roa
I’m no stranger to night clubs, but what I saw in Hanga Roa, I never seen anywhere else.
We were invited to party the first night we got to the island. Pre-drinks with new friends (Hanana’s family, see below) carried on until about midnight, and then I assumed it would be too late to go out. They kept saying: “We can’t go out too early”. What did that mean?
Well, turns out the two bars/clubs that are in Hanga Roa — Picano and Piriti — only open at 1am. But it gets even crazier.
When we got to Picano at 1am, it was empty. I thought, ‘yeah that makes sense since it’s late and there’s just not a lot of people on Easter Island’ Nope. So wrong. By 2am, people started to gather. By 3am, it was packed! The club was still bumping at 6am, when we left. Piriti was just the same the next night.
Food on Easter Island
Almost everywhere you go, you will find fish and seafood to eat, which is no surprise on a Pacific island. The most popular item at every restaurant is ceviche (below), which is raw tuna served with salad and lemon. Other common menu items are camarones (shrimp) and chicken. Every now and then you may luck out and find octopus and risotto.
An entree at every restaurant averages around 15,000 pesos, which is quite expensive, especially by Chilean and South American standards. That’s the equivalent of $22 USD, which will bring the cost of a full meal, including an appetizer and a drink, to $40 USD.
See the bottom of the article for more information regarding the currency on Easter Island.
Accommodation on Easter Island
There are several hotels and motels in Hanga Roa, but I definitely recommend living at a local house via Airbnb. We rented Mama Carolina’s three bedroom house, only 5 minutes walking distance from downtown, and I can’t recommend her highly enough.
Carolina went out of her way to make us feel at home, providing extra services free of charge. Along with Hanana (who manages the booking, see them both in the pic below the moment they welcomed us), not only she kindly arranged our pick-up from the airport, but also provided an interpreter, as very few people speak English on the island. Thank you ladies!
Check out their properties HERE and HERE, and book if you’re heading there:
Toki, the Amazing Music School
Part of what we do at Travel by Dart is that, wherever we go, we commit to doing something to help the people or the land of that country. On Easter Island we chose to devote these efforts to Toki, aka Earthship Music School (see pic below). This is an amazing educational institution teaching indigenous kids how to play ancestral instruments, in addition to other learning initiatives geared toward cultural preservation.
The school is run by a group of remarkable founders and teachers, such as Mahani Teave, Enrique Icka, Mario Tuki, Andrea Amar, and Juan Kanko, just to name a few. Together, they oversee and instruct over 70 children each week.
Just like the island, the school is trying to become self-sustainable. Most of the materials used to build it are recycled (see fake flowers below), and rain water is collected through an ingenious system built on the roof, and used for the school’s plumbing.
We offered, through our Travel by Dart show, to build them a performant website that would operate as a platform to help them with their fundraisers. However, due to a lack of local manpower to operate it, they suggested we make a cash donation toward Toki instead, which we gladly did.
We also donated a few backpacks and some goodies on behalf of Robertson College, a Canadian national education institution who sponsored our trip (see pic below).
You can support the school by donating money or buying a ukelele – send an email to [email protected].
Easter Island Tours
There are tonnes of companies that offer tours of the island, with which you can do many of the adventures and activities mentioned above, as well as surfing and caving.
We chose to organize everything by ourselves, with the help of generous locals who offered to be our guides, such as Hanana and Mario. Feel free to browse the internet for Easter Island tours, but my suggestion is that you do it after you land in Hanga Roa, and meet some people first. You won’t regret it.
Filming in Rapa Nui National Park
If you are going to Easter Island to film, you may need a special permit since it’s a national park. If you are using your mobile phone or a DSLR camera, you don’t need such a permit, but if you have a bigger professional camera, just like we did with our Sony FS7, you need to have one or you risk a hefty fine or being kicked off the island.
The permit, to film professionally, is not cheap. We were asked to pay 850,000 Chilean pesos, which is equivalent to $1,265 USD.
To acquire a permit, you need to send an email to Andrea Valdes at CONAF (Corporacion Nacional Forestal, aka National Forestry Corporation): [email protected].
Here is our amazing videographer Young Kim while he was filming us quadding – he and my travel partner Matt also took some of these pics above – thanks boys.
Currency on Easter Island and Expenses
The local currency on Rapa Nui is the Chilean peso, with the exchange being $1USD=671 pesos. And, be prepared to part with a good chunk of your pesos while you’re there, as this remote island is notoriously pricey.
In fact, going to Easter Island is one of the most expensive trips I’ve ever taken. Over eight days, we each spent about $1,200 US each, which doesn’t include the cost of the flight (an additional $1,600 US for the two legs: North America – Chile, Chile – Easter Island), nor our accommodations, or filming expenses.
That said, Easter Island is a once in a lifetime experience, and experiences and extraordinary moments are the most worthwhile things to spend money on in this world.
In present day, the Rapa Nui struggle with a few social and political issues.
The first one is that more and more outsiders are moving to the island, bringing cars and other means of pollution. Although the island is only 63.2 sq miles, there are now over 500 vehicles that are imported annually. It seems the Rapa Nui don’t have this issue with actual foreigners, but more so with the Chileans who are moving to the island from the mainland.
Moreover, the Rana Nui people claim the arrival of outsiders, has also brought an increase in hard-core drugs to the island, as well as a culture of thievery, and other illegal activities.
A second concern is that the neighbouring international powers are abusively fishing in the territorial waters of Rapa Nui, arguably catching in one week more than the locals catch in one year. Below is a map with the international waters belonging to Easter Island – the two baby blue circles.
A third issue is that the local people are deeply dissatisfied with the Chilean government, claiming they’re not getting enough funding and support from the mother country. The Chilean government does provide free health care and education, however this assistance is conditional on islanders move on mainland.
Last, but not least, the island is trying to become self-sustainable. There are various efforts to make that happen, and periodically environmental leaders of the island head to Chile to meet with authorities on this issue.
Travel With Me and Check Off Your Bucket List Items
That was it, folks. Meanwhile, you can travel with me to my next adventures. I am going to the 6 exotic destinations below within the next 12 months, so why don’t you join me while we’re being followed by a camera? To every single country, I will go with an exclusive group of only 10 people (selected applicants only). I call it The Spark Experience. It’s for those people who work hard and rarely treat themselves, is for those who don’t want to have regrets, is for those who want to do something they’ve never done before. Is that you?
To throw a dart at the world map and travel wherever it lands is fun, but I have to admit that is not for everyone.
After the tremendous success that we had with the first dart throw, blindfolded, I got even more inspired to do that. Also, to work harder on my online job, so that I can secure a lifestyle that I want.
The first trip to Svalbard, chosen by the random throw of a dart, got us a few open doors, mostly to media all over the country, and then some. We were invited on many TV station studios, got interviewed by bloggers, invited to talk in schools, etc. I mean, who does this: throws a dart at the world map blindfolded, goes whatever it lands, partners with companies, and gives back?
Because we had the media supporting us, the second dart throw was not in a home basement anymore. We decided to do a fundraising event, for which we had to get seriously creative about. We wanted to go big.
At this event, we did not offer just the usual silent and live auctions, but we gave people the chance to bid on where the dart would land. We also came up with an adventurous bid option for anyone who would pay to come with us – but with the condition that they would bid before we threw the dart! So, whether we would hit Ibiza or Somalia, the person would come along!
And somebody did just that. We had Cindy Mitchell coming with us, a 56-year old cancer survivor who took the leap of faith to embark on the trip.
Another creative live auction bid we proposed was to go to the highest bidder’s house and cook a traditional dinner from the country we were about to go.
Last but not least, we offered a good Samaritan the chance to throw the dart on our behalf, for the right donation. Gaston Landry from Edmonton generously donated a sum that gave him the right to throw the dart.
Russia, With Love
The dart hit Russia. We did not know what was about to come. We started doing extensive research on what we can do in Putin’s country.
Long story short, I loved Russia as it reminded me a lot of my home country, Romania. Tons of similar neighbourhoods and lifestyle, although Russia is a Slavic country while Romania is Latin.
We ended up choosing to visit and help an orphanage. The rumour is that there are over 700,000 orphans living in Russia, while some locals told us that many of these are because of alcoholic parents. Of course, none of these facts are confirmed or advertised by authorities, so we had to dig a little deeper.
We found contacts for about 40 orphanages, so we were happy that we have something to choose from. Not even close. The major issue we had was not that they wouldn’t talk to us, but none of them would accept us to film within the perimeter.
The problems didn’t stop there. As very few people speak English in Russia (I would say maybe 5-10%) we hired an interpreter prior our arrival in Moscow. When he found out that he has to talk to orphanages and tell them what we are there for, he quit and left us with no language support, on our first day in Russia!
From Naomi Campbell to Travel by Dart
Our luck was Olga, an amazing individual we met on the local metro (subway) on the way to the Red Square. She speaks perfect English, as her job is being the assistant of the Russian millionaire Vladimir Doronin, who at the time was no other than model Naomi Campbell’s boyfriend.
We met Olga, and she was our guide and interpreter in Moscow. As days would go by, we had to find an orphanage that would say yes to our request. Olga spent hours on the phone calling every single number we had, in hopes of getting good news.
Ostrovok, A Forgotten Place
Then, one day, we got our accept. It came from Ostrovok, an orphanage located far away from Moscow, in a village called Dinskaya, where absolutely nobody speaks English.
Olga took time off work and came with us to Dinskaya for a few days. In order to get to this village, you have to fly two hours from Moscow to Krasnodar, then take another five-hour drive through a crazy, intricate traffic maze.
We went to Ostrovok and bought those 30 children gifts, clothes, laptops, toys, and an HDTV. We used the money from the fundraiser, while Cindy also spent a bunch of her own cash. The kids obviously didn’t know who we were.
The fact that we, some strangers, were speaking a different language that they only heard on TV, made us look like aliens. One of the kids even said that (see the episode at the bottom of this article).
We also took all the kids and staff from Ostrovok to a circus show, which happened to be in transit through Dinskaya that day.
Saint Petersburg, One Of The Best Places To Visit In Russia
One of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life was Saint Petersburg. Architecture, taste, history – all these are elements that make you fall in love with the town.
Although St. Petersburg has five million people, the tallest building is St. Isaac’s Cathedral (pic below), which has a height of 101.5 meters (333 feet). It is also plated with pure gold. The authorities wanted to keep the charm and conserve the history by not allowing any developer to erect a building that is taller.
Apparently, the major gas company Gazprom, originally from St. Petersburg, wanted to build its headquarters building as a skyscraper in downtown, only to be stopped by locals who came out on the streets to protest against the proposed construction. As a result, the company had to move its offices to Moscow.
Many buildings in St. Petersburg have gold on their structures. The city looks like a huge museum, with its stunning architecture standing out everywhere you look.
Longest Escalator In The World
Former known as Petrograd (until 1918) and then Leningrad (until 1991), St. Petersburg is overwhelming. The city also feature the longest metro escalator in the world, which has 100 meters and 729 steps. It is located in the station Ploshad Lenina.
As a matter of fact, St. Petersburg metro is the deepest in the world. Of the 65 stations, 50 stations are located at a depth of 30 meters minimum.
Intrepid Travel and Nochlezska House
For the St. Petersburg part of our trip, we partnered with Intrepid Travel and Intrepid Foundation. They have a project in the city called Nochlezskha House, which is a homeless shelter that the travel company supports financially.
Additionally, every night a big van leaves Nochlezska House full of food and goes around St. Petersburg. It stops in four locations, known for being populated with homeless people for whom they deliver warm food.
We came along the ride and even delivered food ourselves to the homeless of St. Petersburg. It was an emotional experience – see picture below, view from the van.
We also visited Nochlezkha, where I donated half of the clothes I came on this trip.
My First Tattoo, Done In St. Petersburg
Rewinding a little bit, while we were in Moscow, our hotel was the host of the National Intellectual Games of Russia. Hundreds of extremely smart kids from all over the country were invited to compete in all kinds of challenges.
It was a sight to see. Brilliant little minds solving intricate problems in record times.
However, contrasting with the hundreds of thousands of orphans who also live in Russia (as mentioned in the beginning, majority allegedly because of alcoholic parents), it made me realize how important is the role of a parent in one’s life.
My dad was my hero when I was a kid, but he got very sick. From him, I learnt a lot. He was the pillar in the house – a leader, authoritative, strong, and not to mess around with.
To honor him, I wanted to get a tattoo that represented all those characteristics. And since he is a Leo, well, I decided to get a lion. Check out a cool time-lapse of the making of my tattoo, done by the artist Stanislav Razyvanov from Maruha Tattoo Studios in Saint Petersburg.
Thank you also to Olga Maruschenko, the owner of the shop, who offered me this tattoo as a gift. If you are in the city, make sure you hit them up at: http://www.maruha-studio.ru.
I am now excited to get a tattoo for my mom as well, as she also taught me a lot and has been taking intense care of my dad for the past 25 years. I have a feeling is going to happen very soon!
My Russian Guide, On Why They Never Smile
As Cindy would put it, Russians are very ‘stoic.’ They don’t smile. Unless you have a very good joke or they had some vodka, don’t expect Russians to give you the fake North American smile.
When I asked my friend and guided Dimitry Batenkov from Intrepid Foundation in Saint Petersburg how come Russians are not smiling ever, he gave me the most simple and full of sense answer I could ever receive: “Why would I smile if I have no reason?”
In Russia, there is no such thing as chit chat. If you walk into a store and expect the employee to smile at you like they do here, well… don’t. If you ask “How are you today?” the most probable answer would be “Have we met before?”
The point is, if you ask a Russian how he/she is, you actually have to care, which also makes sense. If you care, then that must mean you met them before, hence the personal question. And so on.
As a matter of fact, smiling in Russia might seem like a sign of weakness. Russians are tough guys, so don’t mess around. Let alone the fact that if you are a guy you should never smile at another guy. You know, just so you are not labeled, if you know what I mean. Unless you want to.
Do You Need A Tourist Visa To Go To Russia?
Another important aspect about your potential travels to Russia is the tourist visa that you need to have. It was extremely complicated and time-consuming to get ours. Make sure you allow yourself at least a month to receive yours.
The Consulate we applied for visas at was very anal about every word and even about the printing! My application got rejected because the printer spitted up the pages with the last line of text cut in half. Although readable, the text was considered incomplete, and I had to fill out and print the application again, on a different machine.
That also meant Fedexing an envelope again, $60 later, to the Consulate. The application got rejected one more time because of some unclear handwriting.
We got our visas IN THE MORNING OF OUR FLIGHTS TO MOSCOW.
Is It Safe To Travel To Russia Right Now?
The short answer is yes. However, Russia is not for everyone, although is very interesting. I personally liked it more than disliked it. As a big soccer fan, I went to the last FIFA World Cups, in Brazil and South Africa. The next World Cup is hosted by Russia next year, but I am not sure if I want to go.
I know that the atmosphere will be different because of the magnitude of such tournament, but I also know that I want to feel welcomed when I interact with my hosts. Although Russians are great at heart deep down, they do not show it much to foreigners.
Next Dart Throw
Are you ready to see my next dart throw? Well, things got pretty serious after we released the Russia episode and we decided to do a full season of Travel by Dart, consisting of 12 episodes.
So, we went to India where we arranged a beautiful setup, ready to throw not one, but 12 darts! These dart throw established the destinations for future destinations to which we are going soon. See the India article and episode HERE.
After throwing two darts and going where they landed, Svalbard and then Russia, we decided to do this as a full reality show, consisting of 12 episodes.
Which meant we had to throw 12 different darts, but we needed an epic location. We didn’t want to do it at home, and we didn’t want to do it at a social event.
We wanted to create an amazing experience that no many can do. So, we went to India, where my friend Matt had discovered years ago an amazing team of friends, the boys at Skynet, an IT company from Kolkata that partnered up with him to create Idea Vessel.
I went to India twice to meet and spend time with Arindam Chowdhuri and Satinath Mondal, two of the most amazing individuals you will ever meet. Intelligent, caring, family men, and extremely good at computers – running a team of 30 talented IT technicians.
Actions That Inspire Travel: Find Them
When we told Arin and Sat that we want to throw 12 darts in India, they got excited and promised they would provide us the best experience and set. And boy, did they ever do it.
During my first trip to India, we went for a visit to Arin and Sat’s hometown, Berhampore, in West Bengal. Berhampore has 500,000 souls, but my boys called it ‘the village.’
On the way there, we passed by a fantastic location: an abandoned 400-year old Temple, Katra Masjid, made out of red brick and imposing a powerful respect. In translation, Katra Masjid means the Market Mosque.
This historical place is also the tomb of Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, buried under the entrance staircase, and was built between 1723 and 1724. The Katra Masjid temple has two amazing large corner towers, both having loopholes for musketry.
We knew right away that we want to shoot the 12 darts there, as long as we can get permission to film in such an exotic, yet amazing place.
That’s what happened. It took us about a month after submitting a request to get a shooting permit before we went to India again.
It took us a day to film the dart throws, but we did it with style. Using drone shots, a couple of FS7s, and two GoPro’s. Watch the reduced 2-minute trailer below.
We were debating if we should make public the 12 destinations before going there, and even to this point…we haven’t yet.
One important aspect was that all 12 dart throws were genuine: we didn’t throw again when we hit a bad location, we didn’t reject any of the countries/regions we hit.
You will have to hit the Subscribe button on this page so I can keep you in the loop with spurts of travel inspiration, all the episodes and other amazing videos that we will do in every location.
What you need to know is that all 12 are countries/regions that not too many people go (most of them are remote islands and a couple of big popular destinations).
However, we decided to release the location of the first dart throw. I hit the map in the middle of Pacific Ocean, close to Polynesia. The closest land mass was Easter Island, which is one of the remotest islands in the world.
So… we went there!!! You can follow me on social media to see what happened in Easter Island, but I still have something to write about India.
Places To Visit In Kolkata
Kolkata and its suburbs have 14.1 million people, while the actual core of the city has about 4.5 million. The first time I went there I was in awe with the Victoria Memorial and wanted to throw the darts there, but we were not allowed on short notice, and a permit would take too long to get.
Historical structures like the Writers Building and the St. Paul’s Cathedral are amazing samples of the city’s royal past. On the other hand, make sure you visit the majestic Howrah Bridge, or take a ride down the Hooghly River from Princep Ghat in the evening.
If you are more on the religious side, Kalighat Temple and the Belur Math are good places to see.
Want A Beer In India? Be Smart Like I Wasn’t
I want to share with you a story that is embarrassing, but I had to go through – so hopefully some of you don’t.
I happened to have my birthday while in Kolkata. We went out to a fancy place with a few people. I offered to pay the bill before the waiter took our order. I just wanted to have a few brews.
While my guests and myself looked at the drinks menu, we saw that the bar has Heineken, Stella Artois, and Corona, which I was happy about, since I am a big beer drinker (as a soccer player, I need to hydrate myself a lot, you know?).
The only interesting part was that while the Heineken and Stella was about only $1 per bottle, Corona was about $4.
I was wondering why, but didn’t care much, so I let my guests order a bunch of Coronas, while I was happy with my Stellas and Heinekens. Blindfolded by the price.
Well…. the night went well, but for the next 24 hours I hit the toilet for about six times…my stomach was acting up. I felt like I consumed water, fruits, beer, and milk – all in the same time.
Next day, I shared my pain with a local friend, and he said: “Did you order Heineken and Stella here???” They are brewed by the real recipe, but they are made with local water, which is, well, Indian water”. Which, of course, sometimes may be a bit contaminated.
Corona is the only beer that is imported as is, and is not brewed in India. That’s why all my friends ordered Coronas!
Lesson learned, and hopefully you do, too, if you are there.
Feel free to leave a comment below or read my stories from Svalbard and Russia, where we went after we threw the first two darts. Or, you can check out my adventures in Colombia and Panama.
As promised, here is our Travel by Dart: Polar Faith episode shot in Svalbard. That’s where the craziness started. You can probably see today a bunch of people throwing a dart at the world map, but my idea and the actual ‘let’s do this s*#t” started back in 2011. And here is the proof.
Travel by Dart started as a fun project after my friend Matt asked me what would be an ideal life for me. I said, “I wanna throw a dart at the world map and go there whenever I want, with whoever I want.” That’s all we needed to say out loud. We went and bought a dart and a map, and we did it. The rest is history, and you know exactly where I am now since you are on this blog.
We threw the dart at his house, blindfolded, see video below. The debate was: who is going to throw it? We decided to both do it once, and to select the final destination (between the two) by flipping a coin.
I hit Azores, West of Portugal. Matt hit the map in the vicinity of North Pole. We flipped the coin and… the winner was the North Pole throw.
Longyearbyen, Final Destination For Travel Inspiration
Since our only rule was to travel to the closest land mass in case the dart hit the ocean, we ended up in Svalbard, a livable land mass that belongs to Norway.
It is an archipelago with over 2,600 people and about 3,000 polar bears, with the capital in Longyearbyen. Svalbard is also known by its former Dutch name, Spitsbergen.
We originally had eight weeks to plan for the trip. The first 2 weeks, we went down a huge rabbit trail with another concept, then held a focus group and found out we were in left field. We re-thought our process which left us with six weeks until the trip starting our plans all over again.
Getting close to the North Pole in December is not the easiest thing to do since there is pitch black 24/7 and the temperature is three times colder than your mother in law.
We had no money, but lots of ambition. After researching the Polar life in general, we discovered that the Polar bears’ species would disappear in the next 75 years, according to scientists. We created a website called Polar Faith and launched an online campaign to contribute. We committed to give $5 to World Wildlife Fund from any donation we would get, big or small.
Canada Goose came on board with providing all of our expensive arctic gear as soon as they saw our story featured in the media. Silver Jeans came on to provide us some fresh new clothes to look good on camera too.
A few cash donations came in through the website, but not really much; about $2,000.
That’s when we decided to take with us a professional videographer, our friend Matt Zinger, and shot commercials in the Arctic for eventual sponsors who want to showcase their business in a non-traditional setting.
Bingo! We got four big-hearted people who sponsor us with $1,000 each, and off we went to Svalbard! We floated the rest of the trip with a visa card and donated some cash as promised to WWF.
Facts About Svalbard
On our plane from Tromso (Norway) to Svalbard Matt ended up sitting next to a former General Manager of Svalbard Tourism, who loved our story. Within 24 hours of our arrival in Longyearbyen, we were meeting with the government agency to support our adventure and provide us with full gear and guides to go out and film 6 hours a day.
The amazing people at Svalbard Tourism (thank you Kjersti Noras!) helped us with dogsledding treks, snowmobiling, glacier climbing and took us to places we would never have imagined.
Did you know one of Chef Ramsey’s apprentices has the largest wine cellar in Scandinavia nestled deep in the permafrost with the best ice wines in the world?
Or that Svalbard is host to the $9 million dollars’ global seed vault, where cryogenic un-genetically modified seeds are stored just in case the world comes to an end?
Everything was fully organized for us, and we had a blast; all because we took a leap of faith and just went for it. All of this awesomeness was not only awesome for the sake of keeping our expenses ridiculously low but was instrumental in helping to transform the footage we had into a documentary pilot called Polar Faith. You can watch it at the bottom of this article.
What To Do In Svalbard
There are so many things you can do in Svalbard if you go there. We didn’t have enough time to do them all, but here are a few: dogsledding, snowmobiling, visiting the Global Seed Vault, or even diving in the almost frozen waters of the ocean. Let’s take a look at some of these.
Svalbard Snowmobile Tours
One of the most expected Arctic adventures we did was to get on snowmobiles. We were invited by our hosts to participate in a Svalbard snowmobile tour organized by Svalbard Snoscooterutleie AS. Oh, boy, what a day. For about six hours we had an amazing time. Here is the video, below:
Arctic Adventures: Polar Dip in -45
Kjersti Noras from Svalbard Tourism is one funny, charismatic individual. She told us, along with Hilde Falun Strom from Spitsbergen Travel (now Hurtigruten Svalbard), that there is a tradition in Svalbard that every newcomer has to do a Polar dip, meaning to jump half-naked in the waters of the Ocean.
Well, needless to say, we had to do it. I was so excited about it. Should I remind you that this was December, 200 miles away from the North Pole?
We manned up and decided to do the ‘tradition.’ The water was almost frozen, with pieces of ice floating around. Kjersti was waiting for us right there, with the car heated up at max.
Our dip lasted about 45 seconds, from the moment we ran into the water and jumped in the car. However, it felt like it was FOREVER. I couldn’t feel any piece of my body, including the most important ones.
After that, we went straight to a sauna at the place we were staying. Next day, Hilde gave us a diploma on behalf of Spitsbergen Travel, officially declaring us ‘real Polar bears.’
Dogsledding in Svalbard
One of the highlights of my life was dogsledding in the middle of an extreme location and weather, being pulled by 16 amazing Huskies. It was all thanks to Robert Nilsen and Svalbard Husky, his company. Robert took the time to give us an amazing experience that I wish everyone to try. Here is the video, below:
Both Matt and I had our own sled, while Robert was leading the way with a huge lantern and a gun, protecting us from the Polar bears.
If you visit Svalbard, make sure you connect with Robert. You can find him at +47 78 40 30 78 or email post at svalbardhusky dot no.
Svalbard Global Vault Seed
The general idea is that the Global Seed Vault’s mission is to provide a safety net against loss of diversity in traditional gene banks. It officially opened on February 26, 2008, and ranked number 6 on Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2008.
The Norwegian government funded the whole project and it costed about $9 million US to build. Another interesting thing is that storing seeds in the vault is free to end users, with Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust paying for the operational costs.
The number of total samples located in the Svalbard Seed Vault is 930,821.
The Vault has about 120 meters in length (390 feet) and features heavy security systems. Seeds are packaged in three-ply packets and heat sealed to exclude moisture. There is no permanent staff on site.
Dead People Can’t Be Buried In Svalbard
The reason the Global Seed Vault was built in Svalbard is that the island lacks tectonic activity and has permafrost, which helps preservation. It is also the reason dead people cannot be buried here. That’s why when older people get very sick they are transported on the mainland, Norway. Crazy!
One last super interesting thing about the vault is that it functions as a safe-deposit box in a bank. As Wikipedia explains it: “The bank owns the building, and the depositor owns the contents of his or her box. The Government of Norway owns the facility, and the depositing gene banks own the seeds they send. The deposit of samples in Svalbard does not constitute a legal transfer of genetic resources.
In gene bank terminology, this is called a “black box” arrangement. Each depositor signs a Deposit Agreement with NordGen, acting on behalf of Norway.
The Agreement makes clear that Norway does not claim ownership over the deposited samples and that ownership remains with the depositor, who has the sole right of access to those materials in the seed vault. No one has access to anyone else’s seeds from the seed vault. The database of samples and depositors is maintained by NordGen.”
Ice People, World’s Northernmost Alternative Newspaper
Believe it or not, Svalbard has a newspaper too, called Ice People, published by Mark Sabbatini. We had a great time meeting the man who published our adventure on their front page (out of the four :).
Mark used to work for the LA Times and now resides in Longyearbyen. Mark calls Ice People “the world’s northernmost alternative newspaper.”
If you are ever in Longyearbyen, connect with Mark and say hi for me. His email is marksabbatini at yahoo dot com.
How To Get To Svalbard
Svalbard belongs to Norway. The whole island has a population of 2,642, while the main settlements are Longyearbyen (the ‘capital,’ 1,800 inhabitants), Barentsburg (main Russian colony, 400), Sveagruva (210), and Ny-Alesund (100).
In order to get to Longyearbyen, you need to take a plane from either Tromso or Oslo. The options are Scandinavian Air and Norwegian Air, flying almost every day. From Oslo – between $150-350US each way there is a 4-hour flight, while Tromso – $100-$300 – is only one hour and 35 minutes.
Svalbard Cruises
You can also get there by boat, as a few companies offer cruises. However, a three-day cruise starting from Longyearbyen is around US$1,500, cheapest cabin, twin sharing.
There are also longer cruises, starting from Oslo. These may go up to US$9,500, for a 12-day trip.
Money in Svalbard
The currency used in Svalbard is the Norwegian krone (NOK), which is not surprising. This is also accepted in the Russian settlements such as Barentsburg. The equivalent of 100 kroner is $11.65US.
Svalbard is a tax-free zone, so a few shops in Longyearbyen sell products at prices well below mainland Norway’s.
Accommodation in very ‘cheap’ places gets you to $60/night while a basic meal costs around $15. However, these numbers can double if you stay in a full-service hotel.
Guided activities start at about $60 per day (trekking and kayaking) but can go to $120 and above for tours requiring specialist equipment.
Svalbard’s duty-free status means that alcohol and sports clothing, etc., are actually much cheaper than on the mainland.
Spitsbergen Polar Bear Tours and Other Attractions
What people should know is that the Polar bears are not the cute animals that you see on TV on the Coca-Cola commercials. They viciously attack people as they get hungry. A few months before I was in Svalbard, a group of British youths went through a tragedy because they didn’t respect the rules of the land.
They camped outside Longyearbyen. One night a Polar bear ripped the tent and killed a boy. Ever since, the local authorities set up strict rules when it comes to walking around the town and outside. You are not allowed to get out of certain zones of Longyearbyen, let alone outside the town, in the boonies.
You can only do it if you have a gun or if you have a guide with a gun. That is why during all the tours we did, we had someone with us, carrying a rifle. If you are in Svalbard, you have to obey the rules. Period!
However, I also want to thank Spitsbergen Travel back then (now known as Hurtigruten Svalbard) for their support. Hilde Falun Strom was great in providing us with information we needed, as the company specializes in amazing tours around the island. Safe, educational, and memorable.
You can contact Hurtigruten Svalbard at: +47 79 02 61 00.
Best Time To Visit Svalbard
I went to Longyearbyen from December 26 to January 8. Although you probably know this, in Svalbard there are six months a year when it’s dark (obviously, the winter), while from March to September is light pretty much all the time.
So, the best way to visit Svalbard is definitely the summer. There are hundreds of tourists visiting, while you can also see awesome locals like Stig Halvorsen and his friends parasailing over the archipelago.
Svalbard Aftermath
We came back home with amazing video clips, and soon enough we ended up with Travel by Dart: Polar Faith. It was accepted into the Global Visions Film Festival, the longest running documentary festival in Canada. Our first film placed 4th, and the media loved us. We were on every local channel that exists. International media outlets also started to smell a good story.
All these lead to a deeper motivation. A question that we found within ourselves arose: “If we could get everybody involved, could we make a difference in the world regardless of whatever cause we serve?”
There are so many things in the world that need fixing, could we travel the world trying to help and prove that world change really is possible?
This questioning brought us into getting ready for our next dart throw but with WAY more passion and desire to do it.
So, we did it again. Next dart we threw hit Russia. You can read the article HERE.
We just came back from our fantastic trip to Easter Island, where we filmed the first episode of the Travel by Dart TV show, airing next year.
Until the episode is ready, we will be posting a lot of images and videos (soon). We also wanted to take a moment to officially thank one of our most important partners in making this trip happen, Robertson College.
Not only the college supported the Travel by Dart crew to get to Polynesia, but also donated some custom-made backpacks, which we took to Easter Island and gave them away to the young students at Earthship Music School (Toki School)!
Above is just one of the many pictures we took there. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when we will have more news and when the episode will be ready.
“Over 70% of our students are born outside Canada”
Robertson College is one of the oldest educational institutions in Canada. It also has something very special about it. We invited Ramona Buda, Campus Director at Robertson College in Edmonton, to join us in the studio for a radio interview on the Sorin in the City show, aired recently on World FM 101.7.
Sorin: Ramona, what is so unique about Roberson College?
Ramona: We do have a high population of students that is of immigrant descent or brand new Canadiens. I would say over 70% of our students are born outside Canada. I think one of the reasons for that is because admittance into our college does not necessarily require that you have prerequisites such as the English 30 or Math 30 or Bio 30. It depends on the programs, of course, but if the immigrants have a certain level of English knowledge they can be accepted into the college without having to obtain prerequisites previously.
So you are a fully recognized college.
Absolutely. Therefore our students are eligible for student aid. As a recognized college we have to maintain very high graduation and employment standards. Just as an example of last year over 80% of our graduating students found jobs in their field of studies.
Can you talk a bit about your demographic? What kind of students you have regarding age or ethnicity?
Very good question. Most of our students are adults between the age of 18 and 40, but we have older students than that. I think the older student I had was a 70-year-old male!
What did he take?
He took health care aid, in order to take care of his wife. He wanted to improve his skills. Most of our students do have spouses and children. As mentioned, over 70% of our students are immigrants, the majority coming from Philippines, India, and some African countries.
What kind of programs do you have? What’s their length?
We have programs that are as short as five months in length – for our Health Care Aid, or Pharmacy Assistant Program. Others are as long as 11 months – for the Network Security Technician, Legal Assistant, Business Management. So, between five months and less than a year.
The economy was terrible in the last few years. How did that affect the enrolment into Robertson College?
We have seen an increase in the number of new registrations. I’m sure everyone is aware the economy has hit Alberta pretty hard. The unemployment rate is very high for our province. Many of the people that were laid off are now looking to get a career in a more stable, more secure environment. We have seen an increase in the number of students that are wishing to take health care programs: Health Care Aid, Medical Office Assistant, Pharmacy Assistant, Hospital Unit Clerk.
How many programs do you have?
We have different faculties. Besides the Health Care Faculty, we have Business Administration-Management, Community Support Worker, Network Security Technician, and Logistics and Supply Chain Management – which is being offered online. Most of the programs that we offer are definitely available on campus on 8-12kind of schedule or evening classes, but we also have the online option.
I know you have campuses in other cities. Which ones?
We have campuses in Edmonton, Calgary, Brandon, Winnipeg, as well as the online campus.
Tell me a student success story.
How much time do we have? I have so many. Every day we do hear success stories from our students, that we were able to change their life through education. Very recently I had one of my students – a mother of seven children. She graduated after giving it a try for a couple of months, struggling. When you have seven children they have to take priority and graduating is a little hard putting in that time. When she picked up her diploma, her eyes were in tears. She was telling us that she is the first in her family to graduate from college. And because of this college degree, she won’t allow other people to talk down to her. She is going to inspire her kids to go to college to get an education, but even more so, she was hoping that her family, her brothers were going to break the chain of substance abuse and violence. She was very proud and we, as a college, were very proud to give her an education.
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