Weekly travel reads: Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island

[The Travel Wire #86] A visit to Laos during the Cold War, Silesia, Turkmenistan, and more travel reads.

Travel reads

• Tristan da Cunha: The busiest place you’ve never seen [NPR]
“Photographer Julia Gunther and writer-filmmaker Nick Schönfeld chronicle the rhythms of daily life on Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island.”

• A visit to Laos during the Cold War [qbarandrew]
“A 25-year-old in a minister’s chamber and a surreal temple of gods and demons on the Mekong’s edge.”

• Silesia. The other Poland [Nomadic Mind]
“An hour west of Kraków, a forgotten country begins. Bring a bike.”

• One of the world’s most remote nations opens up (archive) [BBC Travel]
“Bhutan has long limited how the world visits. Now, a new airport and ambitious city could reshape travel to the Himalayan kingdom.”

• One of the world’s least visited countries is slowly opening up (archive) [Independent]
“In Turkmenistan, social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok, still blocked but accessible via VPNs, have gained popularity in recent years.”

• The cult of map worship [Jack Montgomery]
“Why no apps or digital navigational tools will ever replace paper maps when it comes to hiking.”

• From Tokyo to Takamatsu on the last of the sleeper trains [The New Japan]

• Dust, light, and the weight of history, in Aqaba [Inside the Outside]
“There’s nothing polished about Aqaba. The beaches are rough, the buildings worn, the streets chaotic in that familiar, human way. And yet, almost immediately, you are drawn in.”

• For decades, surfers have traveled for the perfect wave. But what’s the impact on the communities they visit? [Adventure]

• The island that keeps surprising me [Without Maps]
“I’m going back to Menorca.”

• The end of elsewhere [Fugitive Margins]
“The endangered species of the global citizen.”

• Faces and places of São Paulo, Brazil [Wander, Wonder, Write]
“An art walk, a city vibe, a photo essay.”