Imagine a resort with no running water, phone or Internet signal and an average winter temperature of 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
You’ll have just a radio, thousands of penguins and one or two cruise ships full of visitors per day to keep you company.
It’s not glamping.
It’s the seasonal postmaster job at a remote Antarctic outpost, and right now it looks like the hottest spot on the planet. The interest of 1,000 applicants temporarily crashed the online job posting at the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, Lonely Planet reports.
It takes a hardy soul to serve at Port Lockroy, a British historic base situated on tiny Goudier Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, during the Antarctic Season from early November through the middle of March. The pay is just £1,100 ($1,700) per month, and the job listing closes February 27.
You say you don’t want to spend the Antarctic season stamping mail and trying to keep warm? The cushiest and safest way explore this frozen wilderness with a few more creature comforts is to book an Antarctic cruise.
Walk with penguins and kayak in protected waters on National Geographic’s 14-day cruise with naturalists, historians and noted photographers Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson for the trip of a lifetime. The trips are priced from $12,970 to $24,740, so start saving your pennies.
For skiers who want a little more of a workout, Polar Explorers hosts several Ski to the South Pole trips. Ski the last 20 kilometers to the geographic pole on a nine-day trip or the last degree to the pole on a 15-day trip.
The full South Pole ski expedition, a 60-day trip, promises “driving winds, heavy sleds, eight to ten hours of skiing each day and temperatures plunging well below zero.” In exchange you get “pristine wilderness, surreal beauty and the adventure of a lifetime.” Pricing isn’t set on the website.
That makes the postmaster’s job sound cushy.