'I lived on a paradise island and didn't pay for anything - everything's simple'
A young woman lived on a remote island with just 80 people and looked after pigs.
Brooke Megan spent two weeks on Darocotan Island in the Philippines in December 2023. She didn't have to pay a penny for her stay, as she volunteered through the Isla Experience.
The 20-year-old from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, lived in a simple bamboo hut and slept on a mattress on the floor. The island was so small she could walk or kayak around it easily, while having to get a boat to the mainland to get food to make meals.
Brooke said: "It's a tiny island - 70 to 80 people live on the island. Everything is simple. You never end up wearing shoes. I didn't pay for anything - just drinks."
Brooke got to live on the island for free (Brooke Megan / SWNS)
It is a tiny island with just 70 people living there (Courtesy Brooke Megan / SWNS)As part of earning her keep Brooke helped out with social media and greeted guests arriving by boat. Her days were filled with looking after pigs, relaxing on the beach and enjoying bonfires in the evening. She said: "You can see so many stars. It's amazing."
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Brooke also got to know the people living on the island full time and learned about their way of life. She said: "People appreciate it so much. The locals show you how to get a coconut down from a tree. They wash clothes in a well and scrub with their bare hands for three hours."
Brooke was given meals made from fresh food caught or found that day during her volunteering experience. She had to shower with cold water and had little internet, but she said it helped her "live in the now".
"You appreciate just being in nature. It's such a different way of life. It's a beautiful place," she added. Apart from spending two weeks on the island, Brooke has visited 26 countries, including Australia, Thailand, and Malaysia. She managed to travel on a budget while also volunteering and working as a travel guide.
Given the pace of life in the UK, the idea of properly leaving everything behind and cutting yourself off from the world sounds quite appealing. Steven Rambousek is one person who, craving just this, deliberately got himself marooned on an island.
He did so through Docastaway, a company run by Spaniard Alvaro Cerezo, who has spent much of his life working out how to get stuck on little rocky outcrops. Steven recently flew to Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia where a cheerful local man loaded him onto a speed boat and took him out to sea.
Last year he told the Mirror about what it was like being completely alone on an island, very far away from home and disconnected from the rest of the world.
"High tide waves are now smashing into my fire and quickly drowning it. Dark again. I wait out the storm. 20 minutes, 2 hours or 3? What time is it? I feel insignificant and tiny, trapped on a small patch of land out in the humongous wide open sea - and yet free. I think of all those with no place to call home and no roof over their head - living every day like this - a truly humbling experience," he said.
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