Friday, February 29, 2008

#5: Islands with Small (or No) Runways


Rich People like islands (see England, Australia, St. Barts), but what they really like even more than any old island is a tropical island with a small runway (or, better yet, none at all). This makes the island (1) more exclusive and (2) smaller. Smaller islands are better because they can accomodate fewer tourists, and are therefore more exclusive. Also, small islands feed into Rich People fantasies about owning a private island.

Islands with small runways mean that after Rich People fly First Class (See #1: Flying First Class) to a large or medium-sized island, they have to switch planes, and not even to a small private jet, but to something really small, like a Cessna. Before boarding the Cessna, the pilot has to weigh the Rich People and their luggage and then balance them/it very precisely so that the plane is evenly weighted. Rich People like this, and they think it is kind of "roughing it."

Some islands have no runways at all. This means that Rich People can only reach them by boat. Rich People don't take the ferry. They all have yachts.

The best islands with small (or no) runways are also private islands, but sometimes private islands make Rich People mad, especially if it is not the private island they own or if they don't know the person who does. The whole existence of other people's private islands is a nagging reminder to Rich People that there are other Richer Rich People who do things to be exclusive and get away from just regular old Rich People. Rich People don't like to be reminded of that.

A few islands with small (or no) runways:


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- St. Barts: St. Bart's, or more properly, Saint Barthélemy, has a small runway, but is still very exclusive. It is part of the French West Indies, and because Rich People like French, they like to go there.
- Bonaire: Part of the Netherlands Antilles, Bonaire is only 111 sq. miles in area. The very cute website for its small airport boasts about welcoming "hundreds of guests" each day. That isn't very many people.
- Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands - It doesn't have an airport. Nice.

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