From Sussex to Shetland—Now Touching Down on Fair Isle!

🎥 WATCH: One-way road trip, a NorthLink ferry, and a 20-minute puddle jump later… We made it! Adventure unlocked. .

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Think Norway meets Hawaiian islands and Father Time and Mother Nature have a field day.

Far Out Yet Still Close

No man is an island, as John Donne wrote, but, north of the border, you can live on one—Scotland’s. The Shetlands are good like that, with 15 inhabited islands to choose from.

We are here in Fair Isle—Britain's most remote one. It feels like we are moving through paintings as the ever-changing weather lights the landscape in unique and splendid ways.

Thanks to the popularity of the TV series Shetland, we had it on our radar. Of the 115 islands in the archipelago, just 15 are inhabited. We are now on Fair Isle.

First, Sarah and I flew into Lerwick (Shetland’s mainland) via Edinburgh. Then we got a PCR test for Covid—think: positive vibes, negative results. After that, we continued on to Fair Isle, population 55—now 57!

What a place to self-isolate during a global pandemic. At first, I thought Fair Isle was the Faroe Islands (that’s Danish and in the sub-Arctic). But the Shetlands are actually closer to Norway than to Aberdeen. Go Vikings!

FAIR ISLE – Are we there yet? Being there…

There are two ways to reach the island—take it or leave it.

The first is a 20-minute puddle-jumper ride from the Shetland mainland. It’s a 7-seater fixed-wing plane—a heart-in-the-mouth flight where you sit up close with the pilot.

Thankfully, our flight wasn’t canceled (fog, wind, or worse). The alternative is the ferry—a converted fishing vessel. A 2-hour crossing aboard the Good Shepherd IV. Sometimes, even that gets called off.

Living Off The Grid And On The Edge

Fair Isle isn’t connected to the National Grid. Power comes from wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage. We brought torches—flashlights—because there’s zero light pollution.