- Kelly Green, 34, went to visit her parents in Tristan Da Cunha and fell in love.
- The island is a British Overseas Territory with 236 inhabitants, and the only way to travel there is by ship.
- Green got married and is happily raising her two kids on the island.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelly Green, the head of tourism at Tristan Da Cunha. Green moved from England to the island in 2013. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
My dad was a diplomat, and, as a kid, my family moved a lot. I grew up in several countries around the world, including Antigua, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Kenya.
In 2010, when I was 20 and working as a flight attendant for easyJet in England, my dad received a new posting at the Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
I initially thought he was moving to Scotland. But I misunderstood, as Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is a settlement in Tristan Da Cunha, one of the world’s most isolated settlements with only around 236 inhabitants.
To get to the island, you must fly to Cape Town and then travel seven to 10 days and over 1,700 miles west across the South Atlantic Ocean. There are only around 10 scheduled trips a year, which are operated by three different ships. Two of the ships carry up to 12 passengers, and there’s one ship that can carry 40.
In 2012, I decided to take a six-week holiday to visit my family. When I arrived, a man on the island came to help with my luggage. His name was Shane, and I ended up meeting him again later in the island’s only pub.
After I left the island, Shane and I continued to talk on the phone every night. Two years into the relationship, I knew the next step was to move in together.
I wanted to live in Tristan Da Cunha. It helped that it wasn’t completely abnormal for me to just pick up and move somewhere because I’ve been doing it all my life.
So, in late 2013, I packed my belongings and moved there. Shane built us a two-bedroom house with an outhouse, and we started a family.
Tristan Da Cunha has only one school, a post office, a tourism center, a hospital, a bank, a café, and a pub. There are no restaurants.
Everyone knows everyone, and with that comes a lot of love. I’ve found that people will always look out for you.
The island is self-sufficient, thanks to its farming and fishing community. Lobster is exported worldwide and provides the island’s biggest source of income. The islanders also grow their own produce and rear cows, sheep, chickens, and ducks.
I love the freedom
I walk three to four miles every afternoon and don’t bump into anyone. It’s so peaceful and quiet, and completely different from my life in England.
Back in England, I used to get up at 2 a.m., commute over an hour to Gatwick Airport, and work 16-hour shifts. Here, to get to work, it takes me two minutes to walk to the tourism office, where I work as the head of tourism. We don’t get many tourists, but the population can quadruple during the cruise season. There are around 900 tourists a year — though this can vary substantially.
Although it didn’t bother me that I would leave city life behind, there are some aspects that I miss about England. In England, you can just go to the shop and get a premade meal. You can’t do that here. If you want a burger, you have to grind the meat up and make the rolls. It’s just a completely different lifestyle.
Imported goods are also more expensive. Anything from South Africa has around a 75% markup on the original price, and anything from the UK has around a 95% markup. For example, I’ve just ordered myself a fridge. It cost around $650, but I had to pay $1,100 for it because of freight.
Still, I feel more at home here than I ever did in England. But then again, it might be because I’ve been brought up all over the world.
Now, I’m raising two kids on the island
I have a 10-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son, and I feel safe raising them here. I would never dream of letting a young kid walk alone in England. But here, I don’t have to worry. There’s always someone looking out for them or telling them off if they’re being naughty. Even with my son, he can just be out in the garden, and I can be in the house.
In the future, I’ll encourage my kids to study abroad and experience life in other countries. Just because I decided to live on Tristan Da Cunha doesn’t mean they have to live here forever.
There is a lot of the world out there for them to see. I’ve been lucky to explore it, and I want them to have that experience, too.
