魯濱遜式的另類假期

What's life like on a deserted island? Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona decided to find out.

The adventurous senator took a vacation from Capitol Hill and went on a four-day Robinson Crusoe style holiday with his two teenage sons to a remote, uninhabited island in the North Pacific Ocean.

The senator and his sons, 15-year-old Tanner and 13-year-old Dallin, traveled 5,200 miles from Phoenix, Arizona to the island of Biggarenn. They didn’t carry any food or water.

The island is part of the Marshall Islands . It offered no basic facilities, so the Flakes had to catch and cook their own food and purify their water. Their diet was made up of coconuts, crab and fish. They captured the crab and fish themselves and cooked the food over an open fire started with a magnifying glass.

The Flakes brought along a lobster trapin hopes of having some delicious treats, but lost it within the first few hours after it was attacked by a shark. They also carried two pumps to remove salt from ocean water. It took them hours each night pumping for just a few gallons of fresh water.

One of the most memorable moments of the trip, the father said, was when he and his 15-year-old were chased by sharks after spearing a fish in the ocean.

Still, it was quite an enjoyable holiday for the senator. “For a dad it was a wonderful thing. No video games around, no television, no distractions, no texting,” Flake recalled.