The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
There is nothing quite like solitude for cleansing the soul. A silence that drowns out the noise, making way for a lighter consciousness. Solitude and stillness is a bounty that comes with travelling to remote locations. These places are a gateway to reconnect, with ourselves, with nature and with our loved ones. As contemplated for decades by great writers, from Pico Ayer on the Art of Solitude to Mark Twain and Cheryl Strayed on being alone in nature, there is a human thirst to seek solitude, at least once in our busy lives. Sina Murphy Chan, Founder of Off Grid Hideaways explains why we should all experience getting back to basics, with an added lure of luxury.
Sina founded Off Grid Hideaways in 2016, a hand-picked collection of luxury properties in remote locations around the world. After her personal off-grid travel experiences, she wanted to create escapes where pressing pause was the core value, and where simplicity and solitude were the specialities. “The properties had to be low impact builds, combining sustainability, simplicity and authenticity.”
Today, Off Grid Hideaways offers stylish rentals in the most stunning destinations, from a hilltop villa in Greece to a fully solar-powered house in Mexico, only accessible by 4×4. All hideaways share the same goal: to press pause, slow down, and completely retreat. The locations are categorised as country, mountain or sea. They are completely reserved for the guest, whether a family or couple seeking quality alone time, friends nurturing a bond, or the solo traveller needing a break from it all.
“Each booking is bespoke and private, it’s one-on-one, with guests and property owners”. Carefully choosing each hideaway and keeping the operation small means knowing each owner personally. Sina explains that although each hideaway has an internet connection, there is always the option to have it turned off on arrival for a full digital detox. “We once had a guest request to turn off all the electricity at night. They wanted to be completely off grid. They didn’t want that electro smog.”
Each off-grid hideaway is exquisitely unique. There are a range of enticing extras such as private chefs, massages, private yoga or meditation teachers. The feeling is that everything is taken care of, leaving you nothing to do but switch off, and explore. As Sina puts it, “It’s about the natural environment, the local community and the meaningful experience of the guest.” Off-grid travel doesn’t have to mean sleeping on a hard floor and being exposed to the elements, it can mean soulful luxury.
Travelling is genetic for Sina, her Swiss grandfather studied agriculture and travelled to Chile where he met her Argentinian grandmother. Her Chinese father met her mother in Holland during the hippy days. They travelled throughout her childhood through Aisa, the US, Ireland and England, often staying in luxury five-star hotels.
Sina’s career started in hotel management, and then banking, “But I knew I had to go on a world trip. I left my job and travelled for one year. Then I met my husband in an Argentinian hostel, he is from Cork, 100% Irish.” She laughs at the intricacies of her heritage. It was during this time that the brainchild was born. “I was travelling for four months off-grid. That’s where it started, I knew what we would be about then.” She teamed up with Flavia Kämpf Spahr, a Swiss-British interior designer to creatively direct the chosen hideaways. The result was a catalogue of architecturally designed hideaways in captivating locations.
The whole package is equal to a wellness retreat, a way of life we have lost over generations. This kind of escape gets us back to our roots. “To me, luxury is a slow pace of life, experiencing nature, beauty and quietness. It can be effortless – it doesn’t need to be a five-star room with all the essentials. Just freedom and slowing down.” Which is why her motto is ‘Break Free.’ “Once you have experienced that, you will carry it in your heart forever.”
“I had an English family, they went to the Vega Island hideaway in Norway. They told me it was the most peaceful and beautiful place they’d ever stayed as a family. It’s truly magical, no internet, no tv, huge windows looking out over the oceanfront. You just wake up and you can walk down to the beach, hike, go to the forest.” According to Sina, even the journey there is an event – a small propeller plane ride of ten passengers which drops off locals like a school bus. “For the locals, this is normal life. When you go to a place like that it doesn’t make sense to go for two or three nights, because then it’s hectic.” To fully unwind, Sina always recommends staying at least five nights.
Quiet season travel is also essential, “It’s important that the owners don’t just work during high season and then have no business for four or five months, they want to share that special place with guests, and the quiet season is a precious time. It’s a win-win situation.” Sina is a warm character – she cares about the livelihood of her partners as much as the meaningful experience of the guests, which is why the website states, ‘where time is measured in seasons, not minutes, and wealth is built on experiences instead of possessions.’
“Our lives are too cluttered,” Sina proclaims, so when it comes to the design and architecture, simplicity is key, “Having everything you need without the clutter.” Sina and Flavia combined their talents for architecture and design with her passion for travel. “Sustainability is very important to us. Off Grid Hideaways have to have material from the region. At our Colorado hideaway, everything is made from local materials.” Scouting for those exceptional hideaways is Sina’s main joy of the job, “It has to be an off-grid experience for the guests, a place where it can be guaranteed that they can slow down.”
Travel is forever expanding, so ‘off-the-beaten-path’ is on the brink of extinction. What Sina has created with Off Grid Hideaways is timeless simplicity, a holistic package where guests can refocus their energy on themselves, where they can break free and go home refreshed. “Being disconnected can be daunting, but it’s important that everyone tries it, I love to make it happen. This world is very fast and hectic. It’s so important that everyone presses pause, to rediscover what really matters. It’s actually very simple.”
