7 Days at The World's Most Exclusive Hotel (Antarctica)

This is my home for the next week. Welcome to the most exclusive hotel in the world. Now, to give you some context, they only let 300 guests stay here per year, and the nightly rate for a couple starts at $22,000 per night. Minimum stay one week. But there's some very good reasons why this place sells out every single year, and I'm going to show you all of them. But first, I need to show you how we got here, because you don't just fly any regular plane. to Antarctica. No, you fly the world's largest private jet. Massive, massive. Not all these seats are going to be empty. A lot of the crew flies in these different seats because the operation levels that they need to go through to make this trip possible are insane. Please be advised that the captain will be adjusting the cabin temperature. Just off camera is my wife watching me struggle, but not helping. Help me. Oh my goodness. Your hair is crazy. Thank you. My boots on. My 18 layers. Let's do this. Anyway, World War II plane. They've specially modified it on the bottom so we can literally take off and land on ice. By the way, it's like 10 p.m. here. The sun never sets. How crazy is this? Now it's time to get inside. I need to warm up a bit. Good morning. It's 10.15 a.m. We just woke up. We didn't sleep super well, so we're still a little bit sleepy, but breakfast is at 10.30. We have no idea what today has in store for us, but we're gonna go find out. We woke up on the coldest continent, wind whipping outside, but then we stepped outside our private dome, and before you knew it, it felt like we were at a five-star luxury hotel. How is this even Antarctica? But just when we were starting to forget where we were, a six-wheeled Arctic tank rolled up, signaling there was more adventure waiting for us. Hello! That's the Indian Research Center where the scientists stay here and research all the different things in Antarctica. We're not actually going in, we're just starting our hike from here. Getting close, a little bit more. That was incredible. Honestly, I hope I captured it because it is unlike anything I've ever seen in person. But now, I don't even know what we have. Let me see. Looks like a... Prosciutto cucumber sandwich with some rocket and cheese. Rocket? There's something deeply humbling about being in a place like this. A place where time seems to stand still and nature is in its raw, undisturbed form. You're literally walking through ancient ice, some of it thousands of years old. This didn't even feel like I was on Earth. It felt like I had been transported to an alien planet. And as we walked through these glaciers, I started to realize... This place is special. And if day one is already this amazing, I know the rest of this trip is going to be insane. All right, now that we're back, I can give you guys a proper room tour. So first things first, actually, my favorite part of the room is this view. The glacier out there with the formation. It is incredible to just wake up and see this view every day. You've got the yoga dome out there. It's just my favorite part of the room. But over here, we've got all of our clothing. So up top. This is my outer layer, one of my mid layers. I'm wearing another one. And then my outer outer layer for super cold days. Power here is really limited. There's no power stations. There's no terminals. So everything that we're charging has to come off of one plug. So it's kind of an octopus coming out of that. Next to that is this coffee machine. What's really cool about this, other than the fact that it's a really nice espresso machine, is that it came with this custom white desert drink selection. I've been drinking these. They refill them all the time because I keep drinking them. They're so delicious. They're caffeine-free. So for the nights when I want to just chill, that's perfect. And then there's no running water whatsoever in our room. This is our hot water for drinking. And then this is the cold water. These get refilled every single morning so that we have fresh water to drink throughout the day. And then this is the milk for espresso drinks. It's just sitting out. That kind of gives you a sense of the temperature here. In Antarctica, you get one towel. This is our... towel for the week if i lose it if it gets dirty i drop this one on the floor my wife will say that's yours now and uh that's my hand towel for sure you don't get to replace this you can't wash these in antarctica you'd have to use detergent and that would damage the environment here so they will bring this back to cape town after our trip and wash it everything here is really about respecting nature preserving this environment which brings me to this which is our warm water and all the water here literally comes from that glacier that you see out there they have to melt it down and make it warm or semi-warm for us so i press this and can wash my hands here can brush my teeth it's actually quite nice you know when you're back here you can think that you're in a regular five-star hotel this is a pretty nice little setup other than the fact that you're pushing this and i think the most eco-friendly and perhaps surprising fact of this whole trip has been this bathroom so you'll notice there's actually three things in here first is the number one toilet pretty self-explanatory It's for number one. Now, only number one. No tissues, nothing else. Tissues go in here. But then that brings me to this guy, which is our number two toilet, which is a very special toilet. You can see there's this silver foil inside that literally suctions everything up, compacts it, and presses it down. This gets 10 flushes before they have to replace the entire system. Every flush is $10. So that gives you a sense of just the cost of the operation here. after the tent flushes are up packs down they actually fly it back to cape town to be disposed of properly over here we have our second maybe viewpoint this one shows some of the other pods so you can see the medical pods the other sleeping quarters and just the the landscape here which is incredible last but not least is the bed so this bed like everything else here is super environmentally friendly so the sheets are literally flown in fresh just for our stay when we're done they are flown back to cape down to get washed along blankets, pillows, etc. So it's surprisingly comfy, I will say. Despite this room being pretty cold, it gets really warm at night. Sometimes it's almost too warm, but it's a surprisingly nice luxury experience here on the harshest environment on Earth. As we walked to Happy Hour, I couldn't help think about some of the research I had done for this trip. See, before we went, I actually watched a Mr. Beast video. And in the video, Mr. Beast and his crew are getting whipped around. They're like starving in tents, barely making ends meet. And here we are in the same region. but we're getting five-star service. We're getting fresh-made cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and it was so amazing to experience the contrast between these incredibly harsh conditions and this unbelievable upscale five-star experience. I mean, we're eating a multi-course meal prepared by a private chef in the harshest environment on planet Earth. It feels like a James Bond movie or something. Does it taste? That's great! That's good! And in these moments, it was just a chance to reflect on how special this place was. Just got back after dinner, and like any good five-star hotel knows, always, always turn down service with chocolate. Always our favorite part of staying at a nice place like this. So we're going to eat these, settle in for the night, get some much-needed rest, and see what tomorrow brings. The weather is completely unpredictable, so we will find out in the morning. Anyways, good night for now. Good morning. Today is probably the day I am most looking forward to. We've got an epic set of activities planned for the day. Hopefully the weather holds out. Next up was something I've been looking forward to since we booked this trip. Ziplining across the glacier. Now it's getting serious. And of course, like anything in Antarctica, it's not just some zipline that's just waiting for you. Actually, that morning, our guides had been out hiking the glacier, finding secure spots, and they'd actually built the zipline that morning. That's our zipline. So that we could use it that afternoon. That's just how raw and fresh everything that we do here is. And so off we set, hiking up our rocky Elnian landscape. You know what's funny? I actually have a fear of heights. But as we climbed up this mountain, I just forgot all about it. And I just couldn't think, man, I can't wait to get on this thing and rip it across this glacier canyon. I trust you. What an adventure huh? Not gonna lie, when we booked this trip I didn't do that much research I knew I wanted to go to Antarctica and I knew there was one company that flew a private jet there and I was like sold but This has been incredible. I had no idea there was so much adventure activities here. The different options from ziplining to ice climbing, it's been incredible. I can't wait to see what the guides have in store. They always keep a few surprises for us, so we'll see what's next. And as if that wasn't cool enough, the next adventure they had in store for us was even more thrilling. This is where all of our drinking water... Showers? All. Everything. All the water is pumped in the lake. Wow. ice climbing time i did this on a tree almost 20 years ago i'm excited to do it for real i'm not that nervous i'm just excited to get up there and make this glacier mine conquer yeah it's slow almost there it's way more tiring then it's like a little kid up there it's fun we did it i wanted to show you my aura score because i'm an 89 for sleep but still just a 55 for readiness which i think just highlights what it is to be in antarctica it really is the harshest environment on earth the atmosphere the electromagnetism nothing here is designed for humans and that's why no one lives here which i think for me has just made it feel even more incredible and grateful that we get to do these amazing activities have this luxury experience in this kind of environment but speaking of environment today The weather has taken a turn for the worst yet. It's so windy out. You probably can't hear it with this mic, but it's just maybe there. I don't know. It's whipping outside. So likely any activities, whether it's hiking or climbing, are just going to be too dangerous today. And given that I'm at 55, maybe that's okay. I think it's going to turn into a wellness day. Maybe get a massage, some yoga in the dome. There was rumors of maybe a pizza and movie night tonight. We'll just chill and enjoy the lodge here. I've been privileged enough to do yoga on some of the most special landscapes on the planet. I've never done a more unique yoga class than in this yoga dome. There's something about just being in the stillness where you can literally hear the glacier cracking around you as you just peer into the white void. During the class, we really took time to just soak in how special it was. It was one of those moments that's over in a few minutes, but it will stay with me for a lifetime. I've been doing martial arts since I was four years old. I've done karate, kickboxing, taekwondo, jujitsu, you name it. And I thought, man, this is my one chance in the world to do martial arts on Antarctic ice in this dome with a glacier staring right back at me. And I had to do it. Not just for me, not just for the sick video, but for the inner kid inside me that just... I can't believe I get to do things like this and bring you guys along. Honestly, this is probably the peak experience for me of this entire trip, and it's just some of my favorite shots. I mean, look at this. It's insane. It looks like an AI-generated video. How crazy is this? First use of the polar plunge. Water straight from the glacier. Woo! Oh, it feels nice. Oh, it burns at first, but it feels so good. Water straight from the glacier. James, your hair is all over the lens. I'll just stay in here. Don't rush. I'm not a big journaling guy. It's not something that I wake up every morning and do, but whenever I'm in a beautiful place like this, I always just try to take a moment and either think about my goals and journal what I want to do in the next quarter, the next year, or in a really special place like this, what I actually do is I write down a life vision. What do I want my life to look like in the next five years? Who do I spend my time with? Who are the people that are in my lives? What are the things that I have? What are the things that I can give? For me, places like this really inspire me to dream bigger. So it's nice to just take a moment here to imagine our life once we land in Tokyo. It really gets me excited. It gets me emotional, but it also just gives me something to look forward to. And then I can plan my life around that. so that I'm heading towards where I want to be. I think one of the worst things you can do is just not really have a vision for what you want your life to be and then you just kind of drift around hoping to maybe land somewhere you'd like. I'd rather set a vision of where I want to be and then update it maybe every year, every five years as things change. So it was really beautiful just to take a moment here and map that out. I'm just so grateful to even be in a place like this and it's so inspiring to dream of what's next. emergency update wellness day is cancelled the guides just came in and gave us a update they're actually gonna put us on a flight immediately and take us to a different camp because everything here is so weather dependent they thought this would be a cool way to show us another side of Antarctica and just enjoy more of what this continent has to offer so we're gonna fly there immediately I'll stay there overnight in a completely different camp have breakfast there do some different activities and then come back to this camp tomorrow but you don't just catch a plane in antarctica you have to get fully geared up because the planes don't pressurize they're not cabin or temperature controlled so we're wearing the same gear as if we were going ice climbing or into a cave full of ice and glacier it's just the reality of catching a plane here but that's our ride this plane came all the way down to canada oh my gosh that was incredible oh that was so good i got a little motion sick on the turns but wow best flight of your life best flight of my life Who needs a private jet when you have a private prop plane? Incredible. Yeah. Wow. These are the crew tents. Look at that sun. Heading to our second pod of our trip. Is this number two? This is number two. Oh, yes. Then yes, this is ours. You are welcome, everyone. Thank you. Wow. Thank you. Hope you guys enjoyed that plane ride. It was incredible to be inside. amazing but i think we all got a little motion sick if i'm being honest this is not like a typical accommodation for white desert this is if you have to overnight near the runway it's kind of more of a scientific camp with the two beds but made luxury so they have really nice touches the fur blankets the pillows and then they have these beautiful chests to throw you back to 1940s when flying was adventure. And then over here is the sink area with the same hot and cold water system that we have over at Witchaway. The unfortunate thing about this place though is that they only have been number one toilet. If you need to go number two, you have to go outside to the showers and the ablution tent, which is a lock. See, White Desert actually has three camps. The first one with the domes is called Witchaway. This is their original camp. The founder of White Desert named it Witchaway because he found it during a storm and he literally couldn't figure out which way to go. This is where we're going to build our first camp. It's a special ground. And Witchaway Camp is known for being very close to nature. You have that big fat glacier right out front and it just really makes you feel like you're on an alien planet. The second camp is Wolfsfang. This is the camp that you stay if you visit for just a day. And while it's a little more rudimentary, the sunset views are epic. And it's not as fancy as the other two. but it's still out of this world. But the third camp, Echo, is a very special camp. They designed it to be super modern and inspired by Star Trek. And so the whole thing feels like you're in a space shuttle. It is the coolest, most unique hotel I have ever stepped foot in. You can just tell that they've built this place with no expense spare. Welcome to Echo. I mean, how cool is this place that they've built in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica? It's unbelievable. Let me give you a tour of my favorite part of this camp. This is the observatory. And right away, you're met with this incredible piece of art. I was blown away. The way that you look inside and the way that the shapes and the colors twist and turn, it's infinite. You can't even see your own reflection. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. And the story is even crazier. If you've seen the movie Knives Out, where they're on the billionaire's island, this is the actual artwork that they had on that island. perfectly captures the vibe of this place money is no object we can buy anything if it matches the environment and makes it special and this is one of the most special pieces come check out the bar it's even cooler so right over here we've got this stunning view of an arctica you can see the mountains in the back wolf's fang which is what this place is named after is right over there and then over here we've got fine spirits i think I'll go for the Akashi single malt whiskey in a little bit. And what a place to just relax, to take it in. I love the other camp. I love the glacier out front. But for me, this place is where I spend my time. I mean, what a just stunning spot. But there's more. The dining hall. How's this sauna? Can't wait to hop in this later. Stunning shower on planet Earth. This is the library, the lounge. It's so chill here. you just look at the mountains in the background have a nice glass of whiskey they've got games books a turtle shell a little paint corner back here and then uh the cuddle lounge i could just nap here but it's too epic outside i want to go ride these bikes so the original reason we actually booked this trip was because of this book we read it's called die with zero by bill perkins and it has a radical concept which is basically When you retire, you don't actually retire on your money. No, you're too old to spend it by that point and your body's just kind of broken down. You retire on the memories you make along the way. And as we biked around Echo and just got to soak in all the unique landscapes in this place that we were at, I realized that I would never forget this. We're headed to a really unique phenomenon here in Antarctica. Underneath the glacier, underneath the ice, there are these massive crystal caves. where the ground literally opens up, can be the size of a football field, and underneath there's millions of crystal formations. And this was actually discovered when they were just driving around and they looked down and saw a massive crevasse in the ground. So we're going to go check it out now. Hopefully get some cool footage for you guys. Here you go. The red goes in the front. I froze in the cave. In the sun. Crystal cave was a last minute thing, but it was honestly one of the highlights of the trip. Now we're going to make a little... Special hot chocolate. With the hot chocolate barely settled in my stomach, I was back onto a flight. Today's the big day. We're going to summit the glacier. Wish we were melting. It looks like snow made to the top of the glacier. Now we're going to do a little bit of rock climbing. But first, I'm just going to hang out, soak in these views. Never seen anything like this. Stunning. It's very bright, which is why I'm squinting. These make it a bit easier. I'm not a hero. I'm just a man napping on a glacier. Like and subscribe for the camera woman. Proposed, which was magic. I'll show you some footage. We didn't know it was coming. It was unbelievable. Now everybody's in a good mood. What is going on? There was a surprise outdoor lunch. Celebration, actually, for the proposal. It turns out the staff had been in on it the whole time. Oh, hello, chef. Wow. Is that one fish? It didn't just feel like a celebration for the newly engaged couple. It felt like a celebration. for all that we'd accomplished. Last night in camp and I just want to sit here and have a chat with you. I've been reflecting a lot on what this trip means, what it means for me, what it means. How do I summarize this trip? How do I explain to you, the viewer, what this has been like for me? There was a moment in that yoga dome. i was just thinking about why am i here and you know i don't do these kind of things to flex i'm not here for you i'm not here even for me i think i'm here for my 10 year old self i think everything i do is for my 10 year old self that little boy that was waiting in soup kitchen lines for food hoping that his friends wouldn't see him begging for food literally so he didn't go hungry or sometimes skipping meals just to save money I just want him to be proud. I want him to know that it's going to be okay. That we made it. And we really made it. I mean, look at this place. It's hard to put in words what this has meant to me. I know I'm supposed to talk about the price of this trip and the value or not. Is it really worth it? And it's really hard for me to do that right now. I had a whole spiel planned on the value of this trip and how to compare it against the cost of private jets and the hourly rate. and comparable resorts and instead i think what i just want to say is there are some experiences you can't put money on and this is one of them and i know that this trip is not accessible or available for 99.9 of the population i'd make a lot of other videos that i try to teach the tools and lessons and things that got me here from that 10 year old boy begging for food try to get you there too and i do it all for free but once you've experienced it i think There really is nothing else like it. So, thanks for watching. I really appreciate you saying this whole way. This trip was really special and meant a lot to me. Thank you again. I just feel so lucky and really lucky to be able to share it with you.

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If you're new here my name's Michia (Muh-ky-uh). I'm a serial entrepreneur and investor. Since selling my last startup for 9 figures, I'm investing my own money into the next wave of founders at my VC firm, L7V. 

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