# Getting away from it all **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286 "2010-05-13T12:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/1 "2010-05-13T12:51:33Z")
Linky: [Where can I go to REALLY get away from it all? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/280/where-can-i-go-to-really-get-away-from-it-all) Is Russia still offering to send a sufficiently rich/suicidal person on a circumlunar flight, or was the program dropped after there were no takers? I haven’t been able to find a cite. A solo flight to the far side of the moon, now THAT’S getting away from it all! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/2 "2010-05-13T15:26:01Z")
Are you possibly thinking of this article, [Private space companies start competing for cheaper tickets to the Moon](http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/16686_moon.html), from Pravda? Pravda is now the Weekly World News of Russia. Its articles are made up. (Yeah, Pravda means “truth.” Historic irony.) There never was any such program in Russia or the U.S. Probably never will be one in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/3 "2010-05-13T15:48:47Z")
I dare say it was an allusion to today’s featured S.D. Classic, [Where can I go to REALLY get away from it all?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/280/where-can-i-go-to-really-get-away-from-it-all) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/4 "2010-05-13T17:03:55Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > I dare say it was an allusion to today’s featured S.D. Classic, [Where can I go to REALLY get away from it all?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/280/where-can-i-go-to-really-get-away-from-it-all) Well, duh, since that’s the first line in the OP. But the word moon isn’t mentioned anywhere in the column no matter many times it gets linked to. My reference was to the OP, not to the irrelevant column. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/5 "2010-05-13T17:23:49Z")
Isn’t that in the middle of the South Pacific Gyre? I know there’s not as much garbage there as in the North Pacific Gyre, but I would think there’d be quite a bit of it. Maybe back in 1977, it was a place where you could get away from it all, but I doubt it is any more. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/6 "2010-05-13T19:05:34Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Are you possibly thinking of this article, [Private space companies start competing for cheaper tickets to the Moon](http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/16686_moon.html), from Pravda? > > Pravda is now the Weekly World News of Russia. Its articles are made up. (Yeah, Pravda means “truth.” Historic irony.) > > There never was any such program in Russia or the U.S. Probably never will be one in my lifetime. Yes there was: [Encyclopedia Astronautica Index: 1](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/dsealpha.htm) My question was whether the program was now defunct. And while the original article by Cecil says nothing about flying to the moon, I took the question to be equivalent to “how far could I get from any other human being?” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/7 "2010-05-13T19:40:32Z")
I did more checking. The program is not defunct so much as a publicity stunt that was not serious for a single second in the first place. There was not then nor is there now a lunar program in Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/8 "2010-05-14T04:26:54Z")
Unless it’s changed since I was there – and it could have; even Laos has a Starbucks now, I hear – there are no chain fast-food places of any type in Nepal, a great place to hang out. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/9 "2010-05-14T05:46:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Unless it’s changed since I was there – and it could have; even Laos has a Starbucks now, I hear – there are no chain fast-food places of any type in Nepal, a great place to hang out. list of places without mcdonalds at bottom: > **[List of countries with McDonald's restaurants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_McDonald's_franchises)** > > McDonald's is one of the largest chains of fast-food restaurants in the world, with more than 40,000 outlets worldwide. The majority of McDonald's outlets are franchises. > The list of countries follows the company's own calculation and contains several non-sovereign territories. Today,\[a\] there are over 13,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States, over 6,800 in mainland China, and almost 3,000 in Japan. Its home country and the two largest foreign markets make up more than half of McDona... ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/10 "2010-05-14T07:05:56Z")
Ooh, they even have a website: [Space Adventures](http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Lunar.welcome). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/11 "2010-05-15T01:37:57Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > list of places without mcdonalds at bottom: > [List of countries with McDonald's restaurants - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_McDonald's_franchises) Ah, so there is one there now. Pity. I am reminded of Pizza Hot in Cambodia. No, that’s not a typo. Pizza Hot, not Pizza Hut, and they blatantly ripped off the Pizza Hut logo and everything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![happylittlemoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f4b2a3/32.png) [@happylittlemoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happylittlemoron)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/12 "2010-05-21T05:22:11Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > Isn’t that in the middle of the South Pacific Gyre? I know there’s not as much garbage there as in the North Pacific Gyre, but I would think there’d be quite a bit of it. > > Maybe back in 1977, it was a place where you could get away from it all, but I doubt it is any more. I understand that this location is also pretty far away from anything, and has some interesting fauna. Latitude 47° 9’ S, Longitude 126° 43’ W. Some travelogues going back to the early Thirties describe it as ‘off the beaten track.’ deedee\_az ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-away-from-it-all/539286/13 "2010-05-21T14:26:59Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Pravda is now the Weekly World News of Russia. Its articles are made up. (Yeah, Pravda means “truth.” Historic irony.) And Izvestia means “news,” which leads to the Russian saying: There’s no news in “Truth” and no truth in “News.”