Solivagant

field notes from a working holiday behind the Sun

words & (bad) photos by Dani Mercer · digital strategist & incurable traveller

The Solivagant: a whole flat world, riding on a ship the size of a world. Still can't quite believe I went.

The trip

I spent a fortnight on a flat world that rides on a ship, and I cannot shut up about it

So: a client invited me to visit. The client happens to be a nine-billion-strong civilisation that lives on a disc-shaped world — an actual flat world, with seas and mountains and cities — and that whole world rides on a ship, parked in the shade behind the Sun. A world and a ship at once. Reader, I went. Here's everything, holiday-blog style, because that is genuinely what it felt like once I stopped panicking about the scale.

Trip at a glance

Destination: The Solivagant — a flat, disc-shaped world riding on a ship the size of a world (it's a fleet, a ship, and a homeworld, all at once)
Where: Directly behind the Sun. Yes, really. No, you can't see it from here — that's the idea.
Terrain: Genuine seas, mountains, and cities, all on a disc with no horizon-curve
Getting there: The only hard part of the whole trip. Pack light.
Locals: Impossibly kind. Tall, gentle, unhurried. Will not let you pay for anything.
Best time: Around the 17th, when the place is liveliest
Budget: Free. They tried to give me a moon. I'm not joking.
Would return: In a heartbeat ★★★★★