How to travel (virtually) while travel is still so restricted
If you live in the UK and are a normal person with a normal job and normal life, you probably won’t have left Plague Island for a long, long time.
The last time I left the country was February 2020 and the last time I went further than 30 miles from my house was only a few weeks later. I am jonesing for travel. I want to get on a plane and leave.
But I can’t.
The regulations, restrictions and conditions are expensive, complicated and honestly, I’m not sure I feel safe enough yet. England is under the traffic light system of countries we can re-enter the UK from without self-isolating, with self-isolation, those with mandated hotel quarantine and a few that the borders are closed to travel. There are currently 11 countries on the green list and most of them are inaccessible, not allowing UK tourists or on the other side of the world; the required tests just for the UK conditions cost over £100 per person; and that’s before even looking at the restrictions on the other side. (As of 14 June 2021, pre-Boris Johnson’s announcement.)
For me and Sarah, it’s not an option yet.
So we have to get creative with how we get our travel fix.
Re-watching old travel vlogs (and the people who are still travelling)
From youtube.com
Honestly, a lot more people have been travelling than I expected, and that’s mostly people across the Atlantic where the restrictions have been lighter from the get go. I’ve been watching the Disney vloggers have their adventures almost obsessively, I’ve re-watched L&R Dreaming, Mr David and Mr Ian, Adam Hattan and Gary C’s adventures in WDW, dipped into current videos from TheTimTracker, Kyle Pallo and Ordinary Adventures. I’ve followed along with Christian LeBlanc’s travels….everywhere, and even discovered a few cruise channels!
While I have serious mixed emotions about vloggers who are still travelling, it has been interesting to see how differently tourism is being treated around the world and also gave me a slice of life off of Plague Island.
2. Travel documentaries!
‘Joanna Lumley’s Japan’ via imdb.com
I’ve always been a fan of travel documentaries, and I particularly love Joanna Lumley’s documentaries. I watched her travel the Trans-Siberian railway and Japan, and I also watched James May and Paul Hollywood explore Japan too. I stumbled across ‘Race Across the World’ became obsessed with both seasons and was devastated that there’s no way to watch ‘The Amazing Race’ (the American version) in the UK. D E V A S T A T E D.
‘Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father’ is a real favourite and one I could re-watch endlessly, even though it’s less of a show to add places to your bucketlist, it is hilarious.
3. Fantasy travel planning
From pexels.com
If that sounds tedious and stupid to you then I don’t know how you found your ways to ‘Books, Burgers and Backpacks’, but welcome.
Researching travel destinations via YouTube, Instagram, TripAdvisor, Viator and a good old-fashioned Google search is an excellent way of spending a rainy afternoon or evening, and I’ve been doing a lot of it during the pandemic. I chuck all of my thoughts into a phone note dump and then make a plan for Sarah to look at (it’s always a trip we want to take) and then she tuts and re-does it properly, with logic and sense and a sprinkle of Sarah Magic.
My latest plan has been an epic four-week trip to Hawaii, California and Las Vegas which we’re hoping to take in 2023. Cross your fingers we can save enough for it!
In this strange world all of these things have helped to distract me, look to the future and remember that there is a whole big world out there and that even though it doesn’t feel like it, we’ll be able to see it all again soon.
Have you been able to travel recently? Or have you been desperately trying to stave off wanderlust too?
Written by Sophie
