Armchair Travel — The Virtual Wanderlust We Never Knew We Needed
How 2020 taught us that travel can be as simple as just a state of mind.
The term “armchair travel” caught my eye in a Times Life article recently, which, turns out, has been one of the most widely used terms this year. It implies the act of travelling without actually leaving your home. Strange? I thought so. Although the term was coined many years ago, it exploded this year for, well, obvious reasons.
How does one “armchair travel”? Through pictures, videos, books, articles, movies, podcasts and any kind of travel-related content really. In the ever so advanced digital era we’re blessed with, we can tour destinations virtually (Google Arts & Culture), delve into immersive sessions and truly revel in a full sensory experience.
In the initial stages of the pandemic, one of the million thoughts that occurred to me was “how will travel publications and travel content creators survive this?” and as it turns out, they too, indulged in some heavy armchair travel content. Conde Nast Traveller, Forbes, Lonely Planet and plenty others began to offer a kaleidoscopic view of destinations and experiences to transport you to a paradisiacal horizon with the help of books, movies and videos. Laura Manske, a travel writer for Forbes urges readers to “nurture your wanderlust by diving into armchair travel” by offering aerial shots of some of the most spectacular locations on Earth in her article — Look At The Most Spectacular Drone Travel Photos: Eyes Over The World.
Around The World in 60 Minutes
From learning music history with a DJ in Cuba to guacamole cooking lessons in Mexico, “Airbnb Experiences” and “Amazon Explore” offer one-on-one experiences with a local, in the comfort of your home. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection (and a minimal fee to spare).
Flight to Nowhere?
In yet another astonishing attempt of innovation, I recently read that Singapore Airlines turned two parked jets into a pop-up restaurant over a weekend and people were very much aboard, figuratively and literally. What’s more, people even went through the usual process of security checks before boarding the aircraft. The “Flight to Nowhere” concept, as outlandish as it seemed at first, has indefinitely taken off. In another spin to the concept, a couple months ago, a Taiwan-based airline, Eva Air took passengers on a tour along the Taiwan coastline and over Japan’s Ryuku islands, landing exactly where it took off.
So there are two kinds of these so-called flights — one that actually takes passengers on a scenic tour and lands in the same spot it took off, and one that doesn’t even take off, merely offering the holistic experience. It’s a win-win really; airlines have tapped into an innovative opportunity for revenue generation considering the deep crisis they’ve suffered over the past 6 months, and people…well, people just want to float on the nostalgic clouds of air travel again.
Needless to say, a virtual tour is hardly the equivalent of a fortnight-long vacation in Spain. At some point, we yearn to feel the wind of a new city and so, armchair travel cannot entirely satiate that hunger, of course, but it can suppress the urge temporarily to an extent, and that’s good enough for the world right now. We all felt a certain reminiscence for the trips gone by and sat with a heavy heart in the initial months. But over time we learned that travel can, indeed, be something as simple as a state of mind, a vacation playlist, a heart-warming film or an indulgence into international cuisine at home. Unquestionably, we have our bucket lists ready for 2021; but until then, just a few more armchair travel experiences to catalyse our dreams of charming lamp-lit streets and exquisite sunsets.
