What aspect of travel do you miss the most?

[Mattg]

As we all sit at home, I was wondering what specific part about not travelling everyone is missing in particular?

Personally, I love flying but it's not the reason I travel. What I really miss is meeting interesting people from very difficult cultures, trying local foods/cuisines from all over the world, and simply the challenge of international travel - especially in countries where I don't speak (but have the opportunity to learn) the language. Now that I'm back in Australia, life is comfortable and predictable... and for me, that's another word for "boring".

 

[mrsterryn]

I miss planning it . Working out where to stay and what we/I can see in that area. The trains to catch and the countries (Europe ) they go through .
Catching up with friends. I have a couple of close friends that I try to see regularly one USA one UK . Which isn't happening and USA in particular I doubt will be open for Aussies this year
Though I know many think it is wrong i do enjoy working out status credits and longer flights to maintain status.
I miss working out fare deals which hotels look good with deals.
So instead of that fun....cleaning up and realising our place needs painting

 

[flyingfan]

Revelling in the differences of a new destination's cultures/markets/streets/smells/humidity/language compared to home is the main thing, especially when travelling far overseas for leisure.

Other things include planning it too, enjoying the lounge (which is why if I could travel now it wouldn't be as fun) and taking photos as keepsakes.

 

[VPS]

I miss all of it - I've got a lot of good friends in the UK and love travelling there and then planning side trips to different parts of Europe with different friends. My google maps has so many dots of places I want to go and I worry that I won't have enough time to get to them all.

 

[Andy_M]

Sorry to be a misery guts, but I don't miss any aspect of flying or travelling. This has been the longest period in 10 years that I haven't been in an airport or in a plane, and I'm loving it.

 

[Pushka]

I miss all of it - I've got a lot of good friends in the UK and love travelling there and then planning side trips to different parts of Europe with different friends. My google maps has so many dots of places I want to go and I worry that I won't have enough time to get to them all.

You will. You might end up broke though!

I miss the escapism from daily life. Includes the planning and actual doing. Hell, I even miss lining up for security and watching the scrum when priority boarding isn't working out.

 

[p--and--t]

I miss the escapism from daily life. Includes the planning and actual doing. Hell, I even miss lining up for security and watching the scrum when priority boarding isn't working out.

I miss lots of things about travelling the planning the packing the people the food the cultural differences the amazing sites, the eyeopening vistas the funny glitches.

One thing I never look forward to is the stupid theatre of airport security and hanging around.

The best part of starting a holiday is as the engines really fire up and we start roaring down the runway ✈ We're off and away.....

 

[Matt_01]

I have a couple of different views on not being able to travel. For work I travel every week and generally dislike airports and flying (my bus with wings) it is just routine. Like @Andy_M this is the longest period I have not had to set foot in an airport and also the longest time I have been at home in the past 10 years so I am sure my presence has messed with the family routine.

Travel with the family has always been a different matter, they still get a buzz out of what I take for granted e.g. F lounges, travelling in F or J, staying in hotels. Travelling with the family for leisure is something I do miss be it the planning, different cultures, local foods etc.

We have all but written off 2020 travel and with a stockpile of returned points from cancelled or yet to be cancelled trips I figure it will not be long before we start planning for trips in 2021.

 

[travel_bug]

I miss the break from reality and injection of perspective (work to live v live to work) that international travel brings, and the sheer joy of seeing family from domestic travel.

I miss sitting down in a far too comfy J seat with a glass of bubbles and having my food order taken, feeling very special for that moment in time and knowing that whilst I am utterly uncontactable by work, I am renewed in motivation to keep working so I can keep on enjoying things like this.

I miss all that planning and banking of leave (even the thrill of working longer hours knowing that it's for a particular trip), and then the bliss of arriving in a hotel and knowing that the days are completely free to do anything I want and to see or experience something completely new.

But also, I miss paying much too much for a one hour flight out of Canberra to visit family and to be able to actually hug them. I think there's a lot I'd give to be able to visit some elder members within my family and be able to hug them, and I'd give even more to be able to hug them without any feeling of anxiety that I could be asymptomatic or a carrier.

 

[Pushka]

I have a couple of different views on not being able to travel. For work I travel every week and generally dislike airports and flying (my bus with wings) it is just routine. Like @Andy_M this is the longest period I have not had to set foot in an airport and also the longest time I have been at home in the past 10 years so I am sure my presence has messed with the family routine.

Travel with the family has always been a different matter, they still get a buzz out of what I take for granted e.g. F lounges, travelling in F or J, staying in hotels. Travelling with the family for leisure is something I do miss be it the planning, different cultures, local foods etc.

We have all but written off 2020 travel and with a stockpile of returned points from cancelled or yet to be cancelled trips I figure it will not be long before we start planning for trips in 2021.

I was wondering if you were all getting a bit tetchy. Having the other half home here who travelled domestically anyway, almost as much as you, sure changes things on the home front. I have to cook something every night now, no more baked beans on toast for dinner!

 

[Anna]

What I am missing most is having a booked trip to look forward to, especially with winter looming ️

I'd like to be able to look forward to

 

[umberloidster]

Domestic?

I miss moaning about having to get an early alarm, driving to MEL, having a second breakfast at MEL in the VA lounge, travelling to SYD or CBR for work,moaning to colleagues about how annoying the hole shebang is when I actually completely adore it, flying back the same evening or the next morning. I miss unfolding my laptop at the VA lounge and thrashing through some email, and I miss the smell of Hunter handwash.

I miss keeping an eye on departures on the LCD board, or on my phone, to be a nanosecond ahead of the flight being called. I miss being nice to the lounge staff and the airport staff. I miss keeping an eye out for people who don't travel often and who visibly look nervous, and I miss asking if they need help or directions or just a friendly face.

I miss the feeling of there being an empty seat next to me, and waiting for the crew to announce that the flight is finished boarding and the door is closed, which means a spare seat next to me, which means an undue amount of elation that I can never share with passengers in my immediate vicinity.

I miss having almost learned verbatim the Virgin pre-flight launch tape, I miss the pull on the toggles to inflate and I miss the whistle and light for attracting attention.

I miss the speed with which a domestic VA flight serves everyone a drink even if it's a 45-minute CBR-MEL hop. I miss the bit at the top of the flight, before descent, where the engines go quiet and the plane is almost silent, even novice flyers aren't feeling anxiety. I like to think of this bit of the flight as the bit when we all forget where we came from, and where we're going to, and we think about life, disembodied. I miss that.

 

[LadyC]

I miss that little feeling of excitement when I arrive at the airport knowing I am heading off to a new location.

 

[Rugby]

I miss the Qantas SYD Flounge - we get to have some nice food and drinks, and then instead of having to go home we get to hop on a plane and go on an overseas trip - it still blows my mind

 

[Aeolus]

I miss all my friends at QF lounges and hotels I frequented and hope they are able to weather the storm and come out ok and still have their jobs.

 

[jakeseven7]

Don’t miss anything about the actual travel process but I do miss seeing interstate family, I miss Melbourne coffee and I miss being able to see customers face to face (Teleconferencing doesn’t cut it)

 

[Pushka]

Don’t miss anything about the actual travel process but I do miss seeing interstate family, I miss Melbourne coffee and I miss being able to see customers face to face (Teleconferencing doesn’t cut it)

Definitely agree about the teleconferencing thing. Our work really needs to get to Melbourne to do some face to face work to retain a major client. Hoping for July at latest or we might just have to drive and somehow wear the 14 day iso when return. Makes a two day trip of work into a three week exercise.

 

[MARTINE]

Morning fellow travellers...great thread and one which is very close to my heart having had first trip - Galileo ship in 1963 with my parents to Europe !! As a family we always travelled and (now near 60) I continued that tradition with my family. To me it starts with the planning and excitement of learning about a place of interest , booking and then we’re off (best flights/hotels/cafes and sights) and most importantly the people you meet ( on all modes of transport and also in the most unlikely of places). All my adult life I’ve had a trip planned in the future (till now) which is a motivator .. on the plane what can I say.. SQ business is force fed luxury and escapism.. the minute I take off it’s such a sense of freedom - permission time leave routine and obligations behind. I don’t miss security crowds, selfish people who push in (especially at the carousel) and travel for work. I also fully acknowledge it’s a privilege to have had the experiences and it’s more important to ensure that people stay well, the industry remains viable and we count our blessings (as I don’t leave for Europe tomorrow). Two mantras get me through (Mark Twain - ‘travel is the only thing that costs you money but makes you richer’ and ‘better to see it once than hear about it a thousand times’ anon). I’ll be looking at my albums and the hundreds of hotel memorabilia I’ve kept till we fly again. Stay safe people

 

[p--and--t]

(Mark Twain - ‘travel is the only thing that costs you money but makes you richer’ and ‘better to see it once than hear about it a thousand times’ anon)

What a great quote - I resemble that.

 

[burmans]

As we all sit at home, I was wondering what specific part about not travelling everyone is missing in particular?

Personally, I love flying but it's not the reason I travel. What I really miss is meeting interesting people from very difficult cultures, trying local foods/cuisines from all over the world, and simply the challenge of international travel - especially in countries where I don't speak (but have the opportunity to learn) the language. Now that I'm back in Australia, life is comfortable and predictable... and for me, that's another word for "boring".

This is it for me, so little more needs to be said.