The trains might stop, flying not an option anymore and roads barricaded. However, you can’t take the love of travel away from someone who’s wanderlust surpasses any other desire. Even though a lockdown may be like a nightmare for travellers, many have found alternate ways to keep the passion of travelling alive. By sharing throwback pictures of various destinations across the world and telling about it in detail, many travellers have resorted to offering virtual travel to people.
Among them is historian Rana Safvi who started an online travel series where she has been sharing photos of historical places and giving out information about the same. She says, “Now that we can’t move, we can use this time for learning. I started this virtual travelling because we don’t know when travel is going to be safe now. I combine history and travel and write authentic information. I hope people get to see places through my eyes.”
Transporting people to places, virtually
Travel writer Archana Singh has started an online travel series of Amsterdam, where she’s transporting people to the country, virtually. She says, “Through my virtual travel posts on Amsterdam, I am trying to paint an almost real picture of the Dutch city. The basic idea of this initiative is to allow the people to consume visual content of a destination before visiting it.” She adds, “In all my travel series, I try to share two things – untold human stories about the places I visit and the unique experiences I have there.”
Traveller Ambika Bhardwaj who has been self-isolating in Manali has been sharing throwback pictures of snow and writing about the experience of living in the mountains. She says, “I upload pictures of the place and write about it. For instance, the cherry trees were flowering just a while back and the whole village was adorned by cherry flowers. I wrote about it so people could virtually see Manali change into a new spring.”
While photographer and traveller Tushar Panchal has found a unique way to connect with his audience by sharing Urdu and Hindi poetries on each of his travel posts of Mumbai, traveller and filmmaker Umang Thebaria has been creating a guided virtual tour of the Spiti Valley during winters. “From surviving -30 degree temperature to having very limited resources – visiting the place was a first-time experience for me. I took lots of pictures, videos and memories and thought, ‘let’s share this with people.’ So during lockdown, I worked on creating an online travel series on Spiti so people could travel there, sitting at home,” says Thebaria. Creating this virtual travelling series helped him calm his mind and cherish the memories.
Virtual travel, the best bet
Travel means different things to different people but everyone loves it. Singh says, “Since, physical travel is not possible in the current scenario, virtual travel is the best bet. People are curious about the destinations they want to visit.”
And Bhardwaj feels this is as good as having a long distance relationship with the place. She says, “Thanks to the virtual world, that in times where we breathe in isolation, we can still be connected and explore different cultures.” Panchal adds, “The fact that I can finally revisit the places I have travelled to and relive those colourful autumn pictures and golden sunsets makes me appreciate the destination even more and encourages me to travel there again after lockdown.”
