15 Things Only Travel Lovers Will Have Missed About Travelling

Bracing ferry crossings, organising packing cubes and finding sand everywhere except the beach... here are the giddy moments and routines that have percolated in our lockdown travel daydreams, firing us up for the next big adventure

- Jackie Scully

1 Utilising packing cubes (and packing lists)

How many of you have missed the therapeutic feeling of tightly rolling your clothes up and stacking them into packing cubes, while ticking each item off your list as it is placed into your well-ordered suitcase?

2 It’s all about the journey

If you’re anything like us, then you probably make sure you reserve a window seat when you travel by train and spend the whole trip gazing out of it. Ferry crossings are only ever enjoyable if you’re standing on the top deck (preferably in the wind) and planning what films to watch on the plane is all part of the fun.

3 Breaking the bind on a guidebook

Buying, annotating and physically breaking the bind of a guidebook is something of a travel ritual. And that’s before the trip is even booked, by which time we bet you’ve already spent hours marking all the things you want to do with yellow stars on Google Maps. We can certainly see why people say the build up is the best bit...

4 Walking down the steps from a plane

Nothing says ‘I’ve arrived’ like stepping out of a plane and walking down the stairs in a new destination. Especially when it’s blisteringly hot and all your ‘right’ clothes are tucked away in your hold luggage

5 Miniature moisturising