Have you seen the BBC programme ‘Race Across The World’? The first series completely passed me by, but a friend’s recommendation convinced me that it was worth a look. After the first episode (there are six in total) I was so hooked that I watched the complete series across two days.
The basis of the show is that five pairs of travellers are racing to Singapore from London. However, there is a catch, the pairs mustn’t fly and must travel without smartphones or credit cards. They won’t have any access to the internet, either. They are given the cash equivalent of the cost of a one-way airfare to Singapore. If they run out of money, they will need to earn more. The couples set off from Greenwich, London, and must pass through five checkpoints, en route for Singapore, starting with Delphi. The first pair to arrive wins a significant amount of money, although if you watch the series you may agree with me that they all gain from the experience.
I can’t tell you how much I love this series! Not only is it about travel, it’s about people and what makes them tick and how they relate to others. One of my favourite pairs was a father and son. They have lost their connection over time and are hoping to rediscover the bond they once had.
The other pair, to whom I could really relate, was a retired, married couple. They were former teachers, in their sixties, who were aiming to have the equivalent of the gap-year experience they never had.
The second series is on TV at the moment, and I will report back at the end of the season.
My initial reaction to Race across the World was to say to Mr FF that I would like to travel to Singapore without flying! His face was a picture, but we all need to hang on to our dreams, especially at the moment.
It might seem frivolous or even foolhardy to talk about travel, at the moment, but I beg to disagree. I have loved to travel for as long as I can remember and like to think that I will travel again.
My very first trip abroad to Paris, aged 16, was on a French Exchange Visit. Although this was organised by the school, we didn’t travel as a group. I remember getting the coach and hovercraft, by myself. No mobile phone, no technology at all. Looking back, I’m surprised my parents let me go!
Fast forward a few years; as a student, I remember travelling with friends across Europe. This time, we hitchhiked (but never alone) stayed in Youth Hostels and relied on the kindness of strangers. With one particular friend, we ended up in Brussels staying in the flat of the British Ambassador.
Later we got a lift from Lille to Amsterdam with some Italians in their sports car. I have no idea how our rucksacks fitted in! Obviously, these were ‘gentler’ times, and we were probably massively lucky. But in the ’70s and the ’80s, it wasn’t unusual to travel like this.
When I met Mr FF, we didn’t have a honeymoon as such, but we stayed one night in a Chateau – hotel, before spending three weeks travelling, by car, through France until we reached the Pays Basque. We had no accommodation booked and just went where our fancy took us. Again, we met some wonderful people and stayed in a wide range of places.
So, perhaps it is now the time to think about ‘slow travel’ and not assume we can hop on a plane for a quick weekend break. Perhaps travel like this will become the norm:
What do you think? I’d love to know!
Fancying France 
Perfectly said:) I like it.
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🙏 Thank you!
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No travel at the present, June, but you have lots of lovely memories. Nothing wrong with dreaming!
We have two holidays booked this year. One will almost certainly be cancelled and the other perhaps. It’s disappointing but in the scheme of things, a small price to pay for staying safe.
I like seeing new places but also derive great pleasure from revisiting places that I have previously enjoyed. As I have a big birthday next year, I’m thinking about what I’d like to do to celebrate and it will almost certainly involve revisiting rather than somewhere new. I’d love to see the Norwegian Fjords again (last visited in 2007) or the Baltic countries (2014) . I’m not craving travel in ‘unusual’ out of the way places; my future travel ambitions are quite conservative.
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I did reply to this but my comment appears to have disappeared! I’m sorry to hear about your holidays but, as you say, the main thing is to stay safe. The Norwegian Fjords and the Baltic countries were on my list of places to visit but who knows what the face of travel will be in the future? I seem to be developing an interest in extensive train journeys!!
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I’ll take a look in the Spam folder. Not been in for a while and I know that other responses have occasionally appeared in there. Perhaps our worlds will get narrower – who knows. There is so much that I feel uncertain about right now
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Hi there
I read your blog avidly but this is my first comment – one more first in these strange times!
I remember travelling with a group of fellow ‘A’ level students (so older than you were) to Paris as part of our studies. We had a whale of a time and learnt quite a lot. This was without a teacher with us so we felt grown up and very independent. We drank in the evenings in French cafes and bars – this was frowned on at home – and even had conversations with real French people. Happy times.
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Hi Sue,
I’m delighted to know you enjoy reading my blog and thanks so much for commenting. So, you did French ‘A’ level, too! Did you carry on with French? Your trip to Paris sounds wonderful; great memories of happy times.
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I’ve always felt a connection with France and for many years we went to Normandy or Brittany with the car over our two week Whit holidays (we were teachers and always had a fortnightly off school at this time). Language often caused us problems despite my French A level ( which seemed more like French literature than French language) and led to much amusement from the French folk at our attempts. It caused us to laugh too when we later realised what we had said. One instance was when we were in a small village and my sandal snapped and I couldn’t walk. My husband rushed to a nearby small store that was about to close for lunch and asked them to wait until “mon mari” arrived. This was way before men were allowed to marry each other and they looked at me in such a strange way when I asked to buy a simple pair of sandals. An old lady even came out of the back of the shop and glared at me. It was only later when I asked my husband what he had actually said that I realised he had used mari instead of femme.
We don’t go to France at all now which is such a shame as I miss the trips
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We used to have some brilliant summer holidays in Brittany when our sons were small. My ‘A’ level French sounds much the same as yours, very literature based. We were taught by a native speaker but it didn’t seem to help my conversational skills! It was only when I spent several months out in France, as part of my degree, that I actually got to grips with the spoken language. Your sandal story made me smile. I remember being asked once if I’d had enough to eat at the end of a meal and I ended up saying I was pregnant. I’d made the classic mistake of translating directly the word for full which can also mean pregnant – oops!
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