This week I marked a very exciting end to travel restrictions, taking the 7.30AM flight out to Lisbon for the Press Association. It was a full flight, though there were very few people travelling with a traditional vacation in mind.
So, why were people so eager to be on that first flight out of the country? The resounding answer was family. While papers have been predicting a mass flooding of tourists back to green-listed beaches, no-one I spoke to that first morning had a sun bed in mind. Instead, sons, daughters, friends and long-distance partners were eagerly anticipating being reunited in a rather sleepy Lisbon after months, or even a year, of separation.
Anya Edwards, aged 20, was off to see her boyfriend for the first time since summer. Despite the early hour, Jill Osborne, 48, simply couldn’t stop smiling at the idea of being reunited with her family after a year living alone. Though perhaps the most heartwarming story, and one the press were quick to jump on, was that of Miguel and Natacha Rodrigues, both nurses at Frimley Park Hospital in Hampshire, who were taking their 7-month-year-old son to meet his grandparents for the first time.
Arriving in Portugal, we were taken straight to our hotel – the H10 Duque de Loulé hotel, where you can book four nights’ B&B from £398pp, including flights (ba.com). Located in Avenida Duque de Loulé, the four star hotel is simple, but beautifully styled with elegant parquet floors and traditional Portuguese tiles. The rooftop bar is definitely the selling point, offering panoramic views across the Lisbon skyline, right out to the sea.
Lisbon itself was stunning as ever - perhaps more so in the absence of crowds. The dusty, terracotta terraces and sleepy side streets felt like something from a film as we wandered Portugal’s capital city, stopping off for a pastel de nata as an excuse to duck out of sun – yes, sun!
Though the tourists are yet to starting flooding in the way predicted by the UK press, I’m sure over the next couple of months we will begin to see a slow trickle of tourists repopulating this gorgeous city. For those who return, it will be a different kind of holiday. Masks are still compulsory indoors and out, and bars and nightlife are off the agenda, with a 10.30pm curfew still in place. But with a beautiful climate and glorious golden beaches, I’m certainly already plotting my return. After all, working from home, means working from anywhere. Right?
It’s been a long year, but I was lucky enough to seize one last adventure before Lockdown 2.0–a press trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon, perfectly timed for my 26th birthday.
Stratford-upon-Avon was everything I expected it to be. Cobbled streets and Tudor cottages, and Shakespeare memorabilia everywhere! We found a lovely, independent museum, Tudor World, who told us how they’ve struggled over lockdown, but remained open to welcome in schools at discounted prices. At lunch we stopped off for obligatory tea and scones at a little family run tearoom, before perusing a couple of second-hand bookshops for hidden gems.
All-in-all, it was the perfect little birthday getaway for a literary nerd. And now for another month locked up at my desk. See you on the other side!
I’ve been learning Spanish during lockdown–for something to keep my brain busy. Every Wednesday I take a two-hour class with International House London, and now I can read short stories in another language. Pretty cool, right?
This July, they briefly lifted travel restrictions, and I jumped at the chance to escape the monotony of my life in a rented London box-room. Of course, being me, I didn’t book a traditional holiday. I went to a Spanish school in Barcelona for a weeks’ intensive language course.
The school, Camino Barcelona, was just a five-minute walk from Urgell metro stop, 15 minutes from La Ramblas and 20 minutes from the gothic quarter, perfect for sightseeing, cafes, bars or even a cycle down to the beach. Though it might sound ironic having chosen to learn the language, I’d never spent much time in Spain before this trip. At least not enough to really appreciate the culture, the architecture and sheer beauty of the quaint side-streets, tree-lined promenades and chalky apartments blocks with their iron balconies.
But what made the week all the more magical was the complete absence of tourists.
With much of the world still unable to travel, I got the unique experience of enjoying Barcelona at face value. We saw La Sagrada Familia without being forced off the pavements, wandered Park Guell for hours bumping into only a handful of people, and enjoyed leisurely evenings chatting with the locals outside tapas spots we didn’t need to pre-book.
I’m sure the next trip I have to Barcelona will feel quite different, though I can’t help but hope she can retain at least some of the tranquility I got to enjoy. Will people rush to refill our capital cities after the pandemic? Will the pace go back from nought to three-hundred as abruptly as it was brought to a halt? I have to say, I quietly hope it doesn’t. If only this trip had been an accurate representation of how the city usually feels, I believe I could quite happily have stayed forever.
For now though, back in my London box-room, I can’t help but stare longingly at the globe on my bookshelf, and dream about how many more sleeping cities I would love to discover in such a raw and humble way as I first met Barcelona.
