Imagine being in a helicopter that just flew over the runways of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. Instead of having an air traffic controller going bonkers, screaming something to the effect of “what the hell are you doing here. Vacate immediately” they were just excited to have a real aircraft to work with.

Travel photographer Andy Luten had just that experience as he cruised over various US airports taking pictures of parked aircraft.

He published them in his travel blog. Headed “They Will Fly Again: an Aerial Look at Grounded Jets across the USA” , it’s a grim pictorial essay on the parlous state of the international airline industry.

Even as life begins to acquire a patina of normality, as we are let loose from the limitations of lock-down, it will be a long time yet before we can start travelling as freely as we once did, but we can still dream about it and more importantly prepare for it.

One of the items higher up on my bucket list is to visit the great art museums of the world. In Amsterdam The Van Gogh Museum and The Rijksmuseum (The Milkmaid, pictured, is one of the many great works there), the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Been there once but could easily spend at least a whole day there again. Same with the National Gallery in London. Been there, done that . . . would do it again anytime. And at least a dozen more spread across America and Europe.

The Lake District is one of the most popular regions for visitors . . . and no wonder. It is just so blindingly beautiful.

It has inspired poets and writers for centuries. In fact it gave its name to a group of 19th century writers, the Lake Poets, most prominently William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. But others such as Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin have drawn inspiration from this wonderful visual cocktail of lakes, woodlands and fells.

I remember as a kid at school I had a box of “Lakeland” coloured pencils, made in Keswick, and the photograph on the box fascinated me: The blues, browns and purples of the towering glacier-gouged mountains cradling gentle lake-studded valleys instilled a desire to see it for myself. It took a while – 35 years – but eventually I got there and it was even more majestic, more inspiring, more beautiful than I expected.

Don’t let anybody tell you that Adelaide is a boring city.

That was the impression I was given from various sources before I arrived there.

To start with, it’s a very pretty city. The surveyor who laid out the central city area created a huge open parkland around the perimeter of the fledgling town. The result: It’s like someone planted a city in the middle of a park. Which, is, of course, exactly what happened.

The main streets are broad, tree-lined boulevards. The built environment has very largely not been upgraded with a bulldozer over the last century. Thus many, if not most, of the beautiful heritage buildings remain, giving the city a distinctive historic character.

My first encounter with that special character came before I even left the airport.

My first encounter with that special character came before I even left the airport.

If you have been to Britain before and therefore seen all the biggie London sightseeing options – you know, The Tower, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, St Pauls etc. etc. – or if you just enjoy something a little different in your sightseeing diet, here’s a collection of lesser known but equally interesting attractions.

There are, of course, dozens more places and things that you’d love to see, to do, and to experience but these would make a great start on some quirky London sightseeing.

The guys at Hand Luggage only, Yaya and Lloyd, and have put together a collection of 12 of the best day trips in England, like Durdle Door (pictured).

I couldn’t have selected them or written it better myself, he said . . . . modestly, of course. (Blush).

Once the world returns to some semblance of normality and as the summer (or perhaps autumn?) weather arrives any of these destinations would be a great day or two out, or form part of a longer itinerary.

Nearly all of them are included as tours in my upcoming eBook Great British Road Trips. It’s about three weeks from going live. Keep an eye out for it. It will give you a veritable buffet of things to see and do on any visit to the UK.

You can follow a new adventure today, right now, without getting out of bed. (If you happen be sitting in bed with your laptop on your lap).

That amazing invention, Google Earth, will let you wander highways and by-ways all over the world.

Discover new things, plan your next road trip once we get out of this locked-down purgatory, or even relive favourite trips of the past.

You can do it right now and it won’t cost you a red cent to get there and start. Not a bean for gas. Food and drink can be had at the local café, a.k.a. your kitchen.