Using nothing more than common household items like toilet seats, large appliances and the nearest device with a screen, people on social media are replicating the feelings of flying in style to their favorite destinations or of camping in the woods — all while practicing social distancing.
But as the camera pulls back, the scene coming into full view, you see Gortworst, sitting in front of a makeshift tray table, on the floor of his laundry room, his washing machine covered to look like an interior cabin wall. His phone is illuminated inside of it, playing a video shot from a plane’s window passenger as it lands.
With nonessential travel restricted, the Internet’s #travelfromhome trend — with nearly 30 million TikTok views as of Tuesday afternoon — is the closest most can come to boarding a plane. And optical illusions like Gortworst’s are a staple of it.
On Instagram, a user named Sherilyn Carter shared a photo of herself seemingly gazing out of a plane window at crystal-blue water; in the next, it’s revealed that the scene is set in a room in her house, with her “Instagram Boyfriend” holding up a toilet seat in front of a YouTube video of the ocean.
The British contributor to the community Travel Addicts has documented her recent travel “fix” in posts that show her stay-at-home “adventures,” including a pretend vacation in a pool and a photo mimicking looking at airport departure displays, with her passport and travel gear at the ready — that’s really on her TV.
Another video shared to TikTok shows a plane-window perspective above the clouds. When the camera zooms out, it shows a scene of a woman in a flight attendant’s uniform holding a toilet seat in front of her living-room TV, welcoming viewers to their flight to “absolutely nowhere.”
The trend is spreading as coronavirus-induced travel restrictions upend popular destinations around the world. Some museums and historic sites have attempted to bring their experiences into travelers’ homes with virtual tours, while beaches, aquariums and national parks are offering live streams.
Beyond such sights, however, travelers appear to miss even the mundane.
One Twitter user designed a custom boarding pass for a FaceTime call; another tried to re-create the Delta experience at home with a purchase of its famous Biscoff cookies.
Isolation, you won. I made personalised boarding passes for our facetime call this evening. 😭 pic.twitter.com/8qYuQGCvik
— Shore (@shoreyewande) April 11, 2020
Bought Biscoff cookies so I can eat them on the couch and pretend like I’m on a Delta flight going literally anywhere
— Lauren (@LaurenZmirich) April 3, 2020
Even less glamorously, one TikTok user posted a video depicting travel to an airline departure gate with her carry-on and passport in hand. When the scene is interrupted, it shows her on the track of a treadmill as she steps off with a defeated expression.
But the trend isn’t just trained on flying.
One TikTok video, for instance, shows a woman in full camping gear as she takes viewers farther on a “hike.” She lingers in front of the “wilderness” shrubbery on her property, warning of bears, then steps inside the front door of her home to find the “campsite,” complete with a cozy tent.
She pans back to the view of her living room couch. The words “Stay Home” can be seen on her sweatpants.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the origin of a popular social media post about a re-created plane scene. This version has been updated.
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