Hi there JFC-ers,

The January blues may be setting in for a lot of you about now. The festive season is definitely behind us, the weather is brutal for many, with little respite to come, and the news continues to show us devastation around the world. 

The Detour, unfortunately, can't fix any of that. But what we can do, I hope, is give you all a little inspiration for the year ahead, through new travel experiences, destination suggestions, and insider tips from the wonderful community of Detour readers (Detourists?). 

So please, dear readers, let me know where your fellow JFC-ers absolutely must go this year, and why! Just hit 'Reply'.

Happy travels and safe landings,

This week, we'll continue sharing the JFC team's tales from their 2024 travels, and look forward to what adventures they have in store for the year ahead. Spoiler alert: there weren't many staycations on their wish lists!

Larissa - Flight Finding Team Lead

Top trip of 2024? It had to be going home to Australia to see my family and friends! It was special because I got to go to a close friend's wedding, but also saw my family for the first time in a couple of years. Also, I had reeeeeally missed the Aussie sun

Where are you looking forward to in 2025? Japan! We're going to Tokyo and Kyoto for the first time, and we're so excited to eat all the food. Ramen and pork cutlets are high on the agenda! 

Anywhere you're hoping we find an error fare for? Fiji! A bit of a wildcard, but I have a family trip there this year, and I'd really like not to pay full price. 

Andreia - Flight Finder

Top trip of 2024? Both trips happened because of JFC: the error fare flights at €190 rtn to Tanzania, and the Race Across Europe with Lupine Racing, which led me to Albania and Greece.

Tanzania is just so special - we did a low-budget safari, and seeing elephants (and all the other animals, but ELEPHANTS!) in their natural habitat gave me memories for a lifetime. We then took a ferry to Zanzibar: aside from enjoying everything-passion-fruit-flavoured and spending most of the time either slightly or almost completely underwater, I was happy to learn the feeling of fulfilling a childhood dream (that I had let go of) of swimming with dolphins in the wild.

And then in the summer, my Mediterranean self felt right at home as we drove through the Albanian mountains, swam in rivers and the sea, took a boat trip and stopped on a small island for freshly-caught fish for lunch. From the touristy beaches of Ksamil, we hopped to Corfu, and then to Paxos. I got to know a little bit of Greece, and fall in love (as I knew I would) with Gyros, the salty water, and the sunsets. On top of that, we had a blast driving a 4×4 around the island and steering our rented boat around Antipaxos.

This year, I learned a lot about my limits, my expectations, how to handle my anxiety and fears that overwhelm me and tell me I'm not prepared to take a trip. All in all, I feel really privileged that I got to travel so much, and embrace such raw beauty - both in nature and in people.

Where are you looking forward to in 2025? With 2 different Lupine races across Europe planned for 2025, and a JFC company meet-up, I mostly want to visit countries around Europe (and Morocco). I really want to hit Amsterdam, and visit Scandinavia on the way to Tallinn in August.

Who knows what the travel world holds for us, though? I'm a last-minute planner, and I'm always up for a new adventure.

Anywhere you're hoping we find an error fare for? Japan, for travel in 2026!!!!

Robin - Head of Ops

Top trip of 2024? I'm a Petrolhead at heart, and the Pyrenees have been on my hit list for a long time as a road trip possibility to combine wild roads, wild landscape and wild swimming. It delivered in spades, with wonderful weather, great hikes, lakes and twisty, scenic mountain passes.

Where are you looking forward to in 2025? I'm hoping for some Austrian Alps in springtime, and possibly a longer adventure to South America to celebrate a milestone birthday with my partner.

Anywhere you're hoping we find an error fare for? Far-flung: New Zealand, or closer to home: Corsica.

Kristi - Flight Finder

Top trip of 2024? Kyrgyzstan! I travelled there because JFC found a super low fare (€100 from Amsterdam!), and I loved exploring somewhere off the beaten track. Everything was so far outside my comfort zone, from the food to driving, the language, even trying to figure out how to fill up with gas and the inclusion of a tool kit in my rental car for "minor mechanical repairs". The people were warm and friendly, and the landscape was gorgeous. It was such a bucket list trip!

Where are you looking forward to in 2025? The Baltics and Sweden! Again, because I like travel that pushes me out of my comfort zone, a race through Eastern Europe, ending with a week exploring Sweden's islands, sounds really fun and adventurous.

Anywhere you're hoping we find an error fare for? Ideally, Nepal… but from Canada, so it's pretty unlikely!

Keep your eyes peeled for more of our team's travel recommendations next week!

I’ve had an anxiety disorder for a pretty long time. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but most articles mention things like breathing exercises and positive affirmations. When you have severe, debilitating anxiety, that can feel like suggesting a Band-Aid for a broken leg.

Anxiety can hold you back, especially when you throw traveling into the mix, with all its triggers: it’s uncomfortable, sometimes risky, and often full of unwelcome surprises. And it doesn’t help to see folks on social media travel the world, seemingly with ease, in situations that you know would leave you ill. 

This is my story about how I learned to balance anxiety with an incessant need to explore, with some tips at the end for conquering these struggles yourself.

So, you’ve got an anxiety disorder. 

The first time I had a panic attack, I didn’t understand what it was.

My dad and I had been planning to drive out into the California desert to see Salvation Mountain, the psychedelic painted monument that marks the entrance to the hippie haven of Slab City. I was into both artsy hippie stuff and the desert as a teenager, so this was a holy grail location for me.

But rather than being excited to finally make it out to Slab City, I was laying on my bedroom floor, wondering if I was about to die. 

If you’ve never had a panic attack, it’s hard to understand how it feels. It’s like drowning. The first sign is a blood rush to my ears, and then I lose my hearing. My face and hands go numb. Usually I feel nauseous; always I feel faint.

When this happens to me now, I can think myself through it. You’re having a panic attack. It’s okay. It will pass. 

But for the first half dozen panic attacks or so, I didn’t know what was happening. I actually thought I was having a severe medical emergency. I also thought it was triggered by fear, so I found it embarrassing and impossible to admit.

So when I had a panic attack that morning before going to Salvation Mountain, I didn’t really know how to explain myself to my dad. I just told him I didn’t feel well. He was obviously frustrated, but agreed we could go another time. (We never did.)

It wasn’t until college that I realized that these were panic attacks, and that I had an anxiety disorder. An actual disorder. A diagnosed chemical imbalance in my brain was causing this to happen. Not some random bout of cowardice.

Categorizing this problem as a disorder made it easier to deal with. Where I used to wallow in self-loathing at my inability to cope, now I said, “Okay, you have this disorder. What are you going to do about it?”

Pushing through the pain.

I didn’t travel very far from home prior to working for Jack’s Flight Club, but when I did travel, the anxiety traveled with me. It followed me through hotel rooms all across the western US. I panicked in Sedona, in Idaho, in Salem, Oregon. All over Washington state. In nice hotels and not-so-nice hotels. 

For the first half of my twenties, sleeping in a hotel room meant spending hours on the bathroom floor, feeling like I was dying. And that was a trade I was willing to make, over and over and over again if it meant I could visit somewhere new.

I eventually started to make peace with these panic attacks, more or less. I learned that getting angry with myself, or being upset that I was ruining my trip, or worrying that I might have a panic attack, all made it worse. It was better to just accept it. I’d be on edge, and then I’d feel the sickness in my stomach and the blood rush in my ears, and I’d think, "Well, here we go. Let’s get this over with."

By the time I turned 25, I could spend all night panicking, and then get up the next morning like everything was normal. I had it down to a science.

I needed to travel. Even if it wasn’t far. I didn’t want to have panic attacks, but I couldn’t stand to stay at home. What’s a rough night or two, compared to the benefit of seeing the country?

I could cope with it. I learned some of the triggers and the tricks to getting around them. Food has always been a big trigger for me. If I am in a hotel room in an unfamiliar place and I don’t have access to bland, digestible foods that I can eat with an unsettled stomach, I am practically guaranteed to spiral. 

Thus entered the emotional support tortillas: they’re cheap, don’t need refrigeration, and can slide flat into my bag. Best of all, I can eat them even if my stomach’s upset. I have not gone on an overnight trip without tortillas in years, and they have kept my typical anxiety from ballooning into panic more times than I can count. 

If it works, it’s not stupid. 

So after having panic attacks in several of western America’s finest motel rooms, what does an inexperienced traveler with a panic disorder decide to do? 

Go to Alaska. Alone.

Read more...

On the punctuality of Canadian airlines…

Good point, Tanya! Nobody loves a delay, but when travelling through Canada in winter, we shouldn't be surprised if the weather causes some disruption.

As to your second point — well, I'll just leave this here. That said, it seems we're not alone, with snow storms disrupting travel in the southeast US, too. If any of you must travel this weekend, readers, please take care!

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• As of this week, visitors coming to the UK from North America, Europe, and beyond need to register for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before arriving in the country. The EU's ETIAS scheme, however, is yet to get an official launch date, after being postponed several times since 2020.
  
  
• Read about the "sea women" of South Korea's Jeju Island, who have been harvesting sea urchins by hand for hundreds of years.
  
  
• What could be worse than a fellow passenger peeing on you at 38,000 ft? How about a fellow passenger peeing on you only 4 hours into a 15-hour flight…
  
  
• Ever wondered which of London's Tube stations is best? Good news, this TikToker has rated all 272, so you don't have to.
  
  
• And finally, beware if you're out and about judging those Tube stations for yourself this weekend, as you might catch a glimpse of a little more flesh than you'd expect on a crisp Saturday in January. All I'll say is, don't forget your sunglasses!