Ditching Air Travel | Exploring the UK with Jess & Charlie from The Travel Project

This week, we're diving into everything that the UK has to offer with Jess and Charlie from The Travel Project. The pair have been documenting their adventures together for many years now, all while cutting out air travel entirely and, instead, making an effort to explore the world around them here in the UK. At a time where more and more people are becoming conscious of the effects that we have on our planet's climate, we believe it's not only beneficial but also necessary to highlight the beautiful country we have on our doorstep, and discuss ways to incorporate eco-friendly travel into our lives. Read along as we chat about the highs and lows of travelling as a family and the amazing people they've met along the way, as well as some of their absolute favourite spots to escape to. 

We actually met at uni in Leeds. After that, we both worked in advertising for almost 10 years, which I suppose is somewhat relevant to what we do today. It was quite intense, I was a producer and account director, and Charlie was a creative director for social content at the agency he worked at. 

In the last year of our 20s, we decided to go traveling for a year. We went on to have this incredible experience, travelling all around the world and doing some really amazing things. When we got back, we realised what a huge benefit those regular adventures had been for us, both mentally and physically. However, we both knew it wasn't sustainable from a financial standpoint. Plus, it started to feel a bit weird jumping on a plane every five minutes and, in doing so, encouraging others on social media to do the same when we knew how bad it was for the environment. 

So, we decided to try and find that fix of adventure in a more sustainable way and see what the UK had to offer. We started off with what we called ‘52 Adventures in 52 weeks’, which was one adventure a week across the UK. We were quite amazed by the end, we thought we might be a bit bored of it after a while, but if anything, our list has just grown more and more as we realise there's still so much to see, even all these years on. 

Pre-kids, I remember lots would go wrong because we didn't really plan, but that was something we loved about it. We could just change direction and go somewhere completely different that night. We both have this bizarre love for weird roadside motel style places so if we ever ended up in one of those overnight, we'd be quite happy. Since having kids, almost every journey goes a bit wrong, whether it's the kids wanting to get out of the car, someone being sick, or them just being bored. But we don’t take the flexibility for granted. It's something we just try and enjoy. Luckily, we haven’t had many tough journeys since we’re not flying and therefore don't get stuck in airports, and we’re not reliant on other people. I can think of so many times we’ve gone on holiday in the past where we've had issues with flying and it's all been a bit of a faff. But thankfully, we've never had any issues like that with staying within the UK, because you can always just change your plans. 

I think there’s a few. I always find organising and getting there much easier, especially with kids. There's this regularity that we can go and explore somewhere quite close to home every weekend. We've marked a 10 mile radius around our house, so sometimes we will be traveling further afield, but other times, we maybe go an hour away or even 15 minutes away, but always to places we've never really bothered to look before. 

I think part of that stopping, slowing down, and trying to appreciate what is around us has helped us in other areas of life. We're all so quick to rush through life onto the next thing, the next job promotion, the next big trip, all while not really appreciating where we are in that moment. It’s made us more appreciative for what we've got. Don't get me wrong, we aren't against holidaying abroad at all, there's a lot we can take from experiencing other cultures. However, what we feel is you can get that regular fix of adventure by traveling closer to home and not having that impact on your pocket, as well as the environment.

When we went on our year of travelling, we decided to take a camera with us as a way to document our travels, plus we both love photography. We really wanted to have local experiences, rather than the generic tourist experience. We initially went to India, and through Instagram we connected with some incredible people. Chefs, Bollywood film directors, photographers, and more. We started documenting the trip on Instagram mostly for ourselves, but it just started growing. Afterwards, we were back to our day jobs, but the page kept slowly growing and growing. We kept traveling in our spare time, but eventually we started having open conversations about our carbon footprint with all of the air travel which seemed to really resonate with people. When we started to really focus on the UK, we went from around 20-30,000 followers to where we are now. We hadn't expected it to blow up in that way, but we’ve been doing this for so long, it feels much more gradual than it maybe looks. 

I quit my job in advertising and went full time in February before the Covid lockdown so that was a bit of bad timing, but it did give us time to think about what we were going to do. It always seems from the outside that we are traveling all the time, but we do a lot of the work from home. We also have a content creation agency called The Outside Studio, that's another part that we don't really share. With that, the biggest thing we've had to get used to is working together. Obviously, we work together, live together, and have kids together. It can be quite intense, but so far, we've managed to make it work. 

There's a few probably, one being the people we've met on the road. We've met some incredible characters, and I can't really pick out just one. We've actually started creating some some small documentary films with some of the characters! We met recently with a guy called Zeki, who lives in the Cairngorms, he grew up there and has a very interesting way of living. We also chatted to an ex-Marine called Henry who has a business called the Coastal Exploration Company in Norfolk, where he restores old sailboats and takes them out to the salt marshes. There was a guy we met on the Isle of Iona who had a beautiful old sail boat, and we'd go out to the Treshnish Isles on it. Often in the more extreme areas of a country, you find some of the greatest characters, and we've met some really cool, interesting people. Another favorite has to be seeing our two boys out in nature absolutely loving it. It makes us realise how lucky we are to spend time with them there. 

Anyone who's had kids knows how difficult the logistics of travel can be. The reason we wanted to focus so much on travel was to give them a life of being outdoors and connecting with nature, but we never wanted it to be stressful for them or for it to feel like a chore. We're always very aware of that, so we make sure to give them the routine they need with nursery and seeing their friends. There's definitely a challenge in finding the balance between doing both. It’s always a balancing act being away and trying to look after them, have a great time and be present with them whilst also do the work we need to do, however it's something we feel that has been worth it so far.

I don't know if any of it would be surprising to be honest, it’s mostly just the basic logistics of everything! Trying to get out the door with two kids, stopping on the motorway for a toilet break, or ending up staying in places that aren't the nicest. We don't travel full time, which I think would be quite stressful as a family. We do have a base, our kids go to nursery, and we have work that we need to be around for a certain amount of the year. So we do have a certain level of routine. The bits you share on social media are the highlights and we have some very special moments on the road, but I think we’re just like any other family. We're no quicker at getting out the door or organising things. 

Also, as time has gone on, we've been lucky enough to be offered some beautiful places to stay, but that wasn't always the case. When travelling as much as we did, we were obviously staying in the most budget friendly places we could find, just so we could get out and explore new places. We've definitely stayed in our fair share of less glamorous places, but they were still great places to use as a jump off point to travel more and experience different things. 

That is a tough one! There's so many great places. Both Cornwall and Scotland have very special places in our hearts. I think both offer something quite unique. With Cornwall, you feel immediately like you are on holiday. There's the warmer climate, the beaches, the surf culture, and the general feeling of the place; it doesn't feel like the UK to me. It feels like you're away on holiday abroad somewhere, and I love that. And then Scotland is just so unique in its own right. Whether it's the highlands, the islands or the Cairngorms, they are just so uniquely incredible. It’s all world class in terms of landscape, and the people are always so friendly. I think if you've never done either of those, 100% put them on your list. 

Number one is that drive into the Scottish Highlands, that one always takes my breath away. The landscape completely changes into these incredible mountains. It makes you feel quite small and insignificant, but in the best possible way. Another one is Holkham Beach in Norfolk, it’s one of our favorite beaches. It’s got such a vast sandy beach, and a wetland nature reserve going out. You've got sand dunes there, and the forest coming down to the beach. There’s also loads of amazing birds there in the evenings. Every time we go, we absolutely love it. Another discovery we made last summer was the Cambrian Mountains in Wales, which are such an underrated destination in the UK. We were quite blown away by it. It has these crystal clear waters, and amazing spots for swimming and hiking. Those three places are all up there. 

The perfect itinerary would definitely include some kind of wild swimming in a lake, a river, or the sea. It’s always amazing to get some beautifully cold, fresh water somewhere. We also love getting some food from the local markets, butchers, or fishmongers, and cooking that outdoors somewhere. Finally, a great itinerary has to include some nice forest or beach walks, followed by a few beers outside as the sun goes down with some friends, that would probably be our ideal weekend. 

There's loads of places we would still love to visit. We are an island of islands, and we’re yet to tick a lot of them off of our list. We'd love to visit the Shetland Islands and the Isles of Scilly, and so many more but those two are probably right up there. I think you get some quite unique landscapes and cultures in those sorts of locations. 

Thank you so much to Jess and Charlie for chatting with us all about their journey travelling the UK, and for sharing their favourite destinations with us. Our travel bucket list just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Find your next staycation over on their Instagram, and remember to tag us in your adventures!