Today my friend N and I reach Machu Picchu. After three days of trekking in altitudes around 4000 m, after sleeping on the trail and after days of gazing at emerald green landscape around us.

That happens in the parallel non-Covid19 universe.

This is day 9 of our Peruvian adventure and we are travelling virtually. Every morning N and I race to find the most amazing photo in our travel books and attempt to be the first one to WhatsApp it to the other. We have been tracking our progress since we ‘left’ on the sixth of May. And what surprises me most is how short our holiday is! We booked to go for two weeks and there are only five days of those left. And nothing much changed around here, at home.

I can’t be the only one who comes home from even a short time away and expects things to be different. I get disappointed when I ask and people say “no, same old”. Now I have the unique opportunity to experience one situation from both sides – spending each day in an unknown environment (albeit virtually and only for a few moments a day) and living the normal everyday life here in England.

So what will I say to myself when I return from Peru?

“Oh, not much happened. Oh yeah, I helplessly watched as the fox despatched my two wandering hens while I threw stones at it (I have now acquired an air rifle for fox purposes). Otherwise same old. How was Peru?” I’ll ask.

“Virtually perfect,” I’ll say.