A traveler has sparked a debate after flying from the United States to London for just a 24-hour trip.
On his Instagram, Kevin Droniak frequently shares videos of his solo travels, along with travel tips to his followers. In a video shared earlier this week, he documented his trip from New York to London, noting that he would only be in England for one day.
“If you don't travel often, you're going to have a fit because of what I'm doing now,” he said, while checking in at an airport in New York City. “I'm going to London just for one night. That's why I go to the airport with only a backpack.”
He explained that he was only going to London for 24 hours because “he found a cheap flight.” As he was shown walking through the airport, she added: “And you know how I love a quick trip.”
After briefly showing the front of her passport, she shared one of the airport worker's candid reactions to her trip, continuing: “Even the check-in lady said, 'Are you seriously going to fly around the world for one night?' ?'”
He then explained his “logic” behind the situation and why it finally made sense for him to fly to another country for a day trip.
“My flight is only six and a half hours and there are red eyes,” he said. “And anyway I'm going to sleep tonight. So I might as well go to sleep on a plane and wake up in London.”
The video continued with footage of Droniak on the plane, as he prepared for bed, before showing a view of London from the window of his seat on the flight.
“Good morning London. There is nowhere else I would rather wake up,” she said. He then shared a photo of himself in the city and joked: “What am I doing here?”
He then described another takeaway he wanted viewers to draw from his trip, as he filmed himself walking around different parts of London, including Tower Bridge.
“I want to break the stigma of having to set aside a week to travel somewhere,” he said. “It's not that bad and you'll have fun on a quick trip.”
Droniak ended the video with footage of himself on a double-decker bus and concluded, “I'm just enjoying the day.”
He joked about the quick trip in the caption, writing: “I'm very chaotic about this, but going to London for a day was very cheeky of me.”
The video quickly went viral on Instagram, with more than 74,800 likes, as of May 17. However, there have been mixed reactions in the comments, with many people claiming that flying for the short trip was bad for the environment. They also criticized Droniak's decision to post the video, since not everyone has the money to travel this way.
“Great job dumping all that carbon into the atmosphere for a day,” one wrote, while another added: “Fun content, but also very polluting!”
A third asked: “How rich and disconnected do you have to be to create content like this?”
However, many people came to the traveler's defense, praising his idea of making the trip to London, even if it was only for 24 hours. Others responded to the claim that his flight was contributing to the pollution.
“'I have to sleep tonight anyway so I might as well wake up somewhere else' is SO CLEVER OMG,” one wrote.
“Imagine a quick weekend getaway. So what did you do over the weekend? 'Oh, I went to London and fancied a baguette,'” added another. “EPIC.”
“Everyone talks about pollution as if the plane wasn't going there anyway,” a third commented. “It wasn't a private plane that only he took.”
Droniak later shared another video about his trip to London and the things he did during the day, which included drinking tea with friends and taking a walk around Notting Hill. The video ended with him back on his plane to New York, at which point he revealed why he was grateful to have made the trip.
“I was back on the plane at 6 in the morning thinking, 'Was it worth it?' And I thought about it and honestly yes,” she stated. “Because the flight cost only $350 and I would have spent that amount going to New York for a weekend. And now I have a memory that I will never forget.”
The independent has contacted Droniak for comment.
