meaning of to travel around

Definition of 'travel'

travel in British English

Travel in american english, examples of 'travel' in a sentence travel, cobuild collocations travel, trends of travel.

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• Travancore-Cochin
• travel a distance
• travel a route
• travel abroad
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'T'

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• rail travel
• safe travel
• time travel
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[ trav - uh l ]

verb (used without object)

to travel for pleasure.

• to move or go from one place or point to another.
• to proceed or advance in any way.
• to go from place to place as a representative of a business firm.

He travels in a wealthy crowd.

• Informal. to move with speed.
• to pass, or be transmitted, as light or sound.
• Basketball. (of a player in possession of the ball) to take more than two steps without dribbling or passing the ball.
• to move in a fixed course, as a piece of mechanism.

verb (used with object)

• to travel, journey, or pass through or over, as a country or road.

We traveled a hundred miles.

to travel logs downriver.

to travel to other planets.

to set out on one's travels.

a book of travels.

• such an account or work.

an increase in travel on state roads.

• Basketball. an instance of traveling with the ball.
• the complete movement of a moving part, especially a reciprocating part, in one direction, or the distance traversed; stroke.
• length of stroke.

to reduce the travel of food from kitchen to table.

a travel alarm clock.

/ ˈtrævəl /

she travelled across France

he travels to improve his mind

he travelled the country

• to go, move, or cover a specified or unspecified distance

to travel in textiles

• (esp of perishable goods) to withstand a journey

the sound travelled for miles

• to progress or advance
• basketball to take an excessive number of steps while holding the ball
• (of part of a mechanism) to move in a fixed predetermined path

that car certainly travels

• informal. often foll by with to be in the company (of); associate
• the act of travelling

a travel brochure

• usually plural a tour or journey
• the distance moved by a mechanical part, such as the stroke of a piston
• movement or passage

Discover More

Spelling note, other words from.

• travel·a·ble adjective
• non·travel·ing adjective
• non·travel·ling adjective
• outtravel verb (used with object) outtraveled outtraveling or (especially British) outtravelled outtravelling
• pre·travel noun verb pretraveled pretraveling or (especially British) pretravelled pretravelling
• un·travel·ing adjective
• un·travel·ling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of travel 1

Example Sentences

López said she could not travel to Mexico because she is undocumented.

Sound waves traveling thousands of kilometers through the ocean may help scientists monitor climate change.

Biden traveled to the state days later, meeting with the Blake family and calling for unity and healing in the community, though he, too, denounced the violence that followed the shooting.

TripActions says it has added nearly 500 new corporate customers since March, a surprising achievement at a time when most employees are still not traveling freely.

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which was first identified in China in December, has had sweeping effects in the public health, business, and travel sectors, among others.

You just travel light with carry-on luggage, go to cities that you love, and get to hang out with all your friends.

He did travel to China and Australia while the story was unfolding.

In doing so he exposed the failure of other airlines in the region to see the huge pent-up demand for cheap travel.

“The tribe is really made of people who put travel as a priority in their entire lifestyle,” says Evita.

Brands like Lo & Sons and Delsey are already tapping Travel Noire to connect with black travelers.

One thing was certain: Grandfather Mole could travel much faster through the water than he could underground.

The mothers know better than any one else how hard a way the little girl will have to travel through life.

He could lie in bed and string himself tales of travel and adventure while Harry was downstairs.

Under ordinary circumstances these men can travel with their burden from twenty to thirty miles a day.

The rules regulating travel on highways in this country are called, "the law of the road."

Related Words

• sightseeing

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Definition of travel verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• I go to bed early if I'm travelling the next day.
• + adv./prep. to travel around the world
• I love travelling by train.
• We always travel first class.
• I travel abroad a lot.
• They travelled on the bus to and from work together.
• We travelled to California for the wedding.
• They enjoy travelling to other European countries.
• My client travels extensively on business.
• When I finished college I went travelling for six months (= spent time visiting different places) .
• travel something As a journalist, she has travelled the world .
• He travelled the length of the Nile in a canoe.
• I travel 40 miles to work every day.
• They travelled huge distances in search of food.
• Many residents must travel long distances to a grocery store.
• He travels back and forth across the Atlantic.
• He travels with a huge entourage.
• I prefer travelling independently to going on a package holiday.
• She travels widely in her job.
• The dissidents were unable to hold meetings or travel freely.
• The job gives her the opportunity to travel abroad.
• We decided to travel by car.
• We had to travel separately as we couldn't get seats on the same flight.
• We plan to travel through Thailand and into Cambodia.
• business people who travel regularly to the US
• information for the backpacker who wants to travel farther afield
• Children under five travel free.
• I spent a year travelling around Africa.
• More people travel by air than ever before.
• We travelled the length and breadth of the country.
• We've travelled a long way in the past few days.
• Hundreds of hospital patients may have to travel long distances for treatment.
• freedom to travel
• go travelling/​traveling
• travel all over the world

Take your English to the next level

The Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus explains the difference between groups of similar words. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app

In 1961, legendary National Geographic photographer Volkmar Wentzel captured two women gazing at the surf off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. This and all the other images in this story come from the National Geographic image collection.

I’ve been putting my passport to good use lately. I use it as a coaster and to level wobbly table legs. It makes an excellent cat toy.

Welcome to the pandemic of disappointments. Canceled trips, or ones never planned lest they be canceled. Family reunions, study-abroad years, lazy beach vacations. Poof. Gone. Obliterated by a tiny virus, and the long list of countries where United States passports are not welcome.

Only a third of Americans say they have traveled overnight for leisure since March, and only slightly more, 38 percent, say they are likely to do so by the end of the year, according to one report. Only a quarter of us plan on leaving home for Thanksgiving, typically the busiest travel time. The numbers paint a grim picture of our stilled lives.

It is not natural for us to be this sedentary. Travel is in our genes. For most of the time our species has existed, “we’ve lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers moving about in small bands of 150 or fewer people,” writes Christopher Ryan in Civilized to Death . This nomadic life was no accident. It was useful. “Moving to a neighboring band is always an option to avoid brewing conflict or just for a change in social scenery,” says Ryan. Robert Louis Stevenson put it more succinctly: “The great affair is to move.”

What if we can’t move, though? What if we’re unable to hunt or gather? What’s a traveler to do? There are many ways to answer that question. “Despair,” though, is not one of them.

In this aerial view from 1967, wall-to-wall seaside sunbathers relax under umbrellas or on beach towels in Ocean City, Maryland .

A 1967 fall festival in Guadalajara, Mexico , starred traditionally costumed musicians and dancers.

We are an adaptive species. We can tolerate brief periods of forced sedentariness. A dash of self-delusion helps. We’re not grounded, we tell ourselves. We’re merely between trips, like the unemployed salesman in between opportunities. We pass the days thumbing though old travel journals and Instagram feeds. We gaze at souvenirs. All this helps. For a while.

We put on brave faces. “Staycation Nation,” the cover of the current issue of Canadian Traveller magazine declares cheerfully, as if it were a choice, not a consolation.

Today, the U.S. Travel Association, the industry trade organization, is launching a national recovery campaign called “ Let’s Go There .” Backed by a coalition of businesses related to tourism—hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, airlines—the initiative’s goal is to encourage Americans to turn idle wanderlust into actual itineraries.

The travel industry is hurting. So are travelers. “I dwelled so much on my disappointment that it almost physically hurt,” Paris -based journalist Joelle Diderich told me recently, after canceling five trips last spring.

(Related: How hard has the coronavirus hit the travel industry? These charts tell us.)

My friend James Hopkins is a Buddhist living in Kathmandu . You’d think he’d thrive during the lockdown, a sort-of mandatory meditation retreat. For a while he did.

But during a recent Skype call, James looked haggard and dejected. He was growing restless, he confessed, and longed “for the old 10-countries-a-year schedule.” Nothing seemed to help, he told me. “No matter how many candles I lit, or how much incense I burned, and in spite of living in one of the most sacred places in South Asia, I just couldn’t change my habits.”

When we ended our call, I felt relieved, my grumpiness validated. It’s not me; it’s the pandemic. But I also worried. If a Buddhist in Kathmandu is going nuts, what hope do the rest of us stilled souls have?

I think hope lies in the very nature of travel. Travel entails wishful thinking. It demands a leap of faith, and of imagination, to board a plane for some faraway land, hoping, wishing, for a taste of the ineffable. Travel is one of the few activities we engage in not knowing the outcome and reveling in that uncertainty. Nothing is more forgettable than the trip that goes exactly as planned.

Related: Vintage photos of the glamour of travel

Travel is not a rational activity. It makes no sense to squeeze yourself into an alleged seat only to be hurled at frightening speed to a distant place where you don’t speak the language or know the customs. All at great expense. If we stopped to do the cost-benefit analysis, we’d never go anywhere. Yet we do.

That’s one reason why I’m bullish on travel’s future. In fact, I’d argue travel is an essential industry, an essential activity. It’s not essential the way hospitals and grocery stores are essential. Travel is essential the way books and hugs are essential. Food for the soul. Right now, we’re between courses, savoring where we’ve been, anticipating where we’ll go. Maybe it’s Zanzibar and maybe it’s the campground down the road that you’ve always wanted to visit.

(Related: Going camping this fall? Here’s how to get started.)

James Oglethorpe, a seasoned traveler, is happy to sit still for a while, and gaze at “the slow change of light and clouds on the Blue Ridge Mountains” in Virginia, where he lives. “My mind can take me the rest of the way around this world and beyond it.”

It’s not the place that is special but what we bring to it and, crucially, how we interact with it. Travel is not about the destination, or the journey. It is about stumbling across “a new way of looking at things,” as writer Henry Miller observed. We need not travel far to gain a fresh perspective.

No one knew this better than Henry David Thoreau , who lived nearly all of his too-short life in Concord, Massachusetts. There he observed Walden Pond from every conceivable vantage point: from a hilltop, on its shores, underwater. Sometimes he’d even bend over and peer through his legs, marveling at the inverted world. “From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow,” he wrote.

Thoreau never tired of gazing at his beloved pond, nor have we outgrown the quiet beauty of our frumpy, analog world. If anything, the pandemic has rekindled our affection for it. We’ve seen what an atomized, digital existence looks like, and we (most of us anyway) don’t care for it. The bleachers at Chicago ’s Wrigley Field; the orchestra section at New York City ’s Lincoln Center; the alleyways of Tokyo . We miss these places. We are creatures of place, and always will be.

After the attacks of September 11, many predicted the end of air travel, or at least a dramatic reduction. Yet the airlines rebounded steadily and by 2017 flew a record four billion passengers. Briefly deprived of the miracle of flight, we appreciated it more and today tolerate the inconvenience of body scans and pat-downs for the privilege of transporting our flesh-and-bone selves to far-flung locations, where we break bread with other incarnate beings.

Landscape architects work in their Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , studio in 1955.

A tourist photographs a towering century plant in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1956.

In our rush to return to the world, we should be mindful of the impact of mass tourism on the planet. Now is the time to embrace the fundamental values of sustainable tourism and let them guide your future journeys. Go off the beaten path. Linger longer in destinations. Travel in the off-season. Connect with communities and spend your money in ways that support locals. Consider purchasing carbon offsets. And remember that the whole point of getting out there is to embrace the differences that make the world so colorful.

“One of the great benefits of travel is meeting new people and coming into contact with different points of view,” says Pauline Frommer, travel expert and radio host.

So go ahead and plan that trip. It’s good for you, scientists say . Plotting a trip is nearly as enjoyable as actually taking one. Merely thinking about a pleasurable experience is itself pleasurable. Anticipation is its own reward.

I’ve witnessed first-hand the frisson of anticipatory travel. My wife, not usually a fan of travel photography, now spends hours on Instagram, gazing longingly at photos of Alpine lodges and Balinese rice fields. “What’s going on?” I asked one day. “They’re just absolutely captivating,” she replied. “They make me remember that there is a big, beautiful world out there.”

Many of us, myself included, have taken travel for granted. We grew lazy and entitled, and that is never good. Tom Swick, a friend and travel writer, tells me he used to view travel as a given. Now, he says, “I look forward to experiencing it as a gift.”

Related Topics

• TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
• VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Why Do We Travel?

• Written by Nicolás Valencia
• Published on September 13, 2019

Everyone wants to travel the world, whether it's to meet new people, taste new food, or visit new places. Travel is consequently an extremely lucrative industry, but tourist destinations are getting more crowded than ever and associated pollution emissions are only worsening the climate emergency .

Why do we travel? In this edition of Editor's Talk , four editors from ArchDaily based in Lebanon, the United States, and Chile share their thoughts on the meaning of travel, and why tourists enjoying a beach in a location like Brazil should also care about the cities they visit.

Nicolas Valencia: Travel was June's Monthly Topic . Back then we published articles about architecture guides and travel-related typologies, but we didn't talk about the experience of traveling. What does travel mean to you?

Dima Stouhi : I was born and raised in Lebanon, but I'm moving to Switzerland next month. This will be the first time that I experience living abroad. Because Lebanon is so different from any other country, traveling is incredibly important for me to see how other people live and what other cultures are like.

Eric Baldwin: I often introduce myself by saying that I’m a farm kid from rural Iowa. My idea of the world, including different cultures and ways of working, was limited for much of my youth. In college, that worldview expanded greatly. I was able to study and travel around the world, in places like China, Italy, and Greece. I believe that context is everything; travel is one way to expand your context.

Christele Harrouk : I was born in Beirut too, coming from French roots, so It was always easier for me to travel, and it was always an option for me to live abroad. Nevertheless, I never opted for this choice: I did spend a couple of months here and there, but to me, the notion of home was more important. Traveling has opened my eyes to what this world holds, and it has also made me better appreciate what I had and took for granted.

Nicolas Valencia:  But it's still a luxury nowadays.

Eric Baldwin:  Travel has been priceless to me, but it’s also become terribly destructive to our environment. In many ways, it is a luxury. As Greta Thunberg showed when sailing across the Atlantic on a zero-emissions yacht, we have to come up with better ways to travel. Our current conditions are becoming more and more unsustainable.

Dima Stouhi:  Traveling is definitely a luxury now. Especially for people who need visas to travel, like me.

If you travel, you are a loser

Nicolas Valencia: In June we published an article titled The Age of Travel is Over . The author says that "if you travel to earn your living, you are a loser. If you travel to see places, or to learn, you are an enemy of the planet."

Eric Baldwin: I think it was meant to be a sort of provocation. Travel is still so important, but that doesn't mean there aren't better ways to travel. Or that we shouldn't continue to imagine new modes of connection that bring us together and expand our context without harming the environment.

Christele Harrouk:  Traveling is a pure form of learning, possibly the most genuine way of getting information, but I always go back to the idea that if you don't do anything with these experiences, they become useless and the whole process becomes futile in a way. The more I meet people, the more I discover that a lot of them, who pretend to roam the globe, are so closed into themselves.

Dima Stouhi:  The idea of traveling is different now. People want to travel to show everyone that they traveled or just for the sake of traveling. There isn't much thought to what they harm along the way.

Nicolas Valencia:  Dima has a point. Traveling has become a sort of meta-traveling:  visit  a place to say you visited a place.  I'm very critical of those who don't learn anything from traveling, but then, I think, "Why should they experience it the same way I do?"

Dima Stouhi:  That's the thing, it's a matter of perspective. I doubt that people "never learn" from traveling. Regardless of how different each individual is, at least one experience, building, or even meal is going to get stuck in their head. It's just a matter of what people are paying attention to while traveling.

Eric Baldwin:  We travel to work, to discover, to connect with family or friends, to get the perfect Instagram post, to escape. As long as we continue to question why, and whether we are doing so responsibly, I think travel will continue to have meaning. Beyond location, I think being a "good" vs. a "bad" tourist is part responsibility and part perspective. If you travel to escape your daily life and enjoy a beach in Brazil, but you don’t care to learn about the city, people, or culture you visit, is that inherently bad? Again, it’s a matter of context.

Cities for rich tourists

Nicolas Valencia: Bloomberg published a chart on Instagram a few days ago explaining that "tourist destinations are only going to get more crowded," especially in Europe. We recently saw Venice ban large cruises from its historical center . How do we think other cities are going to deal with tourism?

Dima Stouhi:  I support Venice's decision. I went to Vatican City last year in August. I remember at one point I just wanted to leave because of how crowded it was. We couldn't even stop for one second to look around us. There was no place to stand in the Sistine Chapel. It's sad.

Eric Baldwin:  It’s a tricky thing. It’s tied to preservation: when does saving something relegate it to becoming frozen, functionless scenery? Again, I go back to context. What does tourism give to a city, and what does it take away? Does heritage have a part to play? No city remains the same, and in turn, tourism and travel have to change too.

Dima Stouhi:  But Eric, the way we see it, preservation comes first because we know and appreciate the value of historical sites. The majority of people don't.

Eric Baldwin:  I question the value of historical sites. How do we measure relevance or heritage? Why are the pyramids worth preserving? It’s a question — and battle — of values and those things that define us. In turn, it’s directly related to why we travel.

Nicolas Valencia:  Countries such as Spain rely strongly on tourism — the industry accounts for around 13% of its GDP. It's hard to regulate if your city's economy relies so strongly on tourism. Anyway, I'd assume that restricting access to tourists will eventually punish middle-class tourists. 

Christele Harrouk:  Well, I'm not sure about this. Maybe not restrict accesses but make them more organized.

Dima Stouhi:  I don't believe that increasing prices and limiting access to rich tourists is the way to solve it. I think it's like what Christele said: it's how governments organize it that might make a difference.

Christele Harrouk:  This is the responsibility of the cities: they have to advertise different areas. It's not difficult, but they just don't take the initiative. Changes in marketing strategies can indirectly reduce the concentration of tourists in one place and divide it into many regions, making new areas grow and develop as well.

Nicolas Valencia:  If I'm going to Venice, I'm going to visit downtown, not a peripheral neighborhood.

Christele Harrouk:  But if there is a Zaha Hadid building in the periphery, you will go there, and spend less time downtown.

I Love City Branding

Nicolas Valencia:  We have been talking about Europe, but what about Latin America? Africa? Asia? Have you visited these regions?

Dima Stouhi:  Dream destinations, big budgets!

Nicolas Valencia:  In Latin America, we are more interested in visiting Europe and the US, rather than our own region. This is despite the fact that airfare has plummeted in this region, so it's cheaper than ever to travel across Latin America.

Christele Harrouk:  This may be global, but don't you think this is where city branding comes in hand?

Nicolas Valencia:  Sure, city branding defines what we think about them. But one thing that freaks me out about traveling is that after spending a week abroad, people think they gain a certain power to explain what a whole country is like. We each have different backgrounds of emotions, ideas, and expectations, so a gay man visiting a city after breaking up might have a totally different experience from a heterosexual woman who meets a guy in that same city. Each person's visions of the same city are completely unique, which means these narratives can't be universal.. 

Dima Stouhi:  I think these assumptions are a normal human reaction. Whatever is different from what they usually see, they pin-point it as if it were a flaw..

Eric Baldwin:  I think that's a very hard thing to change. You inherently have more perspective than someone who has never been there, but at the same time, you have an inherently limited understanding as well. I think the after-visit stereotypes will continue to happen, as Identity is always tied to travel and context. How that context is shaped happens in a myriad of ways, and defines who we are.

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What Does Travel Mean to You?

A few years ago, I went around the world and asked people what travel meant to them. As I travel the country on my current book tour and hear everyone’s reasons for travel, I’m reminded of that experience.

Travel means something different to every single person in the world.

There are a million and one reasons to travel. Many people travel the world to get the bug out of their system, or to check things off a list to say they’ve been there and done that. Some run to escape their problems. Some people travel simply to get drunk around the world.

For me, travel means many things. Travel is freedom . It’s about being able to do what I want and fill my day with excitement. Travel was an escape. Travel was “elsewhere”. That place where exciting things and people resided. It was escaping the Matrix to learn about the world, why people do what they do, and how they act. It’s about pushing myself to the limit and getting more comfortable in my own skin.

But I wondered what motivates other people to do the same.

I have my theories of course.

But I wanted to hear it from people directly.

So, during an extended trip, I asked people I met on the road one question:

“What does travel mean to you?”

And here is what they said:

I loved hearing everyone’s answers because it so accurately describes all the various reasons that push us to travel the world, learn about the people in it, and ourselves.

Now, tell me in the comments below:

What does travel mean to you?

Share what drives you.  

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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Advertisement

• travel around

verb as in circumnavigate

Strong matches

• move around

Discover More

Example sentences.

Tommy and I would leave just after the tomato harvest
to travel around Italy.

There was a guy called Bill Cooper who would travel around showing people this, and he convinced a lot of people!

I can travel around the entire world, to the past and to the future.

As a result, The Coast Guard is restricting boat travel around 15 bridges and announced potential searches of docked vessels.

In her late 30s, a mother of two quit her job to travel around the world photographing her sexual encounters with younger men.

He let his eyes travel around the littered, blood-spattered room.

Those hills produced gypsies who travel around cheating, dickering and selling gewgaws that are worth nothing.

You see, her husband was an artist, and they used to travel around everywhere.

Then, if you only travel around, from China to France, you'll find that things we scorn are called dainties there.

He and four other bowlers would travel around the area to bowl in pot games and he always made a little money.

Related Words

Words related to travel around are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word travel around . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

verb as in go around

On this page you'll find 7 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to travel around, such as: bypass, circle, circumvent, compass, skirt, and move around.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of travel – Learner’s Dictionary

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travel verb ( MAKE A JOURNEY )

• It costs less if you travel at the weekend .
• We hired a car so we could travel further afield .
• I have travelled extensively in Europe .
• They travelled the length and breadth of Scotland together.
• It's a film about the adventures of two friends travelling across Africa .

travel verb ( MOVE )

• Space travel may become very common in the near future .
• The price includes travel and accommodation .
• The travel company completely fouled up our holiday .
• They offer a 10 percent discount on rail travel for students .
• Over the years I've lost my taste for travel.

(Definition of travel from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of travel

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

troubleshoot

to discover why something does not work effectively and help to improve it

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Dreaming about traveling here's what it means, according to experts.

When it comes to dream interpretation, so much of it depends on the context and finer details of the dream. To dream about traveling is no exception, with a myriad of variations that can change the meaning of the dream . So, we asked experts about a few of their top interpretations for travel dreams—here's what they had to say.

Dream interpretation.

Before diving in, it's worth noting that any scientific validity to dream interpretation is sparse. Generally, dreams are thought of as a means of memory consolidation and potentially even "predicting" the future (i.e., our brains running through potential scenarios that could happen).

Nevertheless, we've all had dreams that seemed a bit too relevant to our waking lives, raising the question, What was that dream trying to tell me? Only you can truly understand what the symbols in your dreams mean to you, but there are still some common tropes in dreams that interpreters take to have specific meanings.

7 reasons you're dreaming about traveling:

You're craving freedom..

According to dream expert  Leslie Ellis, Ph.D., dreaming about travel can indicate that you're on a quest for freedom. "In this pandemic era where travel has been so restricted, travel dreams could be some form of vicarious way of gaining freedom of movement," she says, adding, "Freud was not entirely wrong about dreams being a form of wish fulfillment, at least some of the time."

You're experiencing some kind of movement in your life.

Along with a craving for freedom, travel dreams can also suggest there's some sort of movement or momentum happening in your life. "Traveling usually represents forward movement—progress in some area," notes professional dream interpreter  Lauri Loewenberg . And as Ellis adds, this "movement" could be personal or professional, as well as actual geographical movement.

You feel in control.

If you're traveling in a vehicle in your dream and it's running smoothly, Loewenberg tells mbg that can mean you feel in control of some aspect of your life. "You want to be driving the car, for example, because that's letting you know that whatever issue this dream is commenting on, you're in control of it," she explains.

You feel out of control.

On the other hand, Loewenberg says, if the car is having some hiccups, such as malfunctioning brakes, "that's a good indication that you're having a hard time getting something started in your real life, or you don't have a good handle on whatever path of progression this is connected to."

She adds that if you're driving a car in your dream and get into an accident, this can mean you're experiencing a sort of emotional or energy crash in your life.

You're experiencing some sort of ending.

Crashes or accidents in travel dreams can also mean something is on the verge of coming to an end in your life (or already has), Loewenberg notes.

The theme of endings existing within travel dreams can also relate to life stages and death, Ellis explains. "They can, at the far end of the journey, indicate preparation for death. There are many accounts of dreams easing people into the final stages of their life , preparing them in ways that tend to be calming and spiritual," she notes.

You're advancing in your career (or thinking about it).

According to Loewenberg, dreams about traveling in a plane , more often than not, are related to your career path, "because the plane takes off and we want our careers to take off and reach new levels." Planes can also represent your spiritual or religious path , she adds.

You're searching for something.

And lastly, depending on your destination, travel dreams can mean you're looking for something in your life. "If your destination is a beach, for example, that means you're trying to reach a place in your life where you are having peace of mind," Loewenberg explains. Or maybe you're traveling to a hospital, which would indicate you're on a healing path, she adds.

Interpretations based on travel companions:

Family members..

With the previous interpretations in mind, it's also important to consider who's accompanying you in the dream. In the case of family members, Ellis says, this could relate to feeling of moving on, or moving forward, as it relates to the family members in the dream.

A romantic partner.

Loewenberg says dreaming about traveling with a partner can offer good insight into how the relationship is going and how you both are reacting within the relationship. "Pay attention to who's behind the wheel and how well the vehicle is moving forward," she suggests, for example.

If you're on a boat, she adds they often represent our relationships. (Relation-"ship," get it?) "A ship or a boat will be commenting on a relationship more than any other vehicle because it travels on water, and water tends to represent the emotional self," Loewenberg explains.

In that case, are you on an extravagant cruise liner that's sailing smoothly? Or are you in a broken-down boat that's sinking fast ? You can guess which one indicates a relationship is heading south.

Co-workers.

If you're dreaming about work colleagues, Ellis says this situates the dream story in the world of work. "Again, it can be telling to look at the mode of travel, ease of transport, and nature of the destination," she notes. Ask yourself if you're getting to where you want to go. "This can be a big life question. Are the people you are with helping or hindering your progress?" Ellis adds.

Traveling solo.

Of course, there's a chance you'll be traveling solo in your dream, as well. Loewenberg says a common vehicle in travel dreams is a bike or motorcycle, which are, of course, single-passenger vehicles. This would be a dream about a path you are on alone that doesn't affect anyone else, she explains.

"You also have to have good balance to operate a bicycle or a motorcycle, so take a good look at your emotional balance or anything you're trying to balance in your life," Ellis adds.

The bottom line.

Dreaming about travel isn't uncommon—and interpreting these dreams always comes down to their context. With these potential interpretations at the ready, you're all set to open your mind to the world of your travel dreams—and consider how they relate to your reality.

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King Charles' polarizing portrait, explained by the artist himself

After a dramatic new portrait of King Charles III caused a stir around the world earlier this week, many art experts are weighing in with their opinions about the painting.

The bold portrait, painted by British artist Jonathan Yeo, is the first official portrait of the 75-year-old king since his  May 2023 coronation . It was unveiled inside Buckingham Palace on May 14.

The portrait, drenched in the color red, depicts Charles wearing the red military uniform of the Welsh Guards, as he sits with his hand on his sword, amid a vibrant red background. A monarch butterfly hovers over the king's right shoulder.

Yeo told the BBC that Charles himself approved of the contemporary portrait. He noted that when the king first saw a "half-done" version of the painting he was "initially mildly surprised by the strong color but otherwise he seemed to be smiling approvingly."

Camilla, the queen consort, also seemed to like the portrait, telling Yeo, "Yes, you’ve got him," when she first saw it, the artist recalled.

Still, like royal watchers around the globe, many in the art world are polarized in their response to Yeo's portrait.

Art critic Richard Morris  wrote on X , “I really like the portrait of King Charles by Jonathan Yeo — the go-to artist for slightly edgy but convincingly recognizable contemporary portraits; before photography, to have a great painter capture your real appearance you accepted the revelation of your flaws and your mortality. It’s what Yeo captures here.”

On the other hand, artist Robert Brinkerhoff, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, tells TODAY.com he was surprised by the portrait when he saw it online.

"The instant I saw it, having no idea what to expect, I literally heard the word 'blood' in my head. It was a bit of a shock — all that red, dripped here and there and scrubbed on and scrubbed off," Brinkerhoff says.

Other art critics called it a " stylistic mess "

The king's "mottled" face and hands, which seemed to jump out from the background, says Brinkerhoff, add to the portrait's weird quality.

"The face is gentle, weary and a little sad. I feel less empathy for the face when I study the hands— which are a bit like talons. They’re not painted badly — they just evoke something a little monstrous to me," he tells TODAY.com.

Read on to learn more about what inspired Jonathan Yeo's painting of King Charles III.

Yeo wanted to put a 21st century spin on a traditional royal portrait

Yeo, who has previously painted  the queen consort  and the  late Duke of Edinburgh , told the BBC that he wanted his portrait of King Charles to break with the past.

Yeo opted to depict Charles in his military uniform of the Welsh Guards as he would be appear in the traditional royal portraiture of days past.

Charles was made Regimental Colonel of the Welsh Guards in 1975 and holds the position today.

He mixed it up, however, with his bold red color palette and the addition of the symbolic butterfly.

Yeo wanted the painting to “make reference to the traditions of royal portraiture but in a way that reflects a 21st century monarchy," he said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Dec. 14.

The symbolism of the color red

The royal family posted the first image of Yeo’s portrait May 14 on its official Instagram account . Many fans of the monarchy were shocked by the painting's blast of red color.

“I’m sorry but his portrait looks like he’s in hell,” one person wrote in the comments. 

"Without sounding rude this is the worst royal portrait I’ve ever seen," wrote another.

Others remarked that the red color reminded them of blood, violence and passion.

Brinkerhoff wonders if the red was meant to symbolize the violence in the royal family's past, or perhaps the emotions Charles has had to publicly suppress as one of the family's most prominent members.

"Is it the blood that has been shed as a result of British colonialism for centuries?" he says. "Is it the rarely seen, passionate emotion of a man constrained by generations of stiff convention and regal duty?"

Interpretations abound — but on his website , Yeo provided insight as to the use of the “vivid color.”

The red shades are meant to “echo the uniform’s bright red tunic, not only resonating with the royal heritage found in many historical portraits but also injecting a dynamic, contemporary jolt into the genre with its uniformly powerful hue.”

The meaning of the butterfly

Yeo included the image of a monarch butterfly in his portrait to illustrate Charles' evolving role in recent years, he told the BBC.

“In history of art, the butterfly symbolizes metamorphosis and rebirth,” explained Yeo, who was commissioned by The Drapers’ Company to paint Charles portrait in 2020 when he was still the Prince of Wales.

The butterfly, said Yeo, also represents the king's work for environmental causes, which “he has championed most of his life and certainly long before they became a mainstream conversation."

His website says the butterfly is a "visual contrast to the military steeliness of the uniform and sword." Butterflies also symbolize rebirth and transformation, representing Charles' transition into becoming king while the portrait was being created.

Yeo told the BBC the butterfly was Charles' own idea, chosen as a symbol for his reign.

“I said: ‘When schoolchildren are looking at this in 200 years and they’re looking at the who’s who of the monarchs, what clues can you give them?’

“He said: ‘What about a butterfly landing on my shoulder?’” It's worth noting the butterfly is a monarch .

Did royal family anticipate the intense reaction to the portrait?

Neither Yeo nor the royal family have commented on the divided response to Yeo's polarizing portrait.

"Charles himself is no stranger to art, so I think he knew what the effect and the reaction would be," Brinkerhoff says. "In that sense, it’s a pretty bold move — maybe even a little honorable — and I think that’s worth reflecting on. Controversy is usually more important than convention in art, even when the reactions are harsh.

"This is my favorite thing about the painting: it depicts a man with a lifetime of inherited history: he may be conceding all the weight of social constraints, public attention and bloody pursuit of power," he adds.

But ultimately, it's up to interpretation.

Gina Vivinetto is a writer for TODAY.com.

What is a 'babymoon'? How about a 'sleepcation'? These 8 travel terms make me roll my eyes

Every once in a while, I see something travel-related that makes me cringe — people barefoot on planes, tourists with selfie sticks and, most recently, an influx of nonsensical and unnecessary words to describe different types of trips.

Enter: "sleepcation." Seriously, it's a thing. You'll probably sigh as deeply as I did when I found out what it was.

Why do marketers insist on creating cutesy terms for things that already have names?

In fairness, a term like "glamping" (camping but with certain amenities that make it more glamorous) makes sense because it sounds like the original word: "camping."

"Staycation" (when you take time off to stay home and do nothing or visit places nearby) also works because it rhymes with "vacation" — a word that, for decades, has sufficed to describe types of leisure travel that may or may not take you far away from home.

Now, it seems we have new jargon born from slapping "-cation" or "-moon" on the ends of words and calling them trends. Speaking of being born, don't even get me started on "babymoon." The whole thing is out of hand. In the infamous words of Regina George from "Mean Girls": "Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen."

Here's a quick rundown of some of the made-up travel terms that give me, as the kids say, "the ick."

What is a 'babymoon'?

A babymoon is the trip an expecting couple takes to spend time together before their baby arrives (or, possibly, to mourn the loss of their free time, disposable income and privacy).

What is 'bleisure' travel?

The word itself comes from a combination of "business" and "leisure." It indicates that you're either tacking on a few days of paid time off onto a business trip or bringing non-colleagues — like friends or family members — with you for the ride. This has become increasingly prevalent as remote work has enabled longer trips than used to be standard.

What is a 'buddymoon'?

A buddymoon is a honeymoon where friends tag along. To me, this just sounds like a weird way to say "honeymoon where you have no alone time whatsoever."

What is a 'digital nomad'?

A digital nomad is someone who can work from anywhere, including remote destinations, and changes locations frequently to do so. As long as they have a Wi-Fi connection and a host of electronics, they're set to be on a constant workcation. (See below.)

What is a 'sleepcation'?

A sleepcation is a vacation a person takes for the purpose of finding a good night's sleep. Imagine paying money to accomplish what you should, in theory, be able to do at home in your bed. The concept is almost as ridiculous as the word itself.

What is a 'travel curator'?

A travel curator is someone who travelers pay for customized travel planning services. Essentially, it's a travel agent with a fancy name. Other aliases include "travel advisers" and "travel designers."

What is 'voluntourism'?

Voluntourism is traveling for the combination of both pleasure (tourism) and volunteer opportunities. It can include everything from medical and conservation work to teaching abroad. The term is silly, but the premise behind it is noble — as long as participants are actually helping, that is.

Related: How to earn a free night in Hawaii by giving back to the community

What is a 'workcation'?

Although similar to bleisure travel, a workcation is different in that the travel isn't for business purposes. It's for pleasure, but you work while you're there. A workcation can be something you take as a one-off or, if you're a digital nomad (see above), something almost constant or indefinite.

Bottom line

Some of these terms have been adopted more widely into the travel vernacular; others struggle to take hold. What they all have in common, though, is that they were coined by marketers trying to generate buzz around certain types of trips or to make things sound fancier than they are.

But remember: These trips aren't necessarily what everyone makes them out to be simply because they have their own made-up words. Moving forward, just call them vacations.

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Money blog: 'Extremely worrying' mortgage trend revealed in new report; a third of people make this mistake when booking their holiday - and how to avoid it

A third of travellers are making the same mistake when going on holiday, figures show. Read about this and all the latest consumer and personal finance news in the Money blog - and leave a comment or your money problem in the box below.

Thursday 16 May 2024 17:00, UK

• 'Extremely worrying' mortgage trend revealed by new government data
• Almost a third of travellers make this insurance mistake - here's what you need to know
• How much the price of packed lunches has soared - and the cheapest supermarkets to buy a healthy one
• Major firms release financial updates
• UK economy in safe hands 'whoever wins' election, top bank chief tells Sky News

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• Basically...  What is PIP - and what could government changes mean?
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Ask a question or make a comment

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is hiring 2,500 "external agents" to crackdown on "benefit cheats".

The extra staff will check millions of Universal Credit claims for accuracy as part of the government's new fraud plan.

Combined with the DWP's own internal agents tackling fraud, this will take the headcount to nearly 6,000 people.

In addition to this, the DWP is introducing a new civil penalty to punish fraudsters, and investing £70m into advanced data analytics to catch those who "exploit the natural compassion and generosity of the British people".

Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, said: "We are scaling up the fight against those stealing from the taxpayer, building on our success in stopping £18bn going into the wrong hands in 2022-23.

"With new legal powers, better data and thousands of additional staff, our comprehensive plan ensures we have the necessary tools to tackle the scourge of benefit fraud."

With the new 15 hours a week free childcare funding coming into effect this week for children aged between 9-23 months, research shows grandparents still play a key role in helping with costs.

In April, all two-year-olds from eligible working families became entitled to 15 hours free childcare each week. 

And as of this week, eligible working parents of children aged between 9-23 months are also able to apply to claim the same from September.

The government plans to increase this to 30 hours a week from September 2025.

However, grandparents still play a key role and therefore are still likely to be called upon for help from parents, according to data from the finance firm SunLife .

Data shows that half of the UK's 14 million grandparents provide childcare for their grandchildren during the working week and this rises to 55% of those with grandchildren under the age of one.

On average, the UK's grandparents spend between 22-24 hours a week providing free childcare for grandchildren under three-years-old.

So how much are grandparents saving their families and what if they were paid?

Research suggests grandparents are saving parents around £250 a week in childcare costs on average - this means that collectively, grandparents are saving their families £96bn in equivalent childcare costs every year. 

SunLife's grandparent salary calculator, which uses the average pay for the many roles grandparents are taking to calculate what their "grandparent salary" would be, has also found that if grandparents were paid for the 22 hours a week they would receive an annual salary of £13,188.

Victoria Heath, chief marketing officer at SunLife, said it was   "no wonder" one in five grandparents felt their children would struggle financially without their help.

She said research showed that 13% of grandparents felt they were relied on too much for childcare, and 14% loved doing it but felt it was too much at their age.

"Having said that, most (59%) grandparents who do provide childcare say they love helping out, so it is likely they will still play a key role, because whether they are still 'needed' or not, they are certainly still wanted, and most are more than happy to do it," Ms Heath added.

How can you apply for the 15 hours free childcare?

To apply for the funding you'll need the following: 

• National Insurance number;
• Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), if you're self-employed;
• the UK birth certificate reference number of any children you're applying for;
• the date you started or are due to start work.

Then, you'll need to go onto the gov.uk website and start an application.

It usually takes 20 minutes to apply and once your application has been approved, you'll get a code for free childcare to give to your childcare provider.

Mortgage possession actions have continued to rise and are currently above the previous year's levels, according to data from the Ministry of Justice .

The latest data shows mortgage claims, orders, warrants and repossessions have continued their gradual upward trend and claims are at their highest since 2019.

When compared to the same quarter in 2023, mortgage possession claims increased from 4,035 to 5,182 - this is a rise of 28%.

Meanwhile, mortgage orders increased from 2,532 to 3,019, warrants from 2,636 to 2,881 and repossessions by county court bailiffs from 729 to 759.

Landlord possession claims also increased from 23,389 to 24,874 when compared to the same quarter last year.

Craig Fish, director at Lodestone mortgages and protection, told Newspage things "need to change and quickly before it's too late".

"Though this data makes hard reading and is extremely worrying, it's not unexpected due to the significantly higher interest rate environment in which borrowers now find themselves," he said.

And Ben Perks, managing director at Orchard Financial Advisers, said he was "concerned these figures will continue to rise". 

He told Newspage: "The Bank of England seems totally oblivious to the plight of the average mortgage borrower, but hopefully this data will kick their hesitancy to drop the base rate firmly into touch. The time to act is now."

Tesco has recalled its sandwich pickle over fears it may contain glass.

The supermarket has pulled its 295g jars of Tesco Sandwich Pickle with the batch code 3254 and best before date of 11 September 2025 due to the concerns of glass traces.

The Food Standards Agency has said on its website: "This product may contain pieces of glass which makes it unsafe to eat."

Last year, the supermarket chain had to recall pastry products, including sausage rolls and steak and ale pies, over fears they contained pieces of metal and plastic.

A Tesco spokesperson told Sky News: "We've been made aware that a specific date/batch code of Tesco Sandwich Pickle may contain small pieces of glass. Therefore, this product could pose a safety risk if consumed.

"Please do not consume this product and instead return any affected product to store where a full refund will be given. No receipt is required.

"Tesco apologises to our customers for any inconvenience caused."

By Ed Clowes, news reporter

The FTSE 100 has remained stable out of the gate this morning after hitting a record high on Wednesday as better-than-expected inflation data in the US raised hopes of an interest rate cut in September.

It's been a busy start to the day with financial updates from BT Group, Premier Foods, Sage Group, and easyJet.

We'll start with easyJet, after the airline announced that its chief executive officer, Johan Lundgren, would step down in January 2025.

Mr Lundgren, who has served as CEO since 2017, will be replaced by the carrier's finance boss Kenton Jarvis.

In a financial update on its performance throughout the first half of the year, easyJet reported slightly higher revenues than anticipated, while cutting its losses compared to the same period last year.

The airline's share price fell by 6% in early trading this morning.

Elsewhere, telecoms giant BT said it had completed a £3bn cost-cutting programme ahead of schedule, and announced a further £3bn in planned savings by 2029.

The company told Sky News that the planned reductions in spending would not lead to more job losses, after BT announced last year that it would eliminate 55,000 roles.

Incoming boss Allison Kirkby said she wanted the business to prioritise the UK, with some analysts expecting BT to look at the futures of its Italian, Irish, and American divisions.

And last but not least, one of Europe's largest sellers of Rolex watches has said that sales in the UK are still down because some tourists don't want to buy here "due to the lack of VAT free shopping".

Nice for some.

The price of a healthy packed lunch has soared by around 45%, according to new research.

A lunch of wholemeal bread and fruit is more expensive for parents to put together than less nutritious versions with chocolate spread and crisps, The Food Foundation charity has found.

Unhealthy lunches for the research were made up of white bread with chocolate spread instead of wholemeal with cheese, flavoured yoghurt rather than a plain, unsweetened version and snacks such as crisps as opposed to the four portions of fruit and vegetables incorporated into the healthy lunch.

And when it came to the cheapest supermarket to buy a healthy packed lunch, Tesco topped the list with a weekly cost of £8.56 as of this month.

Morrisons was the most expensive retailer, with the price of a healthy packed lunch per week coming in at £11.72, although this was down slightly from £11.80 in October.

The equivalent cost at Sainsbury's was £10.47, Aldi was £10.08 and Asda was £9.18.

Research also showed the largest price rise in recent months was at Sainsbury's, where customers have to spend 9% more than they did at the start of the academic year in September (£9.61) for the same packed lunch.

Shona Goudie, policy and advocacy manager at The Food Foundation, said, the government's stringent eligibility criteria to qualify for free school meals was "leaving hundreds of thousands of children" who are living in poverty "at risk of malnutrition".

"No one should be priced out of being able to provide healthy food for their children and retailers need to do more to support families to afford the food they need," she said.

By Bhvishya Patel , Money team

We spoke to three buskers to find out what it's like performing on the street in the UK.

Amir, 29, came to UK from Pakistan with passion for music

Amir Hashmi moved to the UK in 2022 to study, said he began busking in central London 10 months ago because "music was his passion".

"In Pakistan there are many problems so I decided to leave and move to London. I feel I can do better in London than my country," he said.

He said busking was now his primary income but at times he did jobs at warehouses to get by.

"I never started this for money, I started because it is my passion but now this is my main job as well," he said.

Amir, who often performs in the capital's Piccadilly Circus or along Oxford Street, said often he returned home with just £10-15 in his pocket after a day's busking.

He said: "Many times I sleep without food and sometimes I sleep on the floor of the road when I have no shelter.

"I don't have my own place to live but I have friends who often let me stay with them. They don't charge me any rent - they look after me.

"Sometimes I do private shows for income but it's very hard because the cost of living is increasing. If I go somewhere then most of the time I prefer to walk. I walk with my speakers and carry my gear."

Despite his financial struggles, Amir said he wanted to continue performing on the street as his "goal was to make people happy".

He said: "With busking, there is no stage and you can just start performing. Whenever I am performing, I connect with the people who have come to listen. If I feel people are not enjoying it, I change the song and try and make them happy."

Earlier this year, Amir recorded a song with Neha Nazneen Shakil, a Malayalam actress from India, who approached the singer three months ago in Oxford Street.

"I wrote that song 12 years ago and after all these years my song has been recorded now in London," he added.

Jade, 24, quit retail to busk

Jade Thornton, from Amersham, started busking in 2017 with a friend after leaving college at the age of 17 and quickly realised it was something she enjoyed doing and could make a living from.

She began doing it full-time at the end of 2018 but when the pandemic hit she described becoming "unemployed overnight" and having to take up retail jobs to support herself.

"I chose not to go to university - I just thought it wasn't for me so I went straight into some part-time retail jobs," she said.

"I take my cap off to anyone who does retail - it is one of the most gruelling jobs. People who do retail don't get nearly as much respect as they deserve. 

"Some of the customers I was facing were not that kind and I thought this is making me miserable, so I just thought 'if I don't leave now then when?'"

As the global economy slowly began to recover, she decided to leave retail and pursue music full-time in 2022.

"It is hard to switch off - I do busking but I am constantly messaging clients, writing set lists and learning songs," she said.

When it came to finances, Jade said there was no average to how much she could earn but it could fluctuate from £15-100 day-to-day depending on a number of factors.

"It relies on the time of month, whether the sun is out, if people have been paid, if Christmas is on the way or if Christmas has just passed," she explained.

The musician said she did struggle initially when she began busking but her parents were always supportive.

She said: "You obviously get a few questions from people asking 'are you sure you want to quit your job and sing on the street?'

"I lived at home for a long time and I'm grateful my parents could support me in that way because I know not everyone has that opportunity."

While performing outdoors is now Jade's full-time job, she said some months were more difficult to make money than others.

"If I'm being brutally honest in months like January and February it would be super difficult. This year I had enough gigs in December to cover me for January," she said.

"Last year from June-July and December I did not have to go busking because I got so many gigs through busking. I'm part of a lot of online agencies and I also do lots of pub gigs, weddings, birthdays and other events."

Jade noted though that the cost of living crisis had made things harder.

She said: "A few pub gigs I've had have been cancelled because they've had to rethink their strategies but if somebody cancels then I can just go out busking. There has been a slight dent when it comes to finances but that's from COVID as well - with COVID I was unemployed overnight."

The young musician went on to say she was "very grateful" when somebody did tip her and even small gestures like sitting, listening or just a smile were "currencies in themselves".

"It's escapism for me as a singer and then it's escapism for the audience as well," she added.

"Children also have such a great time listening to buskers and some may not have an opportunity for many reasons to go and see live music so if they can come across it in the street and that can spark something that's a wonderful thing to think I'm a little part of that."

Charlotte, 34, long-time busker

Charlotte Campbell, 34, who usually busks along the Southbank or in the London Underground, said she started busking during the 2012 London Olympics and while "busking used to be enough", more recently she has had to take on more gigs in the evening.

"A typical day is usually busking until around 6pm and then a gig in the evening - 8pm onwards," she said.

"I could still probably make a living from busking but I've taken on more paid gigs since the pandemic because everything became so uncertain. I think that uncertainty has just carried through now - that seems to be the way of life now."

The musician said tips for her CDs, which she puts on display during her performances, ranged between £5-10 and in the current cashless climate a card reader was "essential".

She said she pre-sets her card reader to £3 when playing on the Southbank and £2 when busking inside the London Underground "because people are rushing".

While she described her earnings as a "trade secret", she said the busker income had "definitely gone down" but this was due to a few factors - the pandemic, people carrying less cash and the cost of living crisis.

"Also, a lots of pitches have closed which means there are a lot more buskers trying to compete for one spot so all of those things have impacted my living as a busker," she said.

"I would say even though my income is primarily from busking I have had to subsidise it with more paid gigs than before. I just haven't felt as secure in my living from busking in the last couple of years.

"Most of the gigs I have are booked by people who have seen me busking so indirectly busking is my entire career- if I don't busk I wouldn't get the gigs I play in the evening. So directly and indirectly busking is my entire income."

In spite of uncertainty, she said it was freeing to be able to go out and perform for people in an intimate way.

"You are not up on a stage and there is no separation between you and them.  It's a really great connection you can make - I want to be able to hold onto that," she added.

Every Thursday  Savings Champion founder Anna Bowes  gives us an insight into the savings market and how to make the most of your money. Today she's focusing on children's accounts...

While the rates on adult savings accounts have risen and fallen over the course of 2024, the top rates on accounts for children have remained stable - but are pretty competitive once again, as other account rates have started to fall. 

And there are plenty of different types of savings accounts to choose from, from the tax free Junior ISA, to children's regular savings accounts, fixed term bonds and easy access accounts.

Those who are able to start saving for their children early, could significantly improve their financial health in the future – especially when taking compounding interest into consideration.

If you were to save £50 a month from birth, you could give them a gift of more than £17,250 at age 18, assuming a tax-free interest rate of 4.95% - which is currently the top Junior ISA rate available.

If you, your friends and family were able to gift a total of £9,000 a year to a child (the current Junior ISA allowance), at the same rate, you could give them almost £265,000 when they reach 18. 

Now that's a gift worth having!

Children have their own personal allowance, so for the majority there will be no tax to pay on their savings interest. 

However, parents should be aware that there may be a tax liability to themselves on the interest earned on any money they gift to their children, until they reach the age of 18. 

If the gross interest earned is less than £100 for each parent's gift, it will be treated as the child’s under a 'de minimis' rule. 

This means that provided the interest earned does not make the child a taxpayer, they will be able to offset this against their personal tax allowance, so it will often be free of tax. 

But if the interest is more than £100 for each parent's gift, then it will be treated as that parent’s interest for tax purposes and therefore they may need to pay tax at their marginal rate - if it takes them above their Personal Allowance and/or Personal Savings Allowance.

Gifts from any other family members or friends will not be viewed in the same way. Instead, any interest earned will be treated as belonging to the child themselves and therefore can be earned tax free if they are non-taxpayers.

The exception to this rule is on funds deposited into a JISA, Child Trust Fund or NS&I Premium Bonds.  The returns from these are tax free for all.

Almost a third of people are making the mistake of buying their travel insurance on the day of their trip, data from Go Compare has shown.

The figures found that just 17% of people took out their policy within six months of their holiday.

While you can buy travel insurance right up until the moment you leave the UK, doing so risks some key areas being missed off your cover.

Go Compare's Rhys Jones says it can result in cancellation cover not being included, and this is one of the main reasons people claim on their insurance policy. 

Pre-existing conditions might be missed off as well. 

"If you have a pre-existing condition that could flare up and cause complications, a last-minute travel insurance policy may not cover it," he said. 

"So while you can buy insurance right up until the moment you travel, it's often best to get it earlier so that you have more options and more cover available." 

If you are looking to buy travel insurance while you're already abroad, you may have to purchase a specialist post-departure travel insurance policy instead. 

This type of cover is only available from a few companies, so there are fewer options available, and they are generally more expensive. 

It's also worth noting that if you do buy this policy, you may have to wait 24, 48 or 72 hours before it begins. 

Rhys recommends organising your insurance as soon as you have booked your trip, saying it "could save you considerable money and stress". 

A record 3.1 million emergency food parcels have been handed out in just a year, according to a charity.

The Trussell Trust says 3,121,404 were distributed by its network of 1,300 food banks in the year to the end of March.

Some 1,144,096 were for children and nearly two million for adults. The total is nearly double that of five years ago.

The number of parcels given out during the 12 months to March 2023 was just under three million.

You can read more here...

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With OpenAI offering GPT-4o for free, who should be paying for ChatGPT Plus?

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Join us in returning to NYC on June 5th to collaborate with executive leaders in exploring comprehensive methods for auditing AI models regarding bias, performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Find out how you can attend here .

At its Spring updates event yesterday, OpenAI made headlines with the launch of GPT-4o, a truly multimodal AI that reasons across text, voice and vision in real-time with GPT-4 level intelligence. The company released a range of video demos showcasing the model’s prowess and how it can serve as a personal assistant, much like the one shown in the movie “Her,” helping people with everything from translations to solving math problems .

GPT-4o responds to voice inputs in about 320 milliseconds, matching the response time of humans engaging in a conversation. It can even detect a user’s emotional state from their voice and facial expressions and can adjust its voice to convey different emotions, much like what Hume has been exploring. But, what drew more attention was that OpenAI plans to make the new model as well as many more advanced tools available to ChatGPT users for free.

“I am very proud that we’ve made the best model in the world available for free in ChatGPT, without ads or anything like that… We are a business and will find plenty of things to charge for, and that will help us provide free, outstanding AI service to (hopefully) billions of people,” Sam Altman noted in his blog after the event.

This is a big upgrade for millions of free ChatGPT users, who had been stuck on GPT-3.5. But it also begs the question: who should now be paying for ChatGPT Plus, which has been the way to unlock advanced capabilities thus far? 

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Let’s dive in.

ChatGPT Plus: The subscription to unlock advanced features

Back in February 2023, OpenAI debuted ChatGPT Plus as a subscription which allowed users to upgrade from the standard GPT-3.5-powered ChatGPT experience to a more advanced version driven by the more capable GPT-4.

Over the subsequent months, the company bolstered the $20/month plan with advanced capabilities like advanced data analysis , internet browsing , DALL-E, memory of previous chats and the option to browse, create and use custom GPTs. The paid offering enabled many to do more with ChatGPT, especially for professional use cases. 

Now, with the new GPT-4o model coming to the free tier, the dynamics are changing. Essentially, anyone using ChatGPT will have GPT-4 level intelligence without paying. Additionally, when using GPT-4o, many tools that were previously limited to Plus subscribers will also become available for free, including the ability to pull responses from the web, analyze and create charts, image/file uploads for analysis and summarization, memory and GPT store.

This shift in strategy has left many wondering whether it makes sense to pay for the Plus subscription. But, here’s the thing, despite giving an upgrade to free users, OpenAI is drawing a clear line to ensure paid users get the value for their subscription.

For instance, when using GPT-4o, free users will have certain usage restrictions. There will be a limit on the number of messages (across text and images) they can send to the model, depending on the usage and demand at that specific moment. Once the limit is reached, the chatbot will automatically switch back to GPT-3.5, reverting to the same experience. 

On the contrary, Plus subscribers will have a 5x higher usage threshold, allowing them to use the model longer. Teams and Enterprise subscribers will have an even higher usage threshold, although the specifics remain undisclosed at this stage.

Beyond this, Plus subscribers will also retain the ability to create custom chatbots or GPTs and share them on the recently launched GPT Store . Free users will only be able to browse the Store and use these GPTs shared there. If anything, this would give Plus subscribers creating GPTs a broader audience to engage and make money.

Lastly, Plus subscribers will also continue to have exclusive access to DALL-E 3 – the model that generates images from text prompts – and early access to several advanced features from OpenAI. The company has already confirmed that it will roll out the next-generation voice and video capabilities demoed in the Spring event to Plus users in the coming weeks. Even the new MacOS app of ChatGPT has started rolling out for Plus users.

Is it still worth it?

For $20/month, OpenAI seems to be delivering a decent package. However, it is more suitable for power users who want to interact with the company’s most powerful model more often while having access to advanced features like image generation and GPT creation.

If the need is not extensive, like for work or school, the free version of the ChatGPT with new capabilities like web search and data analysis might do just fine, allowing users to get their tasks done.

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Travel Agents: 7 US Cities We’d Visit This Summer on a $500 Budget

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Just because you’re on a budget and don’t have a ton of money doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to take a vacation. There are plenty of places nationwide where you can have a great time for just a few hundred dollars. Here are some of the spots travel agents say you can hit this year and not worry about spending too much . 

Burlington, VT

“[Burlington] is set on the shores of Lake Champlain, with a busy downtown with boutique shops and cafés,” said Alex Cornici, CEO and founder at The Traveler . Cornici also said that the beautiful waterfront makes for a great spot to have a picnic and watch the sun set. There are also lots of picturesque bike paths for the outdoorsy types. During the summer, you can find hotels for around $150 a night, which gives you a few hundred dollars to spend on food during a weekend trip. 

Try This: 8 Tips To Fly Business Class for the Price of Economy

Savannah, GA

Cornici recommended Savannah for travelers looking for something chic. “Its historic district is full of marvelous architecture, leafy squares filled with Spanish moss and a waterfront scene that’s lively in its own right,” Cornici said. “Stroll the cobblestone streets, drop into art galleries and historic homes or take a ghost tour. The ambiance offered by Savannah is one of its kinds.” 

Try going during the week, rather than on a weekend and you can likely score hotels for under $70 a night during July.

Duluth offers many things to do for visitors, including harbor cruises, air tours and the Great Lakes Aquarium. “This port city on Lake Superior reveals an example of great natural beauty with a cool vibe,” Cornici said.

“Enjoy hiking or biking along the lakefront, with a stop to see the massive aerial lift bridge and Canal Park on the waterfront, home to what may be the most diverse mix of dining options in all of Duluth.” June and July can be pretty expensive to stay in a hotel in Duluth, but during August, the prices tend to be lower, so aim to have your trip then.

Cheyenne, WY

“For a taste of the Wild West, take a trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming,” Cornici said. Cheyenne is great for those interested in Western heritage without feeling like you’re in an all-out tourist trap, he said. You can check out the Frontier Days Old West Museum and see a rodeo performance. But, that’s not the only type of entertainment Cheyenne offers.

“Hiking and park exploration in state parks can easily be accommodated,” Cornici said. If you go during August, you can easily spend under $100 a night for lodging. 

New Orleans, LA

You might be thinking New Orleans is such a popular destination, there’s no way it’s affordable, but Christopher Falvey, a partner at Unique NOLA Tours , begged to differ. “New Orleans, especially during the summer, is a super inexpensive vacation,” Falvey said. “You could easily do a weekend for $500 or less. The state of Louisiana has one of the lowest costs of living in the U.S. and that includes New Orleans.”

Falvey said that you can always look for tours offering discounts on their activities. If you look for bargains, you can always find them. Plus, aiming to travel during the week rather than a weekend will guarantee you lower prices and Falvey said you won’t be missing out. “We have a ton of summer festivals and it isn’t like Bourbon Street ever slows down.”

Cleveland, OH

“Cleveland is one of our favorite places to travel on a budget,” Becky Hart, content marketing strategist at Seven Corners Travel Insurance said. Hart recommended Cleveland for its affordability. Cleveland offers the RTA trolley, which is free for you to use on weekdays. Just another reason to consider taking a few days during the week for your next trip.

Hart said there is something for every type of traveler to love in Cleveland. “If you’re into art, the Cleveland Museum of Art offers free general admission year-round. Cleveland Cultural Gardens and Lakeview Cemetery are full of sculptures that, if the weather is nice, are worth exploring. For nature lovers, the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse, full of unexpected gardens and exhibits, has free admission and parking. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is also close to downtown Cleveland and is one of our country’s few free national parks.”

It’s easy to find rooms for under $100 to $150 a night when you check out dates in June, so you can start making your plans now. 

Never been to Colorado? Maybe this is the summer to scope it out. Hart recommended Denver for outdoorsy types. “Red Rocks Amphitheatre is free to visit for hiking, biking and tours as long as there isn’t a concert scheduled.”

Hart also said that getting around Denver is pretty easy and buying a CityPASS gets you some great perks. “The Colorado capitol building and U.S. Mint both offer free tours and if you buy a CityPASS, you’ll find good deals on other major attractions like the Children’s Museum, Downtown Aquarium and Museum of Nature and Science.”

Hotels in Denver can be pricey, but even just seven miles outside of Denver, you can start to find hotels for under $200 a night. 

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What Does the Xi-Ma Meeting Mean for Cross-Strait Relations?

While unlikely to change cross-Strait relations, it does indicate that Beijing views engagement with Taiwan as necessary for peaceful unification.

Thursday, May 9, 2024

/ READ TIME: 7 minutes

By: Jennifer Staats, Ph.D. ; Naiyu Kuo

Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks on April 10 with former Taiwan president Ma Ying-Jeou in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. The meeting came as tensions between Beijing and Taipei remain high , particularly following Taiwan’s election at the beginning of the year, which saw pro-sovereignty candidate William Lai Ching-te win a historic third term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ma served as president from 2008 to 2016, is a member of the Nationalist (KMT) party and is known for advocating closer ties with mainland China.

While nothing major came out of the meeting, it served as a reminder that cross-Strait relations are not necessarily as straightforward as they seem. Although there are still obstacles to official communication between the elected government in Taipei and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders in Beijing, many individuals nevertheless maintain lines of communication and working relationships across the Strait to help preserve a basic level of stability.

USIP’s Jennifer Staats and Naiyu Kuo look at what Xi and Ma wanted to accomplish with the meeting, what it means for cross-Strait relations and what lessons this provides for U.S. policy.

What were Xi and Ma hoping to accomplish?

For both men, the purpose of the meeting was more about symbolism than substance. For Xi, the primary goal was likely a friendly photo-op to dampen the voices of those in China who have been advocating for a tougher approach following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022. The meeting received largely positive front-page coverage in China’s state-owned media, which encouraged further cross-Strait exchanges and helped make the case that Beijing is making progress in the right direction toward unification with Taiwan.

Although the meeting took place in the East Hall at the Great Hall of the People, where Chinese officials typically host foreign leaders, Ma is not a current official, nor would Beijing perceive the leader of Taiwan to be on equal footing with the general secretary of the CCP. To illustrate that point, the official readout from the Chinese government did not assign Ma any official title, but simply referred to Ma as “mister.” Furthermore, the East Hall had served as the venue for negotiations about the return of Hong Kong and Macau to China, prompting Taiwanese media to see it as Beijing’s implicit political signal of Taiwan’s eventual return to the motherland.

Finally, Xi likely also wanted to capitalize on the symbolic significance of the April 10 date. Ma’s visit was reportedly scheduled for April 8 initially, but Beijing postponed it two days to coincide with President Joe Biden's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait was among the major topics . The following day, Biden also held the first-ever trilateral summit with his counterparts from Japan and the Philippines in Washington, which Chinese scholars labeled an “ anti-China gathering .” April 10 also marked the 45th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act, which serves as a cornerstone for unofficial U.S.-Taiwan ties.

For Ma, the visit was more about boosting his own political relevance and advocating for the view that Taiwan is historically and culturally linked to China and should move toward closer relations with the mainland, which he sees as inevitable. Yet his trip has drawn the ire of both his own party and the ruling DPP. Some very senior members of the KMT claim to have been unaware of the trip or of the message Ma planned to deliver, and the party did not fully endorse the meeting until the trip was over.

What does the Xi-Ma meeting mean for cross-strait relations ahead of Lai’s inauguration?

In the April 10 meeting, Xi largely repeated his official positions and the rhetoric from Beijing did not deviate from previous statements on Taiwan. Xi stressed the official Chinese view that Taiwan is a part of China, saying “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese” and “there are no knots that cannot be untied, no issues that cannot be discussed, and no force that can separate us.”

The meeting was likely also intended to remind President-elect Lai that a warmer relationship with Beijing is possible if he changes his approach. Indeed, following the visit, Ma publicly urged Lai to adhere to the “One-China” framework in his May 20 inauguration speech. Nonetheless, given Ma's lack of authority and his perceived Beijing-friendly stance, the meeting's impact on Taiwanese perceptions of China or Lai’s approach to China will likely be minimal. Additionally, Lai's recent decision to retain key foreign policy and national security personnel from President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration signals a continuation of Taiwan’s policy trajectory over the past eight years aimed at distancing Taiwan from China’s influence.

What are the different types of cross-Strait exchanges and dialogue taking place?

This was the first time Xi had received a current or former president of Taiwan in Beijing, but it was not the first meeting between the two men. In November 2015, Xi met with then-president Ma in Singapore two months before Taiwan’s 2016 presidential elections. Ma also led a student delegation to the mainland in the spring of 2023, which was the first time a current or former Taiwanese (or Republic of China) president had visited mainland China since 1949.

Despite the absence of an official communication channel between Beijing and Taipei since 2016, informal channels do bridge the Taiwan Strait. Ma is not the first Taiwanese politician, current or former, to travel to China this year. Notable KMT figures like former Taipei City Mayor Hao Lung-pin and Vice Chair Andrew Hsia have made trips to China, while former a former KMT chair and a former vice chair are scheduled to visit China this summer. KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi led a delegation of KMT lawmakers on a visit to China in late April, where they held meetings with high-ranking Chinese officials.

These efforts build upon a history of cross-strait engagement between the KMT and the CCP, exemplified by former KMT Chair Lien Chan's four meetings with Xi between 2013 and 2018.

In times of crises or heightened tensions, select representatives from Taipei meet with counterparts in Beijing to lower the temperature, but these meetings generally remain out of the public eye. Even President-elect Lai has publicly acknowledged the importance of communication. In late April, he called for party-to-party talks and reiterated a willingness to engage in dialogue with Beijing “on the premise of reciprocity and dignity.”

Yet the primary obstacle to official communication remains Beijing's insistence that Taiwanese interlocutors accept the 1992 Consensus , which was negotiated between the CCP and KMT and Beijing believes reflects an agreement that both sides work toward “national reunification.” Lai rejects that formulation, so Taipei and Beijing will likely continue to rely on backchannel efforts, which are better than nothing but might not effectively prevent misunderstandings or reduce the risks of military confrontation.

What lessons can U.S. policymakers take from this engagement between Xi and Ma?

The meeting is unlikely to change the trajectory of cross-Strait relations, but it does indicate that Beijing views engagement with Taiwan as an important component of peaceful unification. Indeed, perhaps the best way to prevent war in the Taiwan Strait is to ensure that Beijing still views peaceful unification as a viable option. To that end, Washington should not discourage or seek to limit communication between Taipei and Beijing that might serve as pressure release valve for both sides.

China’s ongoing efforts to encourage exchanges and interactions across the Taiwan Strait also suggest that Xi might not be planning a military showdown with Taiwan in the near future. Yet China will continue to use a combination of carrots and sticks to appeal to and coerce Taiwan, and gray-zone pressure will likely escalate around the May 20 inauguration. Existing backchannels across the Strait can help manage the tensions, but the United States cannot count on those exchanges to succeed. Washington must ensure it is sending clear signals to both Beijing and Taipei to avoid miscommunication or unwanted escalation and continue its efforts to help Taiwan defend itself and deter military conflict.

Naiyu Kuo is a research analyst for the China program at USIP.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s).

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Graduate Profile: Maria Dueñas Lopez, MTS '24

Memorable Moment 

My most memorable moments at HDS were weekly noon services. Every week, a different student group would host a service from their tradition. The hour was always filled with beautiful music, honest reflections, and strong community. At the start of every service all participants state the following words: 

In this time and in this assembly, may we embrace each responsibility  

with earnestness and compassion for our companions.  

Though we may travel different paths, may we find solidarity, comfort, and hope in our common purpose as a community of seekers, working towards collective liberation from white supremacy and other forms of oppression. 

Some people wonder how a divinity school can stay united across so much diversity in traditions? Despite our different ways of making meaning of the world around us we find strength in our shared values always centered on working towards collective liberation.  

Message of Thanks  

Wow, there’s no way I can truly thank everyone that has inspired me on this journey, it truly takes a village. My advisor David Carrasco and capstone advisors Alvaro Huerta and Hussein Rashid. Susie Hayward’s unwavering support throughout my RPL journey. Marshall Ganz and Lacey Connelly for trusting my abilities and helping me grow as a teaching fellow. The entire public narrative teaching team Khadija Amer, Rigzen Wangmo, Taarini Goyal, Vian Nguyen, Vic Hogg, Hannah Chidekel; we had a challenging semester but managed to overcome and come out stronger. Katie Caponera and the entire HDS Student Association; we accomplished much amidst a challenging year. BBSnaxx co-leaders Renee Susanto and John Gehman; it's been an honor to lead alongside you. Our President’s Innovation Challenge, Spiritual Care Project team: Jenn Louie, Charlotte McAdams, and Ebony Johnson. Rebeca Moreno for bringing me on to the Auna Mexico family. Kerry Maloney for bringing me on to the wonderful RSL Office team. Amanda Irizarry, Samuel and Adele Allen, Sue B. Hyatt, Francia Kissel, Tom Marvin, Karina Garduno, Yecenia Tostado, Elise Schrock, Jordan Rodriguez and many more. I’m standing on the shoulders of giants! 

What I Hope to Be Remembered By 

I hope to be remembered as a trusted ally and for my commitment to community and leadership. 

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