Photo: My Baggage
In case you haven’t heard, things are (still) pretty bad in Europe as far as the international health crisis is going. Just days before Christmas, most European countries have banned travel to and from the UK to limit the spread of infection.
Effectively, this also means millions of Britons are stuck wherever they happened to be visiting before the ban took effect, which means they won’t be home for Christmas. Homesickness only has one cure, if you ask relocation firm My Baggage: bottled air that smells like home.
This is either the best joke and PR move ever or the dumbest product ever to come to market. My Baggage is selling 500 ml (16.9 oz) bottles of air from across the UK. If you’re feeling especially picky, you can even contact them, and they will send you a distinct smell you’re yearning for, like the smell of the London subway, fish ‘n’ chips, or fresh mist from the summit of Snowdonia.
Those who want something more basic can have four variants of British air to choose from: Fresh English, Fresh Scottish, Fresh Irish, and Fresh Welsh Air. The Welsh variety is currently out of stock because, you know, people are actually snapping these up.
The company claims that each bottle will help homesick expats “reconnect” with home. To that end, they make sure they capture only the freshest, most fragrant, clean air in the region using “traditional methods” like waving or swooping the bottles around. There’s a cork stopper to each bottle, which means you can open it to take a whiff and then save it for a next olfactory trip down memory lane.
“Our sense of smell is known to be linked to emotional memories and this year Britons living abroad have been coming home less than usual – so we thought we’d offer something novel to remind them of home,” managing director Paul Stewart says in a statement to The Guardian. “And, of course, it works for those in lockdown and not able to travel. In a year when things have been so hard for everyone, we’re really just trying to put a smile on people’s faces – most of them just want it for the mantlepiece or a novelty gift for a friend.”
Whether genius or plain stupid, chalk this up to another crazy development in a very crazy year: 2020, the year when bottled air compensated for our inability to travel.
This is either the best joke and PR move ever or the dumbest product ever to come to market. My Baggage is selling 500 ml (16.9 oz) bottles of air from across the UK. If you’re feeling especially picky, you can even contact them, and they will send you a distinct smell you’re yearning for, like the smell of the London subway, fish ‘n’ chips, or fresh mist from the summit of Snowdonia.
Those who want something more basic can have four variants of British air to choose from: Fresh English, Fresh Scottish, Fresh Irish, and Fresh Welsh Air. The Welsh variety is currently out of stock because, you know, people are actually snapping these up.
The company claims that each bottle will help homesick expats “reconnect” with home. To that end, they make sure they capture only the freshest, most fragrant, clean air in the region using “traditional methods” like waving or swooping the bottles around. There’s a cork stopper to each bottle, which means you can open it to take a whiff and then save it for a next olfactory trip down memory lane.
“Our sense of smell is known to be linked to emotional memories and this year Britons living abroad have been coming home less than usual – so we thought we’d offer something novel to remind them of home,” managing director Paul Stewart says in a statement to The Guardian. “And, of course, it works for those in lockdown and not able to travel. In a year when things have been so hard for everyone, we’re really just trying to put a smile on people’s faces – most of them just want it for the mantlepiece or a novelty gift for a friend.”
Whether genius or plain stupid, chalk this up to another crazy development in a very crazy year: 2020, the year when bottled air compensated for our inability to travel.
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