Travelling Europe during a summer heatwave

Living under a rock during this climate crisis isn’t necessarily the worst idea. First and foremost, underground dwellings are climate controlled and not victims to the vagaries of an expiring planet. Secondly, living under rocks means that we’d be excused from the news of the daily horrors meted out on said planet by said crisis.

However, what we then wouldn’t be able to do is live out our best hot-person European summers (pun not intended)! Trouble is, they’re getting hotter – Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, and 2022 saw many countries in the west and southwest experiencing their hottest year on record.

Though we advise offsetting carbon in every other aspect of our lives, here at Freely, we remain big fans of mounting majestic metal steeds and hurtling through the troposphere – as long as you fly economy and get there in as direct a way as possible. As for Europe, though the consequences of climate change are grim, the continent is also making huge gains on clean energy. Last year, 22% of Europe’s power was generated by wind and solar – which is more than both coal and natural gas.

Furthermore, if we’re really looking at silver linings, droughts mean back-to-back beach days, heat waves allow us to tan our way through the British Isles and summer now goes from May to October. We say see the Eiffel Tower before it melts!

And to this end, we present our guide to travelling Europe during the climate apocalypse.

We write this with tongue firmly in cheek, because if you can’t laugh and make light then you’ll probably scream. Take the climate crisis seriously; do your part – but make sure you enjoy these end-of-days on our beautiful blue rock.

Shoulder season is the new high season; low season doesn’t exist

All us European bon vivants de rigueur know that summer can be a busy time to travel the continent, because everyone’s doing it. Heatwaves, traffic jams, and the inability to find a seat in a cafe are some of the more glaring issues – but also, these days, the climate crisis has August feeling like Dante’s third ring of the Seventh Circle, and late June and all through July aren’t much better. Look north

If you tend to ditch the southern hemisphere in winter and enjoy travelling closer to the summer’s core, you can toy with the effects of climate change by heading north. Warming weather means that the already gorgeous Polish Riviera, on the Baltic Sea just outside Gdansk, rivals its Mediterranean namesake (albeit on a much smaller and exponentially cheaper scale). Gotland Island off Sweden coast might not boast the density of clubs of Ibiza, but the party scene is gorgeous and it stays light ‘til 2am. And as heat waves wash over Europe, beaches along the Irish, North, Baltic and Black Seas become appealing options for all kinds of previously pasty-skinned Northern European naturists.

Stay hydrated (without being a planet punisher)

If you’re going to be in the heat, you’re going to have to do whatever you can to not whither and die in it. This means spending time in the shade, slathering yourself in reef-safe sunscreen and sipping a lot of water. Carry your refillable bottle with you everywhere and take advantage of the ubiquitous and ancient city fountains – Rome still has a system of delicious and delightfully fresh water spread through the city, and even as taps are turned off around Barcelona on account of the drought, the city’s drinking taps remain on. Even out in the countryside you’re never too far from an ancient aquifer that’s been pumping core-cooling hydration from the bedrock since Fred Flintstone was a boy!

What’s going to happen with the wine?

There’s nothing finer in this life than sipping a chilled rosé under some Mediterranean-adjacent vine leaves, and one of the positives of living through perpetually unprecedented high temperatures is that we’re relentlessly presented with these moments.

Unfortunately, however, the very same warming planet that makes these moments increasingly appealing is also making them less likely due to freak weather events such ashailstorms, droughts and cyclonic winds destroying crops. Warmer temps also mean grapes don’t only ripen months earlier, but may see higher sugar levels, producing wines so strong that they’re no longer classified as wine.

One unexpected consequence of all this is that wine production is now moving northward, with England and Scandinavia boasting cute little wine regions where you enjoy the gentle sparkling wines in a reasonable climate while unflinching aficionados down south in Italy and Spain are slogging through 15%+ unintentionally fortified wines under the oppressive summer sun.P

Become a creature of the night

And if all else fails, use the unbearable daytime conditions to excuse your nocturnal behaviour. You’re not a degenerate who frequents discotheques six nights a week – you’re climate conscious, seeking a safehaven from the crisis that unfolds between sun up and sun down. Climate crisis nights are still balmy, but bearable, and while we don’t recommend swimming on unsupervised beaches, having a safe dip after midnight and going back to the club is living as only a true European hedonist knows how. The only problem with this life hack is that European summer days stretch out from 5am until 10pm or longer, and so excusing yourself from all outside interactions between those hours might both be unreasonable and a waste of your valuable holiday time.

Bonus apocalyptic nightmare scenario

And while we jest in our quest to make the most of this mostly irreversible crisis, there’s something that puts fear into many Europeans’ day-to-day lives – the prospect of a reversed Gulf Stream and the severe changes in climate that would result.

At the moment, the Gulf Stream that delivers warmer water from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic and up its coastline moderates Europe’s temperatures to a mildness that betrays many cities’ latitudes. For example, Barcelona has a similar latitude to Chicago and Boston; London and Dublin are further north than Calgary. As polar ice caps melt, the effect of the Gulf Stream is weakening and could collapse entirely. This could mean more severe weather across Europe, and climates that match that of our North American latitudinal cousins. Snowstorms in Rome, permanent ice-floes off Iceland and Lisbon looking a lot more like Atlantic City.  A horror outcome indeed.

Enjoy the world while we still can, do your part wherever possible, and make sure you stay hydrated and adaptable in this wildly changing world.

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