The ‘Fake a Plane Ride Challenge’ Has People Using Toilet Seats and Detergent Bottles to Make It Look Like They’re Traveling the World

Flying around the globe can certainly appear glamorous on social media. After all, the hashtag #travel has more than 375 million mentions on Instagram alone. But, sadly for many, the jet-set lifestyle is out of reach. However, thanks to a new social media challenge called the “fake plane ride challenge” you can at least fake like you’re living the high life.

As The New York Post reported, the “fake plane ride challenge” has…taken off...on social media in China, with thousands of people faking their own ultimate airline experience.

Here’s how it works: A social media user posts a video that looks like they are flying 30,000 feet in the air. To create the post, users take a household item that resembles a classic oval plane window. Then, the video slowly pans away to show that the sweeping views below are actually pre-recorded video footage played on a smartphone, and that plane window is nothing more than a coffee cup, toilet seat, or a cleaning product handle.

According to the news site NextShark, the challenge first surfaced on the video-sharing social platform TikTok. The “fake plane ride challenge” apparently kicked off around the New Year on Feb. 5, “after billions of trips were made across the country,” NextShark explained.

The challenge then moved over to the Chinese social media platform Weibo, where it already has 27 million views, The New York Daily News reported.

Sure, the gag is certainly hilarious and a nice break from the normal on social media. But, if you want to get away for real without spending a fortune on flights you can. Just read up on these 18 tips that could save you a fortune on your next trip. Then, all you have to do is document your actual journey and share it with the world, too.

Need more advice on where to go, how about exploring one of the 50 best places to travel in 2019.