Animal Crossing: New Horizons, released on the Nintendo Switch, has been a huge hit this season, but I never expected it to replace real-world travel. But as I wandered around my buddy Myke's island, I felt an emotion I never expected.

Yes, I know for a fact that I am not the only one who has had to cancel travel plans now that we are all confined to our homes, sheltered in place, and socially distanced in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. I had planned to stay in England for a little over a month, half for personal pleasure and half for work. It was going to be a mini study abroad experience, something I had not experienced in college. [Then we became well aware of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the airlines stopped 90% of their flights as part of their efforts to ground all travel for the time being. But the folks at Dodo Air, the preferred (and only) way to tour the islands in "Animal Crossing," aren't about to let that stop them.

Like I said, I didn't intend to have all kinds of feelings while playing Animal Crossing. It just happened to happen. One day I walked into the Nook Cluny store on my island and found the perfect gift for my friend Mike Hurley, who is always with me when I go to London.

Mike is a professional podcaster, and when I saw the ink jar, pen, and bundle of paper ("essay set") for sale, I immediately thought of Mike's show, The Pen Addict. He knows more about all kinds of pens than I will ever learn, but since we had not yet become friends in Animal Crossing, I could not simply give him the set.

So I texted Myke and teased him about the gift coming. Later that day, when I saw his name appear in the upper left corner of the Switch UI, I told him I was on my way.

Myke then emailed me the Dodo code. Couldn't Myke open his airport to all his friends? Well, I have since realized that Myke had given only me access to his island.

When I arrived at Myke's island, named Mega, I felt a little like I was in a whole new place. Unlike the rest of Animal Crossing, Myke's island was extravagantly organized and designed.

Spotlights shone from the grounds, rows of flowers lined the sidewalks, and there was even a brick oven on the beach with cast-iron chairs and tables. Before we could go any further, I dropped an essay set in front of Myke's character, and he responded with a "joy" emote that had flowers blooming on his head and the character swooning.

This virtual trip to Mega felt like a neat little moment, but it was all amplified when I saw a British-style phone booth on his island and remembered the trip I had canceled. And as our little avatars moved around his island, me in my red luchador mask and Myke in her stylish fedora and leopard print glasses, I noticed a small detail.

Our arms fluttered so adorably as we ran side by side. Standing outside his museum, we both performed an emote called Delight. The emote resembled a pose of a professional wrestler we had seen. Myke said he had not noticed the similarity before, but now he could not think of it any other way.

Myke showed us around his three-story apartment in Animal Crossing. When I entered his bathroom, however, I noticed not one but two fans. When I asked him about its necessity, he replied, "LOL." Leaving the island was not a bad feeling. It would make it easier to go back.

"Animal Crossing" meetups are a real thing. Live Science colleague Mindy Weisberger tweeted a little anecdote she learned during quarantine:

"Apparently, high school relationships in an era of social distance = hanging out on each other's islands and banging heads in butterfly nets." For teens, that's much less exciting than real dating, but parents must love it.

So far, as we all get used to this strange way of life, we find the Animal Crossing connection much more comfortable than Zoom calls. Video conferencing has exhausted us so much that there is even a term for it: Zoom fatigue. By comparison, the Animal Crossing link-up is much easier to focus on, since the grid of various people's faces does not draw our attention here and there. [CNN reports that even weddings and graduations are taking place in Animal Crossing. And I can't blame anyone. The calm, lovely islands of Animal Crossing may not have the power to create moments like face-to-face events, but for now, it is the most calming option."