Whether we’re experiencing travel restrictions, find ourselves with limited time off from work, or a have a restricted budget, there are tons of times that we get stuck at home when we’d rather be out exploring the world. But did you know it’s possible to satisfy your wanderlust without having to actually travel?
I know, I know, you’d rather be traveling. I’d love to be traveling all the time, but that’s not my reality. And I’m betting it’s not yours as well.
Being grounded (sometimes literally) can be a real pain and not the ideal situation, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out and stay bored. And we’ll skip past the easy-out of binge-watching travel programs. We’ve all had 2 years to get caught up with a few. Instead, let’s move a little deeper.
Let’s explore 8 ways to satisfy your wanderlust while stuck at home!
BE A TOURIST IN YOUR HOMETOWN
Adventure is never far away, which means that you can travel within your hometown, city, region, and still find something new and exciting. Travel doesn’t always have to be far away or exotic.
Look up your hometown on Trip Advisor or Pinterest for inspiration. It’s so much fun to read about out-of-towners’ experiences in your hometown. What did they love? How did they spend their 10-hour layover? Where were their must-do destinations? What makes it on their “Top 10 Things to Do in…”? Have you heard of all of them, or are you adding them to your to-do list? Having a true visitor’s perspective is magnificent.
Have you ever taken a walking tour of your city? Rode the public transportation from one end to the other? Planned a stay-cation?
Google your hometown to see what exotic restaurants are around. Try that new ethnic restaurant. Patron a place that isn’t part of your standard rotation. There are tons of options if you have the right mindset.
CREATE A BUCKET LIST
Do you have a bucket list? If not, this could be an awesome way to satisfy your wanderlust. Dream about all the places you’d like to visit, experiences you’d like to have, and write it down.
Or, if you’re like me and have had a bucket list for years, take a look at it and update it. Were you able to cross anything off? Make any additions?
I took mine a step further and created an Impossible List, which is like a bucket list on steroids. Learn more on this website!
Having goals is healthy and spending the time to think them through is therapeutic and a way to satisfy your wanderlust.
Let’s be honest – we all spend way too much time on social media. It’s easy. It’s at our fingertips. We do it in bed, on the toilet, and during work. Why not focus that search power into something a little more productive?
Utilize the search features and hashtags on the various social media platforms and save posts, articles, and videos that match your searches.
If you’re a pinner and spend all of your time on Pinterest, why not create some boards that align with your bucket list? For example, if visiting Paris is on your bucket list, create a few boards for things to do, sights to see, and food to eat in Paris.
When I’m in “planning mode” for a trip or dreaming for the future, I’ll save a bunch of pins to a travel board and then set aside time down the road to read the blog posts. From this point, I can make my lists of things to do and see, based on recommendations and pictures.
LEARN ABOUT A NEW PLACE
This year, I tried something new. I printed out a map of northern Utah and taped it to my dart board. I threw a dart at it and went and had an adventure where it landed. It was a different way of discovering a new location.
Maybe you can do the same! If you don’t have a dart board, tape it up on the wall and use it like “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” to determine where you go.
If you aren’t able to physically go anywhere for whatever reason, spin a globe.
Play games like GeoGuessr online.
Open up Google Earth and click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” icon that looks like dice.
Or if you’re a traditionalist, just look up facts about a place you don’t know that much about. The benefit of playing games, spinning a globe, or utilizing Google Earth is they show you places you wouldn’t have thought about. New, fresh places that can help satisfy your wanderlust for discovery.
TRAVEL VIRTUALLY
I’m sure this was a thing before 2020, but did you know that you can go on virtual tours? Take a virtual tour of a famous museum. Travel and Leisure put together an awesome list of museums from around the world that offer virtual tours. Just think – plenty of art and culture without the faff of having to elbow through throngs of other tourists!
Another cool thing you can do is utilize Google Earth to check out your bucket-list items. Under the Voyager icon, you can go on famous walks in Europe. Scope out a national park in Africa. Cross the deserts in the Middle East.
Utilize social media again and search for pictures and videos of exotic-to-you locations!
SATISFY YOUR WANDERLUST WITH CULINARY TRAVEL
How about a delicious option, and one that doesn’t really require you to be behind a computer all day long? Culinary travel needs to be more mainstream, for sure.
One of the reasons we travel is to experience a different cuisine. Flying away to the ends of the earth to sample local delicacies is definitely en vogue right now, so why should that change?
This might be the time to try a new recipe. Did you fall in love with a particular dish during your travels? Do a bit of research and find a recipe to try out. Or theme a week’s worth of dinners to a particular region, such as the Middle East. Visit a specialty market in your town to find ingredients, put on some appropriate music, and cook away!
If you’re not into cooking, now would be the perfect time to patron a local restaurant that has an exotic-to-you cuisine. I particularly enjoy dining at (or ordering take-out from) certain ethnic restaurants in Salt Lake City. Tickle the tastebuds without the mess.
Have dietary restrictions? Building up the courage to try new food? Unsure where to start? There are a ton of YouTube channels dedicated to foods around the world. If you’re nervous about jumping in, why not watch someone else taste new foods for you? My favorite family-safe channel is Mark Wiens.
RESEARCH FOR A FUTURE TRIP
Do you have a trip on the horizon? Do you dream about visiting a particular destination? Why not start planning? A great way to satisfy your wanderlust is to start tentatively planning out what you’d like to do for a future trip.
You don’t need to book anything, but having a general itinerary put together will definitely help you down the road.
I had a great coworker-turned-BFF that taught me how to research for trips. We would spend our downtime at the office planning out trips that we wanted to take. Although we only ended up taking one of them, it was a fun way to pass the days. Dreaming about exotic locations. Fantasizing about things to see and do. Figuring out how to do it on the cheap.
Priceless skills that I was able to hone at the beginning of my travel career.
READ A BOOK SET IN AN EXOTIC DESTINATION
Not everyone likes to watch TV. Some of us like to read. And the best part is that you don’t have to read a so-called travel book to be introduced to an exotic location.
Travel fiction and non-fiction are part of an ever-growing genre, and certain books make their rounds among the travel blogosphere. And while they’re a good read, it can get a little monotonous reading the same style over and over.
Why not try a fiction or non-fiction novel, set in an exotic location?
It doesn’t even need to be exotic. I wouldn’t have been nearly as excited to visit Chicago if I hadn’t read Devil in the White City. How many people make a pilgrimage to England and Scotland because of the Harry Potter series?
Some of my favorite books include:
The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us, by Francis Tapon (EASTERN EUROPE)
Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown (ITALY)
The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien (NEW ZEALAND/MIDDLE EARTH)
These are just a few suggestions on how to satisfy your wanderlust. How to keep that spark of travel alive and well, even when the world is having a hard time. How do you keep the light of travel in your life?
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