If you’re like me, your feet are probably itching to be exploring some charming city or hiking a beautiful mountain! Who would have ever thought that 2020 would come with a pandemic that would put a stop to travel for those of us who like to roam freely!? Thankfully, before COVID-19 hit, I was able welcome the New Year in Mexico City, road tripped to Sedona to hike, and squeezed in a camping trip to Havasupai just days before my state shut down. Since then, some of my travel plans have been affected and all I’m left with is my enormous wanderlust. Like me, you’re probably trying to figure out how to cure wanderlust when you can’t travel.
As a part time traveler, I go long periods without roaming this beautiful world. So all I can do during those times is wanderlust and “travel” in different ways. Soon, we’ll all be able to purchase that next flight, but as we’re all quarantined and patiently waiting for COVID-19 to pass, here are some ways that we can cure wanderlust.
How To Cure Wanderlust When You Can’t Travel
Watch Travel Movies
No better way to get nostalgic than watching movies that remind us of your travels or spike the wanderlust in us. There are so many movies out there that will take us back to those places we loved. Many movies will even provoke us to start planning a trip to a new city! Some of my favorites are:
- Eat, Pray, Love: A newly divorced woman leaves to travel and discovers herself along the way.
- Wild: A woman decides to go an a solo hiking challenge across the Pacific Crest Trail.
- The Bucket List: A man with cancer decides to live his life to the fullest before dying, including visits to some countries.
- Under the Tuscan Sun: Again, a newly divorced women travels to Italy and buys a home spontaneously . The landscapes in this movie had me hooked.
- Motorcycle Diaries: The famous Che Guevara decides to travel South America and he feels changed after living beautiful experiences and noticing the injustices across the continent.
- The Beach: A secret island in Thailand is discovered and brings a group of young people together. This is the movie that made Koh Phi Phi so famous.
Learn a New Language
I fell head over heels for Italy. The food, the culture, the sites, and with the language. It just sounds so passionate and romantic. Since then, I made up my mind I’d learn the language before going back one day. Now that most of us are spending more time at home, it’s a great time to learn a new language or get better at one. Then, when we finally arrive at the destination we’ve been dreaming of, we’ll be able to practice the new language with local people. I use the app Duolingo and love it! It has so many languages to choose from!
Read Travel Books
Our imagination can take us anywhere in the world! We may not go there physically, but we can dream. Whether they be fiction stories that take us places or non-fiction ones that help us plan our next destination, now’s the time to squeeze in some reading. My personal favorite is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This book will make you dream and inspire you to chase after those dreams. It’s filled with life lessons as it follows the story of a boy who yearns to travel for treasure. It’s a book of self-discovery and one you’ll want to read over and over again.
Watch Travel Vlogs
Anyone else here enjoy living vicariously through someone else’s travels? I know I do! We may not have dates for when we can travel at the moment, but we can continue planning what we want to see and where we want to travel to. This is where YouTube comes in perfectly for some Travel Vlog watching. Many places I visited have been by watching others show me around places through their videos. Some of my favorites are Kara and Nate, Lost Le Blanc, World of Wanderlust, and for my Spanish speakers Alan X El Mundo.
Work on Your Blog
In life we always find ourselves busy with all the demands and work we face. Or perhaps we dedicate too much time for fun and less time to blog. If you’ve been wanting to share more of your travels, get yourself organized and start typing up those blog posts you’ve been meaning to finish. Soon, you can hit publish to them all and teach people about all those beautiful countries you’ve visited. It’s what I’m currently trying to do as I balance work online and the little bit of extra time to write.
Start a Blog
Perhaps, you don’t have a travel blog and you’ve been wanting to start one. You may not be sure about it or have been too busy to start this hobby. Starting a blog does takes some dedication and work, but it’s definitely rewarding and fun. The point is to inspire others to travel to those beautiful destinations you’ve seen. So if you’re worried that no one will read it, fear not. Do it anyways and along the way you’ll learn how to grow it. Who cares if travel blogging is a saturated world! There will be an audience just for you and that’s what matters. If you want to learn how to start a blog, it’s actually quite simple.
Read Travel Blogs
This is a great time to support other travel bloggers. Read their posts, leave comments, be engaged, interact, make friends. Along the way, you’ll be inspired to visit new places and you’ll be helping the travel blogging community just by reading their posts. There are all types of travel blogs out there that you can read, such as family travel, solo travel, blogs for foodies, and couples travel. Some of my favorites to read are Salt in Our Hair, World of Wanderlust, Helene in Between, Bruised Passports, Nomadic Matt and Adventure in You.
Be Inspired by Instagram
Probably the number one place I spend my time wanderlusting is on this addicting little app. This is the place I post my most beautiful memories of the places I’ve been and it is also the place I get inspired to travel by others. There are so many amazing accounts out there that you can follow. There are travelers in any niche you may be looking for. You can interact with them, reply to their stories, leave comments, ask for tips. It’s a great time to make online friends and learn about new destinations. I like to follow accounts that inspire me to travel, those who have a story, or beautiful photography. Some of my favorites are:
- Women: World of Wanderlust, Polkadot Passport, El_Viajedetuvida, bee.traveler, Heleneinbetween, latravelgirl
- Men: Alan X el Mundo, Lostleblanc, nomadicmatt
- Couples: XKFlyaway, Juntos_Viajando, Charlieandlauren_, Lostleblanc, bruisedpassports
- Family: The Bucketlist Family
- Nature: chelseakauai, samkolder, reneeroaming, jess.wandering, everchanginghorizon
- Food: GirlEatWorld, Taramilktea
- Funny: passengershaming, influencersinthewild
- Informational: thepointsguy
Make Travel Videos on Tik Tok
You know that popular Tik Tok app that everyone is using right now to help survive boredom during quarantine? You’ll be surprised to know that there is a whole community of travelers posting snippets of their trips. It’s not only an app about funny videos and dancing, but also one that shows you some beautiful destinations. And because I have no grace to be funny on Tik Tok, I opted to post some travel videos instead. Some of my favorites are:
- lifebeyondhome (mine)
- mariefeandjakesnow
- everhcanginghorizon
- lostleblanc
- whatthechic
- travelwith_e.g
Watch Travel Documentaries
While movies can inspire us and books can take us places in our imagination, documentaries do something different. They teach us and give us more knowledge about places. Before traveling, I love learning about the destination. I have found many random ones on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, and some on the Disney App which has lots of National Geographic documentaries. There are so many documentaries to watch but here are two that may interest you:
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
- World’s Busiest Cities
Cook Meals That Remind You of Countries You Love
Science shows that taste and smell connect us back to those memories of where we had that exact experience of those senses. Therefore, cooking meals that bring about those tastes and smells will bring you back to those memories of that country. During this quarantine, I’ve cooked up some Thai dishes and I’ve been brought back in time to those moments I was enjoying the food in one of my favorite countries. It made me yearn to be there. Craving a visit to Mexico? Start making some tacos! Missing Italy? Go get some Italian herbs, cook a pizza, and get yourself a bottle of wine. You can take virtual cooking classes or look up some recipes on Pinterest.
Listen to International Music
I have a love for Latin music and a huge desire to travel Latin America, so I put my reggaetton almost daily. But from time to time, I also throw in songs that remind me of places I’ve been to or songs that I listened to on a road-trip. I’ll listen to songs that I danced to at a bar in Indonesia or while landing in a plane in Barcelona. Or even when Despacito by Luis Fonsi comes on, it takes me back to my Southeast Asia trip when the song was a hit in every country, to the point that it became annoying. Whatever country you are craving to visit, blast music that will take you there. Some travel favorites:
- Barcelona by Max George
- Life is a Highway by Rascall Flats
- On The Road Again by Willie Nelson
- Paradise by Coldplay
- Adventure of a Lifetime by Coldplay
- Havana by Camila Cabello
- Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Paris by Chainsmokers
Exercise to Prepare For Hiking and Exploring
Okay, you may wonder how I relate this to travel but the truth is that traveling requires a certain level of fitness. Anyone else ever hit 35K steps in one day while roaming a city? I have, and my feet were killing me by the end of the day. I’ve also had blisters and felt exhausted many times. Oh, and have you ever walked with a heavy backpack trying to get to your hostel or while back country hiking?
My last trip before quarantine was to Havasupai Falls, which was extremely difficult. I regretted not being fit. It’s hard to find the motivation at home since gyms are closed, but it’s a great time to get that cardio in and prepare those legs to roam those cities you plan to visit! My favorite program is Les Mills. I’ve been doing their Body Pump and Body Combat classes. There’s also lots of free stuff around to help you get fit and ready.
Go Outdoors. Sit Outside
As travelers, we are used to being outdoors, getting sunshine, and roaming free. It’s what sets our souls on fire and gets our endorphins going. Many of us obsessed travelers get anxiety and a huge itch to explore. It’s on another level I must say. Therefore, it’s important to still get that Vitamin D and breathe in that fresh air for some oxygen. Being indoors can affect our mood to a negative state. So if you can, sit outside your home and find beauty in that one tree or flower in front of you. And if you can and your city allows it, find some lonely trails and go walk them. Take pictures like when you travel. As long as you practice safety measures in place that is.
Reminisce Old Photos
Anyone else in the reminiscing club? The nostalgia hits almost daily when Facebook reminds me of the trips I was on. If you’re like me, you might have thousands of photos that need to be reorganized, deleted, or or edited. Open up that drive, share some throwback pictures on social media and then organize your folders while you go back in time to those good memories you experienced. Plus, you can create some photo books of each destination or get some nice canvas frames of your favorite photos.
Learn Photography and Photoshop
Perhaps you’ve had a DSLR or mirrorless camera you’ve been using in auto mode but been wanting to learn manual to improve your travel pictures. Now’s the time to self-teach and play around with the camera by shooting pictures around the home. You can also learn by watching videos or signing up to online courses. Same thing for Photoshop. Along with learning photography angles and lighting, editing photos give life to photos you’ve taken. My go to program for editing is Lightroom.
Create Travel Videos or Vlogs
This could mean making Youtube Videos from short snippets you have or simply a compilation video of your videos. Most of us have many 30 second or 1 or 2 minute videos sitting in our camera rolls. If you put them all together, you can turn them into a cinematic video of those places you’ve visited and create beautiful memories. You’ll then be able to look back at these videos and feel completely nostalgic. This is one thing I have yet to learn but I know how time consuming and complicated it can be. But I definitely want to put in some time to learning. And if you are confident, you can teach yourself to Vlog by watching tutorials online.
Virtual Travel Destinations
From cities, to museums, to live performances, nowadays you can find it all. Many museums are giving virtual tours and many places are performing live shows. How awesome is it that while we are stuck at home, we can do some of the activities we’d be doing while traveling!? Just do a Google Search and you’ll find a ton of options or it can be as easy as going on Facebook to watch live. You can travel the Anza Trail, The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Mount Everest Trail, watch the Xcaret Performance, and so much more.
Virtual Tours: Museums, Locations, Exhibitions
One little discovery I came across was Google’s Arts and Culture section. It has a huge list of museum, exhibitions, and destinations you can visit. You can even visit the Uffizi Gallery from Florence, Italy and go on a Safari in Africa. It’s pretty cool if you’re wanting to see and learn about new places.
Virtual Performances
There’s definitely more excitement and magic when attending a performance live, but because that’s not possible at the moment the second best thing is to watch it stream online. Many performers have decided to do online events that you can watch. It’s not just famous people performing live though but also popular performances from destinations, like one of my favorites, “Mexico Espectacular” by Xcaret, Broadway shows, and even the Disneyland parks are sharing performances on their social media pages.
Google Earth
I hadn’t gone on to Google Earth in a long time and I tried it the other day to explore Italy and it was pretty cool! You have the option to see it 3D and you have the view that a Drone would capture. Another option is Street View, meaning it drops you right in front of the location and you move around to see your destination. I recommend playing around with it to view your next trip. The other day I was looking at the Pantheon in Florence, Italy.
Free and Cheap Online Arts & Culture Classes
If you’ve fallen in love with art from specific countries, or want to learn photography, or more about a culture, there are many courses offered online. Some classes are free and some come at minimal prices. One popular platform is Udemy, Harvard Online Learning, Coursera, edX, Skillshare, and Khan Academy. You will find all types of classes related to travel and travel blogging.
Podcasts and Ted Talks
When I can squeeze in time, I’ll listen to some Ted Talks. There are tons of topics you can learn about if you download the app, but some you can listen to are stories about other travelers. Podcasts are along the same lines but with a more conversational tone to it. Both are perfect for learning from other’s experiences related to travel.
Plan Your Next Trip
Lastly, why not just plan the next trip!? Perhaps you don’t have the date yet, but you can start looking up activities to do, prices, hotels you’re interested in, hot spots, and off-the beaten path locations. If you’re detailed oriented, you can plan by day and write down times and days things are open. If you’re a go by the flow type, get an idea of the main things you want to see. Even though I’m not quite sure which countries will reopen soon, I’ve been looking up information about the weather in South America so I have an idea of the best months to visit each country. Maybe you can even plan months ahead and purchase a plane ticket. Just make sure to get insurance with it because you never know!
The sky’s the limit if you want to fill your travel thirst. For now, be patient and stay safe as the pandemic passes and the travel ban is lifted again. Try some of these things to help cure your wanderlust when you can’t travel! Let that wanderous soul of yours be filled with some of these alternative ways and you’ll see how time flies by! Enjoy this time, stay safe, and enjoy traveling virtually!
How To Cure Wanderlust When You Can’t Travel
