The world is dealing with a global Pandemic and we are dealing with vacation withdrawals. Ever since we were forced to cancel our tickets for the next holiday, our hearts have been heavy.
Every morning, we wake up hoping for a better tomorrow, a tomorrow which included boarding a flight, trekking a mountain, sipping a margarita by the beach, taking a walking tour of Europe streets, and so on. We know you feel the same.
Going out seems like a far-fetched dream right now. But, we decided to take on the glass-half-full approach and decided to travel the world without even leaving our houses.
To reduce the misery of our wanderlust soul, we put together a list of things one can do to travel the world without actually indulging in any kind of travel. Check out the 5 things that have been keeping us sane and helping with our vacation blues to an extent:
1. Virtual tours
Museums, heritage sites, National parks, Disney World, amusement parks, palaces, and even botanical gardens all over the world are offering free virtual tours to people.
You can now virtually explore places like the famous Musee du Lovre, Grand Canyon, Pyramids at Giza, Buckingham Palace, San Diego Zoo, and Tulip gardens in Washington DC and even distilleries in Colorado Springs by sitting in the safety and comfort of your house.
You can witness the beauty of these places and listen to the history of their art through platforms like Google Earth and Google Arts and Culture free of cost.
This way, you can not only experience the tours of the most popular places in the world for free, but will also avoid the long ques, the crowd, and also the risk of catching a life-threatening disease.
2. Travel shows
You are anyway guilty of watching too much TV and browsing through too many streaming platforms right now, why not use it to travel the world?
There are many more travel-inspired movies and shows on streaming platforms that you know of. Most of our bucket list destinations are simply increasing because of all the travel-related content.
Even though you cannot take a swim in the Arabian Sea, go bungee jumping in New Zealand or indulge in the exotic three-course Italian meal from a rooftop café in Rome; you can very well please your travel itching heart with all the travel content available.
Watching movies like Eat Pray Love, Under the Tuscan Sun, Midnight in Paris, Letters to Juliet, Into the Wild, and Forrest Gump will give you the experience of some of the most beautiful places in the world. These feel-good movies will also fill your head with positivity in difficult times like this. You can also enjoy Binge-Worthy Shows to Fight the Lockdown Blues.
There are many travel-inspired shows on Netflix like Our Planet, Street food, Restaurants on the edge, Departures, Gordon’s Great Escape, Travel Man, and An Idiot Abroad that will take you to experience the culture, the views, the food and the people of different countries.
All this experience just by sitting on your couch, with your PJs on. Yes, it is possible.
3. Magazines /Travel books
Words can take you places.
Books can indeed take your imagination to sheer distances and reading can be a transformative journey in itself too. Books like Behind the Beautiful Forever, Just Kids, Bangkok wakes to rain, Mad about the Mekong, and The bonfire of Vanity dig deep into the character of a city. With each page, you will feel like you are experiencing every word written about the place.
If you are a fan of visual delight, there are many travel magazines available like Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Outlook, National Geographic, Lonely Planet, and more.
These magazines will provide you access to all the ongoing travel trends, travel articles, a list of places you can travel after the Corona Virus lockdown, exquisite restaurants, hidden gems of the world, and more.
Tourism-related magazines will become your best friends once you start indulging in some travel reads. You will get tons of knowledge about new palaces, inspiration to start traveling and even tips and tricks to make the most of your holidays.
4. Recreate a cuisine
We know your chef hats are out during this quarantine. People are resorting to cooking not just as a daily chore but also as an indulging experience. Dalgona Coffee as a result top the list in gaining attention during the lockdown. One thing that remains unique about every destination in the world is food. The culture of food and exquisiteness of a cuisine defines the character of the place.
You cannot have the classic hand-tossed Italian pizza from Lake Como or the crispy and delicious waffles from the streets of Berlin, but you can recreate the recipes in your house and enjoy the experience of it.
If you want to relish the cuisine or a dish that you want to cook. Start with reading about it thoroughly- the story behind the dish, the legacy, the intricacy of ingredients used, and more. You can even join workshops and seminars of world-known chefs and experts from all over the world and learn the new techniques of cooking. Just cook your favorite dish and enjoy it with some home made cocktails of choice, in case you are wondering where to get the refreshing cocktail recipes, check out 5 of them here.
5. Learn a new language
If you have seen Eat Pray Love, you will know that we are all looking for our world in every place that we visit. Witnessing the surreal experience of Julia Roberts learning Italian, inspired us to learn a new language in the given time.
Getting to understand the depth of a new language gives you an insight into the culture of a new place. Learning a new language is always a great activity to add to your proficiency list. Learning a new language with your partner is a way to keep love in times of Corona alive.
Imagine sitting in your drawing room and learning French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, German, and more. This will open the gates for a new perspective and understand the lives of the locals and more.
Once the lockdown is over, you can visit all the places you know the language of and embrace the experience of living like a local and not an outsider easily.
These are some of our recommended ways in which you can go around the world without having to keep your safety into risk. Try these ways from the comfort of your house and let us know if it worked out for you.
Bon Voyage!
Image Sources: FreePik
