What can you do if you cannot travel? Explore the world in a fun and interesting way when you cannot travel.

Travel restrictions in the past few years have been tough for travelers.

Travel lovers can be frustrated when they are unable to get on the road or catch a flight.

There are many reasons you might not be able get a Visa to Colombia. Or to anywhere else. You may need to find the cheapest flight and then choose the best backpack .

You may be saving up money for a trip, or your passport makes it difficult to travel. You may be unable to travel because of family obligations or caring for others. You may be in the middle of your university degree and not want to take a break. Your financial situation may make it difficult to find a job which allows you to travel the world.

In the past few years we have been stuck at home while the world has shut down. Travel restrictions were tightened and flights were cancelled. Some countries closed their borders to foreigners.

Things to do when you can’t go on vacation

Travel restrictions and travel lockdowns are still felt today, even though the world is a better place.

As so many others, we tried to make the most of our situation by finding new interests and activities that would replace being on the road.

Lockdown was an opportunity for self-reflection. We reflected on why we travel and what we want from our trips.

We then began to search for activities that would satisfy our wanderlust. Some of our suggestions were more adventurous, others were quieter, self-reflective, and still others were just… out there.

DROMOMANIA

Dromomania: A wandering or traveling without purpose.

What can we do as travel enthusiasts when we are unable to travel?

Find out what you love about travel

To deal with travel withdrawal, we first had to figure out what it was that we enjoyed most about traveling. We then brainstormed activities that would satisfy our travel itch.

Love meeting new people? Do you love learning a new foreign language? Try new foods? Explore the city streets? Do you prefer to be in nature?

You can recreate the travel experience you enjoy in a different way.

We found that figuring out what it was about traveling we enjoyed, was the first step to finding adventures at home. Here are our top ideas for things to do at home when you don’t have the time or money to travel.

Explore your local area

You may find a lot of things to do and see near your home if you are lucky. In a big city, you can explore culture, history, and food. Nature is often right outside your door in rural areas.

Start with your local parks.

Try gardening or lying on the lawn to watch the bees.

Take a Day Trip

A day trip is a great way to satisfy your travel bug if you have the time.

We took a half-hour trip down the road where we packed up our bags, relaxed at the hotel’s pool and went on walks by the water. Even though it wasn’t very far, the adventure of being away from home is always a good thing.

Take-up camping

Camping is an adventure for those who are fortunate to live close to nature. Camping isn’t expensive if it’s done on public land, and you have your own camping equipment (or you know someone who can lend you theirs).

COOK A NEW DISH FROM YOUR TRAVELS

We have found that some of our most memorable travel experiences are linked to the local food we ate, so we made sure to recreate this joy by cooking dishes from the places where we traveled.

Are you looking for specialty ingredients? Nearly every city has specialty food stores. We have Mexican, Italian and Mediterranean markets in our city of 100,000. There are also Asian, Arabic, Asian, German, Asian, and Arabic markets. Amazon may have some specialty ingredients that you can find.

There are many excellent online cooking courses to help you get started in your culinary journey. YouTube is a great place to find videos of different cuisines. There are also many food blogs and recipe websites.

Skillshare offers a wide range of cooking classes. They cover everything from Italian cuisine to the perfect cup of coffee.

Learn a musical instrument

You’re not much of a cook? You can also immerse yourself into the music of another country by learning a new musical instrument.

YouTube also has an excellent selection. There are many apps and websites. Our kids learned how to play the piano by watching online lessons. We bought a digital keyboard just before the lockdowns of 2020 began (lucky timing).

Learn to Dance

You love music, but you don’t know a single musical note? What about learning to dance. Learn to dance and you will be a big hit wherever you go.

LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE ONLINE

The soul of a nation can be found in its food and music, but nothing compares to being able speak to someone in their own language.

You can learn a few basic phrases in just a couple of hours with an app such as Duolingo, or entire sentences within a week by spending 20 minutes per day. See our Rosetta Stone for kids review.

Even if you can’t explain what your life is like, learning some basic language skills will make a moment memorable. We often get better offers and more invitations when we speak the local language.

Lingoda offers the option of learning from a human teacher. As the world reopens, however, watching them has rekindled our desire to explore and get out again. They’ve also given us some ideas about places we want to visit in the future.

Watch some great travel movies

It’s hard to choose the top travel movies, but we tried.

Hector and The Search for Happiness and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty are two of my favorites.

Travel TV shows can be a good choice. Destinations, the now-canceled TV show is still one of my favorites. Anything with Anthony Bourdain wins my vote.

Watch Travel Blogs on YouTube

Travel vloggers offer a unique and often unfiltered perspective on travel. At least, they are more unfiltered than heavily produced TV shows.

These are the top travel Vloggers from YouTube.

READ ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOKS

You’re not into movies and TV shows? Grab a travel adventure book. Even though real-life travel books are wonderful, reading fiction books that focus on travel and adventure can help you cure the travel blues.

Listen to some authentic music

You’re not satisfied with just books? What about creating a playlist of local music centered on the place you are reading or dreaming about? Local music is the best way to get into a country. You will hear music in the shops, restaurants and hotel lobby.

Why not use a great score for your next adventure?

Take a Virtual Tour

A virtual trip is a great way to immerse yourself in the travel experience.

Virtual walking tours are offered by many tourism boards and destinations. Some virtual walking tours are free, while others may charge a fee. You can even take VR tours if you own a VR headset.

Talaysay Tours offers a walking tour of Stanley Park, Vancouver. This is not free. This tour is one I highly recommend. See our Vancouver Activities for Kids post for more information.

Make plans for when you can travel again

Traveling can be fun even if you only dream about it. There are people we know who enjoy the research, planning and logistics of traveling more than actually going there.

Even though we love to plan our trips from flights, to accommodations to meals to activities, we won’t pay for anything until we are 100% certain of what we want to do. We still look for policies that allow us to cancel well in advance without incurring any penalties.

It’s never too soon to plan your next vacation, even if it isn’t possible right now. It doesn’t matter if you create an idea board and bookmark a few useful sites or information. This will help make your next vacation a reality.

What are your favorite things to do if you cannot travel? Comment below to let us know!