9 Things to Do at Home When You Can’t Travel

Most of us are familiar with that nostalgic feeling, kind of post-travel blues that comes after a long trip or relaxing holidays abroad. At first, we might try to re-create the sense of adventure by looking through our travel pics or sharing our travel stories with friends and family. But soon enough we fall back to our old routine and everything goes back to ‘normal’.

However, there are some ways to scratch the travel itch without traveling. Even in times like today, when most of us sit at home and rarely even step outside, there are things we can do to keep the travel spirit alive.

Here are a few suggestions.

Watch travel movies and shows.

Movies and TV series are probably the easiest way to explore the world, get to know different cultures and indulge in exotic sceneries. With the help of the almighty internet, we have the opportunity to watch movies while comfortably sitting on our couch. Explore “Netflix”, other online platforms (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu…), or simply check out travel videos on YouTube – there are plenty of interesting vlogs out there!

Need some suggestions? Here are a few recommendations for good travel movies:

“17 Romantic Travel Movies”
“13 Travel Movies That Will Inspire You to Travel Long Term”

Look for inspiration and ideas in travel books, blogs, etc.

Now it’s the best time to read all of the travel books you’ve been storing at home! And if you don’t have any or you’re not really into serious reading, just surf the net. You can join travel forums or groups on Facebook (it’s a good place to connect with other travelers and share experiences), read travel blogs or indulge in beautiful travel pics on Instagram.

Maybe after reading other travelers’ stories, you’ll decide to start your own travel blog? Or maybe even write a book?

Create your travel bucket list.

When you cannot travel, you can still dream about traveling! Spending time at home, start thinking about the places you’d like to visit in the future and make your bucket list (in case you lack inspiration, please go back to bullet-points no. 1&2).

Not only you can write down your dream destinations, but also mark them on your push pin travel map, using different colors of pins.

Learn something useful for future travels (and life).

Sometimes we rush into traveling. We take trips without much planning or learning about the places we’re visiting. Now that our lives have slowed down a bit, we can take this opportunity and really prepare for our future travels. Have you been dreaming about visiting South America? Brush up on your Spanish! Would you like to know more about Asia? Refresh your knowledge about its countries’ capitals, major cities, currencies, religions, and cultural habits.

Are you looking for an even bigger challenge? Learn all the flags of the world!

Indulge in different world cuisines.

Food is one of the best and most enjoyable ways to get to know different cultures. When you cannot travel, you can still enjoy the savors of the world! Nowadays basically anything can be cooked at home since even the most unusual or exotic ingredients are available in the local stores. You can easily find recipes online, and I especially recommend Tasty app – it offers clear and simple recipes followed by short yet mouth-watering videos.

And if you‘re not a great cook – just order in! Best world cuisines can be brought literally to your doorstep.

Arrange your travel pictures.

Most of the time after coming back from a vacation, we post a few nice pictures on social media, and then just forget all about them. If you‘re spending more time at home, you have a good opportunity to finally arrange your travel pictures! It’s also a good idea to select the most impressive images, print them out and put into a nice album, hang on the wall or pin them on your travel map next to the places you’ve visited.

Next to the pictures (or on the other side of them) write down the travel dates, places you’ve visited and other important things to remember. This will help you keep the travel memories alive.

Organize your travel souvenirs.

Apart from pictures, most of us bring various other mementos back from our trips. When you cannot travel, you can feed your wanderlust by organizing your travel souvenirs and placing them nicely on a designated shelf. You can also arrange your travel memorabilia: maps, tickets, leaflets, notes, etc., and put them into folders according to themes.

Such travel sets might be useful in the future either for you (when planning other trips, for example) or for your friends and family. Just think about how much important information you’ll have in one place!

Send postcards to your friends abroad.

I bet I‘m not the only one who likes purchasing postcards from the places I’ve visited. The problem is, most of those postcards are never used and just end up collecting dust in some drawer… If you also have a collection of travel postcards, just think how fun it would be to actually send them to your friends abroad! Maybe at the moment, you can‘t visit your loved ones, but you can surprise them with a postcard and a few comforting words.

The same way you can use your travel pics – just add a note and send them out!

Mark the places you‘ve visited on your push pin travel map.

When you‘re not traveling, take the time and mark the countries, regions, and cities you have visited on your travel map. You can use different colors of pins to mark travels of different family members, different types of trips (for example, vacations and work trips), or separate the places you‘ve visited from the places that you plan to visit in the future. Just use your fantasy and create your own pinning logic!

And if you still don‘t own a push pin travel map, maybe it’s time to get one?

Push Pin Maps to Pin Places You’ve Visited