The Ultimate Guide for the Quarantined Travel Addict
8 Safe and Sound Ways to Spoil Your Inner Traveler During the Coronavirus Outbreak.
“Life handed him a lemon,
As Life sometimes will do.
His friends looked on in pity,
Assuming he was through.
They came upon him later,
Reclining in the shade
In calm contentment, drinking
A glass of lemonade.”
Flynn, Clarence Edwin (November 1940), The Rotarian
Stuck at home? We all are (or should be).
Life will change for a while. It does not mean we have to put it on hold though – just make the needed adjustments to navigate safely through the storm.
Following the CDC recommendations, staying home and practicing social distance does not need to be a burden – even for explorers like you and me.
There are tons of fun ways to make your self-quarantine experience an enjoyable one, and here I share with you 8 ideas especially crafted for those who love traveling and uncovering this beautiful world of ours.
Sit on your comfy couch, fasten your seat belts and follow me!
And please tag your experiences with #dallaswanderer. I would love to hear that you found inspiration in these lines to have a smoother ride during self-isolation.
1. (Finally) print and organize the best pics from your amazing last trip (s)
This is the type of activity most of us keep postponing due to lack of time. So take advantage of the unexpected slower pace your life just assumed to revisit your best memories and eternalize them in a beautiful photo album or canvas.
You don’t need to leave home for that – you can send the pics online for printing, and receive them at your front door. Just remind to proper sanitize any packages to avoid bringing unwanted guests home.
Amazing photo albums are sold online as well, there are tons of options to choose from.
If you are a craft person, go for a scrapbook style photo album . If you are more of a practical type (me), a traditional yet inspiring photo album is your best bet.
2. Trace your steps around the globe
It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting your travel adventures or has been in the road for decades.
A wall world map, to register the places you’ve already visited (and others you soon will 💖), is the coolest and most inspiring visual reminder of your traveling adventures.
I love this scratch off world map version from Amazon, but you can find plenty other cool and inexpensive options there. This is a simple and fun project to do at home during your Coronavirus self-isolation days and doesn’t require a trip to the store.
3. Create - or review - your travel bucket list
Better times are yet to come. Life will eventually resume to normality – faster if we all do what it takes.
Yes, it’s prudential to stop traveling for a while. It does not mean we should stop dreaming though.
So roll up your sleeves and start planning your future vacations – yep, you’ll have plenty ahead. Make a bucket list or, if you already have one, revise it and have fun marking the places you’ve already visited and incorporating new ones.
At our Trips from Dallas page you find over 30 travel ideas in Texas and surrounding states. A totally free source to inspire you!
To explore farther US States, my new obsession (and latest purchase) is 50 States, 5000 Ideas, from National Geographic.
For the rest of the world, the 100 Places to Visit Before you Die book is my favorite source, and has been my travel companion for over a decade now!
4. Take a virtual tour at the world's most famous museums
Some of the world’s most famous museums are offering virtual tours during the Coronavirus outbreak.
Here you find a comprehensive list with links to these places.
My favorite ones? The Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam (which I had the pleasure to visit in person), the British Museum, in London, and Musée d’Orsay, in Paris.
All at the top of the list of the best museums in the world.
5. Learn the local language of that dream travel destination of yours
International travel plans delayed?
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Take advantage of your quarantine to learn the basics of your dream destination local language.
Then, when things resume to normality (they will!) and your amazing trip finally happens, make a hot entrance in your destination country communicating with locals in their mother tong, and enjoy your time overseas to hone your skills.
It’s enriching and it will make your experience abroad an even more especial one!
You can learn basically any language from the comfort of your living room.
For a top-rated and inexpensive source, try Living Language courses, available for purchase at Amazon. They offer self-learning language courses in the most widely spoken languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and German, among others.
Or, if you want to go really pro (and polyglot) about your language skills, invest in a multi-language learning software from Rosetta Stone, including 24 languages from around the world.
6. Unleash your inner international chef and take a culinary journey around the world.
You don’t necessarily need to go to India to eat a delicious curry. To Brazil taste a mouthwatering feijoada. To Spain to indulge in a delectable paella.
Put your chef hat on and travel through your senses without leaving home, cooking the most popular dishes of your dream vacation spots during your coronavirus quarantine.
Just pick your destination, find out which the most typical dishes are and take a trip to the kitchen to enhance your chef skills and let your taste transport you abroad.
Google is a huge free source to find recipes. If you prefer to go pro, Amazon has amazing recipe books, including this one with 450 recipes from around the world.
7. Go on a spiritual retreat in India - virtually
Retreat in India? I think everyone could use one now. The need of being centered in the present moment and spiritually and emotionally balanced is more urgent than ever.
Good thing is that quarantine caught humanity prepared as never before, and you can even experience a virtual retreat nowadays.
Touching the Eternal is a recorded weeklong retreat in India, by spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, that you can listen for free with Amazon Audible free trial.
So put your headphones, find a calm corner in your house, breath in and transport yourself to a place of peace and calm.
8. Help a local organization from the travel destination you had to postpone visiting
Many communities around the globe rely heavily on tourism as they main income source.
While economic uncertainty is a reality for all of us at this moment, if you have the meanings consider donating to a local charity of the travel destinations you were planning to visit but had to skip for now.
The world is a huge place and providing a comprehensive list of institutions to help here would be a very hard task lol.
But google can help you and, if you know of a serious travel non-profit which could benefit from donations, please send the info to howdy@dallaswanderer.com.
I’ll be more than happy to look into that and eventually publish a link here!
Summing Up
“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”
– Lee Iacocca
Health mind, health bodies.
Coronavirus can prevent us from traveling, not from dreaming – something very good for your health and that can be done under any conditions!
Use this list of travel related indoor activities to have fun at home and inspire you. Use your creativity to create new projects and make the most of your time self-quarantined at home.
This too shall pass. And we all possess the ability to find our inner strength, be resilient and get out of this better than we got in 🧡💙🧡
More trip and leisure ideas coming soon. Subscribe for free and get inspiration right to your inbox!
Heads up: my posts may contain affiliate links.
If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more. But I’ll earn a small commission that will help the Dallas Wanderer to keep the lights on as a free travel and leisure resource for our community.
Thanks 🧡💙🧡
