Your travel plans have been cancelled.
And of all the reasons, you could have never imagined that it would happen because of a pandemic. I know you are not feeling great about it, neither am I.
My birthday is on June 1, and I was already making plans to travel. I was just a few days away from booking tickets before the scenario changed so quickly. And now, I have no clue when we will be able to travel again. And I do not mean to sound shallow, talking about my travel plans when there is such a situation. But that doesn’t mean that I still don’t feel bad about it.
I am one of those people, who can’t stay in one place for too long. And if you are reading this post, I am sure you are too. And with all our travel plans getting cancelled, here is what I am doing to keep the travel spirit alive (for my sanity):
1. Look back at old Pictures/Videos:
We click so many pictures on every trip but hoe often do we actually take time to go through these photos and videos. We always seem to be looking forward to our next trip, planning the next escape, that we forget to look back on our trips and to be grateful for those trips.
Take this time to look back on your past adventures and be grateful for all the places you have travelled to.
2. Edit old Photos/Videos:
We often go through our old photos and take time to practise new edits. Whether it is spending hours on perfecting light room edits or working on editing a travel video.
Take all the footage that you have taken on your previous trips and learn a few new editing skills and practice video editing. This is great because it helps you be productive, get some work done, and relive those memories.
3. Cook something from another Country:
This is our favourite since we are spending so much time at home. We love experimenting with new recipes and cooking your favourite dish from another country is such a great way to keep the travel spirit alive.
We love Thai curry and are currently working on perfecting it. And these skills will later come in handy when you can host a get together for your friends after the quarantine is over. We also want to learn how to make pasta and pizza from scratch and maybe risotto as well.
4. Make a World map:
Either get a scratch off map or make a push pin world map. And then spend an evening with your travel buddy (virtually if you aren’t together in the lockdown) and scratch off the places that you have been to together. You could also share your favourite memories from each trip that you have taken together.
5. Create a Travel Journal:
Weren’t those days fun when we used to do scrapbooks? Make one such scrapbook for your travels. Write your fav memories, print some photos and stick them in the journal. If you have any boarding passes, movie or concert tickets from your travels, use them too. This is such a cute idea to look back on your travels and re-live those memories.
6. Save Money for your Travels:
Now this one should be easy and will give you something to look forward to.Saving money for our travels keep us motivated too. And when you know what the budget is, you can plan so much better. And since we can’t travel right now, saving is such an easy thing to do.
7. Reconnect with people you met:
Reconnecting with people you met on your past trips is such a great way to keep the travel spirit alive. This is a great way to build your own travel community as well. We love reconnecting with people we met on our travels, asking them where they are travelling, or what plans do they have and share travel stories. It is such a nice way to make travel a part of your life when you can’t really travel.
8. Write about your travels:
This is the most exciting for us. We love writing about our travels. Seems pretty obvious because we have a blog lol. But we love taking the time to write extensive travel guides from places that we have been to. And when you write these blogs, you are inspiring others too.
Writing about your travels or documenting your travel stories is such a great way to keep those travel memories fresh.
9. Plan for your next travel:
Now of course we don’t know when we all will be able to travel again. But that doesn’t stop us from planning our next travel. Sure we can’t book any tickets or accommodations, but we love doing our research and saving posts etc that will help us plan our adventures whenever we can travel again.
10. Travel Virtually:
So many museums are offering virtual tours, which is a great way to travel from your home. Or if museums don’t interest you, watch travel documentaries or travel videos on youtube. We also love reading travel related blogposts and interacting with travel accounts on Instagram.
11. Learn a new Language:
While travelling in Dubai, we met a taxi driver who had so many stories to share. And he didn’t knew much english. But the good part is that he knew hindi very well. And he told us numerous stories from the last 8 years that he had been in Dubai. It wouldn’t have been possible if we didn’t share a common language.
Technology is advancing and google translate makes it easier than ever to travel comfortably to countries where you don’t speak the language. But it is so much nicer when you know the language. You will notice that the conversations that you have are so much deeper. So use this time to learn a new language. There are so many apps that make it quite easy. We love Duolingo app and are learning german right now.
12. Work on your skills:
We are using this time work on our photography and video editing skills, which are such great skills to have when you travel. We love taking beautiful photos and making videos when we travel and I am sure you do too.
Use this time to play with the manual settings on your DSLR. Learn how ISO, focal points etc work. There are so many courses available online. Take some classes to learn the basics and then practise at home.
13. Start your Travel Business:
If you have always thought about starting an online business or a blog, now is the perfect time. With all the time you have at your hands, starting a blog or an online business is more feasible.
Here is our 8 step super easy guide to starting your own blog.
So if you have been thinking about starting a blog, now is the perfect time. And you can slowly build it up, even while working full time. It can be a great source of passive income if you are looking to expand into other sources.
There are our 13 ways to keep the travel spirit alive when you are not able to travel.
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