Exploring the planet inside four walls

Do you want to travel really bad, but find yourself trapped by lockdown? You want to go out and explore the world, hear different languages, see new things, try foods you didn’t know existed… and yet the same walls keep you locked inside during the pandemic. And there’s no end at sight.

I hear you! This last year has been the first year since 1998 in which I haven’t been out on some sort of international exploration. It’s driving me crazy! Every day I dream of my favourite travel destinations and can almost smell the scents of a far away land where I would dream to be right now. It’s really hard! To be taken away all the travel freedom that was once ours. 

The good news is, there are a few things we can do about it to feel better! Here are 10 ways of traveling without leaving home:

Number 1: Cook food from other countries - make your kitchen smell like the other side of the globe

Close your eyes and think of a country you wish you could visit this month. Search online for a recipe from that country. Get the ingredients while you dream of the country. Do the whole cooking connected with that country’s culture, its feeling, all the things you know about the place. Follow step by step, explore the wild ingredients, let your imagination travel… In the end you will have a beautiful meal that works as a gateway to your dream country. Food travel!

Suggestion: travel to India by cooking chana masala

Number 2: Listen to music from far away places - dance the world

This one is easy! You can do it anytime. Do a research on music from the land you’re dreaming of, or jump on Spotify and find the songs that make you travel there. Your whole place will get that international vibration, and you can dance to it for a magical cultural blend. Music travel!

Suggestion: travel to Brazil by listening to Caetano Veloso

Number 3: Watch films from the countries you wish you could travel to - jump into the film, imagine you’re there

It’s amazing travel how we get to travel places by watching films made in other countries! You get the full experience of language, culture, the clothes, what people do, what people eat, and so on. Turn the lights of and let yourself be immersed somewhere else. Film travel! 

Suggestion: travel to Japan by watching  a film by Hirokazu Koreeda 

Number 4: Learn a new language online - speak like they do

If you can’t go there now, you can at least learn the language of the country while you have extra time at home. Get ready to connect at a deeper level! My favourite way to do this is to take online classes at preply. You can choose a teacher who lives in the country you’re planning to travel to and they will help you with the language + they’ll answer questions you have about the culture! Try it, it’s super fun! Language travel! 

Suggestion: prepare for South America by learning Spanish & Portuguese at preply!

Number 5: Follow a tradition you’ve learned in another corner of the world - expand your daily routine!

When we’re at home, life can get a bit consumed by the culture we’re living in day in, day out. But it doesn’t have to be like this. One of the greatest things about traveling is that we’re immersed in another culture, we experience different ways of doing things, we get to participate in a variety of rituals and simple day to day actions that shows us other possibilities of life, and that expands our horizons and grows our own experience of this day to day thing that’s life.

Suggestion: get inspired by the devotional nature of Tibetan culture, do a morning prayer! 

Number 6: Wear clothes from another country -  travel in fabrics

I started traveling a while back, before western clothes were popular all over the globe. In my first one year trip in Asia I was always wearing local clothes. A sari or a salwar kameez in India, a chupa in Tibet, the beautiful silk sarongs in Burma… you get the picture. Now while I’m trapped in my little corner of the world, I slide back into these clothes to take myself there again. It feels great to feel another culture through its clothing tradition. Try it!

Suggestion: I can’t wait to wear my sari… but while it’s still cold outside, how about wearing an Icelandic hand knit wool sweater? 

Number 7: Read a novel from a distant land - narrative traveling!

I’ve always been a fan of books, so this may be my favourite one in the list. That magical way of jumping into a completely new reality through words. Letting the narrative guide you as you travel along. Enjoy the trip. 

Suggestion: Travel to the high Himalayas in Nepal by reading The Snow Leopard

Number 8: Grab a map - cartography travel!

This one is in honour of the gorgeous art of map making. Real paper-made maps. Like you, I try to keep my paper consumption to a minimum, but I believe paper maps can’t be replaced by digital forms. Not in the way they make your imagination travel, they show you the land, and they are a perfect way to let your intuition guide you places as you find names of little villages written here and there. Write on the map, draft a possible itinerary, make it the base of a real life exploration so you keep that traveler spirit alive while you’re indoors. 

Suggestion: How about exploring New Zealand’s South Island?

Number 9: Get a travel guidebook - preparation travel!

Do this intentionally. Maybe during the first lockdown, as traveling rights were taken away from you, there’s a particular place you were craving for… A country that came to mind and you felt “I can’t believe I still haven’t been to …”. Make the intention to fulfil that wish. Grab a guidebook and start preparing, get that traveling mode on.

Suggestion: For me, that’s the Bhutan Lonely Planet 

Number 10: Explore a travel magazine - inspiration travel!

For a deeper and more artistic way of looking at places, choose a travel magazine. These won’t give you the planning details that a guidebook gives you, but it will inspire you to go explore uniquely beautiful details of a particular place and culture. A travel magazine will also offer you a chance to travel through images and awaken your imagination as you travel along with the people who wrote it.

Suggestion: I recommend LODESTARS Anthology, Issue 11: Portugal

And that’s it! You can also mix all of the suggestions above. Some mix particularly well! Like music + clothes + food for example! Or travel guidebook + map + magazine. And a combo I love: national novel & film!

I hope these suggestions help you feel like you can travel wherever you are, and you now have new ways to be in touch with other cultures from your own home. Keep your inner explorer alive, and stay FREE.

Do you want help with any of that? Now is a great time to prepare for future trips!! Go ahead and book some Travel Coaching with me! I will be so happy to help you get ready to travel!!