20 Travel-Inspired Activities To Travel The World Without Leaving Home

We’ve all had the travel blues before. When you’ve come home from a trip and have no idea when the next one will be, wanting to escape is just normal.

Especially these days that we’re all spending a lot more time at home, with no end date or the next trip in sight, it can be tough. However there are lots of fun activities that you can do to recreate the travel experience at home.

In this guide I’ve put together my favourite 20 tricks to keep your wanderlust satisfied, without actually leaving the house. If you’re in need of a travel escape but are currently unable to travel, this is the guide for you!

20 ways to travel from your home

Do a virtual museum tour

Did you know that many museums around the world are currently offering free virtual tours?

Some of the most famous museums currently offering this include the Louvre, the Van Gogh Musuem, the British Museum and the Vatican Museum.

For many of these museums you would normally have to pay an entrance fee, but now you can explore them virtually from your home, and for free!

It’s a great way to learn a bit of culture and history from places around the world that you can’t visit right now.

Watch live webcams around the world

This one might seem a bit weird and I promise I’m not a stalker. There are live webcams streaming from some of the most famous spots around the world, which will make you feel like you’re there.

Just go on Skyline Webcams or EarthCam and search for your favourite place you would like to see. You can see what’s happening there right now!

It’s a fun way to travel without really travelling, and if it’s raining it will cheer you up that you’re comfortably at home and not there under the rain!

Watch inspiring travel movies

This might seem like a very basic one, but you’ll be surprised at how inspired it will make you feel after!

The best travel movies are the ones that show us stunning landscapes, have engaging plots and leave us feeling inspired to pack our bags and go, but also satisfy our wanderlust.

Watching the Leonardo di Caprio discover the hidden paradise beach on The Beach isn’t quite the same as visiting Maya Bay in Thailand in person, but if you’re currently at home and can’t travel, it’s a close second!

Read a travel inspired book

Similarly, reading a great travel book can inspire your next trips, and fuel your wanderlust while you’re stuck at home.

I recently read The Motorcycle Diaries again and it makes me want to buy a motorbike (despite not being able to drive one) and travel across South America.

Books have always been a way to escape this world and enter a fictional one, where everything is possible.

Just pick a travel themed book instead of science fiction, romance, or whatever your favourite genre is, and the travel vibes are guaranteed.

Watch travel TV shows

Anyone else in the UK currently watching Race Across The World? Nope? Just me? Whatever TV show you choose, there are lots of travel themed TV shows out there that can fuel your wanderlust.

If you want something that lasts longer than an individual movie, but you’re not a fan of reading, travel TV shows can provide a great and regular escape.

From the comfort of your couch you can follow the adventures of your favourite characters on the other side of the world, and make a note of them for your own future trip!

Cook a recipe you tasted on your travels

For me tasting the local food is a huge part of travel. I love wandering around street food markets, going on local food tours, attending cooking classes and just in general tasting everything the local cuisine has to offer.

When I’m at home I love attempting to recreate the recipes that I tasted on my travels.

I’m not a particularly good cook, but I’ve learnt how to make an awesome Pad Thai (with the help of some ready-made sauces) that takes me back to Thailand every time.

Or order takeout from your favourite ethnic cuisine

If you don’t enjoy cooking (and I get it, I’m not a huge fan either) a great alternative is ordering takeout.

You can just go online on Deliveroo and search for the cuisine you fancy, select your dinner choices and within half an hour they’ll be on your doorstep!

I love doing this especially for more complicated dishes that are beyond my cooking skills. Eating delicious sushi always reminds me of my time in Japan, and spicy curries remind me of India.

Learn a new language

Always wanted to travel to a specific country but the language barrier put you off? Now is the time to learn that language!

You can start with apps like Duolingo to ease you into the vocabulary, and then try watching some children TV shows and movies in that language.

Learning a new language is never easy, but it can help you ease the travel blues and prep you for the next trip.

After my recent trip to Costa Rica I decided it was time to brush up on my Spanish so I started watching El Internado again (a very dramatic Spanish telenovela) and I can definitely feel my Spanish improving.

Follow more travel accounts on Instagram

* Shameless promo alert *

A great way to travel without leaving the house, is to follow more travel content creators on Instagram!

Following people that share inspiring photo and video content every day will not only inspire you, but also give you some cool ideas for your next trip!

You can check out my Instagram account here.

Subscribe to more travel YouTube channels

* Second shameless promo alert * (I promise it’s the last one)

Similarly, subscribing to more travel YouTubers is a great way to fuel your wanderlust.

Videos are more engaging than photos, and besides showing you some truly spectacular places, they also sometimes show the truth behind the travel glam and the funny travel stories.

You can check out my YouTube channel here.

Write out your travel bucket list!

Take the time at home to figure out where you actually want to travel! When people ask me where I want to go, my answer is usually “everywhere”.

I now have the time to actually sit down, write out my travel bucket list and decide where I will go once I’ll be able to travel again.

I’ve been following my advice from this guide and using Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest to get trip ideas and inspiration.

I’ve started writing a huge South East Asia bucket list and itinerary, that will take me back to some of my favourite countries like Sri Lanka and the Philippines, but also lots of new ones I yet have to visit like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmair.

And save those ideas on Pinterest

If you’re a visual learner like me, you’ll want to search for trip ideas on Pinterest. Pinterest is very visual but also informative, so when I find a pretty picture I like I can click on it and learn more, unlike Instagram that is purely visual.

I divide my travel inspiration by country, so that I can easily find them again later. It’s a fun way to travel virtually, but also do so in a useful way for future trip planning.

You can check out my Pinterest account here.

Start planning your next trip

It might be very early stages to plan a trip, especially if you don’t know when exactly you will be travelling, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of early planning!

Move on from the inspirational pictures and videos to actually researching the destination.

You don’t have to book anything but just looking at specific hotels or tours can be a great way to travel virtually.

I’ve been looking at hostels in the Philippines and seeing pictures of people having fun helps me picture myself in their shoes, more so that staged Instagram shots.

Soon enough I’ll be the one sipping a mojito at sunset from that rooftop pool! Then when the time comes to travel again you’ll be glad that you’ve already done the planning!

Sort through photos and videos of your past trips

I have almost 20,000 photos and videos on my phone, dating all the way back to 2013. A lot of them are photos from “normal” life at home, but the vast majority of them are from travel moments on the road.

Going through your photos from past trips will give you a bit of travel blues, but it will also help you relive the wonder and fun of those moments.

Especially if you take more “picture perfect” photos with a DSLR, and only use your phone for funny selfies or beach parties, you will be surprised at how many fun memories will be stored just a few taps away!

Get some of those photos printed!

If you’re anything like me you probably almost never look at those 20,000 photos that you have stored on your phone. You carry them with you everywhere, but do you ever look at them?

Printing your favourite travel photos is a great way to remember and relive your favourite travel moments.

Decorate your house with travel inspired photos and decorations

As much as you might hate traditional souvenirs, we all tend to pick up odd bits and pieces during our travels. Once you return home they usually end up in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again until the next house move.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! Decorate your house with photos of your travels and the souvenirs you picked up along the road, it will instantly make you feel more travel inspired!

For example, that sarong you bought in Bali? Bet it would look awesome hanging off the wall! That huge straw hat you bought in Marrakech and never use?

I bet it would look great on the wall over your bed! Get creative, it will be a fun experience!

Listen to international music

Every time I hear salsa music I feel like I’m in Cuba. Listening to music from a specific country, or even songs that remind you of a specific trip, is the easiest way to travel with your imagination.

Just sit back, let the music flow through you, and you will feel transported elsewhere around the world.

Improve your photography skills in preparation for your next trip

There have been many occasions where I’ve been standing in front of an incredible sunrise or a stunning starry sky, and simply been unable to capture on camera the beauty that my eyes were seeing.

Watching the photos again after is frustrating since you can’t convey to others just how epic that moment was.

If you’re finding yourself at home with lots of time to spare, why not practise your photography? You can test your camera on things like food or sunsets from your window, scenarios that might come up on a trip.

I always find that photography helps me look at mundane things with novel eyes. This is a suggestion that will not only teach you a new skill, but also help you appreciate the small details, both at home and when you’re travelling.

Be a tourist in your own city

Maybe you can’t travel internationally (or even nationally) but you can still travel within your own city. We often forget that what is boring everyday life to us, could be exotic travels to others.

Despite living in London for 8 years I have never been inside the Tower of London or I’ve never seen the change of the guard at Buckingham Palace. When you live somewhere you often forget of how beautiful it can be.

So next time you go for a run or to run some errands, why not take your camera with you? Why not take the longer road there?

Exploring your hometown, discovering new spots and even seeing old ones with new eyes will give you all the thrills that travel does.

Start a travel blog!

And finally, why not start a travel blog? Most of the tips in this list involve reliving your travel experiences. What better way to do so that writing about them?

Formulating full sentences describing your travels will really make you remember every detail, and feel like you were there.

Who knows, one day your travel blog might even become your job! If you need help starting a blog, you can join my free course here. I also have a second site entirely dedicated to building a blog if you want to take it seriously.

Final thoughts on how to travel from home

These are 20 easy ways that you can travel with your imagination without really leaving the house. Now more than ever, they can be a great way to keep your wanderlust alive.

I hope you find my tips useful in escaping a bit and travelling from your couch! Do you have suggestions for other ways to travel virtually? Let me know in the comments below!

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