What is a Traveler to do When Travel is No Longer an Option?

While it varies from person to person. It has now been nine weeks for me. Nine weeks since I cancelled our spring break trip to NOLA. We were so excited about all the various adventures and experiences we had planned for us upon arrival. That was two days after I stepped off a plane from my last trip returning from Grand Cayman. I cannot tell you how hard that was as I am “girljustwants2travel” after all. Now it is confirmed that my two planned summer trips have been cancelled as well. While all of this is the biggest bummer (I mean seriously, Bali!), I am at the point I know that there is a bigger picture to consider. The only thing I can do now is to look forward and know that at some point the world will be waiting for me when it’s time to explore it again.

For now though, we have to learn to be an explorer of what we find in our own backyard and within ourselves. While we can continue to question when life is going to get back to the way it use to be, we have to consider that it very real possible nothing will be the “same” again, at least for a very long time.

Four Ways to Journey Without Leaving your Home

Now we must ask ourselves, how do we fill that void to voyage without leaving our homes. Here are four suggestions on ways this traveler has found to explore the world without leaving home.

Books

Long before passage to another world was as easily possible as we have seen in the recent past, we read about the world in books. Consider loosing yourself in a book about far off lands and experiences. When I travel somewhere new, my research of that destination is prefaced with journeys made by others. Before I went to Paris, I read “The Paris Wife” which lead me into a deep dive of the works of Hemingway as well as other artists and writers work of a magical era in Paris. Not only did I travel to a different land, I traveled to a different time. The same is true of when I visited Spain where I read stories of Flamingo dancers and bull runs. It will not be the same as experiencing it yourself though it may very well inspire the next trip you are able to make.

Cuisine

One of the best things about traveling is the opportunity to experience the cuisine. On my last trip I took a food tour that was amazing. Now I have added it to any list of things I need to do when I go someplace new. Food in most cultures is a way to come together, connect, and socialize. Let’s face it, we don’t have a lot of that going on right now. We are however, doing a lot more cooking than we used to pre-pandemic. As my daughters say, welcome to the “Kitchen of Kim.” That in mind, why not travel to foreign lands through the experience of food. The internet gives us great access to all kinds of recipes, the Food Network offers tons of cooking shows, and if you look, you are likely to find a online virtual cooking classes. How great would it be if you mastered the ability to make your owner Indian, Thai, or Italy. One of the best experiences I had in Greece was a Greek cooking class during a yoga retreat. Upon return I shared my new skills with friends and it brought back all of those amazing memories of my time in Greece. Treat yourself to some personally prepared foreign food and do a test run for your next dinner party, post-pandemic.

Gardening

Most of the time I am so busy running from one thing to another, I literally have no time to stop and smell the rose and boy, right now do they smell sweet. With less pollution in the air from vehicles, planes, manufacturing, etc. the earth is happy. You just have to use your senses to confirm it. Smell the rich scent of the flowers. Listen to the chirping of the birds. Look at the lush blooms everywhere. We have trees overproducing fruit this year like never before. I have never had so many avocados available to me in one season. May this never stop! This my friends is a foreign land in itself. Dig your hands into the dirt and make it yours. Pretty up your patio with flowers or grow some fruits and vegetables or fruits. Let them become part of that foreign meal you are making. Personally, I have tried to plant as much as I can. Summer has always been my time to travel and this year the destination will be my patio and yard.

Yoga

Let’s not forget about the journey inward. Maybe this one comes to mind for me because so many of my foreign adventures have included a yoga retreat. Or maybe to me, exploring myself is sometimes like exploring a foreign land. It is feels so familiar and foreign all at the same time. Most of all, it is rewarding and changes me in the best way possible. As I say in my yoga classes, “bring yourself into the present moment, the present space” (a place most of us are challenged to be) “and root down into the earth. Get to know your body and what it is trying to tell you.” This is a journey that last a life time, cost you very little and leaves you with riches beyond compare.

If you are a traveler like me, you maybe restless. You may want to enrich yourself with experiences, understand how others live, and walk in those shoes for a while. What we are experiencing right now is likely very foreign to you. Embrace it as it may calm that restlessness and certainly enrich you if you allow it.

How are you dealing with being grounded from travel? How do you curb your itch to travel? We would love to hear about your experience and suggestions in comments.