Travel Without Traveling

Even though you may be stuck at home, or have no immediate travel plans, there are still loads of fun ways to travel. Think of a popular form of edutainment, where you can learn about travel as part of your entertainment. Or dream about far off destinations on your favorite television show. Or truly, just starting to plan your next trip is one of my favorite ways to travel before I leave my house. The following are other ways we travel without traveling. 

Postcrossing

Have you ever heard of Postcrossing?  It is essentially like having a penpal in another country, yet connecting you with over thousands and thousands of pen pals.

When you sign up and click on send a postcard, you receive random addresses of other Postcrossing users. When that person receives your card postcard, your name goes into the queue and somebody else randomly sends you a postcard.

We have been doing this for several years. And it’s fun to see not just the Post Cards we received from all over the world, but also to see just how far and how many miles our cards travel.

You can do this without ever leaving your home as one of the ways to travel. In fact, you can even order stamps online and have them delivered to your mailbox. Remember you will need international stamps. And if you want to send within the US you can save by buying postcard stamps.

Don’t have a collection of postcards lying around. That’s okay, you can order those too without having to leave home. Check out these National Park Postcards here. Or these wild animals of the world here. I had no idea Amazon sold postcards, so I’m super excited to place a few orders!

Free Museums Online

Did you know that right now, a collection of museums have created virtual tours online.

You may have seen this link floating around on Facebook, but in case you missed it. Check out 12 museums from around the world offering virtual tours.

Read Travel Books

This can go two ways. Get travel guide books like those from Lonely Planet and read them, or read books that inspire you to travel.

If you go the Lonely Planet route, they often have sales such as buy 2, get a 3rd book free. You can get guidebooks, activity books for kids, or even phrasebooks to get you ready for your next trip. 

Watch Travel Series

We know Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ will get a lot of action in the next few weeks. Find a travel series you like and hunker down to watch and dream along with. Some of my favorites are the Nat Geo channel, and Disney Nature channel on Disney+, and Somebody Feed Phil and Conan without Borders on Netflix. Search travel on your streaming device of choice and you can find something.

Get Travel Delivered

Subscription boxes are a fun and fantastic way to get travel delivered to your door.

Cratejoy has a selection of travel-related boxes.

This is not only a great way to bring travel to your doorstep, but support local businesses who may be hurting during the travel downtime.

DIY Cooking Shows

A good portion of the reason we travel is to get out and try new foods. while you may not be able to travel to your favorite restaurant, why not recreate the dishes at home. Turn it into your own DIY Cooking Show.

Don’t have the ingredients you need and can’t get to the store. Look to a grocery delivery service like Instacart, to get groceries to your door. While currently, items are not easily and readily available, groceries will be restocked and you will be able to get deliveries on a regular basis.

Pretend

I love what this couple did when their cruise was canceled, they set up their own view to make the most of it and pretend they’re still on vacation. Why not do the same and set up your home with decorations or things to do that you would do on vacation.

https://www.facebook.com/travelingmom/posts/10158147945536683

Book Travel

Seriously one of the best things to beat the “no-travel” blues is to book travel. A lockdown won’t last forever. Get it in your calendar and on the books. Check out our LGBT vacations by date for ideas and inspiration. Please contact us for the many and varied mainstream options as well. You’ll may be stuck at home the next several days, and dreaming of an escape, why not plan one… Just plan for summer or beyond. 

Purple Light Vacations provides you with the knowledge, insight and personalized service to make your vacation all you want it to be at no additional cost. We help you travel in the know wherever you go. To get started, fill out this quick form or call 619.324.1444 (ext. 3).