How to satisfy your wanderlust if you can’t travel
Three ways to get closer to your dream holiday destination from home.
Dreaming of eating croissants in Paris or seeing the Northern lights? If the travel bug has bitten and you are yearning for a trip abroad, but your budget doesn’t allow it, worry not – we’ve got three ways to keep the travel dream alive until you can finally hop onto that plane:
- Visualize your travel destination
Create a clear image of the holiday you are hoping to have by setting it all out on a vision board. Choose images of all the places you want to experience and be specific – museums, food/restaurants, natural wonders, activities or major landmarks – and create a collage. Do some research and add estimated price tags to your must-visit spots, accommodation, daily food costs and entertainment to help you budget for your trip. A great tool to make your planning easier is the Cheapflights’ Vacay Valuator, that uses a chosen timeline and the average costs of everyday luxuries to help travellers find out how far they can go by making small changes to their daily lives.
- Educate yourself
Be it travel books, blogs or vlogs – read and watch as much as you can about cities or countries you are hoping to visit. This research phase will not only fuel your wanderlust, it will also give you real and honest information of the do’s and don’ts of various destinations. Change the way you think about travel with non-fiction books such as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love, Ryszard Kapuściński’s The Shadow of the Sun and Kate Harris’s Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road.
- Travel from your couch
Take advantage of the smorgasbord of binge-worthy travel shows on your streaming services. Love dining out? Street Food ventures to the heart and soul of cities across the globe while Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner sees Chef David Kang and celebrity guests traverse various locations in search of the best dishes and cultures. For those with a penchant for adventure, join Zac Efron in Down to Earth with Zac Efron, while shows like The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals and The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes offer a glimpse of how different people live and spend their holidays.