We all get the travel itch from time to time, but life often gets in the way—work, money, family, or just everyday responsibilities. The good news? You don’t need a plane ticket to have an adventure. From the comfort of your own home, you can still explore new places, try new experiences, and satisfy your wanderlust.
We’ve rounded up 10 crazy fun ways to ‘travel’ without ever leaving home—get ready to see the world in a whole new way!
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Ten ways to travel at home
#1 Watch movies and series about travel
You can travel by seeing the world through another person’s eyes, and one of the best ways to do that is with movies. With movies, you can discover new places, beautiful sceneries, and different food, and live through the experiences of others.
Some of our favorite wanderlust-inducing movies are:
- Into the Wild
- Diarios de Motocicleta
- Before Sunset, and Before Sunrise
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- Lost in Translation
Besides travel movies, there are several series about traveling. Some of our favorite travel series include
- No Reservations by Anthony Bourdain,
- Planet Earth,
- Rick Steves travel series,
- Top Gear.
#2 Go to Virtual museums
Visiting a Museum from the comfort of your couch is a fantastic way to travel without getting tired, plus they are free. Several famous museums have virtual tours, like:
- The Louvre in Paris
- The British Museum of London
- Vatican Museum in the Vatican City
- National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA
- Dali Theatre-Museum in Spain.
#3 Eat food from other countries
One of the best things about traveling is eating dishes from different countries. Discovering new flavors is one of the best parts of a trip.
During your staycation, experiment with cooking food from other countries. Recreate your favorites or even adventure yourself to cook something new. You can travel only by using your taste buds and your memories. Plus, you’ll have the pleasure of eating good food, and it’s a great way to keep yourself entertained.
We recommend the site 196 Flavors, which has recipes from all over the world. And if you want to try doing a wicked Pad Thai from Thailand. If you’re going to learn about traditional foods, check our food world posts.
#4 Speak with people from other countries
Reaching people on the other side of the world is a fantastic way to learn about different cultures and ideas. Isn’t traveling also about meeting new people? So make friends from another country, share, and learn cool stuff.
Some great platforms help you with this task, like:
- Reddit – facilitates interaction with people who share the same interests as you.
- Interpals – helps you interconnect with people all over the world.
- Conversation Exchange – This site helps you find people worldwide and allows you to learn a new language by practicing speaking with native speakers—two native speakers teaching each other their native language.
#5 Organizing travel photos
You usually take tons of photos during vacations and never organize them, right?… You probably don’t even remember all the places you have been. Well, now you have the time you always wished for.
Organize and review the photos of all the marvelous places you have visited. It will be like reliving your voyages. It is also an excellent opportunity to select the best pictures and frame them, make a travel journal, or a photo book.
Some interesting travel DIY photo display ideas are an incredible way to capture and remember good times. However, beware that this often triggers intense travel cravings…
#6 Learn a new language
It is never a good time to procrastinate. If you have postponed learning a new language. Start preparing your next destination and learn the language of the country you plan to visit. Knowing some simple phrases makes your life easier; besides, the locals will be much more friendly and helpful.
Nowadays, there are several free and interactive sites and apps that help you through the difficult task of learning a new language, like:
Another way to learn a language is to watch foreign films and series that aren’t translated but have subtitles. By doing this, you train your ear and learn without noticing.
#7 Read books that inspire you to travel
An excellent travel book makes you travel the world. It gives you a feeling of excitement and wanderlust to devour the pages of a book that transports you to another place. So grab a great book and travel from your couch.
Some of our favorite travel books are:
- Wild – A Journey from Lost to Found By Cheryl Strayed, a book about the Pacific Crest Trail in the USA
- All the light you cannot see By Anthony Doer, about Saint-Malo France
- On the Road By Jack Kerouac about the USA
- The House of the Spirits By Isabel Allende about Chile
- Like water for Chocolate By Laura Esquivel about Mexico
- Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden about Japan
- Love in the Time of Cholera By by Gabriel García Márquez about Colombia
- The trilogy The Pillars of the Earth By Ken Follett about England
- Equator By Miguel Sousa Tavares about S. Tomé
- Rio das Flores By Miguel Sousa Tavares about Brazil
- Captains of the Sands By Jorge Amado about Brazil
- The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream By Paulo Coelho
#8 Tour a National Park virtually
Did you know that you can visit a USA National park from home?… Well, yes, you can, and it is incredible. With arts and culture with Google, you can explore the USA National Parks – from the Fjords in Alaska to the Bryce Canyon in Utah.
The images are breathtaking, and the best is that you have a guide explaining everything you need to know about each sight. It couldn’t get better, well… It would be cool to have all the National Parks in the world… that would be even better. But seriously, check it out. It’s amazing.
#9 Travel through Google Maps
Please choose a country or city you are curious about and explore it with Street View on Google Maps. Street View is a technology provided by Google Maps and Google Earth that supplies interactive panoramas of the world. You can virtually see the world in 360º panorama photography. It is a mind-blowing feature and a terrific way to explore the world.
Google Earth is also an excellent resource for everyone who loves to travel. The program allows you to explore the most iconic places in the world. It also features exciting games, questionnaires, old maps, and 3D models of famous attractions like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Burj Khalifa, and many more. Google Earth is an excellent place to get lost; you won’t notice the time going by.
#10 Watch YouTube channels about Geography and Travel
YouTube has several good channels about Geography that teach fascinating facts about our planet. Some of our favorite vlogs about geography are:
- Geography Now – A YouTube channel that covers every country of the world, explaining the demographics and social and cultural aspects in a very cool way.
- National Geographic – Who doesn’t know the National Geographic channel? Well, it basically explores everything related to planet Earth, science, history, and space… If you can’t find anything interesting here, there must be something wrong with you 🙂
- Half as Interesting – This YouTube channel exposes the world and its curious aspects.
As for travel channels, we find it difficult to discover ones that can truly catch our attention. Usually, we get bored after 30 seconds… Although we find the ones listed below quite entertaining.
- ONLY in JAPAN – vlog that explores all of Japan’s craziness by an ex-pat living there.
- Migrationology by Mark Wiens – Mark Wiens explores food in different places worldwide.
Or maybe you can start your own vlog. You only need some inspiration, a good mic, and a nice vlog camera for YouTube.
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