10 travel-related things to do during a lockdown

I don’t know about you, but we seem to be guilty of taking hundreds of photos on trips and never actually printing them and putting them up on the wall or in a frame. There’s something very different about just popping up images on instagram and actually getting a physical print done. Plus, it’s a great way to bring your travels and experiences off of your phone and into your home. Warning, the constant reminder may increase wanderlust even more than normal!

Whilst it may be too early to be booking flights it is not too early to delve into planning your next trip. There is so much fun to be had just in researching, getting inspired and coming up with ideas for itineraries or bucket lists. Plus, with all the extra time we have at the moment (hello no social life) we’ve got plenty of time on our hands to do it.

This one will either be for you or not, not everyone is going to be a scrapbooking goddess but that’s ok. Just printing off images, writing little memories and pulling together old plane tickets can be a great way to visualise all of your trips in a fun way. Plus, they’re more creative than a photo album but still easy to browse through on a rainy day. Embrace your creative side, get hold of a good ole Paperchase sketchbook and pull together all of those memories. It may just be the outlet you’re looking for.

What is that one dish (or few) that just sprang to mind? That absolute favourite dish from a far away country that just blew you away the first time you had it. As we all know, one of the best ways to explore a country is to eat your way around, trying everything and anything local. The great thing about this is with a little bit of hunting online you’ll be able to find some truly delicious recipes just waiting to be cooked up. Have you got flashbacks to that warming boeuf bourguignon from France? The Khao Soi from Northern Thailand? One quick google and a bit of effort in the kitchen and you’ll be well on your way.

Now this one is cheekily like the previous, however, there is one main difference. Pick a country you’ve never been to but would love to and get cooking! Whilst we can’t travel to a place right now, our taste buds certainly can and what better way to get excited for a future trip than by exploring some of its food in your very own kitchen. Grab a cookbook, hunt down some blog posts or just jump straight onto bbc good food’s ‘cuisine’ section and pick something new. We actually cooked up a new Caribbean feast last weekend of jerk chicken and beef and ale curry with all of the trimmings and it was delicious!

We’ve all been guilty of saying we’ll learn a new language but not actually getting round to it or just learning how to say ‘hello’. With all this spare time on our hands it is the perfect opportunity to embrace a new language whether it’s one you learnt at school, the language of your favourite country or one of the top 3 in the world (1 – Chinese Mandarin, 2 – Spanish, 3 – English (I think we’ve got that one covered though)). There are so many free resources out there from blogs and podcasts to full-blown apps like Duolingo. Just 15 minutes a day can make a world of difference.

We love watching travel vlogs and videos. In fact, I think they’re (along with an unreal 3 week road trip in California) what sparked our desire to travel more, for longer and further afield. Before we left for our biggest adventure (yet!) back in November 2018 we had watched *literally* hundreds of travel vlogs which gave us some crazy ideas, inspiration and helped with planning routes and ideas for activities.< Enter shameless plug here > Check out our vlogs on countries that you’d love to go to or are planning on visiting soon and if you have any questions then drop us a comment! Also check out Kara & Nate’s journey to 100 countries (jealous much?) for some serious inspiration and the likes of Peter McKinnon for truly epic travel videos.

Check out our round up of 2019, the year we travelled to 14 countries in 10 months below:

You may be absolutely sick to death of zoom quizzes or you may not. Personally, I still kinda love them, it’s something social to do online and gets the ole brain working which is oh so important when it’s Groundhog Day. We actually made an entire 60 question travel/world themed quiz full of lots of fun questions about world food, celebrities, trivia and flags. There’s so much out there online to use or make your own, after all it’s a great conversation starter.

Alternatively, if you’re at the stage of lockdown boredom where you’re starting to do things you never normally would, embrace the world themed puzzle. Yup. It’s come to that. We got hold of a great world map puzzle by Ravensburger, one that entertained us for a few evenings and made us realise that we have barely even made a dent when it comes to countries to visit. If crosswords are more your thing then why not grab a copy of Lonely Planet’s ‘Ultimate travel crosswords’ and drive yourself crazy trying to solve clues like: ‘Russian province on the Baltic Sea (11)’…

Even during the toughest restrictions in the UK, we have still been able to get out of the house for 1 hour of exercise. Taking full advantage of this will be your saving grace and do wonders for your mental wellbeing. If you’re lucky enough to live near woodland, parks or anything close to nature then embrace that. We are very grateful to have woodland practically on our doorstep that we have ventured out into every single day. The combination of fresh air, nature and exercise have been the highlight of many an otherwise completely uneventful day.

Planning on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro? Want to go on that ski season? Is that 7 day Patagonian trek on the cards? Whilst the gyms may be shut there is still so much we can do to prepare for all the adventures and challenges we may go on when we can. We have always believed that the fitter and healthier you are, the more you can get out of travelling and the more you can enjoy these crazy experiences. Cue us climbing mountains, walking for miles carrying our backpacks in 30 degree heat and skiing for 4 months in the French Alps. Embrace a workout routine that you can do from home, that challenges you and gives you some structure. There are so many great resources out there or if you’re able to, invest in an online coach to get you to your goal.