14 Ways to Satisfy Your Wanderlust When You Can’t Travel

Thank you to Explore Local Box for sponsoring this post

It’s the problem every traveler faces- the feeling of wanderlust. We are no strangers to this feeling and are notorious for wishing we were going somewhere while at the airport already going somewhere! We just can’t get enough of traveling and discovering new places. Since we are not full-time travelers, we often have to find remedies to ease our wanderlust. This is probably the longest we’ve gone without a trip and our wanderlust cravings were getting really intense. While nothing will compare to the feeling of actually traveling, we hope these tips will hold you over until you can get away on your  next trip.

1. Explore a new city with Explore Local Box

One of our favorite things to do when we travel is to try all the things that a place is known for. We will try all the food, all the drinks, and buy unique items that will be useful at home. We especially love doing all this with local businesses so we can get to know shop keepers who are pursuing their dreams and also support small businesses instead of large chains. We didn’t think this was something we could do at home until we discovered Explore Local Box.

Explore Local Box is a subscription box which features a new city each month. Inside the box are all kinds of goodies from the city sourced from small businesses and a fact sheet about the city! It’s such a great way to get to “explore” a new city + support small businesses at the same time!

We chose Portland for our first box since we had recently been to Portland and LOVED it. Our box came with a delicious tea, sweet and salty hazelnuts, tree bark coasters, a wooden soap dish, a pretty tile coaster, and a salt grinder. We took our tea, coasters, and hazelnuts to the park and set up a little picnic since the PNW reminds us of greenery and being outdoors.

Such a fun way to curb wanderlust and support local businesses! Win-win!

You can get your own box here and get 10% off with this special promo code: HEA10

2. Plan your next trip

This is the obvious one, but planning our next trip goes a long way in helping ease our wanderlust. We get so excited planning all the things we will see and do. Plus, knowing that a trip is on the horizon, even if very far away, helps ease the cravings a bit.

3. See your town as a tourist

It’s always interesting to us that tourists often see a town more thoroughly than the people who live there. Chances are there’s a lot to see and do in your own town that you haven’t done before! Do a Google search “Top things to do in + (your city)” and work your way through the list of things that come up! Even if they seem super cheesy or touristy, have an open mind and try it. You might be surprised at how much fun you will have. Plus, we’ve learned a lot of spots are tourist destinations for a reason- they are often a lot of fun!

4. Zone in on what you are missing

Try to figure out exactly what you are craving the most about traveling. Is it trying new things, escaping from your day-to-day routine, or talking to locals about their experiences? Whatever it is, try to figure out a way to incorporate that into your life at home. It’s difficult to completely recreate the feeling of travel when you are still in your everyday life, but we are big believers in everyday life adventures! Some examples:

• If you are missing the feeling of relaxation: Spend a day by a pool, blend up some frozen drinks, and read a good book. Or have a spa day.
• If you are missing the feeling of stumbling upon treasures: Go to any new street, walk around, and discover the street through eyes of adventure

• If you missing being able to escape something unpleasant in your life: Find a way to get rid of that thing or at least make it better. For example, Lena has long work commutes. She loves being able to escape driving when we travel. She’s started listening to audio books while she drives and that has helped make her commute better.

{For more tips like this, check out: How to Live Life Like a Vacation}

5. Go on a day trip

Hit the road early morning and don’t come back till late that night! Better yet, come back the next day! Go anywhere at all, just as long as you’ve never been there before. You can Google what towns are driving distance from you and pick any one. You can also play a game we like to call “The Quarter Drive”. For a pre-set amount of time, like 1 hour, let a quarter be your navigation. Heads you turn left, tails you turn right. At the end of hour, or whatever time you set, stop there and explore wherever you ended up! {Psst: this is also a really fun spontaneous date activity!}

6. Have an “Around the World” party

There are so many ways you can do this, but all versions just include having a small taste of countries all around the world to help curb your wanderlust. Here are some variations:

• Food tour: Go restaurant hopping, making sure each stop encompasses food from a different country
• Multi cultural party: Invite friends over and assign each friend a specific country. Ask them to bring food from their assigned country and maybe even an activity, like a game or custom from that culture. You can decorate your place with items, flags, etc from all around the world to set the vibe
• Cocktail party: look up how to make cocktails from different parts of the world. Invite your friends over and serve up globally inspired cocktails

7. Visit a cultural festival

We love to look up when different countries have a festival in our town. We’ve been to Greek festivals, French festivals, and Lebanese festivals. They were all so much fun! Each one was a bit different, but they usually include things like music, dancing, food, and products from the respective country.

8. Camp in your backyard

Set up a tent in your backyard and go “camping”. Bonus points if you have a little fire pit that you can use to roast marshmallows and make s’mores! We currently live in an apartment, but once we move into a house, we are planning on stringing twinkly lights on our front or back yard to make it even cozier for “camping” trips.

By the way, it’s hilarious that we even have this tip, because we are actually not camping people at all. Lena can’t handle the whole not having a good bathroom or shower. Camping at home gets rid of that problem! You can read about the one and only time Lena went camping here.

9. Have a “staycation”

We just love staycations! It’s when you pretend you are on vacation in your own town. This is not a unique idea, but here are some tips for a successful staycation:

• Stay at a hotel if possible. If not, try to make your house like a hotel by getting it cleaned by a professional service beforehand
• Tell your friends and family you went somewhere (this will ensure you don’t have to turn down invites or getting stuck with obligations)
• Decide what kind of vacation you want, for example, relaxing or adventurous. Plan your activities ahead of time according to the style you want
  • Some examples:
    • Relaxing: get a spa treatment, take naps, watch Netflix
    • Adventurous: book some excursions or adrenaline pumping activities
    • Exploratory: Go to a museum or other tourist spot,
• Do only what you like! Get rid of anything you don’t like. For example, if you hate cooking, get takeout or go out to dinner
• Splurge! You’re on vacation! Spend what you would feel comfortable spending if you actually went somewhere

10. Get outside

We feel happiest when we are outside! There’s always so much to do and to discover. It’s likely your town has hiking trails you’ve never tried, so go check them out! We’ve noticed that we spend tons of time outdoors when we travel, so we try to incorporate that into our home life too!

11. Try new foods

One of our favorite parts of traveling is trying all kinds of new food. Fortunately, this one is easy to do even when not traveling. Pick a new type of food you’ve never tried and find a spot nearby that serves it. If you live somewhere that doesn’t have very many options, look up a recipe online and make it yourself! Trying to DIY the new food can be an adventure in itself!

Recently, we’ve been dying for a trip to Italy and Australia, but couldn’t make either one happen. We started having lots of Italian food and hitting up Australian cafes. While wasn’t the same (AT ALL!), it did help ease our cravings just the tiniest bit. The next type of food we want to try is Ethiopian!

Another way we like to try new foods is by visiting our local farmer’s market and buying produce we’ve never tried before. Learning new ways to prepare it is always really fun!

{For ideas on new foods to try, check out Wacky Foods to Try From Around the World}

12. Travel through a book

We just love to read, especially since it can be a transporting experience. When we are really craving a trip to a particular location, we will often find books that are set in that country. Sometimes it makes the craving for travel even worse, but other times, it does help give us a “taste” of being there.

{For book suggestions, check out: 20 Book Recommendations According to Your Mood}

13. Have new experiences

When we travel, we love to try new things that the place is famous for. Usually these are adrenaline pumping activities like zip lining, white water rafting, etc. When we are feeling really stagnant, we try to find new experiences that we can have in our own hometown. We’ve gone kayaking, rock climbing, taken a trapeze class, and gone hang gliding. Each adventure really helped get us excited and out of our rut.

14. Work towards making it a reality

It’s not enough to dream about it- you have to also make it a reality! We aren’t naïve enough to believe that traveling is as easy as finding a plane ticket and going, there are often real barriers that prevent people from traveling. Whatever your particular barrier is, try to come up with a solution. Here are some examples of common barriers and some examples of solutions:

• Can’t afford it: Stop eating out entirely and put that money towards travel. Have a garage sale and put all that money towards your trip. Save up all the change you accumulate. Travel off season. Rent your house as an Air BnB while you’re gone
• You have kids: Take the kids with you. Go during the summer and put the kids in summer camp. Beg, plead, maybe even hire a family member to babysit. Take the kids with you + a family member and pay them to babysit some nights
• No vacation days: Take advantage of holidays and long weekends. Ask your boss if you can work remotely for a few days. See if you can travel for a work project

We know these suggestions are not going to solve your barriers, but we truly believe where there is a will, there is way. It might take some creativity and problem solving, but there is a solution to every barrier.

See more ideas for things to do when you can’t travel

While there is no substitute for travel, we hope you found these tips helpful. Hopefully they will help curb your wanderlust until you can go on your next trip! Do you have any other ideas? We’d love to hear them!

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