While we’re thankful to be safe at home with a roof over our heads, I think it’s inevitable that we’re all itching to get out and travel again. I just never imagined a day where travel was restricted and borders were closed, even to New Zealand! It makes us realise how lucky we have been as Australians to have the freedom to travel and explore so many corners of the globe.

I’m really missing exploring new places, trying new foods and meeting new people along the way. And to think how many people had their big bucket list trips and honeymoons booked for 2020!

So while we may not currently be able to get out and explore the world, I thought I’d put together ways that we can still travel virtually and keep the travel spirit alive even while staying at home.

Foreign Food Nights

Bring the food and the culture into your own kitchen! Dedicate one night of the weekend to make your favourite food from another country. Maybe you had this while overseas, or maybe you were meant to be headed there this year…

Homemade dumplings, Mickey-shaped pretzels, delicious red curry from Thailand. The list is endless!

Get the kids involved and ask them their favourite foods from your trips too.

Explore Tourist Attractions Virtually

The number of attractions that are opening their doors virtually while they can’t have any physical visitors is really cool! Art galleries, museums, national parks – so many!

As a little break from Netflix, let the kids pick a place they want to visit. This is a great way to introduce your kids to places you may not have actually been planning a trip to.

Check out the British Museum in London for Egyptian artifacts. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is showing the biggest collection of Vincent Van Gogh’s work online. Let the kids visit some Australia animals at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary by watching live streams of koalas, roos, dingos and much more.

Start A World Map

Buy a big world map online and put it up somewhere in the house, so that as a family you can place pins or dots in all the places you’ve visited. You could even use different colours for places you want to visit next.

You can also find those fun scratchable maps online where you scratch off the places that you’ve visited.

It’s cool to reflect as a family on the places you’ve been together, or maybe before the kids showed up, and watch it grow over the years!

Stay On Top Of Your Frequent Flyer Points

We may not be able to use our rewards points towards flights at the moment, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep collecting them!

Or use them to buy other items, such as appliances or vouchers to go towards groceries.

I wrote a blog about how to best use your rewards points while we aren’t travelling, which you can read here. 

Let The Kids Travel Virtually Through Colouring

Get the kids onto KAYAK’s Krayon iOS app where they can explore the world and travel virtually through colouring. They can colour the streets of Paris or the heights of Mt. Fuji right on their iPads.

You can also visit their website and print out over 40 different colouring pages of scenes around the world.

Binge Travel Shows

There are plenty of travel/wanderlusty shows out there most of us have never watched, so what better time like now. Get back in the travel mood and start planning (daydreaming?) about your next adventure through some good old travel shows on Netflix.

Travel virtually through television. It counts right?

Some favourites are Travels With My Father, Our Planet and Street Food.

Start Planning Your Next Trip!

You may be able to book anything even, heck you may not even be able to plan dates, but why not start planning your next family trip now. 

Maybe you’ve been saving up to head to the US or Asia. It may not be safe or be able to happen for a few years now, but you can start putting together places to see, where to stay and what to do.

It’s always nice to have something positive to look forward to, after all!