Do you love to travel, but you can’t get away as much as you’d like? Maybe you’re too busy, or you don’t have the cash for the trip that you want to take. Perhaps your children are too young, or you have other obligations, such as caring for a sick parent. Whatever the reason, if you can’t get out into the world as you want, there are ways to bring the world to you.
Online Experiences
Virtual tours are growing in popularity, and you can pop online and have a local take you around their hometown or go on a virtual safari. There are plenty of other experiences available as well. Take a cooking class with a chef in Italy without leaving your kitchen, or join a musician giving a recital or learn about a particular region’s wine. If you’d love to spend a few weeks immersed in another country learning a foreign language but can’t spare the time or money, you can still learn from apps or from native speakers over video conferencing software.
Live Vicariously
Another option is to follow others on their trips. Many vlog their adventures, and you can watch them as they sail the world, walk long distance trails or take in the excitement of a new city. It takes some skill to make a good vlog, so it may take a little trial and error to find the people you want to follow, but there are some travelers out there doing a wonderful job of bringing the world back home. When you don’t have time to watch a video, you can also do a search for people who post photos of their journeys online.
International Subscription Snack Box
If you’ve ever been to a foreign country, you probably had the fun at some point of trying unfamiliar snack food. With a subscription snack box, you can get snacks delivered to your front door every month. A company that develops the best snacks based on customer feedback can provide you with some of the most interesting and tasty snacks from all over the world.
Take a Virtual Walk
Choose a long-distance trail somewhere in the world or just a point to start walking from. Track your steps during the day, and then look on a map and see how far you’ve gone. You can read up on landmarks you may have passed along the way and look at pictures online. You might decide to turn your imaginary trip into a real one someday.
Plan Your Next Trip
Whether you’re going to have wait four months or four years before you’re really able to take the kind of trip you want, you can have a lot of fun planning it in the meantime. Get books on the place you want to go and read up on its history. Check out forums and groups on social media devoted to travel to the place that interests you. Look at guidebooks, and plan your itinerary. Figure out how much it is all going to cost you and how much you’ll need to put away between now and then to take your trips.