A co Gdyby można było podróżować z komfortu własnego domu?

Wszyscy znajdujemy różne sposoby jak przystosowac sie do nowej normy jaka jest zycie podczas pandemii w naszych domach. Cos czego większość z nas nigdy wcześniej nie doświadczyła.

Niemniej jednak chcemy sie czuc jak najbardziej normalnie, albo najblizej do tego jak to bolo do tej pory, ale ta norma juz nie istnieje I nie jest taka sama. Pytanie więc jak możemy wykreować normę z czasów przed pandemia?

Ci z nas którzy uwielbiają podrozowac, znaleźli sie w sytuacji dosc trudnej, a może tak jak ja mieliscie odwołane wyjazdy i zadajecie sobie pytanie "gdybym tam teraz była, co bym robiła?". Jesteśmy uziemieni na 3 tygodnie, może 3 miesiące - nikt naprawdę nie wie! Chęć podróży jest wielka i tęskno za każdym elementem podróżowania: nagabywaczy na bazarkach, taksówkarzy którzy nas kantują i wożą w kółko po mieście, kelnerzy w Paryżu którzy zapominają nas obsłużyć, i lokalni ludzie którzy próbują Ci sprzedać rzekomo recznie wykonane rodzime produkty a tak naprawdę wiemy ze zostały wykonane w Chinach :-) tęsknimy za tym wszystkim!

Korfu, Grecja - a może nauka Greckiego? Γειά σου!

Mowi sie ze, jestesmy tylko ograniczeni scianami ktore sami sobie budujemy a gdyby tak je zburzyć i podrozowac z komfortu wlasnego domu? Ponizej dziele sie moimi 10 sposobami jak podrozowac z komfortu wlasnego domu:

#1 NAUCZ SIE NOWEGO JEZYKA lub naucz sie minimum 100 slow jezyka kraju z twojej nastepnej zaplanowanej podrozy. Taka nauka pomoze nie tylko poznac kraj z lingwistycznego punktu widzenia, ale takze napewno przy okazji dowiesz sie o wielu ciekawych faktach. Ja na przyklad ucze sie teraz francuskiego, moj wyjazd w Alpy zostal odwolany przez pandemie, ale dzieki temu juz dowiedzialam sie kilku ciekawostek o tym kraju i mam wrazenie ze poznaje ten kraj i kulture coraz lepiej.

#2 PRZYGOTUJ PLAN WYCIECZKI i pomysl o nastepnym kraju ktory checsz odwiedzic jak wszystkie restrykcje zostana zniesione, i nauczyc sie o tym kraju. Zacznij od przejrzenia zdjec i blogow, zaznacz te zdjecia na Pintrest, sprawdz jakie jedzenie chcialabys sprobowac. Sprawdz miejsca w ktorych mozesz sie zatrzymac, atrakcje ktore chcesz zobaczyc badz 'experiences' warte dodania do swojej listy. Takie planowanie napewno pomoze marzyc. Miedzynarodowe podroze moga nie wystartowac od razu, wiec pomyslcie o miejscach ktore mozna odwiedzic lokalnie i wesprzec lokalne biznesy, a takze juz mozna byc w podrozy jak tylko to bedzie mozliwe. Pomysl o miejscach jakie mozesz odiwedzic na weekendlub na krotki wypad, moze miejsce ktore zawsze chcialas odwiedzic ale zawsze byly inne kierunki priorytetowe do odwiedzenia (dla mnie to Walia).

#3 GET COOKING food from a country you have been to and you enjoyed, something that when you think of it, it automatically reminds you of the place, where you were eating it, who you were with. I have already cooked my favourite Pad Thai which I endeavoured in Thailad, fresh and delicious Tabbouleh salad from Morocco, I now have the more time to prepare breakfast and I am trying to recreate smoothie bowls seen on all Bali photos. I spent some evenings with home made margaritas that remind me of my favourite Mexico (there might be a taco to go with it too). Thankfully UK has been having good warm weather recently, so I am also preparing Caffee Frappe that reminds me of Greece.  Few days ago I bought Italian recipe e-book and I am planning on cooking Italian staples too. You can also be more experiential and try food from a country you have not been to yet! Why not?! You can then compare the flavours once you get there and see how well you recreated it.

My home made Tabbouleh salad with hummus and falafel - trip to Morocco.

#4 Read TRAVEL BOOKS which is my favourite pastime, and of course I do not mean travel guides, but the books that transport you to the location, where you almost feel as if you are in the middle of that hot busy street in Havana, or you can feel coldness of the winter in Seattle. I found I also learnt a lot about many countries and its cultures just by reading books. It is such a great feeling when you are travelling and see the places where your characters were spending their time. Recently, I read a book about Iceland after I returned from a trip to the island, and it was a great reminder of wonderful places and customs I encountered while I was there. Of course, I encourage you to read other travel blogs and travel magazines - whatever takes you to new places! (Here is my article about Top Travel books to inspire your next trip and awaken your wanderlust ) 

#5 Look into the depth of your drives and look through your old travel photos. You can create PHOTOBOOKS to have a great memory and remind you of the country you visited. I feel that it is always so good to watch the photos in the book as opposed to digital copies. Additionally, if you have some old videos maybe it's the time now to create great new travel videos too?

Reading travel stories can transport you to a place - here I travelled to Iceland

#6 Start a research on new travel destination by PHOTOS RESEARCHING that location, the best platforms to use would be Instagram, Pinterest, or travel blogs with some unique photography. Google Maps can be handy too. If you are obsessed with great photo locations, you will have your research done for next destination.

#7 If you are not a keen reader, you could turn to TRAVEL MOVIES which are plenty and there's an amazing blog post by Helene from @heleneinbetween (link here) where she lists best travel movies - the list is long - I am sure it will be enough for quarantine days! This is more visual than book reading so you can have some great ideas for locations too or just be inspired to visit some of the locations.

#8 Learn new countries by learning part of its CULTURE. How to do that? Well I mentioned language and cooking which are part of the country's culture, but how about learning to dance - Salsa anyone? You could find a video on You Tube and learn few basic steps - better yet if you live with a partner, it could be fun for both of you. I can also think of Thai Chi, maybe some karate, or play a game of French balls - if you have a piece of garden at your disposal? Why not try yoga which may transport you to Asia, more precisely to India which is considered a birthplace of yoga.  

Lotus temple in New Delhi, India. The queue to get inside was long and I gave up. Now I can virtually see it inside.

#9 Create a BUCKET LIST of places you want to see. And yes having a list is great, but how about making plans to visit those places? Take a piece of paper, or use an app, or any e-document (whatever you prefer) and create list of all countries that you want to see - do not think just write down whatever country comes to your mind. Let's say in 12 month after lockdown lifts, you have enough money, time and resources to travel anywhere you want - where would you go? Out of that list think of countries that would be your priority - and why? What benefit would visiting those countries give you? Which country is easiest to visit? Which country will take the longest to plan? I am sure you have now a good plan for your next trips? If yes, just let me know in comments where are you planning to go?

#10 Finally, you can TRAVEL VIRTUALLY. During this pandemic a lot of museums, exhibitions and even landmark locations (including Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Sagrada Familia and 60 others) are making their displays and interiors available to access online. Well, think of it as ticking some of the museums off your list to see and when you finally get to travel there, you can spend time seeing other places. This is also a great option if you know you may not be able to travel to a certain location just yet (perhaps India is not within your financial reach yet, you can visit it online for now) or spend time visiting details of the location so when you get there you have better knowledge (e.g. I am reviewing now Machu Picchu in detail). The website with many places to visit virtually is linked here. Better yet, you can research areas of the country that you did not manage to see during your last trip, and catch up on what you could not squeeze into your itinerary.

The final question from me is; how did you like my 'Travel from home' ideas? Have any of this ideas made you smile, or encouraged you to do something from this list? Do let me know in comments or on my Instagram.

Stay healthy, stay safe - travel from home

Izabelita x