Billions of people around the world are in lockdown at home as Covid-19 brings the world to a standstill. 

Borders are closed and in many places, you can’t even leave your neighbourhood. For us travellers this is a concerning time! Many of us have had to cancel trips and rush to the safety of our homes in these uncertain times!

Here are 10 ideas for what you can do during your time at home to keep your wanderlust spirit alive while making good use of the newfound time.

1. Make A Holiday At Home

Turn your home into a hotel. Just because you’re stuck at your home doesn’t mean you can’t create new and special experiences to mimick being away. You’ll probably find that you’ll see your home in a completely new way!

Now that you are basically on an extended holiday in the confines of your home this makes perfect sense.

First of all give your house a spring clean. Clean all your bedding and make your bed like they do in hotels. Get rid of all the clutter, rearrange furniture, clean out your closet. Create an oasis inside your home.

Fill your home with flowers, candles and beautiful scents like essential oils and incense. Create a vibe! Use plants and herbs you have access to in your garden and neighbourhood to limit going to shops.

You can then have fun role-playing hotel service with the people you are self-isolating with. This works especially well if you or someone in your house has to completely self isolate if they are sick or are returning from overseas. Leave them hotel amenities and bring them room service. Create delicious drinks and beautiful food delivered to their room!

Enjoy doing things that you normally wouldn’t do at home but would do on holiday. If the sun is out, roll out a towel and lie in the sun with a cocktail. Put on an upbeat playlist and have a rave in the lounge. You can also put on a special dinner. Cook a beautiful meal, set the table elaborately, get dressed up and pop a bottle of champagne!

Soon you will forget you’re at home. Fall in love with the special moments you can create in isolation.

2. Explore The Nature In Your Home Country

We aren’t sure when borders will open again and it will be easy and safe to travel like it was just weeks ago. It’s safe to say we won’t take travelling freely for granted again!

But this has given us a unique opportunity to explore our home countries once again. When you meet people overseas they often admit to not exploring their own countries, even when they are from is a dream destination for so many others. So take the chance you’ve been given to get to know your home country. You can’t run away anymore!

Find the beauty in your land, your people and your culture. Support the local businesses in the tourism industry who will be suffering more than most during this pandemic.

If your country is in lockdown where domestic travel is limited that is okay. I’m sure there are nooks of your neighbourhood that you’ve never appreciated before. Walk around your streets and admire the houses, the trees, the parks and stream. Appreciate the little things you have never noticed before.

As the lockdowns ease in your home country explore what you have on your doorstep. It may be a while before we can travel overseas again but we can take advantage of our homeland and support the recovery of locals.

3. Start A Travel Blog

Have you always want to start a travel blog but have been putting it off because you don’t have the time? Well now is the time! 

We still have the internet and hopefully you have a laptop. Starting a blog is pretty easy especially when you have copious amounts of time to figure it out!

Wordpress is the best blogging platform and it's free. All you need to do is buy a domain, get web hosting, install Wordpress and start building your website. There are tons of free and paid-for templates which make it relatively simple for technophobes.

Follow a blog post or a tutorial on Youtube which will walk you through step by step how to get your blog up and running.

Once you’re all set up start writing. What a great time to curl up and write about past travels. Keep your travelling spirit alive! This will create a bank of memories for you to go back over in time and reminisce.

Plus you will be able to share your travels on a deeper level with your family and friends who have probably been wondering what you’ve been up to overseas. You will also be helping travellers on what to do and where to go when things get back to normal. 

4. Organise Your Photos

Do you probably have a camera roll and SD cards filled with thousands of pictures? If you’re snap-happy when you travel it’s easy to accumulate a momentous amount of images. It is really time-consuming to go through them all so most people don’t and let the beautiful moments get lost amongst the thousands of images.

This is the best time to sit down go through all your photos and pick out the best ones. Sort them into digital albums based on location and time. Delete the ones that aren’t good and free up some space.

Now you will have one place to go to get the highlights of your trip! You can even share these albums with your family through dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud so they can enjoy the highlights of your travels. Better yet plug your computer into the TV and play a slideshow of photos just for yourself or for the people you are isolating with!

5. Develop Photos & Create Photo Albums

Now that your photos are nicely organised you can get the best of the best developed and organised into photo albums.

For your absolute favourite photos get them printed out even larger and frame them. You can place the frames around your home and on your walls. This will keep your memories alive and help you feel connected to your favourite places even from afar.

There is something so special about having something physical to look at when going through old photos. It is something that you can hold onto for like and show your kids and grandkids as they grow up.

6. Take An Online Photography Course

Have you always wanted to learn how to actually use your DSLR camera but never had the time to learn? Now is the time!

Professional photography is technical! To get the best shots with a DSLR camera amateurs should take a course.

Skillshare is an amazing membership site that offers many photography courses at different levels. There are also other courses on how to edit photos and videos.

You’ll be able to get plenty of practice taking pictures of your isolation buddies, your home and neighbourhood!

7. Recreate Your Favourite Meals From Your Travels

Lucky for us the food supply chain is not broken. We still have access to amazing produce and ingredients from supermarkets and other food providers. With restaurants being closed, we have to make all of our own food. This is the perfect time to get creative in the kitchen!

Have a think about your favourite meals from your travels, find a recipe on Pinterest or Google, get to the supermarket and start cooking!

There are so many amazing dishes from other countries you can create! From Vietnamese pho to the perfect Indian Dhal to fresh homemade basil pesto pasta.

8. Watch Movies From Your Favourite Countries

Do you miss your favourite country like crazy? It’s pretty easy to get attached to places and people, especially when you live in other countries for extended periods of time. It’s uncertain when you will be able to go back and be immersed in the culture and people again. 

Fill that gap in your heart by watching movies from your favourite countries. Most countries have a local film industry. By purchasing their movies you can also help support their local economy.

9. Learn A Language

Are you one of those travellers who can only speak English and feel guilty about it? 

Now is your chance to start learning a language! When you get back out in the world you will be more prepared!

It takes time and commitment to learn a new language. This is the perfect opportunity to really immerse yourself with an online language course. Keep your education going by calling your friends who can speak the language you are learning to practice and stay in touch!

Duolingo and Babbel are both great platforms where you can learn online. If you want an in-person tutor, have a look online for people who you can set up zoom or skype lessons with. Platforms such as Preply can link you up with a tutor.

10. Purchase A St Christopher Pendant To Stay Safe

Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travellers and is said to have protected against the bubonic plague and even toothache.

Wearing a Saint Christopher charm is a request for his blessings and good luck. People believe that he will help to ward off evil and misfortunes such as accidents, robberies and poor health when you are travelling.

This is very fitting for the uncertain times we are entering. When we venture back out in the world we need to have health, luck and good fortune on our side.

Off The Map has an incredible range of unique and high-quality St Christopher pendants to choose from. These beautiful, quality pieces are crafted to last beyond the journey, bringing luck to world adventurers and travellers wherever they roam.

Get Busy!

Now you are armed with 10 things to do during self-isolation to keep you busy. Keep your wanderlust alive and stay inspired during these strange times!

Remember we're all in this together and everything will be okay in the end!