It is Easter, the 4 day weekend. We were supposed to be setting up camp by Dolgellau and hiking up to Penygader in Snowdonia. However, life had other plans. In the past month all of our lives have changed drastically and the majority of us are now in lockdown. The government is urging us to stay indoors to save the lives as the severely underfunded NHS cannot cope with the fast spread of Covid 19.

Looking outside and seeing the clear skies and feeling the warmth of the sun rays poking through the window does not help in this situation. But this too shall pass and we will travel again! This got me thinking, what can we do while we are stuck inside to keep our wanderlust alive until we are free to roam the world again.

Revisit your old trips

Now is a good time to go through the photos of your old trips. If you are travel like we do, you probably leave either early in the morning after being at work the day before or right after work and you get back on the last weekend flight. I once got back on an early Monday flight and actually started working on the bus ride back from the airport. I have pathetic annual leave allowance 😦

2019 – summer in Croatia

Anyways, this means that it sometimes takes a couple of days before I have time to go through the photos and I feel I never give them enough attention. I know some people who rarely go through their photos at all as it is always something to do “when they have time”. Well, guess what, now you have time. Hook up your laptop to the TV, pour yourself a drink and revisit some of your old trips. Which brings me to…

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking was one of my pass times when I was in between jobs. I actually did manage to finish one, our wedding one and it looks fab! A couple of years ago I found this amazing scrapbook and had the idea to make a scrapbook of our adventures. I started but it is a project in the making. And I am so many trips behind (hint, I need to start on Romania). Scrapbooks are a lovely creative way to frame your memories and you can find many nice scrapbooks for a couple of pounds online. My creative side woke up with this project, maybe yours will too.

Read read read

There are so many well written and interesting blogs on all the places on the planet, all you have to do is google a place you are interested in (or continue reading this one, might as well since you are here :D). A lot of these posts come with links to more information and, before you know it, you spend an hour reading on a country that becomes your next destination. If books are more your thing, there are many that will get your travel mind racing, but might be a bit more difficult to get your hands on in the current situation. If you are willing to give some a go, google will give you numerous lists of the “Best Travel books”. Our travel books at home are mostly focused on road trips with the motorcycle – Lone Rider by Elspeth Beard, Motorcycle diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara, Long Way Round & Down by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, etc

Trip to Italy

Watch documentaries

From BBC documentaries like the ones narrated by the god of documentaries, Sir David Attenborough, Travel Man or Michael Palin’s and Joanna Lumleys adventures to films like Wild, Easy Rider (bikes again ❤ ) or Lord of the Ring trilogy (+ the Hobbit), there are so many options to make you want to buy a plane ticket right there and then. Netflix is a treasure trove of films to make you want to travel more (and destroy the One Ring!).

Do not despair in these times, take them as a sign to slow down and, in the words of Tallahassee, enjoy the little things.

What is the first country you will visit after the lockdown ends? Or will you try and “explore your own back yard”? If last year has thought me anything it is that sometimes you really do not need to go abroad to have a fantastic trip.