Five Ways To Indulge Your Love Of Travel Without Leaving The House

We’re not even going to utter the C-word but it’s safe to say we’re all grounded right now. At best, you’re embracing more time with family, cooking up a storm and binge-watching Netflix. At worst, you’re rocking away in the corner of the room, passport in hand, holiday plans in tatters. We feel you.

Whichever camp you fall into, the chances are that being told you can’t travel has left you absolutely desperate to jump on a plane. While we can’t holiday in body for the time being, we can be there in spirit. Here are five ways to scratch the itch without leaving the house.

Rethink your bucket list

It’s funny how being unable to leave the house leaves you desperate to do all the things. Bucket lists are often elusive, ambitions that seem as long off as they are long-held. Now’s the time to rethink what’s on there. Do you really want to climb Everest or are you actually desperate to eat pasta on the Amalfi Coast? Is Machu Picchu the last thing on your mind now we’re on lockdown, replaced by less lofty aspirations to see a sparkling Eiffel Tower in Paris? You’ve got all the time in the world to decide where in the world you’ll go.

Learn a new skill

Download Dualingo and learn the language of love (Italian, FYI) or join Annie Leibovitz for a photography masterclass that’ll take those holiday snaps to the next level.

Plan your next trip…in detail!

Whether you’re a planner by nature or a fly by the seat of your pants type of traveller, now is the time to give that next trip some thought. You probably already know where you’re going but where do those in the know say you absolutely have to eat when you get there? Where’s the best G&T in Barcelona and which beach in Barbados has the best snorkelling? Hit up TimeOut and Culture Trip, take a look at our blog, buy that travel magazine (let’s keep them on the shelves!), scour the internet high and low, all in the name of planning the perfect trip.

Watch a foreign film

Foreign films divide opinion, you either love them or hate the idea of reading your movie, but there are few better ways to immerse yourself in a place without being there. The Untouchables isn’t just a moving tale of an unusual friendship, it’s a chance to see Paris in all its glory without leaving your living room. L’Auberge Espagnole is Barcelona on show, while La Dolce Vita paints such a sweet picture of life in Rome, it coined the term we know today.

Cook your way around the world

Let an Italian Nonna teach you how to make homemade pasta at your own kitchen table or have Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana fame give you a step-by-step lesson on whipping up the best Thai curry outside of Bangkok as part of his ‘Kitchen Quarantine’ Instagram series. Now’s the time to cook your way around the world.