10 Ways to Indulge Your Wanderlust Without Leaving Home

Best Virtual Travel Ideas

We’ve all felt it, haven’t we — the pull to wander, to explore new places, taste unfamiliar foods, and immerse ourselves in different cultures.

But sometimes, life just gets in the way. Travel isn’t always as easy as ‘pack your bags and go’. Time constraints, finances, or simply things not falling into place, can delay our vacation plans endlessly.

So what do we do? How can those of us with perennially itchy feet and perpetual Travel FOMO satiate our wanderlust?

While the world may feel just out of reach, satisfying that wanderlust doesn’t have to mean booking a flight. In fact, there are several ways to experience the magic of travel.

Here are 10 ways we can mentally teleport ourselves to faraway places from the comfort of our living rooms.

1. READ TRAVEL MEMOIRS

If you’ve never been a reader, but are passionate about travel, this is your chance to pick up a phenomenal habit.

Travel memoirs are amazing because they give us a chance to vicariously live out the author’s adventures from the road.

A good travel story can take us to the scene, with the characters, the setting, even the sounds and smells coming to life. It can make us cry, and it can make us laugh our heads off. That’s the power of words.

If you can’t physically travel, try reading memoirs written by some of the best travel writers there are. I personally love all books by Bill Bryson; you can start with reading Neither Here Nor There, a hilarious memoir about his Europe travels.

Another awesome, easy breezy yet tremendously rewarding read is The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost.

2. WATCH TRAVEL DOCUMENTARIES AND MOVIES

If you can’t physically get lost in the streets of London or sip wine in a sun-drenched Tuscan vineyard, the next best thing is watching someone else do it. A good travel documentary or movie is a mental escape hatch. You get the sights, the culture, and the travel mishaps (because there’s always one), without the jet lag or lost luggage.

For example, Before Sunrise shot in Vienna and The Beach shot in Thailand (although I liked the book better) have great storylines and even better set locations. Then there’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for food and adventure, or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty if you need some soul-stirring inspiration. Midnight in Paris will transport you straight to the golden glow of the 1920s.

As for documentaries: Dark Tourist is one compelling 8-part travelogue that takes the viewer to infamous destinations like a nuclear explosion site in Japan, Pablo Escobar’s self-appointed prison, suicide hotspots, and real-life vampire homes.

Another brilliant documentary is Virunga, an inspiring and true story about a group of people in Africa who are going above and beyond to protect the critically endangered species of mountain gorillas.

[You Might Like: 10 Classic Tourist Mistakes We've All Made]

3. TUNE IN TO TRAVEL PODCASTS

Podcasts are such an incredible creation.

You can listen to them while commuting to work, buying groceries, cooking – basically any activity! Just plug in your earphones and let the spring of information wash over you.

There are so many good content creators making excellent travel podcasts. I regularly listen to the World Nomads Podcast, which has weekly uploads and they air interviews with journalists, travel writers and adventurers. Another one is The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, meant for those of us who love deep, reflective travel stories.

4. START TRAVEL JOURNALING

Our brains are terribly unreliable narrators – memories fade, details blur, and soon that incredible walking tour in Milan is reduced to “Yeah, I think I saw a museum?”

Enter travel journaling aka your personal time machine.

Build a habit to write about your past travels. It doesn’t always have to be something grand or challenging. Not everyone jumps off a plane or deep-sea dives.

But I know for a fact that all of us, each one of us, can share travel stories worth sharing.

Remember that awesome AirBnb you stayed at? Or that epic weekend getaway? Or even the big family vacation?

Start piecing events from your trip together, and weave them into a travel story replete with details. Try to recall the little nuances – the color of the building, the mood of the sky, how old your hosts were, what they were wearing when you met, sounds, hues, scents, temperature – The more senses you engage, the richer the memory becomes.

No one has to read what you write; sharing (or not) your writing with others is your choice.

But in addition to helping you recapitulate experiences from your own life and storing them for posterity, this exercise also makes you more mindful of how fulfilling traveling can be.

5. LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE

Far and away the easiest method to introduce yourself to a country’s way of life is learning a new language.

English aside, the most spoke languages worldwide are Mandarin, Spanish and Hindi. If you speak one of these, good for you! There’s always something new to learn, though.

Ever since I moved to Germany, I’ve been working on my German. It’s still far from perfect. But because of this one skill in my arsenal, I get so many opportunities to enhance my travels.

Like when we were in a restaurant in Tirana, struggling to find a vegetarian item on the menu and failing to explain our dietary preference to the Albanian server. We took a shot and asked if he spoke English (which he shook his head to) or German. Turns out, he did!

And just like that, the floodgates opened. We had a full conversation, got recommendations for the best local dishes, and, most importantly, ended up with a delicious vegetarian meal – one we wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Best part – There are tons of resources to help you to learn a new language. I swear by Duolingo, a fantastic app with over 23 languages, including endangered ones like Navajo and Hawaiian. The paid version is great but the basic version has pretty much all the good stuff, and it’s free!!!!! (The Indian in me just somersaulted across the room).

Personally, I’ve never used another tool or app apart from Duolingo. But I’ve heard great things about Babbel and Triplingo. So let’s get cracking!

Which new language are you picking up? If it’s German, we can practice together 😉

6. EAT ABROAD – WITHOUT LEAVING HOME

Ahead of traveling somewhere, what’s the one thing you look forward to doing to the most?

You guessed it: It’s eating all the amazing food there!

Food is such an intrinsic part of our travel experiences. It embodies the cultural identity and individuality of a place. It shines a light on traditions, norms, flavors that have been passed on through generations.

What better way to experience the thrill of travel than to bring those flavors to your kitchen?

This is the time to brush up your culinary skills. You can transport yourself to the winding alleys of Marrakech as you make an easy vegetable Tagine, or to the bustling Bangkok street markets while dishing out a bowl of Pad Thai.

Itching to go to Italy? Turn on an Opera playlist on Spotify, pour yourself a glass of Chianti, and make spaghetti while throwing in heaps of basil for good measure.

Here’s a list of super easy dishes from cuisines around the world, to get you started. Now go whip up a storm!!

7. SEE A FOREIGN FILM

Just like books by international authors and culinary delicacies, watching foreign movies connects us to the human side of ethnicities, cultures, nationalities and worldviews.

The cast, characters and settings are completely different from us, but the underlying set of emotions is mostly the same. It’s all about similar values, about love, about hate, happiness, success, peace, war – all seen through the eyes of someone from another part of the world. Which is the biggest upside of watching international films.

Get comfortable with subtitles. Parasite, a Korean black comedy thriller, won four Oscars. Stranger by the Lake is another brilliant French movie that’ll keep you glued to the edge of your seat till the very end. Some more movies highly regarded in their home countries are Amélie (France), Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico), and City of God (Brazil).

Here are some more international film recommendations.

These films are rich with cultural context, and they’ll give you a taste of the way people see the world, even if you’re just getting to know their language.

Plus, it’s a great way to learn! You’ll start picking up on common phrases, accents, and expressions that you can carry into your next real-life adventure. Who knows? 🙂

8. TOUR PLACES VIRTUALLY

I recently discovered a legen-wait for it-dary app by Google called Arts & Culture. And my mind = blown.

This is a super cool app that uses high-resolution image technology, fairy dust and magic sparkles to enable virtual museum tours. Which means you can visit the Louvre in Paris, or Anna Frank’s House in Amsterdam, whilst being one with the couch. Technology can do wonderful things!!

The app also offers other unique features like zooming capability to assess a piece of art up close, street views, 360 degree videos, short excerpts about key events and personalities in history, and the coolest feature is a face map. The app tells you who your famous lookalike from yore is. I matched with a painting by Van Gogh called Head of a Woman. And I have mixed feelings about it.

Nonetheless, the website is really worth checking out!

9. TAKE A COURSE

The internet is such a great resource for expanding our knowledge.

You can find so many comprehensive online courses that discuss in detail and the history that led up to what we know of a country and its political, economic and cultural landscape.

I have recently taken and enrolled in a few such interesting courses to widen my understanding. Harvard University offers excellent courses pertaining to theology, one example being Christianity through its Scriptures. There’s also the link between China and Communism through the years explained in this detailed course I took recently.

Coursera also has tons of FREE courses from reputed universities across the board; here are a few to get you in the groove:

Big History: Talks about all the historical events in the run up to how we see the world today
The Miracles of Human Language: An introduction to linguistics and on understanding how we all speak different but similar languages
Greek and Roman Mythology: I haven’t finished this yet but I’m loving it already; very thorough and interesting

10. TALK TO PEOPLE

This might even seem like a no-brainer, but hear me out.

Do you have a friend who’s moved abroad? Or even to another city? Do you know someone who recently visited the Caribbean? Or someone who saw the pyramids in Egypt?

Call up that friend. Talk to them about their experience. Ask them what the weather was like, how the people were, what the food was like, how it all made them feel.

If you know someone who lives abroad, ask them about the country’s governance, how the banking system works, is health insurance mandatory, are there any community startups, and around a hundred and sixty-seven other questions!

We’re surrounded by people brimming with experiences and stories. There’s ALWAYS something new we can learn from others.

So use this time to call up that friend and talk. And learn. You know that call’s been pending for a while now, anyway.

You may even take it up a notch. Try language exchange apps like HelloTalk or Tandem, where you can chat with native speakers and learn about their daily life, traditions, and perspectives. Or join virtual tours and meetups online.

When we can’t travel, we CAN rely on the expertise and experiences of the people around us.