#QuarantineAndChill doesn’t have to mean the end of your travel dreams

In this era of self-isolation and quarantine measures for much of North America, many of us have had upcoming travel cancelled and/or are sitting isolated at home or (heaven-forbid) in a hotel room stuck in some travel-restricted country.

We’d like to offer you some travel motivation, both to keep you entertained and to keep your travel dreams developing. Travel will resume again in the upcoming months as the Coronavirus peaks and recedes, why not be ready for the opportunities and deals to come?

Quarantine boredom - what the heck do I do for a 14-day isolation?

Aside from the first things to come to mind … binging on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+, listening to the latest TedTalks/podcasts or zoning out on our tablet games … why not add some travel education to the assortment.

Here’s 6 ideas to help you survive the boredom and add to your travel bucket list

1. Bucket list dreaming

Dust off your personal bucket list of the exciting places you’ve always wanted to travel to and begin with some research on how to make it happen. Check out these drool-worthy starters from one of our travel partners – TheFlightNetwork - to get your brain fired up:

• Worlds Ultimate Bucket List
• Worlds Best 50 Beaches
• Worlds 50 Most Beautiful Cities

2. Inspiration from top travel blogs

These legends of the travel industry and their magazines deliver perspectives and stories from around the globe. Create yourself a new travel folder in your favorite browser and bookmark these legendary resources to peruse:

• National Geographic
• Conde Nast
• Lonely Planet
• Frommers
• Rick Steves
• Backpacker
• Suggestions to dig into 800+ more travel journalists, bloggers, and experts

If you want to keep up to date on their most recent posts, subscribe to their newsletters. [GoGirlfriend Tip: Create a new, separate email you use only for newsletter subscriptions so all content flows to one source and doesn’t overload your standard emails.]

3. Explore top museums from around the world

Many museums offer virtual museum tours to give armchair travelers the ability to step inside prestigious museums and see works of art and culture without the time and costs of travel. Since exhibits change out periodically, this can allow you to stay current on your topics of interest. Here’s many hundreds to search topically and explore:

• Google Arts and Culture Collections – hundreds of museums from around the world
• Le Louvre – Paris, France
• Vatican Museums and exhibit tours – Vatican City
• Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – Washington, DC
• NASA Virtual tours - and explore the massive NASA site for some interstellar news

4. I’d like to travel to …

A destinations Visitor and Convention Bureau or Tourist Board can offer a lot of information on a destination of interest. We use these resources regularly as we visit an area to make sure we see the highlights of an area as well as some of the off-the-beaten-path opportunities to explore the areas geography or cultural highlights. When heading for business or pleasure, for planning ahead or to see what’s around the hotel where you’re staying, consider looking up the destination’s tourist info:

• Examples: VisitScotland (2 years ago), VisitFlorida (regularly), or IrelandTourism (for this fall)
• Here’s top Tourism Board sites that do it well
• International List of National Tourist Boards
• Consider following a destinations Instagram (#NewOrleans) or Facebook page (ILoveNY)

5. Learn a new language

You’re isolated and bored … but you dream of touring French Champagne houses, walking the iconic Camino El Santiago or touring the Italian countryside. Why not begin your language adventure in French, Spanish, Italian or some other preferred language? There’s no better time than now.

• Rosetta Stone – the gold standard learning language program
• Duolingo – highest rated on Android Store and iOS
• Babbel – rated as best for business travel

6. A few health and wellness suggestions to help you while the time away

Not necessarily associated to travel, but to your personal well-being and enabling a positive mindset while your sequestered time ticks down. With all this extra time to think, it might be a good time to re-center and get some positive vibes from the universe … like “All you have to do is be. Be yourself. There’s nothing to prove. And there’s no one to please who isn't already over the moon with joy at how well you've done and with who you've become. Tallyho, The Universe” from Notes from the Universe

• Notes from the Universe – daily emails (like above) with notes of motivation
• Online devotionals - check with your local church or religious community for streaming services or devotionals
• Yoga – if you can’t get out and stretch your legs, I’ll advocate for Yoga with Adriene for her amazing library of stretching and yoga workouts.
• Spotify Playlists to find your calm – like popular Totally Stress Free or Relax and Unwind playlists
• Get some fresh air – on your balcony, at a window, or go for a walk in the sunshine (keeping appropriate social distancing protection to yourself and others).

Bonus Ideas to Consider from our Community

• Take an online class from one of the top Ivy League schools on any number of topics (thanks Kirsten).
• Check out one of over 30 different Virtual Field Trips (thanks Debra)
• Over 100 destination Virtual Tours from Around the World (thanks Bat-El Galore from Travel Trend for reaching out)

We don’t want you to be bored as you #QuarantineAndChill and we certainly don’t want your travel dreams to disappear. This COVID-19 Coronavirus disruption is unprecedented in the scope of our modern lives, but our lives and movements will resume. With that comes international travel opportunities and incentives to get us roaming this wonderful world again. Wouldn’t it be great if we had our research done and plans in place?

What other suggestions do you have to make the most of this extra time we find in our social-distancing isolation? I’d love to add more to this list. Leave a comment below and join us on Facebook and Twitter.