16 Fun Things Travelers Can Do from Home when You Can’t Travel

March 2020 brought upon unprecedented time for travelers.

Borders closed.
Countries locked down.
Flights ceased.
Cruises paused service.
World landmarks closed, from the Taj Mahal to the Colosseum to Machu Picchu.

Travel became an impossibility across the globe.

Amidst all the travel restrictions and shutdowns, strong government warnings have been issued from all around the world urging people against travel. It’s all being done in as a concerted effort to help curb the spread of this virus.

It’s all a little scary for those in the travel industry and avid travelers alike. Yet we remain optimistic of a future when we’ll all be able to safely roam around the world again.

Until then, it is becoming increasingly evident that many travelers will have to be stationary for a little while. For avid travelers this lack of movement and adventuring can be demoralizing.

So we wrote this post in an attempt to provide a happy distraction for travel lovers to partake in.

For travelers who aren’t able to travel, there are still plenty of fun travel-related activities to do at home to get through this.

So here are 16 fun homebound activities to spur travel inspiration and keep spirits up during this time of non-movement.

1) Check Out Webcams to Peek into the World’s Top Attractions

Many of the busiest tourist attractions all around the world have closed or shutdown. Live webcams are capturing those moments while also monitoring the flow of reopenings. This allows viewers from all around the world to gain a glimpse at these attractions in real time, without the swarms of people usually crowding the world’s busiest landmarks.

For anyone who has ever visited the Coliseum in Rome, you know what a cluster it can be. So it’s a stark reality to peek at the Coliseum live cam and see it empty.

Here are a few other live cams that will offer you a virtual travel experience during this time of shutdowns. It enables you to see these places empty, in real time from your couch. (*Note: Open each link separately, one-at-a-time. If opening several tabs, the all tabs will default to the last live cam opened.)

Europe:

Trevi Fountain: Check to see if people are back gathering to toss a coin in Rome’s famed fountain.

Piazza San Marco: Is Venice’s famous plaza still empty or bustling?

Eiffel Tower: Are tourists returning to Paris’s iconic landmark?

Bruge Market Square: See how this usually busy and picturesque Belgian square has changed.

Madrid’s Puerta del Sol: Look to see how people are flowing in this usually-busy plaza in the heart of Madrid.

Americas:

New York City: This 42nd Street live cam peeks into the often packed streets of New York.

Las Vegas: The Vegas strip has been much quieter than usual. How is it right now?

Fort Myers Beach: See if people are distancing today on this popular FL beach.

Mexico City Zocalo: Check out what activity is taking place in the central plaza of North America’s largest city.

Cusco’s Plaza Mayor: See what it’s like in this tourism hub that’s used as a launch pad for Machu Picchu.

Elsewhere:

Shibuya Crossing – Cam is currently down right now, but worth checking back to see Tokyo’s busiest intersection at this time.

Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park – At last look, we spotted elephants playing in a watering hole!

2) Make a Dream List of Places You Want to Travel

You may call it a “bucket list.” We like to say a “travel to-do list.”

Whatever you call it, now is a perfect time to make that list!

This can really be a fun activity to get the whole family involved too.

Use this extra time of being holed up together with your spouse to start talking about your next trip. Mountains or beach? Thailand or France? Perhaps some closer domestic trips may be in order? Now is a great time to discuss it all and make that list!

Get the kids involved too! Talking about travel destinations can be a perfect geography lesson for the many parents who have just unexpectedly just become homeschool teachers.

Think about all the bucket list places you would like to travel to. Need inspiration?

• Of course, consider the 7 World Wonders.
• Browse through UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• Check out 19,000+ oddities found on the Atlas Obscura World Map.
• Buy the quintessential travel bucket-list book: 1,000 Places To See Before You Die.

Here’s our very aspirational travel list of places we’d love to go next!

Don’t stop with making your list. Go the extra mile and create a travel vision board!

Now that you have culled down and perfected your travel list, make a travel vision board.

Go through old travel magazines and cut out the destinations you want to travel to. For other places, find photos online and print them out. Pin them to a cork board or paste them to a poster board. Or just find a piece of paper to use as your canvas.

Leave space in the middle of your vision board to place a beautiful smiling picture of you and your family from your last trip.

This will give you all the inspiration you need to take those trips, when the time comes!

We’ll work on ours. But if you do make a travel vision board… please, please, please – send us a picture by posting to our Facebook or email us. It would make us so happy to see your creation! 😄

3) Binge All the Travel Shows

If you’re stuck at home, fuel your wanderlust by binging on travel shows you can stream.

#QuarantineAndChill has become a thing. And Netflix may be an obvious choice to do so.

But did you know there are loads of travel shows you can stream on PBS.org for free? There is! (Results may vary, pending your location).

Here are a few shows to help satiate your wanderlust while keeping inside:

Stream Travel Shows on Netflix

Conan without Borders – In our opinion, this is the absolute funniest travel show you can stream right now. If you need some levity during these trying times, have a laugh by watching Late Night comedian/host Conan O’Brien goof off around the world. There are only six episodes (Cuba, Korea, Mexico, Israel, Haiti, Italy), making it easily to binge in a day or two.

Somebody Feed Phil – Travel friends have strongly recommended this to us, so we’ll be binging it ourselves soon. “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal travels the globe to take in the local cuisine and culture of Bangkok, Lisbon, Mexico City and more.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner – Chef David Chang joins notable celebrity friends, like Seth Rogan and Chrissy Teigen, on trips to destinations such as Vancouver, Morocco, LA, and Cambodia, with his insatiable curiosity about food, culture and identity. We’re fans of David Chang and this looks fun, so we look forward to watching this ourselves.

Our Planet – Looking for something to relax and view beauty scenes of nature all around the world? This is your ticket. For those familiar with BBC’s Planet Earth, this is essentially Netflix’s take on that.

Dark Tourist – Feeling dark right now? Watch journalist David Farrier visit unusual – and often macabre – tourism spots around the world.

Stream Travel Shows on PBS.org (for free!)

Rick Steves’ Europe – Notable guidebook author has 10 seasons available to binge that cover locations all throughout Europe.

Expedition with Steve Backshall – Naturalist Steve Backshall journeys to the world’s last unexplored places and faces challenges around the globe.

No Passport Required – Chef Marcus Samuelsson journeys across the U.S. to explore the diversity of immigrant traditions and cuisine woven into American food and culture.

Travel Shows on Amazon Prime

If you have Amazon Prime already, we found some travel content tucked away in their free prime videos. If you don’t already have Prime, use this link to get a 30-day free trail to Amazon Prime. Then you can watch these shows for free and get groceries and supplies sent to your home for free. (Cancel within 30 days to avoid charges.)

Lost Sea Expedition – I just watched the first 10-minutes of this low-key self-produced documentary and am already hooked. It chronicle’s Bernie Harbert’s expedition across the Great Plains from Canada to Mexico, by mule and wagon.

The Grand Tour – This is somewhat of a successor to the popular Top Gear series, following Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May on their vehicular escapes all around the globe.

Around the Next Bend – Follows two adventures’ journey down India’s Ganges River.

4) Do a Video Chat with Relatives to Learn about their Last Trip

Many friends and relatives around the world are on self-isolation. And the world’s older and wiser population may be feeling particularly quarantined right now, since they’re even more restricted with greater risk.

So have a video call with grandma and grandpa, or mom and dad. Or if you are grandma or grandpa, give your kids a video call! But don’t call just to say hi. Ask them about their latest trip!

Perhaps travel runs in your family. This can be a great way to connect and bond!

Conversation gets stale when its limited to the current events of “How is your quarantine going?” or “What did you have for dinner tonight?” Instead, talk about something more fun, like travel!

Everyone loves to talk about their travels. So, if you’re a traveler, asking a relative about their travels can be a great conversation starter! You’ll likely learn a lot and perhaps have some laughs along the way.

Teach grandma and grandpa how to video chat, if they don’t already know how – they’ll love it!

If you’re the grandma or grandpa, give the kiddos a call and hear about their last trip, whether it was to Disney World or the rager they had during a full moon party in Thailand. Just let it be a fun conversation!

But don’t just restrict this video call activity to relatives. Call your friends who you haven’t caught up with in a while.

Did you swoon over you’re a friend’s Instagram feed on their trip to Bali six months ago? Call them and ask them about it! Trust me, they’re going to be happy to gush all about that trip. Let travel talk be a happy distraction from other concerning news.

Here are some questions you can ask to help spur conversation:

• What was your favorite experience during your last trip?
• What was the best thing you ate on that trip?
• Did you encounter any difficult or funny cultural experiences during the trip?
• What would you do differently if you took another trip there?
• Where did you stay and what was the accommodation like?
• What is your favorite place you’ve ever traveled? Why?
• Is there anywhere you’re planning to travel next?

How to do a video chat:

If you’ve never done a video chat before, just know that it’s super easy and you probably have everything you need already on your phone or laptop. Here are five common ways:

• Try Zoom: Here’s how to use Zoom
• Call on Google Hangouts: How to start a video call
• On Facebook Messenger: How to video chat?
• Use Skype: How to make a Skype call?
• Apple/iPhone users: How to Facetime.

5) Order International Food Delivery to Try Cuisine of the World

This is a great way to help support local restaurants during this time when we’re all supposed to stay home. So sort through the delivery apps and find a new-to-you cuisine you’ve never tried before.

Spend this time in isolation eating your way around the world, right from home. Have fun with it and make plans to order from a new international restaurant once per week for every week of isolation.

Of course, most of us are familiar with favorites such as Chinese, Italian, or Mexican cuisine. But have you ever tried Ethiopian or Peruvian? These are both delicious options. See if there are any near you!

Try to find authentic takes on cuisines around the world. Tex-Mex food can be delicious. But search around and see if you’re able to find any traditional Mexican cuisine. We recently found an awesome little joint near us that not only serves traditional Mexican cuisine, but they crank out regional cuisine to one of our favorites areas, Querétaro!

Or perhaps you’re familiar with Indian cuisine, but it can be very regional. See if you can find a place specializing in southern Indian food, which tends to be much different than what you may be accustomed to. You can even practice local eating habits and eat with your hands!

Japanese food is among our favorites, going well beyond sushi. Thai cuisine is always a go-to for us. We only recently fell in love with Russian food. Meanwhile, Greek cuisine always makes our mouths water. Arabic cuisine, particularly Lebanese food, is another international hit in our household. Try them!

If you happen to live in a decent-sized city, international food opportunities can be endless. And most are available for delivery and on delivery apps.

Ask your friends, family, and neighbors for recommendations. Have some fun with it and poll them on social media! Just be sure to use proper safety protocol when ordering delivery during these times.

And to save money off delivery, feel free to use our referral codes for the following apps. Enjoy and stay safe!

6) Learn a New Language for Your Next/Favorite Travel Destination

Being able to speak the local language always greatly enhances any travel experience. You don’t have to strive to be fluent. Knowing some basics can really go a long way.

With extra time at home, use this as an opportunity to learn a new language or brush up. Get better at Spanish, gain some proficiency of Italian, or discover a new-to-you language, like Japanese.

Learning a language can be a fun and practical way for travelers to use this period of down time. And when travel restrictions are lifted, you’ll be ready to show off your new language skills somewhere in the world!

As a fun and easy way to learn a new language, we like to use Babbel. Personally, we’ve improved our Spanish greatly by practicing with Babbel. And right now they’re offering 25%-off an annual subscription.

7) Explore Locally in Isolation: Go for a Scenic Drive

For those who are getting cabin fever under self-isolation, consider hitting the road to gratify your travel itch locally. It’s possible to remain self-isolated in your car. So why not go take a nice drive?

Check local advisories first. If your area is not under a lockdown or a strict stay at home order, a scenic drive may be a way to get out from the isolation of your home while still isolating yourself inside your car. Stay in your car and hit the road! Pack a lunch or consider supporting local restaurants to grab some take-out while you’re out.

Research interesting backroads in your area. Drive somewhere you’ve never been. Avoid highways, just for fun. Literally take the road less traveled. There may be endless interesting driving options hiding in plain sight all around you.

Travelers like to explore. And it’s still possible to do so locally while remaining isolated in your vehicle. Drive to a scenic mountain, beach, desert, or lake. Sometimes natural beauty can be viewed right behind the wheel, as we recently experienced on a scenic drive through the Everglades.

As conditions ease, those who feel comfortable may even want to consider a road trip. Just be safe about it! You can read our 35 Travel Tips for a Safer Road Trip during the Pandemic.

8) Plan Your Next Trip Now

Did you narrow down your dream travel list, as suggested in our #1 of this list of travel-related things to do from home? Do you have a travel vision board? Okay, good. Now let’s plan!

It may not be physically possible to travel right now. But we can all still dream about and research destinations on your to-do list and travel vision boards. Plan a trip now while you have some extra time at home to do so!

Don’t worry if you’re not ready to book that flight today. Simply start doing the research phase of trip planning. Put together a loose itinerary or find a tour if you prefer.

If you’re both planner at heart and a travel fanatic, then you know the process of formulating and organizing a trip can be so extremely gratifying!

Personally, for me, planning a theoretical trip is so much fun. It’s an enjoyable outlet to get in the dream stage, pouring over guidebooks, blogs, and travel articles to research a destination. It’s enlightening to dive deep, learning all about the best places to go, things to do, and what to eat.

Get some of that excitement by planning a trip during this down time, even if you may not be able to take that trip anytime soon. Do loads of research and make notes. Then act on it whenever you’re ready. Or keep your plans on hand for a later time when you may be able to take a trip but no time to plan.

Heck, I once even planned an entire monthlong trip to Sumatra that we never took. Time constraints forced us to put that particular journey on the back burner. But it was still a fun exercise to go through. And we now have an entire itinerary ready to go for whenever we are able to dip into the Indonesian jungle.

Meanwhile, tourism sectors around the world will be struggling for months to come. They are going to need our collective support.

Don’t cancel your travel plans. Postpone them.

And with extra time at home, you can use it to plan a trip now.

So get planning! And please be sure to use travel blogs while you’re at it!

There are some great informational travel blogs out there. Please use them.

As a side note, many of us bloggers make a living by producing those free travel guides (with advertisements throughout). As you can imagine, people are not visiting travel blogs at the moment and hence not viewing those ads we make a living off of. Search traffic is tanking 90%+ and some advertisers are even canceling on us. As a result, all of us solopreneur bloggers in this position are taking a very hard hit with a sudden stop of income.

So plan a trip. Do lots of Googling and click travel blogs as your resource. In doing so, you’ll inadvertently help us all just a little to get through this rough time.

9) Create a Photo Book from Your Last Trip

This is such a fun idea to do while self-isolating! We all have so many digital photos saved to our phones, posted on social media, or floating around somewhere in the cloud. But whatever happened to having hard-copy photo albums?

We absolutely love these hardcover books that you can make with your own travel photos!

We’ve made many ourselves over the years. For special segments of our travels around the world, we’ve created these hardbound books as a memento of the trip. It makes a fun gift idea for friends or family who have joined you on a trip. That’s what we usually do when making these hardcover photo books. They turn out so nice and professional!

It’s a super easy process to make them. But they do take a little bit of time to put together. Fortunately now, you may have time to organize your photos to create a physical album from your last trip! They make great coffee table books and conversation-starters when having guests over.

We create these photo books on Snapfish. For the month of March, you can use coupon code FRESHBOOKS to get a 8×10 hardcover book for only $9.99. (Reg. $39.99. Save $30. That’s 75% off!)

Better yet, snag the coupon code 70MH50 to get the (larger) 11 x 14 hardcover book for $69.99 now $21! That’s a $48.99 coupon!

We love the photo books. But you can also create all sorts of other things from your travel photos. Make canvas prints to decorate your home from a favorite trip. Check out all of Snapfish’s current coupons, deals, and promos.

10) Do Spring Cleaning with Your Travel Gear

When was the last time you went through all your travel gear? Now is a perfect time to assess what you have. Then donate and/or purge.

Channel your inner Marie Kondo. Do you really need the 10+ suitcases taking up space in your closet? Do they spark joy? If not, get rid of them!

Do you have kids who have outgrown their travel gear? Toss it! (Or ship it to your favorite expecting travel bloggers, hehe.)

If you have camping gear, is it still in good condition? Consider breaking it out right now to repair it. Waterproof the tent that was leaking on your last camping trip.

For those of us whose paychecks or income is taking a major hit right now, consider selling any high-ticket items that could bring you a few bucks during these tough times.

Maybe you bought a fancy camera for a trip that you never use. List it on eBay! Ask yourself how frequently do you actually use that drone you bought. If you’re not using it, it may be time to sell it!

Consider parting with old tech gear too. Maybe that GoPro you bought in 2012 seemed like the coolest travel gear purchase ever. But it’s likely obsolete by now. Technology has come a long way to offer far better offerings at cheaper prices.

Do you need new travel gear? Check out our entire Packing List of Travel Gear we’ve been roaming around the world with during the past six years!

11) Go on a Secluded Stroll & Get Outside

Travelers are accustomed to movement; not this current state of being confined.

But is it possible to go outside while practicing social distancing? Let’s turn to the experts to answer that. Here’s what a neurohospitalist and professor of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology had to say about that in a UCHealth.org article:

“If you stay about 6 feet away from people, then it’s fine to go for a walk or hike or play on the lawn.”

So are you getting restless yet? Get outside! Just continue to practice social distancing while enjoying the outdoors.

Check local advisories, take your own health into consideration, and follow social distancing advice from medical experts. If all is good, consider taking a secluded stroll to re-discover your neighborhood or an adjacent neighborhood that’s not busy with people. Or take things one step further (pun intended) by driving to a rural park for an isolated amble or hike.

For those of you reading this from the US, know that most trails and outdoor spaces in US National Parks have remained open.

There have been news reports of crowding at popular national parks. Many of the most visited parks have made the decision to close due to park-goers ignoring social distancing. National Park closures and openings may continue to change during the pandemic. So check the official NPS Health Update page for closures & up-to-date info, consider a lesser-visited park, and keep your space.

For National Parks that remain open, expect the possibility of facilities such as visitor centers to be closed and ranger programs to be canceled.

Consider some of the lesser-visited local parks in your area. If walking around a local park, the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) recommends these guidelines:

• “Do not use parks and trails if you are exhibiting symptoms.
• Follow the CDC’s guidelines on personal hygiene prior to visiting parks or trails.
• Be prepared for limited access to public restrooms or water fountains.
• Share the trail and warn other trail users of your presence and as you pass.
• Observe CDC’s minimum recommended social distancing of 6′ from other persons at all times.”

So follow those guidelines and we’d further add to consider exploring less popular trails to best be able to maintain distance from other potential walkers or hikers.

Most importantly, take some time out to get some fresh air, physical exercise, and mental clarity. Get outside and stretch your legs, all while maintaining distance. Do so even if it’s simply stepping outside in your backyard or walking down a quiet street.

12) Take a Travel Photography Course

Photography and travel go hand-in-hand. But so many of us are taking subpar photos and may not know how to use our camera’s full potential.

Perhaps most of all, you may not have the knowledge of how a quick 5-second edit can turn a mediocre travel memory into a NatGeo-quality photograph that’ll get all the likes on Instagram.

Use that extra time at home to take a photography course! While we’re all self-isolating, this is a great time for self-improvement. So let’s all step-up our photography game!

You can even practice your newfound photography skills by practicing taking photos around the house.

Where can you learn photography at home? Right now, the popular online learning site – Skillshare – is offering free 2-month trial for all their courses, which includes dozens related to photography. This is the perfect time to cash-in on that offer (then cancel before the two months is up). Or keep the membership – there are so many great courses!

Skillshare teaches other courses that may be useful to travelers, from minimalism to mindfulness to money management and travel journaling. Browse Skillshare to see what may be of interest to you. And they’re all free with the two-month trial membership!

Back to photography, search for these courses that may be useful:

• Travel Photography, by Dan Rubin
• Fundamentals of DSLR Photography, by Justin Bridges
• iPhone Photography: How to Take Pro Photos, by Dale McManus
• How to Make Exciting Travel Videos for Beginners, by Randy Alan

Search Skillshare now and redeem your 2-month trail.

13) Create or Update Your Travel Map & Stats

If you’re an avid traveler, it can be fun to visualize the countries you’ve visited and get the stats behind them. The website we like to use to track this is mtp.travel and it’s totally free!

Once you take the time to input the places you’ve been to, it’ll create maps for you and generate many travel stats that you can then compare with others. Here’s our map of countries visited!

It does take some time to input all the info. But that info saves for you to update later, after subsequent travel.

And once the info is in there, you can easily create different map views.

For example, personally I think the map view below is a much more accurate reflection of our travel, as it fills in specific regions, rather than filling in the entire country. (Just because we spent a few days in St Petersburg, shouldn’t justify coloring in all of Russia green.) But I digress.

What’s really fun for any other traveling data junkies out there, is all the stats they give you from the info you’ve input.

For example, go to ‘Rankings,’ then ‘Slice & Dice.’ There, you can compare yourself with other registered travels and compare the rankings of countries and regions visited.

MTP stands for Most Travel People, after all. And we’ve found that most of the very well-traveled people in the world are registered on this site. So it can be fun to compare yourself to see where you rank and give something to boast about. For example, we just found out that Heather is the third most traveled American female in her age group, registered on the site. Pretty cool!

The MTP website also produces scorecards for users that reveal their most difficult locations they’ve traveled in comparison to the lack of users haven’t visited. For us, the least common country we’ve visited is Malawi and the least common places include Dry Tortugas (USA), Colima (MX), and Entre Rios (Ar).

Conversely, it reveals the most popular destinations you’ve not yet traveled to. For us, that’s Denmark. And the most common regions we’ve yet to travel to include Berlin, and Veneto (Venice). It’s kinda crazy we still haven’t made it there!

It’s all pretty interesting to see about your own travels and a fun thing to do at home while we’re currently stationary. So register, input your data, and have fun viewing your own map and stats. Visit mtp.travel.

14) Take a Virtual Tour of a Landmark or Museum with Street View

Google has a very interesting and little-known function that’s part of its Street View project. You can virtually tour many landmarks and museums all around the world!

Start browsing the all famous sites and landmarks here.

Here are some fun sites we just virtual toured around:

• Great Pyramids of Giza – There’s lots of virtual exploring to do around Egypt’s world wonder.
• Palace of Versailles – Virtual stroll through the ornate halls of this historic and royal French palace.
• Sydney Opera House – Movement is restricted here, but it’s a beautiful 360-view of the harbour and Sydney’s famed landmark.
• Taj Majal – Soak in the views from atop India’s famed mausoleum.
• Hollywood Boulevard – Start off at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and walk down LA’s famous star-lined blvd.
• Machu Picchu – You don’t have to hike the Inca Jungle Trek to virtually tour Peru’s famous ruins.
• Stonehenge – Have an up-close view around England’s mysterious stone structures.
• Tikal – Virtually climb all around what’s been our favorite Mayan site we’ve ever visited in person.
• International Space Station – Wow, how cool is that?

Take a virtual tour through those famed sights and so many more!

15) Uncover a Travel Deal for the Future!

Because traveling has taken such a harsh hit, there are some super cheap flights on sale right now alongside other intriguing deals. It’s an attempt by airlines and travel companies to get people to book. But should you book a cheap flight right now?

The main sentiment coming from the travel industry is to postpone travel, don’t cancel. To quote the World Tourism Organization, they suggest “Stay home – but travel tomorrow!” (Full statement here.)

It’s in an effort to stop the spread now so we can all get back to traveling again. Not literally tomorrow, but eventually. So this means don’t book a cheap flight to fly somewhere next week. However, it could prove smart to secure a super low fare now for later in the year.

That said, it is getting increasingly tricky to plan international travel for the future, not knowing how long travel restrictions and advisories may be in place.

Search for Cheap Flight Deals for Travel Later this Year

So is it worthwhile to score a cheap flight deal now? It may be a bit of a gamble, given the uncertainty of everything going on. But it’s a gamble that could pay-off.

It would be irresponsible and go against government advisories to book a last-minute deal for discretionary travel in the very near future. We must all consider the health risks involved as we try to collectively attempt to flatten the curve during this uncertain situation.

Instead, consider booking that cheap flight for later. Airfares for a trip next week may be amazingly low, but fares are only negligibly higher later in the summer and fall months, when it could potentially be okay to travel again. Hence, it may prove worthwhile to lock in these super low fares now.

By sleuthing for low fares from our local airport (FLL) during that time frame, we sniffed out a $21 flight to Chicago, a $49 flight to Denver, and a $50 flight to LA.

Right now, buying flights may be the last thing on everyones mind. Yet those who are proactive can score these cheap fares while they last, in hopes on taking a trip later this year.

Of course, no one knows exactly when this may all blow over. So before you buy, just be sure you understand the refund and cancelation policies. These policies continue to change too. So it’s best to check directly with each airline before booking any flights.

It’s a natural instinct not to purchase flights now while we all take a wait-and-see approach to travel. And it could be wise to wait amidst concerns. But realize that once there is more certainty and travel restrictions begin to ease, airfare prices will rise.

Now is not the time for international travel. But it prove to be a smart move to book, particularly so for those budget-minded travelers out there. At the very least, travel deal-seeking during this time of self-isolation may be a fun way for thrifty travelers to keep busy dreaming about travel again. It certainly doesn’t hurt anything to window shop and see what flight deals are out there.

So where can you find these super low flight deals? Our go-to for sniffing out these low fares is doing open-end searches on Google Flights and Skyscanner. Using Skyscanner, enter your home airport in the ‘From’ field, “Everywhere” in the ‘To’ field, and be flexible by selecting an entire month for the date. Search here.

Find an Inexpensive Cruise Deal Now for Later Sailings

The deals aren’t just for flights though. The hard-hit cruise industry may have some of the most amazing deals awaiting travelers once cruising resumes again.

Don’t only look for last-minute cruise deals! As you may know, most cruises around the world are currently not sailing. The CDC currently recommends against cruise travel and there is a pause in cruising, with most lines extending it well into the year.

Cruising in 2020 may prove impossible. But you can still book a deal for the future!

Of course, the future is uncertain on when cruising will resume. So what happens if you book a cruise and it cancels on you? In previous cancelations most cruise lines have offered a choice of a full refund or a generous future cruise credit (fcc).

For example, lines such as Norwegian and Celebrity offered either a full refund or a future cruise credit of 125% during the already announced cancelations. (This Today.com article has a good round-up of cruise cancelations, refunds, and fcc offers.) So those who book a cruise in the next few months and get canceled upon, you may be able to extend your cruise budget and extra 25% for a later cruise, assuming the suspension is extended and the fcc offers continue.

Or for ambitious travelers looking to score an incredible bargain on a lengthy oceanic sailing, check out these repositioning cruise deals for 2021!

16) Keep Abreast of How Travel is Changing Around the World

Things are changing so quickly, and the news is coming in fast. Much of the mass media we’ve been watching has been glossing over some big travel stories that are not only affecting the travel industry, but also travelers.

For that, we turn to Skift. Since its 2012 inception, Skift aims to be the home page of the global travel industry. And they’ve been doing a great job covering up-to-date travel news during this time of so much changes.

While much of this coverage is geared towards people working within the travel industry, the travel news they’re reporting on should certainly be of interest to all travelers. So whether you’re in the industry or simply a travel-lover who wants to be in-the-know, we’ve found Skift to be a good and reliable source of travel news amidst the travel shutdowns and changes.

We’ve been regularly checking this Skift Liveblog that’s tracking all the latest breaking travel news happening since our world began to change.

Also be sure to monitor these reliable and official sources for travel advise during these times:

• World Health Organization: Travel Advice
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Travel Page

More positive things you can do from home while travel is restricted

We hope this post has given a few fun ideas of things travelers can do to keep busy while self-isolating.

Do you have any other ideas? Please let us know in the comments. If this article gains traction, we may continue to expand and update it with reader suggestions! After all, we’re in this #AloneTogether.

And once we’re on the other side of these travel restrictions and quarantines, we look forward to seeing you back out there roaming around the world!

Until then, here are just a few more positive things we can do while we’re stuck inside:

🧼 Wash those hands! This likely doesn’t need to be repeated, but let’s all continue to practice good hygiene!

💁🏽 Reach out to friends and neighbors to offer any help. They may need it or just someone to chat with.

😤 Pause and take a deep breath. It works.

🎨 Create something to make someone smile. Create art, make a video, do a dance, whatever.

👍 Share this post! Maybe your friends & family would like to read it. Plus, doing so helps us. We thank you for that!

⚕️ Most of all, stay healthy travel lovers! Let’s get back out roaming whenever the world is ready!