16 Fun Ideas for Travelers to Do from Home when You Can’t Travel

Once upon a time, back in 2020, travel became an impossibility across the globe.

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.

So for whatever reason you can’t travel, whether you’re sick or stuck in some homebound situation, this post still holds up to give you plenty of ideas for travel lovers to do from home when you can’t travel.

So here are 16 fun homebound activities to spur travel inspiration and keep spirits up, if ever in a situation when you can’t travel.

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

Wonder what’s going on at some of the world’s most popular tourism attractions. Even if you can’t be there in person, you can still take a live look at what’s going on.

Live webcams are capturing all the action, allowing viewers from all around the world to gain a glimpse at these attractions in real-time.

Wonder what’s going on at the Coliseum right now? Then take a peek into Rome with the Coliseum live cam.

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.

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?

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 by just 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 corkboard or paste them onto 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, send us a picture by posting it to our Facebook or email us. It would make us 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.

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

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 – This docuseries chronicles 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

Do you have friends or family who are traveling? Do a video chat with them to virtually join them!

Yet if you have no friends and family currently on the road, consider giving an old friend or relative a call to talk about travel.

Ask them about their favorite trip to give you some travel inspiration. People who love to travel also love to talk about travel. And if you’re anything like me, you also love hearing about others’ travel tales. So strike up a conversation!

Perhaps travel runs in your family. This can be a great way to connect and bond! Instead of chatting about something mundane, talk about travel!

Who knows where the conversation may lead? You may just start planning your next trip with friends

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!

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?

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

If you live in any metropolitan area, perhaps you may be luck enough to have an assortment of international cuisine to try. So get some exotic take-out or delivery! Try something new or revisit the cuisine of one of your favorite travel destinations!

Eat your way around the world, right from home. Have fun with it and make plans to order from a new international restaurant each day, or once per week. Do whatever your time or budget may allow.

Of course, most of us are familiar with international 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 favorite 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 on 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 downtime. 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. If you’re in a situation where you can’t travel, this is a perfect time to become more proficient in a language before you eventually travel there at a later time. Try Babble now!

7) Explore Locally: Go for a Scenic Drive

For those who are getting cabin fever, consider hitting the road to gratify your travel itch locally. If you have the ability to hop in a car, go for a drive to check out somewhere new, even if nearby.

After all, the heart of travel is exploration. So find someplace nearby to explore to satiate the yearning for exploration when you can get afar. Sure, it may not be the same as flying halfway around the world. But scratch that itch however you can!

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.

8) Plan Your Next Trip Now

Did you narrow down your dream travel list, as suggested in #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!

Even if you physically cannot travel right now, you can 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 into 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 downtime, 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 have 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 and using travel blogs helps to support us all.

So plan a trip. Do lots of Googling and click travel blogs as your resource. Thank you!

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.

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? donate it or send it to friends.

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.

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 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 being confined.

So if you’re getting restless at home, get outside! Enjoy the outdoors, however you can, even if it’s simply to spend some time outside in the yard.

If you can get out further, go for a hike at a local park.

Take some time out to get some fresh air, physical exercise, and mental clarity. Get outside and stretch your legs. Do so even if it’s simply stepping outside to walk 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? The popular online learning site – Skillshare – is offering free 2-month trial for all their courses, which includes dozens related to photography. If you’re currently homebound, this can be a 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 travelers 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 the most difficult locations they’ve traveled in comparison to the lack of users who 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 when you can’t travel. 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!

Did you make your travel wish list? Good!
Did you do some travel research to plan a trip? Great!

Now start making this dream a reality!

Search for Cheap Flight Deals for Travel Later this Year

It’s easy to just search for a flight for specific dates. But get creative to try to see where you can save money on your next trip. Take the time to search through different routes and different time periods to see what flight deals you may be able to score.

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. We’ve often found that cruise deals can be even cheaper than flight deals. This holds particularly true with repositioning cruises, which are inexpensive seasonal one-way cruises to get you to your next destination. Learn all about repositioning cruises here: Repositioning Cruises: Everything You Need to Know.

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

If you’re a lover of travel, then you may inevitably appreciate having a greater understanding of the travel new and trends.

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.

More positive things you can do from home when you can’t travel

We hope this post has given a few fun ideas of things travelers can do to keep busy when you can’t travel.

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!

Most of all, stay happy and healthy travel lovers! Then get back to roaming around the world when you can!