10 Travel-Inspired Activities You Can Enjoy Indoors

There are times when we just can’t travel. Maybe, we’re still working and saving up enough funds for our next getaway. Maybe, the weather isn’t really great, so it’s really better to just stay at home. Or maybe, the entire world is on lockdown because of a global pandemic, flights have been canceled, public transportation is halted, and everyone is required to go on a mandatory quarantine in the confines of their homes. It happens.

It’s Week 2 of the “enhanced community quarantine” brought about by COVID-19 in Luzon right now. The threat is very real and traveling for leisure should be the furthest thing in our minds right now. We all need to stay at home as much as possible to prevent the virus from spreading.

But aside from the danger of catching this nasty virus, the majority of the population are showing symptoms of cabin fever. With summer season and Holy Week coming up, it seems so tempting not to take advantage of the amazing weather and traffic-free streets.

Even if you could go out, where would you go? Most establishments are closed, there are checkpoints along main roads, moving around has been limited within barangays and curfew hours from 5 am to 8 pm are in effect. Going out of the house is only allowed if you’re buying food, medicine or emergencies.

Here are a few activities that will keep that sense of travel and wanderlust alive in not-so-ideal times.

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Indoor camping

Missing the feeling of sleeping in a tent? Or maybe you have school-aged kids looking for a fun activity to do at home. Why not camp indoors instead? If you have a garden or a balcony, you can set up (or make a DIY tent) for a picnic or really sleep outside overnight. Childhood friends and I used to do this during the summer months in the province.

If you’re really bored, you could just practice your tent pitching skills and camp in your living room just for a change. Sleeping on the floor might be good for your back. Or how about trying to build a box or pillow fort for kids or pets. Because everyone loves tents. Especially cats.

Chill out in a hammock

Just hanging in a hammock brings images of beaches and mountains to mind. Thankfully our condo has a roof deck where we can still get some fresh air and a change of scenery from our unit. With barely any traffic on the streets, the view is almost as peaceful as being on the beach. Breathe in the fresh air, listen to the sound of birds singing, and enjoy the breeze right in the city.

Read travel books

I’ve been spending the past week reading a lot. I still have lots of books that I’ve been planning to read but never got around to and now’s the best time to do it. You know how some books are so good that you really feel like you’re going on the adventure yourself. For those who don’t have access to a lot of books at home, you can download a free e-reader on your phone and free e-books. With a collection of more than 45,000 free e-books, Project Gutenberg is my go-to for classics. There’s also Open Library and FeedBooks.

For those who don’t like reading or don’t have books at home, how about listening to audiobooks instead? G et a 30-day free trial with Audible here.

Cook dishes from other countries

I love eating out. But with all the restaurants in the area closed, we’ve been forced to cook. Now is a great time to level up your cooking skills and unleash your inner Iron Chef. Take inspiration from world cuisine by cooking some must-try Thai dishes or Japanese favorites. See if you can recreate iconic dishes from other countries given your limited ingredient supply. Make use of those assorted sauce packets and canned goods in the cupboard before they expire.

Here’s a recipe for Ram-Don (or jjapaguri), the noodle dish that combines Chapagetti + Neoguri noodles (available in Korean convenience stores and some groceries) popularized in the South Korean film Parasite. Why not come up with your own version by mixing up different brands of instant noodles? Missing your Starbucks fix? Whip up your own glass of that trending Dalgona Coffee right at home using ingredients that are already in your kitchen.

Tour museums and art galleries online

Many museums around the world are now offering virtual tours and online exhibits of their galleries minus the long queues and ticket prices. Even before the lockdown, Google Arts and Culture partnered with more than 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to offer virtual tours of their most sought-after collections.

If you’re craving for a dose of art and culture, you can take a tour of places like the Taj Mahal in India, Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or even inside a space shuttle right from your couch. Check out their main page on desktop or install the Google Arts and Culture App to take virtual reality tours right from your phone. The app even lets you find portraits from different museums that look like you (through Art selfie), find artwork with specific color palettes and other cool stuff.

Watch travel shows on Netflix

There’s no excuse to be bored with all the movies, series and documentaries available on Netflix these days. Current favorites include Kingdom, Dragon Prince, and Outlander. Studio Ghibli’s selection also makes me feel like I’m traveling around Japan. I don’t really watch Korean dramas, but I’ve also been swept up by the “Crash Landing on You” craze.

Some shows you can watch that will give you a sense of travel include Street Food, Dark Tourist, Stay Here, and Restaurants on the Edge. I also like watching Our Planet just as a screensaver for the visuals while doing chores like folding clothes. Here’s a good list by The Poor Traveler of 7 Travel Show to binge-watch on Netflix.

Explore virtual worlds through video games

Playing action-adventure and role-playing game (RPG) games can make you feel like you’re actually traveling. Take a breather from current events by staying away from games like The Last of Us, The Walking Dead or Days Gone and choose feel-good games that will take you around fantasy worlds.

Video games like Skyrim, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn or the Final Fantasy series are so engrossing and time-consuming that you won’t mind spending the next two weeks indoors. If you want to just slow down and calm your mind, the video game Flower (where you control the wind blowing flower petals through fields) is a very relaxing and zen experience.

Listen to a road trip playlist

Listening to music is a form of therapy. Music can stimulate parts of the brain and emotions, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and just lift your overall mood. As I write this, I’m listening to “Classic Road Trip Songs” which takes me back to better days. Create your own special playlists for future trips with different themes: songs for the beach, music for hiking, nature-inspired music, and so on.

Edit those travel photos and videos

You’ve probably been meaning to declutter your hard drive but always put it off because it seems like such a waste of time. Well, a lot of us have nothing but time on our hands these days. Now is the time to go back to digital folders of previous travels, delete blurry, redundant and unflattering photos and sort them properly into albums.

Review your video clips and see if anything can be salvaged or if you can just delete the files for the added space. Maybe, you finally have time to edit those travel videos you’ve been meaning to do. By the way, please follow me on YouTube.

Plan your next trip

Everything is still uncertain right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dream about traveling. Write down a list of all the dream destinations you still have and begin researching where to go next from the comfort of your own home. It can be as simple as KMJS Philippines Bucket List Challenge for starters, a goal to hike more mountains near Manila, or finishing a major quest to visit the 81 provinces in the Philippines. Or maybe a simple ride just to catch up with friends or visit family members after this quarantine period is over.