The Armchair Traveller part 2

As the nation’s heroes continue to work tirelessly to keep us safe, cared for and fed we are of course hugely thankful and are doing our bit by staying at home.

For the travellers amongst us it’s a treat to have the time to revisit past holiday memories, draw up a real bucket list and explore destinations we know little about. For a little escapism let’s take some time out from homeschooling, feeding the troops and redesigning the garden to focus on some travel orientated activities to get us excited about future holidays because one thing is sure; the world will reopen and we need to be ready when it does!

Here are a few ideas to explore during lockdown;

Learn a language

Whether you are looking to brush up on your French or Spanish or are looking for a more linguistic challenge such as learning Swahili or Vietnamese, now is the time to spend a few minutes every day honing a new language.  Try a platform like Duolingo for easy, step by step learning.

Organise your holiday snaps

If we’re honest, the majority of us do not arrange our holiday pictures beautifully in frames and albums as soon as we return from holiday. In fact, many holiday pics sit on our phones, cameras or social media accounts seemingly for posterity. Now is the chance to go through all your pictures, whether they be on your phone or camera and store them safely a consider storing more than one copy of each picture in several different areas for increased security. A Spend time perusing your snaps, perhaps select a few to send to family members, frame some for the mantlepiece or wall and be reminded of past happy holidays.

Destination research

This is something we have time to do and loads of independent resources are available to aid our research. A  Whether it be watching a travel documentary (see previous Armchair Traveller blog), heading to individual tourist board websites or chatting to your travel agent there is a wealth of enjoyable media out there to help you decide where you may like to go next, which destinations make your bucket list and why.

Take an online photography course

Ensure the next holiday pictures you take will be family treasures, perfectly capturing the essence of the subject by taking an online photography course. There are several options available whether you are looking for a simple solution to taking better pictures on a smartphone or are looking to take gallery worthy pics on a DSLR camera.  Low cost courses with an online platform such as Udemy are worth a look or maybe try an all singing, all dancing professional course with a pro such as Annie Leibovitz.

Do an online fitness course

Whether you are looking for full on HIIT to tone that beach body or a yoga class to encourage more confidence when taking part in the yoga class at your next holiday destination, sign up to one of the many fitness courses that are available for free on YouTube. Try Joe Wicks, Annie Deadman Training or Cola Chance Yoga.

Cook a favourite dish from overseas

So often we return home from holiday, keen to recreate a delicious dish we have enjoyed however life takes over, we lose the recipe or we simply run out of inclination. Draw up a memory of those dishes you have really enjoyed, that you want to become nestled amongst your family staples and have a go. Several of our favourite hotels such as the gorgeous Jamaica Inn, are also offering quick, fun cookery videos online head over to their Facebook page to watch Chef recreate some of their amazing dishes such as ackee and saltfish.

Become a blogger

Finally, relive your past travels by becoming a blogger. Whether writing simply aids your memories of past happy family holidays, provides an account to share with friends and family or encourages you to start a blog to share online, writing about your travels is an enjoyable and thought-provoking exercise that you now have the time to enjoy.

We hope we have shared some ideas that may be of interest and some activities to consider during lockdown – we would love to hear how you get on! In the meantime, stay home, stay safe and do call us if you want to chat through your future holiday plans.