For the intrepid voyagers, the wanders, those of us who live and breathe for travel the past year or so spent unable to travel has felt devastating. However, rather than just sitting around staring despondently at our phones waiting for case numbers to drop and borders to reopen, it’s up to us to make the most of this time at home.
You could travel where allowed within your borders or you could spend time focusing on hobbies and life admin tasks that you never quite get around to devoting time to. Here are four things for travellers to do while they wait for the borders to reopen.
Learn A Foreign Language
Parlez vous français? hablas español?
Learning a foreign language is something that’s on everyone’s bucket list but, for so many of us it’s something that we just never manage to find time for. Various lockdowns and continuing COVID restrictions have left us all with a lot more time on our hands and so now more than ever there’s no excuse to not throw yourself into learning. With apps such as Duolingo and a wide variety of foreign language podcasts it’s never been easier to learn a foreign language.
Now the only thing to decide is which language you want to learn next! Why not learn the language of the country that’s at the top of your travel bucket list or brush up on whatever language you learnt in high school? Learn enough French to watch your favourite Jean-Luc Godard or Brigitte Bardot film sans sous-titres. Or choose with your stomach and learn enough Italian to impress waiters and order your favourite cuisine in the local language. The possibilities are endless!
Sort Out Your Personal Finances
I know what you’re thinking, ‘I cannot think of anything more tedious than looking into my banking set up.‘ but think of it this way, the more money you save the more money you’ll have for travelling. So, keep that epic post-lockdown holiday at the front of your mind and settle in and get ready to tackle your personal finances. The fact of the matter is that often we haven’t put nearly enough thought into. How many of us actually have a valid reason why we’re with the bank we’re currently with? For most of us – and I’ll admit I’m included here – we make our financial decisions based on entirely arbitrary things like who our parents banked with or which television ad was the most convincing.
Because we’re often failing to interrogate our financial decisions, many people have a credit card that isn’t tailored to their specific needs. Some credit cards are better for business owners, designed for travellers or created for young people. To learn more about which credit card might be best suited for you, head here to read an informative article.
Plan Your Next Holiday Super Thoroughly
Even if you’re usually a fly by the seat of your pants traveller, we promise you that planning your next holiday will satisfy a bit of your wanderlust and whet any travellers appetite (plus, it’s way less annoying than constantly posting travel throwbacks on Instagram…). Research all the great cities you want to visit on your next big trip, find local people to follow and check out where they’re going in their everyday life and then save all the great places in a special Google Maps list. Watching the list of places you’ll be able to discover steadily grow will keep you constantly excited and ready to get back on the road as soon as you’re able to.
Learn To Cook
Are you missing the poutine from the Plateau in Montreal? Craving the pastéis de nata from Manteigaria in Lisbon (100% the best pastéis de nata in Portugal and I’ve tried them all!)? Going to bed each night dreaming (and drooling) about the fresh pizza in Napoli? Pay tribute to all your favourite international dishes by learning to cook like a pro. Depending on where in the world you are you might be just cooking for yourself or your family or perhaps you’re able to have people round for dinner. No matter who you’re cooking for or whether you consider yourself a bit of a foodie or if you’ve always been a pasta and take out sort of chef, this is the perfect time to try out a few new recipes. If you’re lost at where to turn, I can recommend Jamie Oliver’s massive range of recipes for home chefs of all levels.
Alright my fellow travellers, see you out on the road again soon!
