Curing Cabin Fever: How to Spice Up Your Life Between Trips
It’s always about this time of year when I get that familiar itch. I catch myself staring longingly out of windows, digging my toes into the carpet as if it were a sandy beach and hanging up old city maps from past trips on my walls like a scrapbooking lunatic. It can only mean one thing: I’ve got the travel bug again!
While all I want to do is spin the globe, point randomly to a location and book immediately, I know that for one reason or another I can’t always be globetrotting about. So sad!
Luckily, there are some things you can do to beat back those stuck-at-home blues (if only for a little while!). If what I’m feeling sounds familiar to you, try some of these tricks to add a little adventure to your extended stay at the all-inclusive resort called Home.
Party Time
The best way to scare the blues away is to have a party at your house. This doesn’t just give you an excuse to get the place cleaned up and looking great but it also brings some life and laughter into the time of year that can be the most monotonous. Your friends will love you for breaking them out of their routine, too. Make sure you encourage them to follow suit, and before long you’ll be travelling every weekend, even if it’s just to other homes around town!
Join Couchsurfing
Even if you aren’t travelling, you can still be a part of the travel community. Couchsurfing.com is used for more than just finding accommodation. It’s an app and a site for helping fellow travellers by giving local advice and sharing stories. It’s also great for meeting new friends from around the globe.
Mood Food
Are you eating the same boring bagged lunches and TV dinners week in and week out? It’s no wonder you crave a little adventure! Take a few nights a week to cook a new and interesting dish from a destination you’re dying to visit (or return to), or invite friends round for a takeaway from an exotic restaurant. A little sushi, Thai, or Vietnamese might be just what you need to spice up your routine!
Local Legends
Sometimes we become so obsessed with our far-away travels that we forget what we have right around the corner. I’ll bet that there are a number of fantastic museums, pubs, and exhibitions in your nearest city that you’d go to in a heartbeat if they were in a city on the other side of the world. Check your local paper and discover the lay of your homeland!
Sharpen Your Skills
Part of the reason people love travelling is because they get to try a lot of new and exciting things. Who says you can’t have a taste of that on your own turf? Community centres are always offering courses, and if that’s not an option, you can learn just about anything on the internet these days, from learning a language using Duolingo to a musical instrument.
Travel might be your passion in life, but don’t reserve all the fun for those brief pockets of trans-continental bliss. Fill the in-between days with enough excitement and you’ll find your spirit of adventure rewarded without even leaving the local limits.
