I am a third culture kid who just loves moving and traveling to new countries and cultures. With raising our expat family abroad, it does not allow me to just jet off every time wanderlust strikes hard. However there are many ways I help feed that wanderlust before we book our next trip. For me the exploration, dreaming, and planning before you pack your bags can be just as satisfying. With raising a family I love to have our life focused around travel and cultures around the world even when we are at home. Travel is life!
Here are my top five tips for feeding your wanderlust before travel:
1. Escape reality and dive into a great book! There are so many great travel journals and memoirs to discover at your local library or that you can download on your phone/tablet/kindle. It is a great way to reminisce from places you have traveled to in your past and get an personal look into places to which you want to travel. I love to recommend the book I read before my trip to Australia, Bill Bryson’s A Sunburnt Country. I also love reading novels that take place in other areas of the world. My favourite book by Earnest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, always transports me right to Paris.
2. Plan Dream Trips. Whether you go through travel books you can hold in your hand or look for information online, it can be so much fun to plan out a dream trip. Spin a globe, and see where your finger lands. Then look at how you would get there, where you would stay, places you would like to visit. This is a great time to research other travel blogs that have shared their experiences from their time in those destinations. It takes a step up from just enjoying your love of reading about travel stories, to creating one you could possible create in the future!
3. Create a Vision board for Travel. They say vision boards are amazing for getting what you want out of life. So why not get on Pinterest and create your very own travel board. Pin locations you would like to visit, landmarks you would like to see, and travel tips other pinners have shared.
4. Watch Travel Shows. There are so many good ones out there and everyone has their favourites. I am certain that next week there will be another one I will just find out about that will not get mentioned in this blog post. My family loves to watch these over dinner and my sons get so excited about trying the food in all the different destinations. Our favourites that we have been watching recently are Travel with Kids, Two Hairy Bikers in Asia, and Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. I have to mention that An Idiot Abroad has been a favourite when it originally aired. Again there are so many to mention and let me know what your favourites are in the comments.
5. Learn a Language. What better way to fuel your wanderlust than to learn a new language, or work on a current one, for a place you can travel to in the near future! The boys and I are trying to catch up with my husband who already knows Mandarin. Our daily lessons really transport me from expat life in England to dreams of moving again abroad.
Q: Do you currently do any of these now?
I would love to hear your feedback and favourite tips as well!
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Every week with my travel co hosts, Tina and Melanie, we pick out different posts that spoke to us from the previous link up. We really encourage you all to hop around and visit other people who link up with us and hope that these weekly features motivate that spirit! This week I wanted to share a blogger who has visited the city I am currently living in, Bath! Brittany Ruth from the Rococo Roamer visited the Roman Baths here and posted about it last week. Check it out and then see who Tina and Melanie chose from last week.
Plus share your travel stories and wanderlust addictions with us all in the link up below!
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS: