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In order to protect our elderly loved ones and those with compromised immune systems, many are engaging in social separation, taking the opportunity to self-quarantine. Here are 10 ways to “get away” while you’re staying home!
Get away to location of your dream vacation – in your mind
For me, it’s always Italy. I tell my husband if I ever come up missing, to look for me there. Frances Mayes’s Under the Tuscan Sun and her companion cookbook transport me to a place my heart loves desperately. For those longing for Scotland, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander takes readers back in time and into the Highlands for romance, adventure, and intrigue. What ever location is at the top of your bucket list, there’s a book for that!
Update your Bucket List
Speaking of Bucket Lists, polish up your list of where-to-gos and what-to-dos. We may be staying home for now, but this, too, shall pass, and summer isn’t far around the corner! To take it one step further, actually put those bucket list items on your calendar – don’t let your Bucket List just become a graveyard of your dreams – make them happen!
Tour a Museum – from your Sofa!
Many of our best worldwide museums have gone online! From the Uffizi in Florence (one of my personal favorites!) to the Scottish National Gallery in Ediburgh to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, many collections that you may not have even known existed are now available to you from the comfort of your own home. Here’s the big list!
Cook up some Memories
Is there a favorite dish that calls up a special vacation memory? Cook it up! We love Walt Disney World. The Ultimate Disney World Cookbook allows us to try our hands at experimenting with some of the dishes we love, as well as those we haven’t yet tried! (Click on the link for a few sample recipes when you “Look Inside” the cookbook!)
This summer, my youngest son Joseph and I will be heading to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. While we’re self-quarantined during Spring Break, I’m going to make this intricate Hefezopf – a German Braided Bread – and see if it turns out even remotely like the picture! Even if it doesn’t, it’s sure to make some memories (no one turns down homemade bread in this house)!
When my oldest son Jonathan and I took a 2-week driving tour of Italy, we enjoyed staying in agristurismi, some of which had kitchens available for our use. We went to the markets to choose fresh produce and pastas, then returned to our “home away from home” to cook up a meal, Italian style. Today, I love recreating those moments and reliving the memories in my own kitchen.
Design your Next Vacation
For me, the planning and anticipation of a vacation is at least as exciting as the getaway itself! I revel in the weeks and months of details and planning, comparing reviews and prices, examining possible accommodations, deciding between driving ourselves or using transportation. I love writing up itineraries, planning out days, and ensuring we have the ability to maximize our experience, always willing to stray from the plan when opportunity or need arises, of course!
While you’re at home, anticipating the days when you can indulge your travel bug, look up your planned (or hoped-for!) destination and see what pops up! Are you looking for the must-see museums, statues, buildings, and sites? Or are you more of an off-the-beaten-path kind of person? Do you schedule a walking tour when you first arrive in the city, then explore out from there? Or do you wing it and see where the mood takes you?
In my experience (and when I travel with my own children or students), I love researching our destinations ahead of time so that when we do arrive, we know what we’re looking at and perhaps even some of the stories that make our travel unique and interesting!
Immerse Yourself in the Music
When I have a trip coming up (and let’s be honest – I always try to have a trip coming up!), I absolutely love immersing myself in the music, movies and videos that convey that place or culture.
In the case of an overseas trip, doing so can double as language exposure, especially when you look up a video with the lyrics, like Luciano’s “Il Mondo e Nostro” in this version by Jonathan and Charlotte of Britain’s Got Talent fame:
Coming from Kansas City, there’s no shortage of Irish music, and putting together a playlist to get your green blood flowing is easy. Or perhaps you’re more into Scottish bagpipes in preparation for your trip to Scotland.
Personally, I’m looking forward to this summer’s trip back to Disney, and I love immersing myself in the music, videos, and movies that make me feel the magic. It’s easy to go down the YouTube rabbit hole, but honestly, if you’re self-quarantining, I say dive on down!
Keep Calm & Call your Travel Agent!
If you’re all about the experience and not about the planning, that one is easy – call up your friendly Travel Agent and put them on the job! Then you can sit back, listen to all the music and read all the books, with none of the stress of trip planning.
And … one of the many added benefits of using a travel consultant is that if a strange, new virus breaks out across the world and changes your plan, keeping you at home, they’ve got your back!
Kimberly is currently counting down days until her adventures to Germany and Disney this summer.
Where will you go to “get away” this year?
