10 Ways to Travel When You Can’t Travel

The other day I was writing a blog post about travelling with a chronic illness, disorder or disability and it got me thinking about people who can’t travel, at all. Since I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, I’ve started following quite a few content creators who post about chronic illness or disability and realised that there are many people who literally can’t travel or even leave their house because of the severity of their symptoms. Even if it’s temporary, the reality is that sometimes we can’t travel, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to scratch that travel itch! In this guide, I’ve put together 10 ways to ‘travel’ when you can’t actually travel, some of which are more serious than others, but I hope they will help you find travel inspiration even when you can’t go anywhere.

1. Online Tours and Maps

When the whole world shut down during the pandemic, many travel bloggers started sharing websites for online tours of attractions, museums, etc., which you can easily find through a quick online search today. Even though the world opened back up to travel, it’s still quite a fun way to see places around the world by looking online at virtual tours on museum websites or even just checking out street view on Google Maps (like in the screenshot above).

Other fun ways to see destinations around the world from the comfort of your own home include, this website where you can virtually visit Stonehenge, or this one where you can see panoramic views of the Taj Mahal, or this site that features National Parks in the USA along with virtual tours of the homes of former presidents and other famous people.

This website also has fun activities and games, or video footage walking down streets around the world so you can experience what it would be like to actually be there.

2. Virtual Reality Travel

Of course, if you want to take virtual travel one step further, you can also use virtual reality headsets to more fully feel immersed in a place. These amazing devices are worn on the head, but they work so that any way you look, even turning completely around, you see a site from all sides so that it feels like you are actually there. Virtual reality headsets can be fairly expensive, but if you’ve got the cash then you could use them for travel as well as fun games.

For example, Google Earth VR is optimised to work with VR headsets so you can see places as though you’re actually there, while National Geographic VR can be used for interactive experiences if you have a Meta Quest VR headset. There are even YouTube channels that are optimised for VR so that you can watch through your headset and feel like you’re actually there.

3. Travel Blogs and Magazines

Another way to travel vicariously is by reading travel blogs (like this one!) or travel magazines. I used to love buying the Lonely Planet magazine when I lived in London, and saving all the articles about places I wanted to go and of course, there are many many wonderful travel blogs out there to check out besides just mine.

I can definitely recommend my friend Christina’s blog Happy to Wander, she has so many really helpful and inspirational guides on travelling Europe (and other parts of the world) and she’s also quite funny! Or if you’re looking for travel from an LGBTQ+ lens, then my friends Stefan and Sebastien have a fantastic gay travel blog called Nomadic Boys that I often enjoy reading even though I’m not gay.

4. Books

Aside from reading travel blogs, reading books set in other destinations is another excellent way to experience life there from the comfort of your own home. I have previously written a guide on my personal favourite books that inspire wanderlust, but if you’re interested in stories from specific places a quick Google search will find lots of lists curated by other readers.

And it doesn’t just have to be novels either, one of my favourite books I ever received as a gift was The Travel Book, a massive coffee table book by Lonely Planet featuring information and stunning photos on every country in the world. If you can’t actually travel you can always at least visit your nearest bookshop or library and find some great reads to take you around the world.

5. TV and Movies

And of course, there are all kinds of wonderful television shows, movies, documentaries or even YouTube channels where you can see other places around the world. I’ve previously written about my favourite movies and TV shows set in London as well as the best Australian movies you should see before visiting the country, but you should be able to find whatever suits your tastes on different channels or services.

YouTube is also great for finding free travel content, whether in the form of documentary series or just travel vloggers who share their adventures online. I particularly like following the channel of 1 Bike 1 World, a Scottish guy who mostly rides a bike around Europe with his cat (!) and this Reddit thread also has loads of recommendations.

6. Video Games

Another way to travel virtually that you might not have though of is through video games. I found some games to be a mental lifesaver during the pandemic and I even wrote a whole guide (with the help of other travel bloggers) about the best video games that let you explore the world.

7. Food and Music

If you want to feel like you’re travelling when you’re at home, then trying out different cuisines and maybe even music is a fun way to bring the destination to you! There are lots of websites or YouTube channels out there which will teach you how to make dishes from all around the world and if you also did some research into local music you could have a whole evening dedicated to a different destination, maybe once a week or once a month? For the ultimate evening you could even watch a movie set in the destination you’re focusing on after your meal!

8. Travel at Home

Remember that your home is also a destination! Lots of people seem to think that you have to go far away to travel, but travel is really anything where you go somewhere to explore – that could include exploring a new neighbourhood (to you) in your own city, visiting a museum or a restaurant. Staycations are a fun way to get that holiday feeling without travelling far and even if you can’t go abroad, there are sure to be nice places in your home country or region that you haven’t discovered yet.

9. Get a Pen Pal

A more unique way to get a taste of the world is to maybe go the old school route of finding a pen pal from another country. I remember doing this as a kid with someone from Japan, and it was very fun receiving letters from her about her life in Japan, along with photos and sometimes postcards, as well as foreign stamps. In this day and age we often forget about the joy of receiving snail mail, but if you sign up for something like this you will at least get a glimpse of life in other parts of the world – and maybe one day you’ll even be able to visit your pen pal! A quick Google search for ‘find a snail mail pen pal’ came up with quite a few choices, so you might like to check it out too.

10. Photoshop

Okay, this one is kind of a joke, but if you can’t go to the places you really want to visit, you could learn how to use Photoshop and insert yourself into photos of them instead! I deliberately made a very bad example for the picture above, but you could learn the skills of Photoshop to do a much better/more real-looking job and have a lot of fun doing it. You could even make yourself a little gallery of photos ‘of you’ on your virtual travels around the world.

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Can you think of other ways to ‘travel’ when you can’t actually travel? Let me know in the comments or pin one of these to save some ideas for later!