7 Ways to Satisfy Your Wanderlust (Without Traveling)

If you find yourself searching for the cheapest plane tickets to go abroad on a Friday night, you may be experiencing the anxious feeling of wanderlust. It’s a feeling that is hard to shake, especially if it has been a while since you have traveled.

We all know how expensive and time-consuming traveling can be, so here are some ways that you can satisfy your wanderlust without spending much money or leave your hometown. Hopefully, you can keep it under control until you have the change to board that plane and take your dream trip.

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Browse Online

This can go one of two ways; you satisfy your wanderlust or you just agitate it more. Browse the web for pictures of foreign places that are on your travel list. Live vicariously through other people’s travels by reading through travel blogs and scrolling through Instagram hashtags.

Not only can this satisfy your wanderlust, but it can also give you some ideas and tips when you plan your next adventure abroad.

Read Through Old Travel Journals

Hopefully, you were able to keep a written account of your previous travels. Whether it was through a blog, in a private journal, or photos on your phone, take some time to flip through your memories. Relive those amazing moments that made you fall in love with traveling.

It’s always fun reading through past journals because you may come across a something you forgot about! If you traveled with friends, get together for coffee or drinks and relive your favorite moments and least favorite moments of traveling. Laughing and talking about your travels will make you feel like you just came back home!

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Learn a New Language

Prepare yourself for your next trip abroad by learning a new language. It’s always helpful to know a second language, so even if you don’t plan on going somewhere for a while, it can help you out at home too. Look for some online classes or classes in your hometown.

If there are international students at your school, ask one of them to tutor you and help you learn their native language and maybe you can help them learn English.

Host Travelers

Do you have an extra room or couch in your apartment that you can rent out to travelers? This is definitely one way to satisfy your wanderlust without leaving home. The best part of traveling is meeting new and different people from all around the world. Now you can meet these people from the comfort of your own home while making some money along the way.

Sign up for CouchSurf or AirBnB and open your home to travelers from near and far. Hearing about their travels and cultures will satisfy your wanderlust long enough until you get the chance to go on your own.

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Watch a Movie or Read a Book About Traveling

It’s time to go to your local library and browse through the travel section. Find some memoirs about traveling abroad or travel guides to flip through. Just like reading through travel blogs, you can live vicariously through another traveler who had the money to do what you want to do.

Stream a movie on Netflix about someone traveling the world. It’ll most likely be a coming of age story, but doesn’t that just make it even better? Not a fan of the travel genre? Don’t fret! Put on a foreign movie or a movie that takes place in a different country to satisfy your wanderlust.

Explore a New Neighborhood

No matter how long you have lived in your current city, there is always a neighborhood you haven’t yet explored. Grab a friend and take a day to explore a new neighborhood or section of your city. Be a tourist in your hometown and take some walking tours. Try a new restaurant or coffee shop that you’ve been meaning to go to.

Sometimes all you need to satisfy your wanderlust is to have some new experiences and see different sites.

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Start Saving for Your Next Trip

The reason you are probably reading this article is that you lack the funds to buy your next plane ticket to your next adventure. So, while you are sitting at home dreaming of new travels, why don’t you figure out a plan to try to save up some money?

Look through your current income and try to budget out your next trip. What costs can you cut? Maybe instead of buying that Starbucks coffee every morning before class, you bring some coffee from home and put that $4 aside into a travel fund?

Look for some online jobs you can do to make some extra money to put aside too. It’ll feel great when you finally saved up enough money to take your next trip and satisfy your wanderlust, at least for a little while.