armchair travel new england

New England Cozy Mysteries: 7 New England Destinations for Armchair Mystery Lovers

By shari randall.

As they say in the real estate business: location, location, location.

New England is a perfect place to vacation—think of walking on the windswept Cape Cod, dining at a waterfront lobster shack, hiking the Green Mountains of Vermont, or touring a grand Newport mansion. What to do if you can’t get away? You can armchair travel in the pages of one of these mysteries that capture the flavor, charm, and wit of New England.

Murder crashes a wedding in Barb Ross’s Clammed Up , the first in her Maine Clambake series about Julia Snowden and her family business in Busman’s Harbor, Maine.

Linda Reilly introduces us to the bucolic village of Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, in her Cat Lady series, starring Lara Caphart, owner of High Cliff Shelter for Cats, and her Ragdoll cat, Blue. The first in the series is Escape Claws .

Summer heat got you down? Cool off with a visit to Snowflake, Vermont, the ski village setting of Connie Archer’s delightful Soup Shop mystery. The first in the series is A Spoonful of Murder .

Swing inland to Ellington, MA, the historic suburb of Boston where amateur detective Sarah Winston works in Sherry Harris’s Garage Sale Mystery series. “Ellington” is based on the Lexington-Concord area, home of Revolutionary War history and roast beef and pizza joints.

Want some time travel with your mystery? Originally published in the early years of the 20th century, Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s Asey Mayo (the “codfish Sherlock”) series captures not only the natural beauty of Cape Cod but also the flavor of its 1920s-30s time period.

Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport mysteries take us inside the majestic mansions that make Newport, Rhode Island, a mecca for architecture and history buffs. The series stars Emma Cross, second cousin to Cornelius Vanderbilt and aspiring journalist. The first in the series is Murder at the Breakers .

Perennially voted one of the most charming towns in America, Mystic, Connecticut, has it all—and Mystic Bay in my new Lobster Shack Mystery series was inspired by it. When judges at a food festival are poisoned and one dies, it’s up to Allie Larkin and the gang at the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack to clear her beloved aunt of suspicion. The setting is rich in New England history, long-buried secrets, and lobster rolls. The first in the series is Curses, Boiled Again!

What’s your favorite New England mystery? Be sure to share in the comments below!

Check out a wonderful Q&A with author Shari Randall!

Learn More Or Order A Copy

Book Review: A Better World by Sarah Langan

Book review: bless your heart by lindy ryan, book review: you know what you did by k. t. nguyen, book review: while we were burning by sara koffi, shari randall.

You might want to check out Carol J. Perry’s Witch City mystery series. Carol’s a Salem Mass native and the books – eight so far, I think – are textbook perfect cozies starring a TV reporter.

Sounds Perfect “Witch City Mystery Series Author Carol J. Perry 🖤

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10 Favorite New England Travel Accounts to Follow on Instagram

From the wild Maine woods and the dunes of Nantucket to the majestic White Mountains, these 10 colorful Instagram accounts are great places to find New England travel inspiration.

By Yankee Magazine

May 11 2020

new-england-travel-instagram-nantucket-greyladygirl

10 New England Travel Accounts to Follow on Instagram

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.css-nse6wu{background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:50.0% 0;text-align:center;width:100%;} A post shared by Cam Held Photography (@camheldphoto) on Feb 28, 2017 at 2:11pm PST

@camheldphoto

.css-8oif8z{background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:62.4537037037037% 0;text-align:center;width:100%;} A post shared by Grey Lady Girl // Nantucket (@greyladygirl) on Jul 11, 2017 at 9:24am PDT Plan Your Perfect Summer Adventure: Get The Free Ultimate New England Summer Guide! Email (Required)

@greyladygirl

A post shared by Jackie | New England (@jackiegreaney) on Dec 31, 2017 at 4:33am PST

@jackiegreaney

A post shared by james lynch (@jamesplynch) on Mar 18, 2018 at 3:53pm PDT

@jamesplynch

A post shared by Kiel James Patrick (@kjp) on Oct 1, 2017 at 7:52am PDT

A post shared by Huck (@kylefinndempsey) on Nov 12, 2017 at 7:49am PST

@kylefinndempsey

.css-1oo9m3n{background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:33.33333333333333% 0;text-align:center;width:100%;} A post shared by Cait Bourgault (@photocait) on Jan 24, 2018 at 12:30pm PST

A post shared by Deb (@thefrontdoorproject) on Dec 24, 2017 at 7:36pm PST

@thefrontdoorproject

A post shared by Susan Garver (@susangarver) on Aug 8, 2017 at 4:25am PDT .css-zkqr4z{padding-top:15px;}

@susangarver

New england travel inspiration from yankee.

.css-1egitky{background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:43.101851851851855% 0;text-align:center;width:100%;} A post shared by Yankee Magazine (@yankeemagazine) on Jul 4, 2017 at 12:52pm PDT

@yankeemagazine

.css-fkf3le{background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:55.092592592592595% 0;text-align:center;width:100%;} A post shared by Krissy (@cottagefarm) on Nov 18, 2016 at 9:42am PST

@cottagefarm

A post shared by Jim Salge (@jimsalgephoto) on Sep 18, 2017 at 5:29am PDT

@jimsalgephoto

Yankee Magazine

Sidewalk Safari | Part-time Travel Blog

31 ways to be an armchair traveler from the comfort of your own home.

Armchairs at a cafe in Birmingham England

What Does Armchair Travel Mean?

Armchair travel ideas.

Watch a travel-inspired movie

Watch a travel-themed TV show

Tune into wildlife on youtube, live vicariously through rick steves, listen to a travel-themed podcast.

Create and curate a "Top 10 List" from each of your past trips

Create and print a photo book

Make a travel photo mosaic, reminisce with family over travel photos from past trips, put a travel slide show on your tv, create a travel shrine with souvenirs from past trips, reminisce with the help of your social feeds.

Organize your vacation memories
Research a trip, just don't book it
Create a travel gratitude list

Keep a journal

Play a travel-themed board game, go on a virtual tour, work out to a destination-themed exercise video.

Take a photowalk while respecting social distancing
Go balcony birdwatching

Read travel blogs

Read a travel-themed book, write a travel story, break out the snacks you brought home from your last trip, cook a meal from your favorite destination.

Order takeout of different cuisines from around the world
Drink a bottle of wine from your favorite destination or place you were planning to go.

Set-up a call with your travel-minded friends

Organize a travel slideshow virtual viewing party with friends, socialize with like-minded travel-lovers on social media, armchair travel ideas: watch and listen, watch a travel-inspired movie.

National Lampoon's Vacation : Watch the comedic (mis)adventures of the Griswolds and their family truckster as they make their way to Wally World on the ultimate American road trip.
Honeymoon in Vegas : Suspend your sense of disbelief and get a taste of both Las Vegas and Hawaii as Jack Singer loses his fiancee in a hand of poker and chases her to tropical locales to save her from gangster Tommy Corman. Oh, and there are flying Elvises.
Up in the Air : If you are a frequent flyer and miss that gold-plated business/first-class experience, follow George Clooney as he takes to the skies.
Romancing the Stone : "Is this the bus to Cartagena?" Follow romance novelist Joan Wilder on a treasure hunt to save her sister in the jungles of Colombia.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels : Steve Martin and Michael Caine always make me smile in this con artist comedy. Bonus points for the sunny French Riviera setting of Beaumont-sur-Mer.
A Place in the Sun : Watch British couples agonize over where to buy that perfect second home in warm sunny climes. You'll get to see some super-cool real estate as well as some really fun sun holiday destinations across Europe and beyond.
The Amazing Race : Do you have a competitive streak? If so, the Amazing Race is for you. Watch 10 teams of two face their fears and battle it out for a 1 million dollar prize in a race around the world.
The Love Boat : Transport yourself back in time to when cruise ships were full of romance, not harbingers of doom.
Panama Fruit Feeders : Watch an amazing display of colorful exotic birds stop by for a snack in the jungle in Panama.
Namibia Livestream in the Namib Desert : Journey into the African desert and catch a glimpse of the wildlife grabbing a drink at a rare watering hole.
Sloth TV : Get a dose of cuteness with this live feed of baby sloths in Costa Rica .

Armchair Travel Ideas: Reminisce

Create and curate a top 10 list from each of your past trips.

Armchair Travel Ideas: Organize

Plan a trip, but don't book it, create a travel-focused gratitude list, armchair travel ideas: do.

beach workout
sunset workout
virtual scenery
workout scenery
virtual cycling

Take a photowalk

Balcony birdwatching, armchair travel ideas: read and write.

Roaming Required is written by an Australian couple living in London and focuses on great destinations near and far and goes particularly in depth on places in the UK. If you're a history buff, Roaming Required is definitely for you.
Reflections Enroute is written by an American-expat couple living abroad with an adventurous streak. Self-drive in Uganda, anyone?
Wayfaring Views shares a lot of amazing street art and book recommendations; two of my favorite things.
Hokkaido Highway Blues is a travelogue by Will Ferguson covering his quest to follow the Spring cherry blossoms in Japan clear across the country from South to North.
Batavia's Graveyard will take you back to the age of exploration when the Dutch East India Company ship, Batavia, was shipwrecked and the crew marooned on a small island off of Australia. The killing spree that ensued reads like a work of fiction but is even more mesmerizing because this is a work of non-fiction.
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey shares the story of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt's scientific expedition to the darkest corners of Brazil.
First They Killed My Father will put what we are currently going through into proper perspective and make you realize how much worse things could be. First They Killed my Father is a first hand account of life under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Long Walk to Freedom is an inspiring biography about the life of Nelson Mandela and the quest to abolish Apartheid in South Africa.
A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler . This book is truly inspirational. An 18th century blind man didn't let his lack of sight stop him from having some great (and often dangerous adventures).

Armchair Travel Ideas: Eat and Drink

Order takeout of different cuisines around the world, drink a bottle of wine from your favorite destination or place you were planning to go, armchair travel ideas: socialize at home and online, did you enjoy this post on how to be an armchair traveller when you have to stay at home sharing is caring... .

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An Armchair Adventurer Goes to Concord, Mass.

Via sarah payne stuart’s perfectly miserable.

Read up on the places you want to visit. Photo credit: L. Tripoli

If much of the joy of traveling is the anticipation simply about going somewhere, so, too, is reading up on the place to which you are about to go, not just to figure out which sites to visit but to understand what it would actually be like to live there. It is fitting, then, that while in a bookstore in New England, I am drawn to Sarah Payne Stuart’s work, Perfectly Miserable: Guilt, God, and Real Estate in a Small Town , a memoir of her journey back to her home town, one that notably was also home to Little Women author Louisa May Alcott as well as, at various points, Nathaniel Hawthorne , Ralph Waldo Emerson , and Henry David Thoreau , and Alcott’s father , a deep thinker but something of a lapsed businessman.

To the land of martinis and the putting on of appearances we travel in Stuart’s work, as she tries to create for her own children the ideal childhood for which we probably all long. As she, like that other famous Concordian, Louisa May Alcott, also tries to support her family with her writing, the reader learns all about being house rich and cash poor, and lots about what everyone really thought about Bronson Alcott and his wife. It turns out that the characters idealized in Little Women were not quite as perfectly made in real life , and that Louisa’s life was nowhere near as attractive as her character Jo March ’s.

The reader learns a bit about where the Alcotts lived and about various failed experiments of Bronson and about how a ne’er-do-well father can inspire a daughter to become supremely industrious even at the expense of her own health. We learn about swimming in Walden Pond , about dodging volunteer duty at school, about tensions between income-earning moms and those more conventionally called homemakers .

And we are amused by the book even if we are brought down a bit by the Alcotts’ reality but we wonder what drew and kept so many creatives there in Concord , Mass., and now we know we have to go.

—Lori Tripoli

Want to learn more about Puritans, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, martinis, or New England? You might like these pieces:

Midwives of the Revolution
Plantations in Rhode Island?
Are Witch Hunts Good for Tourism?
New Heights at the Yankee Peddler Inn
Traveling with Witches
Bonus History in Witch City

Travel the world... from home!

Where you want when you want

With the choice of travel from your armchair, you can explore the world without leaving the comfort of your own home. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can experience different cultures, landscapes, and environments through virtual tours and travel videos. From the bustling streets of New York to the serene beaches of Lake Como, the world is at your fingertips. You can even visit famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China without ever buying a plane ticket. This option is perfect for those who are unable to travel due to health concerns, financial constraints or simply wanting to see the world from a different perspective. So, sit back, relax and embark on a virtual journey to your dream destination!

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Armchairtravel.net

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Mastering Armchair Travel: 10 Ways to Enjoy Travel from Home

Last Updated: April 1, 2021

*FYI - this post may contain affiliate links, which means we earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from them. Also, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Check out our Privacy Policy and Disclosure. for more info.

In a time when the farthest I travel is literally from my desk to my fridge, antsy has become my middle name. And as a travel blogger unable to travel, I suppose you can say I’ve kinda been fired. From a job where I’m the boss.

Despite this setback however, I have discovered the wonders of armchair travel, and wow – what a world.

You heard me – armchair travel, as in the art of vicarious travel from the comfort of your armchair, bed, bean bag, or hey, even the toilet (I’m not here to judge).

And I mean sure, armchair travel may not command the same glittery glamour as necking aperitivo in Milan or gliding through Switzerland by train , but it’s travel you can do in your underwear AND nobody will even call the cops.

So, if you’re feeling weary from gazing blankly out the window or simply want to read something that will distract you from the bleary news ticker, here’s a guide to the wonderful world of armchair travel, with 10 (actually satisfying) ways to enjoy travel from home.

Editor’s note : the following methods will feel more like real travel if you are also cradling an infant-sized margarita. My jokes may also seem funnier. Carry on.

Save this guide to armchair travel for later!

You’ll be very glad you did.

1. Binge travel blogs & videos

Let’s begin this post with a Christina signature move, shall we? Pure desperation.

Please, if you find yourself in need of some mindless entertainment while weathering this dystopian storm, try to support independent creatives as much as you can.

Reading blogs (if you’re here right now, wow you’re super ahead) and watching YouTube videos is an incredible free way to help keep your favourite creatives’ businesses afloat.

So yes, allow me to quickly hurl my YouTube channel at you real quick. Catch!

It’s a tough time for businesses and individuals all around the world, but freelancers and small business owners are especially feeling the pinch (particularly in the travel industry), SO if you crave something to fill your boredom gaps, please consider supporting the many bloggers, vloggers and creatives in your life.

We need you more than ever! And we’re free. SO FREE. * relentless sobbing *

2. Snoop around on virtual museums and apps

For my fellow museum lovers, there’s an easy way for you to get your fix while nestled in the arms of your own comfy bed.

Many of the most famous museums in the world actually have virtual tours that you can do, including the Louvre, the MET, the British Museum, and more. Click here for a huge list I put together.

To get your culture fix, I can highly recommend the Google Arts and Culture website and app . It’s filled with interesting articles about art, culture, and history intrigue.

PLUS it has the most incredible feature called “Art Selfie” where you snap a selfie and they compare it to their archives to find your fine art doppelgänger. See below for the fair maiden I supposedly resemble.

Download for iOS | Download for Android

3. Find the hidden gems of the world with Secret Door

So this is a really clunky website that screams early 2000s, but I am still mildly obsessed with it.

Long story short, Secret Door is a site where you open a virtual door and it randomly brings you to a hidden gem of the world via Google Street View. Imagine Chat Roulette (throwbackkk!) but for quirky places around the world. Much like a girls’ outing involving tequila, you never know where you’ll end up.

For example, one visit brought me to an eerie art museum in Spain, another brought me to a colourful Willy Wonka inspired candy shop, and my last visit dropped me off RIGHT on the train tracks of the Bernina Express !!

NOTE: I find that the site can be a little glitchy, so I usually have to reload it each time I want to re-open the door, otherwise it won’t work properly… but still, give it a try here ! It’s cool.

4. Explore a random place on Earth with MapCrunch

In a similar vein, there’s another website called MapCrunch that ALSO drops you off in a random Google Streetview location, except it doesn’t necessarily focus on unique/hidden gems… it literally drops you off anywhere.

You might be thinking “why would I want that, Christina? Why?”

WELL, besides getting to catch a glimpse of daily life somewhere completely random in the world, this site was actually the source of a viral internet game of the early 2010s… basically, if (on desktop) you navigate to the MapCrunch Options tab, you can check a box on the bottom the says “Stealth” which will drop you off in a random Streetview location without telling you where you are…

The objective of the game is to pretend you woke up in this random location and somehow navigate your way “home” by finding the closest airport. Tough right? Can you imagine? A great game to play with friends if you want to race. Might be more fun if you’re mildly drunk, but what in life isn’t?

5. Spy on worldwide webcams

Okay, this fact might either be really cool or really creepy depending on your persuasion, but did you know the world is covered with cameras that stream everything live to webcams 24/7?

(Alright, I admit it does sound a little creepy when I put it that way)

Nonetheless, checking out these webcams is prime armchair travel material. Sites like EarthCam have live HD webcams from all over the world, so you can quickly check in on Times Square or the balmy waves of the Maldives all while eating guacamole by the fistful in your other hand. In fact, I’m writing this article while watching sunset at the Eiffel Tower! (I will save my guac for later.)

NOTE: While not live, if you get tired of staring at webcam footage, you can also go for an HD view of the world by checking out Full Screen 360 where there is plenty of 360 degree eye candy from interesting places around the world, from beautiful Cinque Terre to even my beloved Munich!

6. Stream some wanderlusty movies or TV shows

In the world of streaming, Netflix is of course king, but if you want to expand your horizons (or take advantage of something free!), you can register for a free one month trial of Amazon Prime Video and binge their huge library of free content (or otherwise rummage through their very extensive paid offerings).

In terms of recommendations, I have a list of great travel movies to watch here.

Show-wise, here are some quick recommendations:

Departures – One of my favourite all-time travel shows. It’s about 2 Canadian guys that hit the road and travel the world through personal connections/friendships, so you get a good mix of tourist sights and local secrets/know-how. It’s a little dated now (originally recorded in 2008), but guess what? These legends have put a lot of full episodes on YOUTUBE for FREE! Check them out here.
An Idiot Abroad – A hilarious and mildly offensive show that’s great if you want something a little different than your standard travel programme. It’s a documentary series that follows Karl Pilkington, a guy with zero interest in travel and global cultures…. being forced to travel by his friends Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. If you like Ricky Gervais humour, this is a must-watch. Watch it here.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – Like many travel enthusiasts, I adore everything from Anthony Bourdain, but there’s just something about Parts Unknown with its incredible visuals and storytelling that makes it my favourite. Watch it here.

7. Cook up global inspired dishes

If you often find yourself traveling for food, sending your tastebuds on their own lil voyage might be the most delicious form of armchair travel you can enjoy right now… all the better if you’re learning to make it yourself (because then your gluttony can be disguised as self-actualization.

Trust me, I’ve been doing it for years).

Where can you get free ideas and tutorials for recipes?

Honestly, YouTube is such a wealth of information these days that I can guarantee you’ll find a video teaching you to cook any foreign dish of your choosing!

If you’re feeling especially fancy though, you can also purchase online cooking classes! This is an amazing way to support local businesses who might be suffering otherwise due to the dip in tourism.

8. Enjoy a country-inspired night in

Combining points 6 and 7, for extra dorkiness points, consider hosting a country themed night-in. Simply pick a special film that’s focused on a destination and cook a meal (or order one in if you feel like it) related to that destination.

You can even have a watch party with friends on Skype (or do a group viewing on Netflix Party ) and all tackle the same recipe together before/after.

Some ideas for your country inspired soirée:

Watch Parasite and make ramdon – not the most wanderlusty combo but this is the best movie I’ve seen in years so I have to recommend it
Watch Amélie and have roast chicken + creme brûlée – you’ll see why if you watch the movie. Bonus if you buy some fresh raspberries to eat from your fingers
Watch Eat Pray Love and Pizza Napolitana or Spaghetti all’Amatriciana – truthfully, the spaghetti will probably be easier to make from home…
Watch Crazy Rich Asians and dumplings or Hokkien Fried Mee – in addition to wanderlust, a bonus side effect of this movie is it will make you feel incredibly poor and alone

9. Cozy up with a good travel book

At a time when we’re constantly bombarded with one distressing headline after the next, boyyy does it feel good to curl up with a nice book far away from the horror-show that is social media.

So, treat yourself to some wanderlusty reads! Blogs are great, but there’s something unbeatably satisfying about holding a book.

Now, while I prepare myself for excommunication from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers for saying that, let me think of some recommendations…

I’ll be very honest, I haven’t read a ton of travel memoirs, but one hilarious classic I can wholeheartedly recommend if you’re looking for a good laugh is What I was Doing While You Were Breeding. Otherwise, if you want something more conventionally travelly (but a tad cliché), I did also enjoy Eat Pray Love. Please let me know in the comments if you have any travel memoirs that you would highly recommend!

Otherwise, if you’re looking for some non-travel related reads, I’ve been really into memories from awesome female comedians lately, and both Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and Bossypants are great.

NOTE: If you don’t mind reading off a Kindle, you can click here for a free month of Kindle unlimited… all you can read!

10. Try actual virtual reality

Lastly, despite being a millennial who works on the Internet, I am shockingly out of touch with technology and how far it has come. Did you know for instance that virtual reality travel is a thing now?

Like, not just in testing phases, not just a clunky pixellated prototype, you can literally just buy an entry-level headset online that uses your phone?

… I only discovered this while researching armchair travel options for this article, and I have to say this one might just take the cake.

There are all sorts of apps that you can download on your phone (both free and paid) that allow you to enjoy really cool virtual reality travel experiences all around the world.

Better yet, there are full-blown YouTube videos now that can be watched in VR mode, which is how I spent my lockdown Spring in Europe taking a taxi ride through New York City, enjoying an overwater villa in the Maldives and even gliding through space , all of which I just did in my pyjamas in Munich.

If you’re interested in this, I got this set for really cheap and it works great!

Any more ideas for armchair travel?

I’m all ears! I hope you enjoyed this read… and safe travels (from the couch).

My Go-To Travel Favourites:

🧳 Eagle Creek: My favourite packing cubes

💳 Wise: For FREE travel friendly credit cards

🍯 Airalo: My go-to eSIM

🏨 Booking.com: For searching hotels

📷 Sony A7IV: My (amazing) camera

✈️ Google Flights : For finding flight deals

🌎 WorldNomads: For travel insurance

🎉 GetYourGuide: For booking activities

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Armchair Travel: New England Highlights

What’s your favorite New England destination? Join the Council on Aging on Zoom on Tuesday, April 18 at 1pm for Armchair Travel, and a travelogue through New England with Guest Host Carol Lynn May. She will share her photos and stories from travels throughout New England. Registration is required, contact the COA at 508-358-2990 or [email protected] .

Town of Wayland Calendar

Youth Advisory Committee 05/07/2024 - 6:00pm
Planning Board 05/08/2024 - 6:00pm
Finance Committee 05/06/2024 - 7:00pm
Select Board 05/06/2024 - 7:00pm
Surface Water Quality Committee 05/08/2024 - 7:00pm

Town of Wayland News

2024 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Hearing
Uniting for Change: Wayland Community Comes Together for SPIRIT Workshop
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WaylandeNews Celebrates Banned Books

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Armchair Travel: 16 Ways To Travel The World From Home

Got the wanderlust but you’re not able to travel anywhere at the moment? That’s okay – you can become an armchair traveler and explore all the places you want from the comfort of your bed.

You’ll need a computer or a smartphone, a good internet connection, and an idea of a place you want to explore. Nothing else is required for armchair travel, and if your interest is peaked, you can read all about armchair travel right here in this detailed guide!

What Is Armchair Travel?

Armchair travel is kind of like a staycation, but instead of exploring the local attractions, you don’t even have to leave the house. It’s discovering new places from the comfort of your chair, hence the term armchair travel.

It can include anything from looking over photos from your past trips to spending hours on Google Earth, walking around the streets of a city you’ve never been to. It’s pretty much just detaching yourself from your current surroundings and immersing yourself in things related to a different country so that for a moment you actually feel like you are there.

It’s as simple as reading a book about Paris while listening to Edith Piaf and eating a croissant.

16 Ways To Travel The World From Home

Technology has come far enough to allow us to travel the world from the comfort of your own home. Well, not quite, but it’s almost there – you can explore the streets of any country in the world from the comfort of your bedroom, you can learn about the best restaurants, and you can even do virtual tours of museums and other famous attractions – you just have to zoom in enough on the world map. That’s the beauty of living in the age of virtual reality and 360-degree images.

I’m just getting started, and here are even more armchair travel ideas that will help you explore your dream destination from home!

Read Travel Blogs

Just because you can’t hop on an airplane and head to a new destination doesn’t mean you can’t learn about it and explore it. Reading travel blogs is a good way to explore new countries through the eyes and lenses of other travelers.

It’s a form of virtual travel that allows you to draw from other people’s experiences. The key is to find a travel blogger you can relate to and whose content you enjoy reading. Immerse yourself in their content, and sooner than you know it, you’ll become an expert on a destination you’ve never even visited.

There are thousands of travel blogs run by people from all around the world, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find at least one that you enjoy.

Virtually Explore US National Parks

Most US National Parks offer virtual tours that are absolutely perfect for an armchair traveler. You can explore any national park you want from the comfort of your home, and you can even peek inside museums and other unique attractions that the national parks have.

Of course, it’s not the same as reaping the benefits of a hot spring inside a national park, but it’s a great way to explore nature and get to know more about the national parks. There’s also the added benefit of not having to deal with snakes, bugs, and the changing weather that’s so common in the NPs.

Head to the Google Arts & Culture website to see all the 52 national parks and historic sites from the US that have made their collections available for digital exploration. You can also see loads of other famous attractions from countries all over the world here, but more details on that later.

Read A Travel-Related Book

If you’re a bookworm, this is the easiest way to become an armchair traveler. Find some travel-related books that you enjoy reading and allow yourself to live in their worlds for the next few days.

Also, a travel-related book can be anything. It could be the autobiography of your favorite artist who recounts all the places life has taken him to, a proper travel guide to a different country, or even a fiction novel set in a foreign country.

Travel guides and coffee table books related to travel are the safest options if you’re not an avid reader. From travel guides through the US to detailed exploration of Italy’s best beaches – there are countless travel books out there, and you just need to search for one that’s about the destination you’re most interested in.

Those who prefer fiction have even more options. I can’t help myself and I have to recommend Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series – the popular crime novels are set in Norway, primarily Oslo, and the detailed descriptions of the city’s top sights will truly transport you to the Nordics for a moment.

Listen To Travel Podcast

Not a big fan of reading or watching TV? Put on a travel podcast then and listen to other people recount the details of their latest trips. You’ll hear some fun and interesting stories for sure, but you may also learn about the inconveniences that might arise should you choose to travel to the same destinations.

We Travel There is a great podcast hosted by Lee Huffman. He interviews locals from all around the world, so every episode is about a different city. The local attractions and best places to visit are usually highlighted in each episode, making this podcast worth checking out even when you’re planning a travel itinerary.

Where To Go is also a great podcast, mostly because it’s hosted by the team behind DK Eyewitness travel guides. They’re some of the best travel guides out there, and the podcast episodes truly give them a run for their money.

Watch Travel Vlogs On Youtube

There are countless travel vloggers trying to make a living by doing the one thing they love most – traveling. You can support them and help them make their dreams come true by consuming their content and exploring the different countries of the world from the comfort of your own couch.

Finding a travel vlogger you like shouldn’t be too challenging, especially with so many different options out there. The key is to find a person you genuinely enjoy watching, otherwise, you won’t be able to focus on the travel destinations!

You can also find live camera streams on YouTube from countries all over the world. They usually include short snippets from various cameras, but it’s a great way to get a glimpse of distant landscapes and everyday life in foreign countries in just a few minutes. Plus, if you see a stream that you particularly like, you can always just find that specific live camera and refer to it whenever you want.

Enroll in A Travel-Related Course

If you still enjoy learning and you’ve particularly interested in travel, why not enroll in a travel-related course. Working on yourself and furthering your education is always a good thing, and you never know what opportunities may present themselves after you’ve completed the course.

I’m not saying enroll in a five-year college course about tourism, but you can take various online and offline courses on a myriad of topics relating to travel. The best way to get started is to get acquainted with all the different diplomas and certificates that are relevant to the tourism industry.

There are dozens of them, and there are many ways to earn them, from attending free online courses to enrolling in MBA degree programs.

Learn what it takes to become a travel agent, get a certificate that allows you to be a tour guide in your hometown, or complete a flight attendant training program. There are countless travel-related courses you can take, and you just need to see which ones interest you the most. This can also increase your chances of getting a job with one of the travel companies if that’s something you are interested in.

Additionally, you can also enroll in language-related courses. They usually include learning about the culture, literature, and history of the country whose language you’re learning, plus learning a new language is always a great idea.

Cook Your Favorite Dishes From Around The World

Exploring a new country means exploring its cuisine and getting to know all of its different flavors. So, if you’re feeling like traveling somewhere but you can’t actually go to that country, you can try to make it – or at least a tiny bit of it – in your own kitchen.

Turn to YouTube or one of a million different recipe websites, and find a dish you enjoy from the cuisine of the country you want to visit. Tacos will immediately fill the room with staple smells from South America, a good curry can never not remind you of India, and sushi is entirely self-explanatory.

So, if you can’t go on a trip right this minute but you’re desperate to at least feel like you’re traveling, just make your entire kitchen smell like a street full of food vendors from that country!

Watch TV Shows Related To Travel

Sometimes it’s enough for a show to be filmed at the right location for it to become extremely popular. Emily in Paris proved that – despite the fact that the show was criticized for a number of different things, it remained extremely popular and mostly because of the fact that it’s filmed in Paris.

People love to tune in to see Lily Collins strolling down the cobblestone alleys of Montmartre and enjoying croissants with a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower, and I have to admit I’m also guilty of binging both seasons.

It doesn’t have to be a show about one specific city – there are countless travel shows that will satisfy your wanderlust for a moment, and many of them feature a different city or country in every episode. Put on some of Anthony Bourdain’s classics – No Reservations and Parts Unkown are still some of the best shows that combine food and travel!

The Grand Tour is another gem that covers remote destinations from around the world, and it’s particularly interesting for car lovers. But you don’t have to be into cars to appreciate the humor of Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, and you certainly don’t need to know anything about vehicles to admire the spectacular landscapes that are featured in the episodes of this humorous travel show.

Watch Travel Movies

If you don’t want to commit to an entire TV show, you can just put on a travel movie. Into The Wild is a textbook example of a travel movie, and probably the best-known film in the genre. But a travel movie can be almost anything, as long as it’s set in the place that you’re yearning to visit.

I get the urge to travel to Sicily whenever I watch Godfather, and I doubt anyone would consider that a travel movie. But the beautiful landscapes that Al Pacino escapes to are so fascinating that, for a moment, it’s entirely possible to forget you’re watching a movie about mobsters.

The entire Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy showcases the beauty of spectacular European cities – Vienna, Paris, and Greece, in that order. Mamma Mia also depicts the beauty of Croatian and Greek islands, and it’s a great film to put on if you’re dreaming about a beach vacation.

Wild, starring Reese Whitherspoon, follows an inexperienced hiker setting out on the Pacific Crest Trail. The entire movie was shot on location, so it features the actual highlights of the iconic US long-distance hiking trail.

Go On A Virtual Tour of World’s Famous Museums

Some of the most famous museums in the entire world offer free virtual tours, and you should take advantage of that. J Paul Getty Museum, London’s Natural History Museum, and Musée d’Orsay in Paris have all made their collections available for virtual exploration.

Head to Google Arts & Culture again to go through the collections of these museums. You can even browse the various digital collections they have by genre or time period, so finding a collection curated specifically for you is easier than ever.

Learn A New Language

Learning an entirely new language is the best form of armchair travel. Not only does it get you closer to the culture of a country you’re fascinated by, but it’s also a way of developing a new skill that you can use for the rest of your life.

Learning a new language isn’t exactly the easiest thing you can do to satisfy your wanderlust, but it’s certainly the most useful one. You’ll particularly be happy you took up that happy if you manage to travel to the country whose native language you’ve mastered!

Also, keep in mind that learning a new language usually includes learning about the history and culture of that country, as well as reading a few books written by the nation’s most prominent writers. So, you’re not just learning how to talk to locals on your next trip, but you’re also getting a complete guide to the most important landmarks and attractions of the country you choose!

Plan Your Next Trip

Do you already have a destination in mind for your next trip? Then why not start planning it right now. You don’t have to purchase airplane tickets if you’re not sure when you’ll be able to go, but it’s a good idea to start researching other details that will come in handy during your trip.

Look at hotels and AirBnBs to see where you would like to stay and be sure to check out all the top tourist attractions and things to do at the destination. You can even make little maps for any future trip, and you can refer to the map when you actually arrive at that destination.

If you often go on road trips, you already know just how much planning goes into them, if you want things to go smoothly. You can get a head start on your next trip right now – it will get you excited about the trip, plus you can plan out a good chunk of the road trip.

Reminisce About Your Past Trips

Nothing can transport you through time and place quite like a personal photograph. Blow the dust off your online albums and take the time to go through all the 2365 photos you took on that trip to Rio de Janeiro. It can’t be just me that takes a million photos wherever I’m in a new city, and it can’t just be me that never looks at them again.

Take the time to go through the old photos and choose your favorites. You can even print them out if you like and create a travel collage to hang on a wall. Or you can just turn them into a throwback post.

You can also use this opportunity to make room in your phone for photographs you’ll take on your upcoming trips. Delete any blurry shots, images you don’t like, or images that you have a dozen copies of, and create some space for the photographs of places you’re yet to visit!

Create A Travel Scrapbook

Now that we all have amazing cameras in our pockets, it seems like we’re always taking photos, but never taking the time to go through them. Do you remember going through your childhood albums, and how happy you’d be when you saw that one photo you have a great memory of? Or when you looked at images from your travels as a kid?

You can still do that now, even if you’re a full-blown adult. You can even create an album if you want, but a travel scrapbook is a bit more fun. Go through the photos of the last (or any) place you visited, and select the ones you like the most and you want to have in your travel scrapbook.

If you need some travel inspiration, why not dedicate a few pages to every destination you visited. Print out your favorite photos with your friends and family, but also of the landmarks you liked and any places that stood out. Put all the photos in the scrapbook, and be sure to write little captions beneath the photos.

If you do go through with this, two decades from now, when your travel memories start to fade, you’ll be thrilled every time you lay eyes on your little travel scrapbook.

Play A Travel-Themed (Board) Game

Why not try a travel-themed board game to satisfy your itch for a quick trip? Trekking The World is one of the best-selling board games out there, and it’s great for families and friend groups of up to five people. You play the game by racing to visit as many countries in the world as you can and you collect souvenirs along the way. It’s extremely fun, and a great way to learn about some of the most popular destinations in the world.

The World Game is a travel-themed card game for up to five players. It tests your knowledge of geography by asking you to name the capitals of countries, point them out on a map, or guess their flag. It’s a fun card game, but only if you’re into geography.

It’s worth noting that board games aren’t the only types of games you can play that are related to travel. If you’re into gaming, you’ve got even more options when it comes to armchair travel! Many recent AAA games are set in existing cities, and most of those open worlds are incredibly detailed and pretty true to life.

Not all the details will be identical, but it’s important to point out that the reconstruction of Notre Dame will be done with the help of Ubisoft’s drawings that they used to recreate the iconic church in their Assassin’s Creed Unity game.

You can walk through the streets of London, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, and many other cities if you’ve got a computer that can run newer AAA games. If not, just try Geouesser – the online game is one of the best things for armchair travel, especially if you want to explore places off the beaten path.

Socialize With Fellow Travel Enthusiasts on Social Media

If all else fails, turn to social media. Go on Reddit, Instagram, or even Facebook and find a group of like-minded travel enthusiasts with whom you can share travel stories and photos. This is also a great way to meet new people and make friends, and you could potentially travel with those people sometime.

But it’s a way of armchair traveling that only extroverts will consider, so it’s definitely not for everyone. You could be one of those people that lurk around the groups and forums, taking in all the stories and images, but not sharing anything with strangers.

About the Author Anna Timbrook

Anna is the co-owner of expert world travel and can't wait to share her travel experience with the world. With over 54 countries under her belt she has a lot to write about! Including those insane encounters with black bears in Canada.

Wild Junket

Armchair Travel: 45 Fun Ideas to “Travel” Without Leaving Home

Last Updated on June 9, 2020

Sometimes travel isn’t an option — whether that is due to illness, financial issues or personal circumstances.

Right now, it’s a global pandemic that is sweeping across the world, putting a halt on travel. Whether you are stuck at home in a lockdown or a self-imposed quarantine, there are some creative ways to feed your travel addiction .

From joining online travel communities to taking virtual tours of UNESCO sites, here are my armchair travel recommendations to help you “travel” without leaving your home.

Table of Contents

How to Travel Without Leaving Home

Explore museums virtually on your laptop, take a digital hike around america’s national parks, take virtual tours of the world’s unesco sites, read travel books, read travel blogs, join an online travel community, take an online travel-related course, learn a new language, watch travel-related shows on netflix, watch travel vlogs on youtube, indulge in travel movies, start scratching your world map, make a travel scrapbook, get a travel coloring book, make jigsaw puzzles or models of your favorite places in the world, entertain your kids with travel games and books, create multicultural crafts and activities, cook exotic dishes from around the world, order food delivery.

Many of the world’s musuems have been forced to temporarily shut their doors. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve lost access to the countless treasures housed by these great museums.

Thanks to the extensive Google Arts & Culture project, we can now access more than 2,500 art spaces from around the world online, and many offer virtual tours. This is the perfect armchair travel activity for museum buffs.

Remember that COVID-19 still poses a threat while you’re surfing the web at home. Hackers are creating thousands of fake pandemic sites to steal your personal information. Make sure to use a COVID-19 scam site checker before going to any suspicious sites.

Here are some museums worth checking out virtually:

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam — View over 164,511 pieces of artwork from the revered art museum in high-definition. The museum’s most famous art pieces include Vermeer’s The milkmaid and Rembrandt’s Self Portrait.
The Tate, London —This respected museums houses the foremost collection of British art dating back to the the Tudor era and including a large holding of J.M.W. Turner’s work.
Guggenheim Museum, New York — This contemporary art and architecture museum has over 200 works viewable through Google’s portal.
The MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York — One of America’s best museums has 26 virtual exhibits and over 200,000 documented works of art from nearly any era.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris —Check out the virtual exhibitions and 278 pieces of art from 1848 to 1914, including include Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles .

Google Earth has rolled out virtual tours of some of the most beautiful national parks in the United States. The map and satellite imagery masters at Google Earth have put together a series of guided virtual tours of 31 national parks around the country .

Now you can literally travel without leaving your home and take a digital hike on Google Earth. It may not be the same as lacing up your hiking boots and inhaling the crisp clean air of the wilderness, but they’re pretty neat nonetheless. Here are the national parks offering virtual tours:

Acadia National Park
Arches National Park
Badlands National Park
Big Bend National Park
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Bruce Canyon National Park
Canyonlands National Park
Channel Islands National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Denali National Park
Dry Tortugas National Park
Everglades National Park
Glacier National Park

death valley united states national park - virtual tour - virtual travel

Not just that, Google Earth has also recently launched Heritage on the Edge , an online experience that uses 3D maps to showcase a handful of UNESCO World Heritage sites facing the looming threat of climate change.

The goal was to digitally preserve the legacy of the landmarks. For now, you can enjoy a zoomed-in view of the moai on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the ancient city of Chan Chan in Peru, and the coastal city of Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania .

Not only will you be able to interact with 3-D models and 50 exhibits, but you’ll also have access to expert interviews and information on how to conserve these historical sites – an important lens, self-isolating or not. Check out this list of best virtual tours around the world .

The best travel books are often the ones that have the power to transform you as much as a journey does. My love for travel books was probably the reason why I became a travel blogger and writer .

I have always been obsessed with travel books, especially biographies of adventurers who have embarked on extraordinary journeys. Reading George Orwell’s Burmese Days when traveling in Myanmar made the trip all the more special. And reading Escape from Camp 14 before my trip to North Korea definitely piqued my interest in the hermit kingdom.

If you have a long list of books you’ve been wanting to read but never had the time for, this is the best time to hit that list. Check out my massive list of 50 best books on travel .

Escape from Camp 14 (by Blaine Harden)— One man’s remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the West.
Desert Flower (by Waris Dirie) — A true story of Waris’ escape across the dangerous Somali desert to London as an internationally renowned fashion model; and ultimately to New York City, where she became a human rights ambassador for the U.N.
The Kite Runner (by Khaled Husseini) — A fictional book about the struggles of a young boy Amir amidst the backdrop of an unstable Afghanistan.
Burmese Days: A Novel (by George Orwell) — A story of the waning days of British imperialism, by an Englishman living in a settlement in Burma.
Into the Wild (by Jon Krakauer) — The remarkable story of a young man’s solo adventure in Alaska.
Gratitude in Low Voices: A Memoir (by Dawit Gebremichael Habte)— A man’s true story of how he fled his homeland of Eritrea during the war to find solace and success in America.
It’s Our Turn to Eat (by Michela Wrong) — The story of a Kenyan whistle-blower

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TIP: I recommend getting a Kindle Paperwhite if you don’t have one. You can store a ridiculous amount of books on it and read it at night without ruining your eyesight. You can buy books individually or sign up to Kindle unlimited (first month is a free trial).

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The pandemic has affected many small businesses, travel companies and websites. I am one of them — my blog’s readership and income have dropped by over 80%. It’s heartbreaking to see all that I have worked hard to build in the past 12 years be reduced to nothing.

Of course I’m not the only one. So many travel bloggers are worried about possibly losing their livelihood. I ask for your support — just read travel blogs and websites whenever you can. There’s no need to make any purchase; just reading and scrolling can help us out at times like this!

Here are some of my best travel stories:

World’s Most Remote Islands
Spirits and Spells: Voodoo Culture in Benin
12 Interesting Facts About Madagascar
A Photo Essay of Tajikistan
Iraqi Kurdistan — The Other Iraq
Travel in the Caucasus: Where East Meets West
Asmara, Eritrea: An Art Deco City in Africa

Other travel blogs and websites with brilliant narratives and inspirational stories:

Roads and Kingdoms
Uncornered Market
Atlas & Boots
The Candy Trail
Candace Rose Rardon

read travel blogs - things to do quarantine - armchair travel

Looking to connect with like-minded travelers virtually? There are plenty of online travel communities catering to specific types of travelers, from solo female travelers to extreme travelers who like to veer off the beaten trail.

Extreme Travel — A Facebook group I set up to connect with curious travelers seeking out the extraordinary in unusual places like North Korea, Iran and Sudan.
Every Passport Stamp — A Facebook community of travelers planning to travel to every country in the world. They have strict rules and requirements, so please join only if you share the same goals as everyone.
Travel Community — This massive Facebook group caters to all travelers from different parts of the world. Currently, there are quite a few positive discussions in light of the pandemic.
Wanderful — This is a leading network for female travelers. The brand is currently giving away 500 free one-year memberships (typically $69/year).
Girls Love Travel — A Facebook group for female travelers covering all kinds of travels and destinations.

If you have always been interested in travel photography or sketching, this is the best time to sign up for a travel-related online course. There are tons of virtual workshops and courses on Skillshare and Udemy .

Here are some interesting travel-related courses worth checking out:

Travel sketching — Take an adventure into your imagination with illustrator and children’s book author Mike Lowery.
Oil painting — A fun and informative course that will teach you basics of mark making, glazing and oil painting.
Travel street photography — Learn popular street photography techniques, as well as composition, lighting, and photo editing for visual storytelling.
Drone photography — Up your skills from beginner to professional drone photography with this step-by-step vide guide.
Travel writing class — Learn to write travel tales readers (and editors) will love and sell your freelance writing to newspapers and magazines.
Travel poster illustration : Design your favorite city and place in Procreate5.

travel related online courses on skillshare

I have always had a special interest in languages — they are the best way to connect with locals and cultures when traveling. My first experience learning a foreign language was in college, when I took French and Spanish classes. Eventually I took intensive Spanish courses in Madrid. I also took Arabic classes after that, and recently finished my 6-month Dutch course here in Amsterdam.

Technology has made it really easy to learn a language online these days. Here are some apps and online courses I recommend:

Duolingo — A language app that helps beginners to build up vocabulary. It is free to use and has many languages available.
Mindsnacks — Another app that offers free language-learning games to help you learn vocabulary, grammar, practice your listening.
BBC Languages — Free online language lessons, with crosswords, videos and quizzes accompanied by audio. Courses covering 40 languages, including Urdu, Icelandic and Slovak.
Verbling — Interactive language lessons with a native teacher over video chat. You can choose the teacher you prefer, schedule the lesson and pay her hour.
Lingoda — Similar to Verbling, Lingoda also offers video lessons with native teachers. But it offers monthly plans and a free 7-day trial.

learn a language - armchair travel - things to do quarantine

Many of us are turning to Netflix to entertain us and feed our wanderlust. Forget depressing series like Outbreak, check out the following travel-themed shows that will sure to uplift you in hard times like these.

You can even use the new Google Chrome extension Netflix Party to watch these shows with your friends online. Just click the extension button to create a “party” and share a link to the event with whoever you want to watch the program with. The extension also allows all party members to group chat about the show in real-time.

Dark Tourist — Definitely top on my Netflix’s favorites list, this show covers lesser-known areas and unfamiliar cultures. Check out the episodes on Pablo Escobar’s hitmen, vampires in New Orleans, and Japan’s suicide forests.
Larry Charles’ Dangerous World Of Comedy — Another of my favorite shows (cos I love travel and comedy), this travel show follows film director, Larry Charles, around the world seeking out how comedy is done in war zones, in slums, and beyond.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner — One of the many foodie travel shows on Netflix, this is what I’ve been binge-watching lately. Chef David Chang brings big-name celebrities around the world and dives in local food scenes, from Phnom Penh with Kate McKinnon to Marrakech with Chrissy Teigen.
Conan Without Borders — One of my favorite talk show hosts, Conan O’Brien, gives a non-traditional and humorous take in this travel series. He lightens up the mood before delving into serious topics, like the humanitarian crisis in Haiti or the war in Israel.
Our Planet — This nature series is Netflix’s very own Planet Earth, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

dark tourist netflix - travel shows on netflix

Don’t have a Netflix account? Youtube actually has some high quality videos from vloggers and videographers who are out there doing some great stuff. Here are some of my favorite Youtube channels:

Drew Binsky — This unique vlogger brings viewers to unique places and he always has an interesting story to tell. Some of his videos are insightful and educational, such as these ones on Equatorial Guinea and Congo.
Karl Watson — Karl produces quality travel documentaries that are professional and definitely inspirational. His videos tend to cater to younger millennial looking for some adventure.
Migrationology — Foodie travelers have to check out his awesome food-focused videos. He’ll bring you on street food tours in Pakistan, feast on home-cooked food in Iran, and try top-notch Wagyu beef in Japan.
WildJunket — Shameless self promotion here: I’m not a Youtuber or vlogger, but I do have some short travel videos on my Youtube channel. Watch me jump off a canyon in New Zealand , drive around Iceland on a campervan , and l earn about voodoo in Benin .
Eva Zu Beck — This girl has interesting vlogs from the world’s least visited places, including Syria, Pakistan and Yemen. She shows us some of the world’s most beautiful hikes, remote islands and delicious food along the way.

And for movie lovers out there, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to movies about traveling . I have been inspired to go to certain destinations thanks to these travel movies, and I hope they will inspire you too. Check out my giant list of 60 best travel movies of all time !

Secret Life of Walter Mitty — Embark on an adventure with magazine writer Ben Stiller (as Walter Mitty) as he goes in search of a photojournalist from the streets of Manhattan to Greenland and the Himalayas.
The White Maasai — Based on a non-fiction memoir, this German movie sparked my interest in Africa almost 12 years ago. It tells the story of Corinne’s trip from her home country of Switzerland to Kenya , where she met and fell in love with a Maasai warrior and builds a home with him in the savanna.
The Motorcycle Dairies — This movie traces back to where it all began for Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Gael García Bernal), whose road trip across Latin America with his pal Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) opened Che’s eyes to political injustice.
Slumdog Millionaire — One of my all-time favorite movies, this Oscar winner tells the story of an Indian Muslim from the Dharavi slum in India. He is a contestant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ?”, and is one question away from the grand prize.
Wild — This movie follows the journey of Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed, as she treks 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail after the devastating loss of her mother.
Tracks — Another non-fiction movie based on the adventure of Robyn Davidson, who traverses across the r ugged landscape of Australia with only four camels and a beloved dog for company.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — A story about a group of aging Brits who follow advertisements and arrive in India, with the promise of a second act.

secret life of walter mitty - armchair travel movies

This is the perfect time to reflect on past travels, and think about how far we’ve come. Get a scratch map and spend time scratching off the places you have been! It’ll bring back some beautiful memories and get you excited about future travels.

I have a scratch map myself and it’s great fun to come home from a trip and scratch off a new country each time. My friends got me this scratch off world map when we moved to Amsterdam and it’s the best travel gift I’ve ever gotten. I hang it on a cork board with push pins, where I also pin souvenirs or memoirs (like bus tickets) from each trip. It’s such a great way to keep travel memories alive!

scratch off world map - things to do in quarantine

Another awesome thing to do to bring back beautiful memories is to make a travel scrapbook. The scrapbook could be based off one epic trip you’ve done. Perhaps an awesome adventure in Southeast Asia , or a Silk Road overland trip . It could also be a collection of all your travels from the past.

Since Kaleya was born, I’ve been wanting to make a special travel album packed with photos, postcards, brochures and stubs I collected during our trips together. It would be an awesome thing to look back on with Kaleya when she grows up. Perhaps now is the time to start making one!

I have my eye on this vintage style scrapbook album , but technically you can use any notebook to create an album of travel memories.

travel scrapbook album - travel without leaving home

Coloring is scientifically proven to have countless health benefits for adults. It can help relax the fear center of your brain, the amygdala, and help you stay calm and mindful.

I enjoy coloring with my daughter when I get the chance. It not only soothes me, but also brings back wonderful memories from places I’m coloring.

Here are some excellent travel coloring books designed for adults:

Lonely Planet Ultimate Travel Coloring Book
ColorIt — Around the World in 50 Pages
Travel Between the Lines — Inspirational Coloring for Globetrotters and Daydreamers
Crayola City Escapes — Color Your Favorite World Cities

Growing up, I did lots of jigsaw puzzles with my family during our free time. It was how we spent quality time together.

You can easily find jigsaw puzzles of all kinds for both adults and kids, whether that’s 3D puzzles of iconic landmarks or traditional puzzles of landscapes. I love making 3D puzzles with my daughter!

1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of world’s greatest attractions
CubicFun 3D puzzle of Notre Dame de Paris
LEGO built-it-yourself kit of New York city skyline
ROKR 3D wooden craft puzzle of an airship

Now that school is closed in many parts of the world, parents who are stuck at home with kids will need as many resources as they can. To keep your kid engaged, here are some travel-related ideas to pique their interest in the world.

The books from Lonely Planet Kids are educational, interactive and fun. Kaleya has a few of this Let’s Explore series of sticker activity books and she absolutely loves them.
Inspire your kids with this book, Explorers: Amazing Tales of the World’s Greatest Adventurers , written by yours truly!
Teach your kids geography with the Beginner’s World Atlas from National Geographic, suitable for kids ages 5–8.
An interactive world map is a fun and engaging way to teach kids about the world. It has over 1000 facts about countries, capitals, oceans, and languages, that your kids can learn through interactive quizzes!
Join online read-alouds and activities organised by your kids’ favorite authors — here’s a full list .

my daughter with Explorers - travel without leaving home

Another fun thing to do with kids that can pique their interest in travel is creating art and craft or products from other cultures. My daughter loves making Japanese origami and it always brings back fond memories from Japan for both of us.

Adults can also enjoy making multicultural crafts together — it’s a great way to learn about a culture and engage with it without actually traveling. Here are some other ideas:

Make Mexico’s Day of the Dead masks
Make Japanese origami
Make a Native American rain stick
Make a Japanese karp kite
Learn Aboriginal dot painting from Australia

day of the dead skulls - crafts to travel at home

Food is one of the best ways to engage and connect with a culture and destination. Some of my favorite dishes I’ve tried around the world, include the Moroccan chicken tajine (slow cooked stew), Hungarian beef goulash, and the traditional Japanese ramen. I’m not a great cook, but I enjoy making Mexican tacos, Vietnamese pho, and Indian prata from time to time.

But you don’t have to travel to tickle your tastebuds — sometimes you learn even more about a cuisine by making it in your own kitchen. Here are some great websites that provide excellent recipes from around the world:

All Recipes
BBC Good Food
Serious Eats

moroccan tajine - make it yourself travel without leaving home

Can’t cook or don’t enjoy cooking? I recommend looking at your local takeaways and trying something brand new. If you live in a multicultural city like I do, there are lots of international cuisine to choose from: from Nepalese to Mongolian, Ethiopian to Peruvian.

Support your local restaurants and give them some business to help you make it through the pandemic! This is seriously armchair travel at its best.

What other things are you doing at home to get that “travel” experience? Share your armchair travel ideas with me in the comments field below!

Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links. That means I get a small commission when you purchase anything through my links. AT NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!

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Nellie Huang

Nellie Huang is the founder of WildJunket. Originally from Singapore, Nellie has traveled to over 150 countries across 7 continents. She is a book author and Lonely Planet guidebook writer. As an adventure travel blogger, she has a special interest in unusual destinations and deep experiences. Follow her travels on her Facebook and Instagram .

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Marc Latham

Comprehensive fun list, but I have one more… I virtually travelled via the internet and wrote fiction books creating a storyline (vegetarian werewolf protagonist looking for its origins years before Missing Link did similar with a bigfoot) using real celebrities and places along the way, with Simpsons inspiration. I think it helps you find new places, learn more about places, and remember them; for me it was nostalgia too, as I virtually travelled places I’d passed through, but didn’t know much about at the time.

Three reasons great thinkers liked armchair travel

Associate Professor of Philosophy, author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad (2020), Durham University

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Coronavirus has led to unprecedented worldwide restrictions on travel . But philosophers and others have argued for centuries that real-world travel comes second to armchair travel. From your own living room, you can visit new places by reading about them, tucked under a blanket with a mug of cocoa. In these grim times, here’s a light-hearted look at three benefits of voyaging without leaving your home.

1. Fewer monsters

In 1605, English philosopher Joseph Hall published a voracious attack on travel. His book Another World and Yet the Same parodied popular books like Mandeville’s Travels. It stars a man named Mercurious Britannicus, who sets sail on the ship Fancie towards the south pole. There he discovers a new continent: Terra Australis.

Mercurious spends three decades exploring its lands. He discovers that Gluttonia, Drinkallia, Viraginia, Moronia and Lavernia are populated by gluttons, drunkards, women, morons and criminals. Afterwards, he argues that people shouldn’t bother travelling:

Have you considered all the dangers of so great an enterprise, the costs, the difficulty? … There is heaven, you say, but perhaps you can scarcely see it through the continuous darkness. There is earth, which you won’t dare to tread upon, perhaps because of the multitude of beasts and serpents. There are men, but you would prefer to do without their company. What if some Patagonian Polyphemus [Cyclops] were to tear you to pieces and then straightaway devour the throbbing and still-living parts?

Hall believes it’s better to visit new worlds by reading, avoiding storms, sails, and “never-ending tossing of waves”. Certainly, there are no serpents or Patagonian Cyclops in your living room.

2. Many books are better than one trip

Socrates refused to set foot outside Athens. He argued he could learn much more about the world by reading: “you can lead me all over Attica or anywhere else you like simply waving in front of me the leaves of a book”. Similarly, a 1635 Mercator atlas claimed that maps allow you to see at home what others have sought through travel: “uncouth Continents… the Rocks, the Isles, the Rivers and their falls… God’s greatest Work”.

Like Socrates, philosopher Immanuel Kant never travelled far from his birthplace of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), Prussia. Yet he was fascinated by the world, reading travelogues, writing and teaching geography. He said he didn’t have time to travel – because he wanted to know so much about so many countries.

3. The best travel writing was free of travel

Some of the best travel writing is made up. One such tale is that of English sailor David Ingram , who lost a sea-battle in 1567 and was marooned on the coast of Mexico. Ingram claimed he spent the next 11 months trekking through north America, covering around 3,000 miles to Nova Scotia.

The distance itself is impressive – in modern times, writer Richard Nathan re-traced the trek in nine months. Less plausible are the things Ingram encountered along the route: elephants, red sheep, giant birds with peacock-like feathers, uncrossable rivers; and cities laced with gold, pearls and crystals.

Richard Hakluyt published Ingram’s account alongside writings by exploration giants such as Gerardus Mercator, Francis Drake, and Martin Frobisher. Yet historians have long doubted its veracity. One writes that the most fantastic thing about Ingram’s tale is not that he made this journey “along rivers that for the most part flowed the wrong way”, rather that “intelligent” people believed it.

But Ingram was far from alone. At the turn of the 19th century, François-René de Chateaubriand published several beguiling travel books – large chunks of which were probably imaginary.

His Voyage en Amérique describes a six-month trip during which he visited New York, New England, the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls; met George Washington; lived with native Americans; and roamed Ohio and Florida. In 1903, a historian argued that this trip was impossible, and its descriptions were plagiarised from earlier sources.

As one scholar explains, Chateaubriand even changed geography to suit his fancy. He describes an island buzzing with “glittering baubles”: dragonflies, hummingbirds, butterflies. Between travel books, this island migrates from Florida to Ohio. As another historian put it, to treat Chateaubriand’s journeys as a source of authentic information “would be folly”.

In 1704, Frenchman George Psalmanazar published An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa. This travel book about latterday Taiwan was a complete fabrication, based on other books and the contents of Psalmanazar’s head.

What’s amazing is how far Psalmanazar took the fraud. The book contained a fictional yet apparently convincing alphabet. And despite his blond hair and blue eyes, Psalmanazar convinced England he was Asian, kidnapped from Formosa by Jesuit priests. Psalmanazar had an answer for everything – even claiming his skin was white because Formosans lived underground .

Off on your own armchair travels

Marco Polo probably never made it to China. The safest, most learned and imaginative travel is undoubtedly embarked on from the fireside. How else can you traverse rivers running uphill, and cram more miles into a trip than is strictly possible? If you’re stuck in one place for a bit and fancy some armchair roaming, here are some classics to strike out from.

Percy G Adams, Travelers and Travel Liars, 1660-1800 (1980): This well researched but funny book collects many travel fraudsters together, describing travellers who “embellished” their tales and made up whole chunks of geography.

Pierre Bayard, How to Talk About Places You’ve Never Been: On the Importance of Armchair Travel (2015): This tongue-in-cheek study argues there’s no need to visit a place to write interestingly about it, and provides lots of evidence. It includes the endearing tale of Édouard Glissant who was too old to journey to Easter Island to write a book - so sent his wife instead.

Francis Wood, Did Marco Polo Go To China? (2018): This more serious but readable study of Marco Polo’s Travels asks, how far did he really get? Wood argues probably no farther than Constantinople.

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17 Armchair Travel Ideas | Travel Without Leaving Home

The year is 2020 and that’s all I need to say to picture this time and for travellers, it was certainly a time to exercise armchair travel ideas and get creative with ways to travel without leaving home.

I’ve been armchair travelling, staycationing in the UK and planning my future trips since I was forced to return home because of Covid-19 in March 2020 and I’ve compiled this list of 17 armchair travel ideas.

I literally dream of travel all day long and I’m not exaggerating! These are some of the ways I’ve been doing that since being home like reading travel novels, learning about great railway journeys, listening to interviews with Anthony Bourdain and finally making yearly travel scrapbooks.

Disclosure: This blog post may contain affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I may earn commission if you click through and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When you see a link, this could take you to that product/service website. For more information, see my Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Contents (jump to)

What is Armchair Travel?

When you search what is armchair travel, you won’t find an official definition of armchair travel, not even in Urban Dictionary, but there are a few definitions around the web that basically say the same thing.

Armchair travelling meaning is learning about travel and the world through activities such as reading, watching television, playing, listening and more without actually visiting the places. An armchair traveller (or armchair traveler in US) will dream of far away places, know a lot about geography and travel without having to leave home.

18 Armchair Travel Ideas So You Can Travel Without Leaving Home!

Some of these ideas are free, others cost, some you may find lying around your house and others you may have to totally make from scratch but whatever you choose, here are the best travel activities without leaving home. This list isn’t just during Covid, this could be for anyone who’s just got back from a trip and suffering with travel blues, those awaiting their annual trip or if you love things to do with travel!

1. Google Earth

Google Earth is a fun and free tool that lets you travel the world from your home. When you hit the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button it takes you to random destinations around the world. My first few times took me to a mountain in Spain, a lake in Ethiopia, a museum in USA and a town in Kazakhstan. Alternatively, you could armchair travel with Google Maps too!

2. Live Cams Around the World

If Google Earth isn’t quite doing the wanderlust justice, try the live webcams that have been set up around the world so you can pretend you’re on a beach in the Maldives , driving on a safari in Africa , or exploring Antartica .

3. Virtual Tours – Travel Without Leaving Home

Virtual Travel has taken front seat due to the World pandemic and companies have set up some gems for us to be adventurous armchair tourists! Some armchair travel ideas include:

Virtual Museum Tours

Google have partnered to create free online virtual tours such as the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and British Museum in London.
Learn in LA at the Getty Museum through Google.
Virtually visit Luxor in Egypt known as an open-air museum and learn through a local guide.

Other Virtual Tours

How about taking a Virtual Wine Safari ,
Or explore street art of Lisbon .
Why not tour a city like Beijing or do a city tour with a guide like this in Istanbul or in Cartagena .

Virtual Reality Headsets

With VR headsets you can download free apps or buy tours/games and use your headset to see the world as if you’re there, go under the sea, explore national parks, climb to the top of Everest or to space! See below some of the best VR Headsets to experience virtual reality at its best.

DJI Goggles
Oculus Go on Amazon
Oculus Quest on Amazon
Standard VR Headset for iPhone and Android on Amazon

4. Disney Travel From Home

Get out your photos from Disneyland, make a cuppa in your Disney mug, subscribe to Disney+ to watch your favourite Disney films then read about the real life Disney locations that inspired those films. This is how you Disney travel without leaving home!

Here are two of my favourite Disney travel from home accessories. Click on the image to order from Amazon:

5. Travel Decor

Since you’re at home, why not surround yourself with old travel souvenirs or get creative by making travel scrapbooks , globes, maps (see more next point), travel frames , coasters, ornaments and just about anything else.

You could also completely redecorate your home/car with travel-inspired decor. A famous vlogging family from the States teamed with a decorating show to create a travel-themed house! This episode on YouTube is worth a watch for some inspo.

6. Scratch Maps Travel Style

This is probably the best gift to get your travelling friend who can’t travel right now or secret Santa gift as it’s under £10, fun, small and a sort of ‘tick list’ for travellers who count countries! On Amazon you can get all sorts of travel scratch maps like:

The world scratch map by country
A scratch grid for 100 places to visit for a Bucket List
The food map of Europe
Scratch Map by area such as a UK Map to scratch
A hobby scratch list like football grounds in Europe to visit
The wonders of the world scratch map (this one’s just £3)!

7. Travel Trivia

One of my favourite websites is Sporcle and just about the only quizzes I do are to do with Geography, Friends or Harry Potter . Get on there to see how much you know, share with friends or get inspo for your own armchair travel quiz.

Throughout lockdown, quiz nights took over and I always asked to be in charge of the Geography rounds as I was reading about travel anyway and wanted an excuse to discuss countries/flags/cities/world wonders, etc.

8. Travel Blogs

You can spend hours browsing through travel blogs because there’s so many personal photos, stories and videos out there! When I think of a random city/country I’d like to know a bit more about, I go onto Google and quite often go to the maybe the second or third page and look for a travel blog about that place.

There’s so many small travel bloggers out there with great content and after browsing a few, you’ll get your faves!

Want to read one of mine?: My Epic Wildlife Safari in Borneo or A Weekend in Bordeaux, France

9. Vloggers To Take You Travelling Without Leaving Home

The blogging world has fabulous travel articles but if you want to see them in life form, head to YouTube! Here’s some of my go-to vloggers:

Kinging It doing the Mongol Rally . They are from my hometown and one of the funniest travelling couples on the web! Their drone shots are breathtaking.
Drew Binsky in Pakistan . He really does make the best travel documentaries on YouTube.
Kara and Nate in Antartica for some of the best armchair travel videos following their quest to visit 100 countries.
Migrationology in Jamaica for delicious dishes filmed in an unique way that makes you feel like you’re there.

10. Read the Best Adventure Books

Ah, the ultimate source of armchair travel is the best travel books because books and specifically, travel book reviews , take you places, books make you feel like you’re travelling and these armchair travel books will take you around the world! These are some of the best armchair books I’ve read.

Europe: Imagine European countries like France, Netherlands and Italy through one of 2019’s best travelogue books with US by David Nicholls. A couple on the brink of divorce try to savour their marriage by visiting the wonders of Europe with their rebel son. Buy on Amazon here .
North America: Venture around the USA with Not Tonight, Josephine by George Mahood. Mahood relays his travel road trip through the States with funny travel stories and is exactly what you expect American travel books to be. I read this in one sitting. Buy on Amazon here .
South America: Get a travel scare in Bolivia by reading Marching Powder by Rusty Young. This is a true story about a man locked up in La Paz on a drugs charge and details the story of how Young come to write about it. If you want frightful armchair travel books, just look for any that is about being banged up abroad! Maybe won’t inspire wanderlust but will certainly make you stay on the right path! Buy on Amazon here .

Read about when I went off the beaten path (literally): Scary Encounter in Penang Hill, Malaysia

Travel without leaving home - Picture of Bookcase, speaker, tables, chairs in home

More Good Travel Books

Africa: Here’s an option for a quick-ish read yet packed with history, conflict, survival and heartbreak. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park weaves together two stories between 1985 and 2008 in Sudan based on a true story. Buy on Amazon here .
Asia: I couldn’t write a travel books to read list without including one of the most famous travel books turned films, The Beach by Alex Garland proves not everything is as it seems. Or is it in this travel novel about a backpacker in Thailand who ponders the real price of paradise. Buy on Amazon here .
Oceania: One for lovers of historical fiction, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman transports us back to WW1 following a couple who are faced with tough decisions when a baby is washed ashore Janus Rock off Australia, the island inhabited by only those two. Buy on Amazon here .

11. Pinterest

The digital mood board for every scenario but epitomised for travel planning! Pinterest is where you can get the best armchair travel websites. Every Pinterest site has boards for organisation so you can quickly find topics like coffee of the world boards or how to travel and work in Australia .

Please Pin this Post to Your Pinterest Boards!

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12. TV Shows

Here’s my list of the best TV shows related to travel that you can watch from your travel armchair and trigger wanderlust!!

Race Across the World – Two seasons follow various pairs who have to get between points by land only, with the price of a flight only and without any internet and the winners get a cash prize. First season goes from London to Singapore and second season from Mexico City to Ushuaia. LOVE this show.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – It’s Bourdain, need I say more? Okay, okay there’s 12 seasons and this ex-chef travels EVERYWHERE. It’s supposed to be about food but it’s really about the people and place. Mention-worthy episodes include Iran, Jerusalem, Congo and Beirut!
And while we’re on the subject, another MUST is The Layover with Anthony Bourdain. This series highlights what to do with just the layover time in a city (up to 48 hours) and it’s great for quick stops on travels and to think about when booking flights with long layovers.
Street Food Asia and Latin America – Mouth at the ready because the saliva will be forming watching this Netflix original! My absolute fave is the India episode because Indian street food just looks like top-dog of this culinary branch.
An Idiot Abroad is one of the funniest travel shows around. Karl Pilkington moans his way around the world in a programme that will make you laugh while yearning to visit the very places Karl dislikes. Buy the series on Amazon here .

13. Films for Armchair Travel Activities

Nothing quite beats armchair travel like watching the big screen! Movies set on location are amongst the best ways to journey around the world without leaving your house so get your best armchairs and cwtch in ( read here for what cwtch means ). To watch the following films always check streaming sites, Sky movies or follow the links to buy the DVD on Amazon.

Eat Pray Love can be found on every best travel films list because it follows a woman’s journey to Italy, India and Indonesia and every scene makes you want to book a flight! Buy the DVD on Amazon here .
The Darjeeling Limited is a fun railway travel film following three brothers on a train journey across India. Buy from Amazon here .
Under the Tuscan Sun transports you to Italy’s region of Tuscan for a heartfelt love story. Buy here .
A good film I watched on Netflix was called Holiday in the Wild starring Kristin Davis from Sex and the City where she moves to Zambia for a period of time and exercises her vet skills.
Have you seen Blended on Netflix/Sky? It stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and follows two families on an African safari filmed in one of the most amazing hotels which you can actually book the hotel to stay in South Africa!!
How can I write this without included Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia 2 ?! Filmed on the Greek island of Skopelos and Croatian island of Vis with complete soundtrack of ABBA, this film will fly you on holiday from home.

14. Armchair Travel Podcasts

For when you’re on a walk, doing your daily exercise, washing the dishes, cooking breakfast, having a bath or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

My absolute favourite podcast of all time is Counting Countries by Global Gaz where Gaz interviews people who have completed or are on a mission to travel to every country. It’s inspiring, harrowing and fun to listen to and certainly the best armchair travel activity.

Other great listens to feed the travel bug are The World Nomads, What the Pho, The Food Blogger Pro, and Travel Eat Explore.

15. Cooking or Takeaways

Food is the best way I connect to a local culture when I travel. I love eating local food and love writing about them afterwards. Here are many ways you can learn, cook and eat by bringing global cuisines right into your home.

Online Virtual Cooking Classes for World Cuisines

Let’s start here in Europe with this private online cooking class for 1.5 hours to learn how to make Paella from Spain.
Another private tutored class takes us to Argentina for an empanada online class !
To learn a bit about Moroccan cuisine while making Tagine with a local, try this private online Moroccan cooking class .
Jump on the Brunch wagon in this online Eggs Benedict class with Bri (a former Masterchef contestant) from Dallas, USA. Note: class is not private.
Tune in to Jude’s Kitchen on YouTube for authentic, vegan, Middle Eastern recipes/tutorials. She adds stories from her childhood and family to her videos that gives it a likeable, personal element.
Last but certainly not least, join this Thai Online Cooking Class to learn how to make my favourite street food of all time: Khao Soi , a Northern Thai dish that doesn’t have a single flaw! The class is located in Chiang Mai (of course) and will guarantee your next holiday is to Thailand.

Two crepes in Amsterdam covered in chocolate sauce

For all of these, don’t forget the time difference.

Best Cook Books for World Cuisine

For a cook book dripping with British faves, go for the national treasure Nadiya’s Kitchen . Try Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver which includes his take on my favourite meal in the entire world (seafood linguine). Or maybe Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico to learn about authentic tacos and tamales. I also loved John Torode’s Sydney to Seoul . Two of these I’ve read from my mum’s shelf the others I’ve picked up on my own.

Next: Read my food blogs here 🙂

Best Cooking TV Shows

A fab tv show I stumbled upon in lockdown was called A Cook Abroad and featured several chefs who travel to different countries and learn the cuisines with recipes to follow. The best for me were Tony Singh in Amritsar, India and Rachel Khoo in Malaysia.
Speaking of, BBC has a great show called The Little Paris Kitchen with Rachel Khoo.
An oldie but goodie has to be Man Vs Food with Adam Richman following food challenges around USA.
The number one cooking show for me though is one of my mum’s favourite: Long Weekends with Rick Stein where he travels to off-the-beaten-path city breaks in Europe finding local food and cooking it up at home. My friend and I are planning future city breaks based on this show alone.

16. Learn a Language

Not only is this a great armchair travel activity but it’s also a useful life and travel skill! There are many ways you can learn a language such as through a podcast (the 3 minute ones are great and I started to learn German in lockdown), go old school with DVDs like Rosetta Stone, keep modern with apps such as Duolingo or Babbel, sign up to online websites such as Speekify or get personal with online classes and an online tutor.

Armchair Travel Photo. Chair Globe Shelf for travel inspo

17. Plan a Staycation

We’re all loving staycations at the moment and I’ve discovered gorgeous places in my home country of Wales! Plan yours by booking that train, renting that car, finding accommodation on booking.com , picking the best times to travel and planning your itinerary all from the comfort of your armchair!

Some UK Staycation Inspiration:

Ultimate Weekend in The Cotswolds, England
Visit the Most Independent Town of Narbeth in Wales
13 Things to do in Cardiff, Wales
Stay at This Isolated Log Cabin in Taunton, England
12 Ways to Explore London, UK
How to Spend 2 Days on Barry Island, Wales
The Best Gavin & Stacey Guide Written by a Local
Explore Tenby and Saundersfoot in West Wales
An Afternoon in Bath (UNESCO Heritage City in England)
Freshwater West Beach in Wales to Visit Dobby (Harry Potter)

Use all of the above and plan where you want to travel to next in the world. I wrote a post about where I want to visit after lockdown and I don’t know when that’ll be but I’m saving money for when the opportunity arises. For now, I’m armchair travelling and loving it.

Hope you’ve got some good inspo to become an armchair adventurer!

How to Stay Local When Travelling | Living La Vida Local

Wales’ Capital Culture: 13 Things to Do in Cardiff

8 Best Things To Do in Aberystwyth | A Coastal Town in Mid Wales!

Cardiff Christmas Market

Depot Street Food Social | What Can £30 Get You at Depot, Cardiff?

What is British Culture?

Wow, this is amazinig. Thanks for the great ideas.

Thanks for reading Donna. Glad I could help 🙂

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Virtual london tours: the 10 best armchair travel experiences.

Why do you travel?

For some, it’s an opportunity to decompress, perhaps in a warm climate with a good book as a companion. Others seek out new experiences, including sampling local cuisine. But for many, travel is an opportunity to learn more about the place, its people, its culture and its history.

Extend your horizons beyond your living room by taking a virtual London tour of its iconic landmarks and flagship attractions. Here are the best of the bunch.

1. Explore the British Museum from home

The British Museum is one of my favourite places to visit in London. But just because you may not be able to visit it doesn’t mean that you can’t dive into its vast collection.

Its online collection is outstanding, allowing visitors to search over four million object records online or to explore collection highlights and stories. Many of the museum’s objects have more than one image.

Podcasts are also available.

For a different virtual experience, you can take a virtual museum tour with Google Street View , including the hugely popular – and usually rammed – Egyptian Gallery.

2. Take a virtual tour of the National Gallery, London

trafalgar square at night with fountain in foreground

Google has also created 360-degree tours of the National Gallery , including seven rooms as well as its Central Hall. This virtual collection includes Renaissance masterpieces from the likes of Titian and Holbein.

And like the British Museum, you can search the gallery’s vast collection with almost 2,500 of its works available to view online.

3. Find out more about the Wallace Collection’s masterpieces

The Wallace Collection is one of those slightly off-the-main-radar art galleries in London.

Built over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, this collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture, arms, armour and porcelain. It was bequeathed to the British nation in 1897.

It’s east to explore the Wallace Collection highlights .

Want to know more about Frans Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier ? Then you are in luck. Where this virtual collection is head and shoulders over its neighbours is the depth of information offered on exhibits, even to the extent of providing suggestions for further reading.

4. Tour the Courtauld Collection from your armchair

The Courtauld Gallery is one of my favourite galleries in London. After a stunning makeover, it has opened its doors to visitors once again.

Get a sneak preview of what is behind its doors by taking a virtual tour of the gallery’s awesome collection . This includes Van Gough’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère .

5. Take a virtual tour of the Churchill War Rooms

models of 2 solders looking at a map in a war office

Touring the Churchill War Rooms is a terrific thing to do in London. But if you can’t physically be there, visit virtually through its impressive collection of images and videos.

You can just imagine Churchill’s ministers and military strategists thrashing out the Allied strategy in smoke-filled rooms.

6. Take a tour of the Houses of Parliament

Explore the nooks and crannies of the home of UK democracy on a Houses of Parliament 360-degree virtual tour .

Starting at the central lobby, walk through the labyrinthine corridors of power to the House of Commons. Embrace your inner historian by clicking on the information icons on the ‘hotspots’ along the way.

There is also a separate Woman and Parliament Virtual Tour which traces the role of the gentler sex in the UK Government, including the Suffrage movement.

7. Drop into 10 Downing Street

entrance of house with sign for number ten

Let’s stay with UK politics. It’s not as if many people will get an opportunity to enter Downing Street, one of the most famous streets in London and the location of the Prime Minister’s home. But you can take a peek inside courtesy of a virtual tour of 10 Downing Street .

I really like this London virtual tour. The image quality is superb and you can explore 10 Downing Street inside and out.

Start with the iconic staircase, lined with photographs of past Prime Ministers and then venture to the Cabinet Room with its elegant Corinthian columns. Complete your visit by checking out the Prime Minister’s office and the elegant Pillared Room.

Go full-screen for the best experience.

8. Walk in the footsteps of royalty at Buckingham Palace

gates and colonnaded facade of buckingham palace

Don’t stop at seeing where the PM conducts his business. Take a sneaky peek at HM The King’s official London residence with an armchair tour of Buckingham Palace .

This London virtual tour allows you to explore the opulent White Drawing Room, Throne Room and the Grand Staircase.

9. Stalk the corridors of Hampton Court Palace

Anyone who has read Hilary Mantel’s books will be familiar with the magnificent 16 th Century Hampton Court Palace which was once the home of Henry VIII. One of the most beautiful royal palaces in Europe , this is a fantastic place to visit, albeit pricey, but – you guessed it – you can now take a virtual tour of Hampton Court Palace

This 8-minute video, narrated by a ‘Yeoman of the Guard’, starts in the courtyard before moving to rooms inside the Palace. A free online course on the history of royal fashion is also available.

10. Take a narrated tour of the Tower of London

Visiting the Tower of London is a ust-do if you are in town. Sadly, the virtual tour of the Tower of London is no longer available. However, it does have a selction of excellent educational materials on its website .

Which London virtual tour will you take?

These virtual tours of London’s top sights vary hugely in their quality and the depth of information provided. As might be expected, most of these are very visual experiences at the expense of contextual information about what you are looking at.

However, the advantage of experiencing London’s key attractions from the comfort of your own sofa is that you can go at your own pace and don’t have to battle with the crowds. A virtual London tour also provides an opportunity to view spaces normally closed to the public, such as 10 Downing Street.

So pause Netflix and just do it.

soldier on horseback in gateway of horseguards PARADE in london

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About Bridget

Bridget Coleman is a Londoner who has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.

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460 Years Ago, Shakespeare Was Born Here. Or Somewhere.

Every year, millions flock to Stratford-upon-Avon, England, to visit the house known as Shakespeare’s Birthplace. But was he really born there? A whole industry depends on it.

A black-and-white photo of a dilapidated three-story Tudor-style house with a steep shingled roof, a building believed to be Shakespeare’s birthplace, before it was renovated in the late 1800s.

By Elizabeth Winkler

Sometime in the late 18th century, a sign appeared outside a shambly butcher’s hut in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon: “The Immortal Shakspeare was born in this house,” it announced, using a then common spelling of his name. Devotees began making pilgrimages — dropping to their knees, weeping, singing odes: “Untouched and sacred be thy shrine, Avonian Willy, bard Divine!”

A tradesman grew rich selling carvings from a local mulberry tree, like pieces of the true cross. Some skeptics suspected that the sign was part of a scheme to bring visitors to Stratford; others wondered if it had been hung by the property’s occupant. A local antiquarian criticized the whole scene as “a design to extort pecuniary gratuities from the credulous and unwary.”

Pilgrims flocked to the house, and it became a site so hallowed that one visitor warned that the veneration of Shakespeare threatened to eclipse that of God:

Yet steals a sigh, as reason weighs/ The fame to Shakespeare given,/ That thousands, worshippers of him,/ Forget to worship Heaven!

About 250 years after its break from the Catholic Church, England had its own Bethlehem and manger.

The problem: No one really knows where Shakespeare was born.

Mock Tudors and magic wands

Stratford-upon-Avon lies two hours northwest of London in the Midlands, more or less the heart of England. Today, it is one of Britain’s most popular tourist destinations, drawing up to three million visitors a year. The Birthplace is its main attraction, followed by the cottage reputed to be the place where Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife, grew up.

Stratford exudes Elizabethan kitsch, with souvenir shops and half-timbered buildings. In the 19th century, the Victorians tried to make Stratford look more “authentic,” which has left it teeming with mock Tudors.

It’s a town whose economy and identity revolve around Shakespearean fervor, which peaks every year on April 23, the date celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday. It is also, conveniently, St. George’s Day , honoring the patron saint of England.

On my first visit in June 2021, I passed the Hathaway Tea Rooms and a cafe called the Food of Love, a cutesy name taken from “Twelfth Night” (“If music be the food of love, play on”). Confusingly, there were also several Harry Potter-themed shops. Stratford and Hogwarts, quills and wands, poems and spells . Then again, maybe the conflation was apt: Wasn’t Shakespeare a sort of boy wizard, magically endowed with inexplicable powers?

On Henley Street, I arrived at the Birthplace, a half-timbered house yellowed with age. Today, it looks like a single detached building, but it was originally a row of tenements. John Shakespeare bought one tenement on the street in 1556, though he also bought property on nearby Greenhill Street, which could just as easily have been the site of his son’s birth. He bought the property thought to be the Birthplace in 1575, 11 years after his son was born.

Those who believe in the Birthplace point to a record from 1552 showing that a John Shakespeare was fined for keeping a dung heap somewhere on Henley Street. It doesn’t specify the location, but that dung heap has fueled a theory that he must have been living there at the time of his son’s birth, perhaps as a renter.

Similarly, the claim for the authenticity of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage rests on a record that a John Hathaway leased the 90-acre farm on which the building stood 13 years before Anne was born in about 1556. The cottage may well be linked to the Hathaways, but there is no proof that Anne actually grew up in it, just as there is none that Shakespeare was born in the house on Henley Street.

Together, these traditions have sustained Stratford’s tourist industry, worth about $315 million in 2019, before the pandemic. But they have not convinced many skeptics over the years.

“Stratford permits — indeed encourages — one of the biggest frauds in England to rage unchecked,” the journalist Bernard Levin railed in The Daily Mail in 1965. “I mean those two monumental frauds, ‘Shakespeare’’s Birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.”

It didn’t help that hucksters have found ways to make the story profitable. In the early 19th century, a tenant of the Birthplace named Mrs. Hornby ran a lucrative hustle showing and selling Shakespeare’s “relics” to gullible visitors. The relics were eventually exposed in an 1848 article in Bentley’s Miscellany , which observed that four different chairs, each purporting to be “Shakespeare’s chair,” had been sold over the years, each made by a well-known local craftsman.

I entered through the Shakespeare Centre, a strange museum that acts as an antechamber to the Birthplace. There were no books owned by Shakespeare or letters in Shakespeare’s hand, because none are known to exist. Instead, a glass case displayed eight Shakespeare busts dating from 1844 to 2000. Another case featured a Shakespeare beer mug (1933), Shakespeare playing cards (1974) and a Shakespeare action figure made in China (2003).

Inside the Birthplace, I went from room to room with the other visitors. Guides regaled us with tales of Shakespeare’s childhood — how he played and ate and dreamed in these rooms. Of course, his childhood is actually a yawning blank: From his baptism in 1564 to his marriage in 1582, there are no records of him. In one room, a table displayed books, quills and ink, indicating a family of learning — but his parents signed documents with a mark, like many illiterate people in Tudor England.

The other visitors murmured to one another in reverent museum whispers and nodded at the guides. I thought of how, in the late 19th century, a Birthplace custodian named Joseph Skipsey resigned his post after a few months, explaining that “not a single one of the many so-called relics on exhibition could be proved to be Shakspere’s” and that “the Birthplace itself is a matter of grave doubt.”

The power of popular faith

Efforts to preserve the property as the official Birthplace began in 1847, when it was put up for sale. In response to fears that P.T. Barnum was going to buy it and make it part of a show, a committee was formed to “save” the house for the nation, and the group began to solicit donations.

Not everyone was convinced. “The extraordinary sensation caused by the purchase of this shabby sausage-shop deserves a prominent place amongst popular delusions,” declared the 1848 Bentley’s Miscellany article . A writer for another British periodical mocked the gullibility of a nation pouring forth funds to buy a “rubbishing mass of lath and plaster in which the Poet was no more born than was the Man in the Moon himself.”

But the belief had already become an article of faith, strengthened by its own repetition. The Birthplace was a better shrine for the very absence of evidence — for the faith it required of its visitors — the publisher Charles Knight wrote at the time. That same year, the committee secured the Birthplace at auction for 3,000 pounds, worth about $323,000 today .

The “shabby sausage-shop” made an uninspiring temple. So the adjoining premises were demolished, walls moved, floorboards replaced, new doorways and staircases created. Its new stewards transformed it into the large, comfortable home of a prosperous Elizabethan family, leaving the cellar as “the only portion which remains as it was,” as the scholar Sidney Lee wrote in 1901. What emerged was less a Tudor dwelling than a Victorian imagination of one.

The committee became the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust , the group that still runs the site, and maintains its authenticity. “We know that, to the best of our current understanding, the building includes the surviving fabric of a property that is traditionally and intimately associated with Shakespeare and his family,” said a spokesman for the trust.

The trust went on to acquire more properties, including Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, a thatched farmhouse where visitors are invited to “relive Shakespeare’s love story.”

A temple to baby Shakespeare

“This is the room where we believe William Shakespeare was born in April 1564,” read a sign in the Birthroom. Next to the bed stood a cradle laid out with blankets and a tiny pillow, encouraging visitors to imagine the baby genius mewling by his parents’ side. For the Victorians, the Birthroom offered the mystical possibility of contact with the poet. Visitors recorded melodramatic accounts of what they felt on entering the room: They burst into tears. They fell down. They kissed the floor. Those desiring a more extended communion spent the night.

Others were unimpressed. “If I were to allude to Stratford, it would not be in connection with the fact that Shakespeare came into the world there,” wrote the novelist Henry James after visiting. “It would be rather to speak of a delightful old house near the Avon which struck me as the ideal home for a Shakespearean scholar.”

But the fantasy is resilient. In a 2023 PBS documentary, “ Making Shakespeare: The First Folio ,” the scholar Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute, stood in the Birthplace, gushing over “the very room in which Shakespeare was born.”

I shuffled around the cradle with the other visitors, unsure of what to do. Were we supposed to genuflect? Kiss it? After an appropriate amount of staring, we moved on.

To exit, I had to pass through the gift shop, where any lingering sense of piety dissipated in a tidal wave of consumerism. Visitors were loading up on Shakespeare T-shirts, breakfast teas and tea towels. Shakespeare rubber ducks and windup toys. Shakespeare Christmas ornaments, baby onesies, tote bags and luxury chocolates. Belief is good business.

When I returned to Stratford last February, little had changed since my first visit. The Shakespeare Centre was now showing modern artists’ interpretations of the poet, including a Surrealist painting of a masked figure that suggested the mystery surrounding him. The trinket stands were still hawking their modern versions of those 18th-century mulberry tree carvings. Faith in the traditions is bound up with desire — the need to believe.

Where was “the Immortal Shakspeare” really born? Stories are usually more seductive than the truth.

Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

Elizabeth Winkler is a journalist, a critic and the author of “ Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature .”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places: Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai: Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto: The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland: The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas: Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .

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