Ways To Cure Your Wanderlust When You Can’t Travel

Wanderlust is such a beautiful feeling. It’s that familiar mix of excitement, curiosity, and longing that makes you want to grab your passport, pack your favourite suitcase, and head straight to the airport. Life doesn’t always let us travel whenever we want to though. Sometimes money is tight, timing doesn’t align or other priorities come first.

But you can still feel inspired, connected to the world, and creatively fulfilled even when you’re staying close to home. And honestly, this is one of the best skills you can build as a solo traveller; the ability to bring wonder, curiosity, and culture into your everyday life.

In this guide, you’ll find lots of simple, creative, and practical ideas that help you cure your wanderlust when you can’t travel. They will help you feel more grounded, more inspired, and more connected to the version of you who thrives on exploration. Let’s keep your travel spark alive.

Revisit & Reanimate Your Travel Memories

Sometimes the best way to cure wanderlust is to reconnect with the travel memories that made those trips feel magical for you. When you pause and revisit the places, people, flavours, and memories that shaped your travels, you bring back that spark of curiosity and gratitude, even if you’re just sitting at home on your sofa.

This isn’t about forcing yourself to “get over it.” It’s about celebrating your travel stories so far and reminding yourself that you’ll be able to add new chapters again in the future.

Here are a few ways that you can reawaken your inner explorer.

Create A Travel Memory Album

Travel albums are one of the most comforting and joyful ways to reconnect with the places that you’ve loved during your travels. Pull together your favourite photos from past trips and turn them into something special.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Digital photo albums
• A scrapbook filled with tickets, stickers, notes, receipts, and doodles
• A minimalist photo book with clean layouts
• Aesthetic Pinterest-style scrapbooks
• A Pinterest-style mood board of your favourite travel photos organized by trip or theme
• A digital travel diary using apps like Day One or Notion with photos, voice notes, and location tags

Choose images that make your heart swell. Add small notes about where you were, how you felt, what you learned. This will help you process memories, relive the experiences, feel gratitude, reconnect with your travel identity and remind you of how far you’ve come.

I do this regularly after big trips. Sorting through old photos always reminds me of how much confidence and joy travel has brought into my life.

Make Short Travel Videos Or Reels

You don’t need filmmaking skills to bring your memories to life. Video editing apps like CapCut, InShot, or Canva (CapCut is my go to!) – and put together 10–20 seconds of your favourite clips.

Explore the templates, there are literally thousands to pick from, and have fun with it.

You could also theme the videos.:

• Best eats from around the world
• Favourite Solo trip highlights
• A day in…(Vancouver, New York, Rome – anywhere that you’ve visited)
• Solo girls night out on holiday
• Favourite travel memories
• Cocktail hour on a solo trip
• Travel moments that healed me
• Places that made me smile
• Travel highlights from a specific year
• Favourite sunsets/cafes/street markets

Experiment with templates, music, filters, and transitions. Think of it as creative therapy.

The process of creating videos will help you relive the feelings of your past trips – the sounds, the scenery, the people, the experiences, the joy you felt stepping into new cities completely on your own.

Write Down Your Favourite Solo Travel Stories

Your memories deserve a lot more than just sitting in your camera roll. Writing them down brings them to life in ways that photos can’t.

Try using prompts like:

• Random adventures that you had
• A story about the kind stranger who helped you
• A moment you felt unexpectedly brave
• A place that surprised you
• A mistake that turned into the best memory
• A time that you felt completely at peace abroad
• A sensory memory of your travels – smells, sounds, tastes of a place
• A funny moment you had
• An experience that changed you as a solo female traveler

You can also create themed journal pages:

• Best meals
• Funniest moments
• Kindest strangers
• Favourite cafés
• Most scenic views
• Urban adventures vs. nature moments

Writing these stories out is grounding and nostalgic — and often reminds you why travel means so much to you. It will get you excited for the stories you haven’t lived yet.

Try Prompted Lists or Travel-Themed Reflection Pages

If you prefer structure, try list-style journaling. It’s powerful and simple.

Here are a few ideas:

• My top 10 favourite travel moments
• Cities I can’t wait to revisit
• Destinations that shaped who I am
• A list of fears I overcame while travelling
• Travel skills I didn’t know I had
• Things I learned about myself abroad
• Things that surprised me about different cultures

These lists will remind you that you’ve already travelled, grown, and lived entire chapters worth celebrating. And you will again.

Create Travel Scrapbooks That Bring Your Memories to Life

Making travel scrapbooks is one of the most nostalgic, comforting, and visually creative Wanderlust scrapbooking projects you can do to reconnect with your travel memories. It gives you a hands-on project that feels relaxing, artistic, and deeply personal — the perfect cure for wanderlust when you’re craving something tactile.

And contrary to what Instagram makes you think, your scrapbook doesn’t need to be perfect or Pinterest-level polished. It just needs to tell your story.

If you need travel scrapbook ideas, here are some fun creative styles and approaches to try:

Ideas For Your Travel Scrapbook Style

Experiment with formats like:

• Classic paper scrapbooks with mixed textures, stickers, and handwritten notes
• Ring-bound scrapbooks so you can add or rearrange pages anytime
• Notebook-style journals for a minimal, travel diary look
• Digital scrapbooks using Canva or Notion for a clean, modern aesthetic
• A mixed-media DIY travel scrapbook blending photos, dried flowers, receipts, and sketches

Choose whatever matches your personality — colourful and playful, or clean and minimalist.

Things You Can Include In Your Travel Scrapbook

Your scrapbook can include anything that sparks joy, memory, emotion, or personality:

• Printed photos
• Polaroids
• Tickets (trains, metros, ferries, events)
• Museum or gallery leaflets
• Restaurant napkins or coasters
• Food labels or wrappers
• Maps
• Postcards
• Receipts from cafés or shops
• Pressed flowers or leaves
• Stickers from local markets
• Handwritten notes about your day

These tiny details are often the most meaningful later on.

Travel Scrapbook Creative Page Ideas To Try

Work page-by-page using small themes, such as:

• A “Day In The Life” spread from one memorable travel day
• A food highlights page (your best bites, pastries, coffees, or cocktails)
• A kindness page filled with moments when strangers helped you
• A colour-themed page inspired by the palette of a particular city
• A “What I Learned Here” page capturing how the place shaped you
• A wanderlust collage made from magazine cut-outs and tickets

Scrapbooking lets you relive your trip from a creative angle, which is powerful when you’re missing the freedom of exploring new places.

Start Or Restart Travel Journaling

Travel journaling isn’t just something you do when you’re already on the road. It can be a grounding, inspiring, and incredibly therapeutic way to stay connected to your wanderlust when you’re stuck at home. Whether you’re a solo traveller who journals regularly or someone who hasn’t touched a notebook in years, picking up a pen again can help you feel closer to your travel identity. These travel journaling ideas are perfect when you can’t travel but still want to feel inspired.

Journaling activates your imagination, helps you process emotions, and gives you a creative outlet to pour your wanderlust into — especially when travelling isn’t an option. Treat yourself to a journal that feels good in your hands, brew a cosy drink, and carve out even ten minutes for yourself.

Here are some detailed ideas to revive your travel journaling practice in a way that feels meaningful, soothing, and deeply inspiring.

Use Travel-Themed Journal Prompts For Wanderlust

If you’ve got writer’s block or just have no idea where to start, try these wanderlust journal prompts. They will help you tap into your memories and imagination to bring back the feelings you are craving; curiosity, excitement, reflection, confidence.

Wanderlust journal prompts:

• What places shaped me and why?
• Where do I want to go next and what am I craving from that destination?
• What did my last trip teach me about myself?
• Where would I go if nothing was holding me back?
• What kind of traveller am I becoming?
• What is my travel bucket list for the next year, the next five years, and someday?
• What version of myself do I become when I travel — and how can I bring her into my daily life?

These prompts will help you stay connected to the mindset you have when you travel — brave, curious, open-hearted, and optimistic.

Journal Daily Travel-Inspired Reflections

Building a small daily ritual can help satisfy wanderlust in a gentle way. It gives you something to look forward to, and it keeps you in touch with the part of yourself that dreams of faraway places. Try out different daily habits to see what works for you.

• Morning pages about a place you want to revisit
• A gratitude list about destinations you’ve explored that changed you
• A travel quote of the day to spark inspiration
• A tiny writing prompt about your dream adventure that day
• A reflection prompt like “How can I bring a travel mindset into my morning?”

These little rituals will only take a few minutes, but they will help you keep that travel energy alive in your everyday life.

Create “Future Trip Pages”

Even if your next trip is months, or even years away, travel journaling is a great way to feel like you’re planning something exciting to look forward. So even if you don’t have firm plans, you can still have fun building:

• Bucket Lists
• Destinations you want to visit
• Things to do lists
• Rough itineraries
• Places to stay and hotel wishlists
• Must-eats and local food ideas
• Neighbourhoods to explore
• Budget breakdowns and savings goals
• Packing list ideas
• Seasonal travel wishlists (spring cherry blossoms, summer beaches, festivals, autumn getaways, winter cities, Christmas markets etc)

Think of this as pre-planning; just gentle, fun, creative brainstorming that gives your wanderlust somewhere to go.

Try Bullet Journaling For Wanderlust

If you love being creative experiment with bullet journaling. It’s a fun, visual and artistic alternative to traditional journaling. For visual inspiration, just search phrases like bullet journaling and travel bullet journaling on Pinterest, TikTok and Instagram.

Ideas include:

• Monthly spreads inspired by your favourite cities
• A packing list tracker
• A trip countdown page
• Landmark doodles
• Colour palettes inspired by destinations
• Polaroid photo collages
• “Countries I’ve visited” and “Countries I want to visit” maps
• Habit trackers inspired by global routines (e.g., French-style slow mornings, Japanese tea rituals)
• Illustrated itineraries

Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram are full of creative spreads if you need inspiration. This is a lovely way to connect with global aesthetics while staying home.

Rekindle Connection With Travel Friends

Your travel friends are a special kind of magic. These are the people who have seen you navigate new cities, laugh through chaotic travel days, get brave in unfamiliar places, and order food in a language you barely speak. They know a version of you that feels freer and more adventurous, which is exactly why reconnecting with them is such a powerful way to cure wanderlust at home.

Catching up with friends you’ve travelled with or met during your travels will help bring back that feeling of being out in the world again. It will remind you of who you were on those trips and who you want to be again when you’re able to travel. Even a short chat can make you feel instantly more connected and uplifted, especially when you take the time to truly connect with travel friends again.

Here’s how to use your travel friendships to reignite your wanderlust from home. Your travel friends will understand wanderlust in a way that no one else does.

Plan Virtual Coffee Catch-Ups

One of the easiest ways to feel inspired again is to reconnect face-to-face over a drink, even if it’s through a screen. Pick a time, and make it intentional by:

• Making a cozy drink (or pouring a glass of wine)
• Bringing a few photos, stories, or inside jokes to talk about
• Favourite memories together
• Asking what they’ve been up to since your last adventure
• The biggest things you learned from solo travel
• Sharing travel dreams, cravings, and ideas

These conversations will bring back the energy of adventure instantly and help you remember the version of yourself who thrives when exploring the world.

Swap Stories You’ve Forgotten About

You’d be surprised how many stories you’ve forgotten until someone else reminds you.

Pull up old photos together and laugh about:

• A chaotic travel day
• Food that surprised you
• Neighbourhoods that stole your hearts
• The inside jokes from your trip
• Random adventures you had

Talking through these stories brings out all the sensory memories — the sounds, smells, and feelings you associate with that trip. It will remind you just how many beautiful moments you’ve already lived.

Plan Dreamy Trips For The Future

You don’t need a budget, timeline, or even real plans. Dreaming is enough.
Open a shared Google Doc, Pinterest board, or Notion page and:

• Add destinations calling your name
• Save hotels you’d love to stay in
• Add activities or day trips you want to do
• Drop in restaurant or café recommendations
• Create collections of views, food, nature, and cityscapes
• Plan imaginary itineraries — just for the fun of it

Planning “not-quite-real” trips is an incredibly effective way to give your wanderlust somewhere to go. It stimulates the same part of your brain that gets lit up when you’re building a real itinerary for a real adventure.

This is one of the most uplifting ways to feel like you’re travelling again — without spending a penny.

Trade Travel Bucket Lists

This is such a fun way to bond with travel friends, and it always leads to unexpected stories and ideas.

Share with each other:

• Your top dream destinations
• The places that feel “non-negotiable” in your life
• Trips that shaped your identity
• Countries you want to revisit
• Hidden gems you want to discover
• Experiences you want to do one day (safaris, night trains, road trips, island hopping, etc.)
• Food you want to travel specifically for

Comparing lists often sparks even more wanderlust — and may even inspire a future trip you didn’t expect.

You can turn this into:

• A shared list
• A vision board
• A collage
• A journal page
• A Google Doc
• A Pinterest board

It feels dreamy, aspirational, hopeful, and deeply satisfying.

Find Your Wanderlust Triggers

One of the most effective ways to cure wanderlust is learning what triggers it. Wanderlust isn’t random. It’s emotional, sensory, and linked to the sounds, flavours, visuals, and feelings you associate with exploring the world. When you recreate those sensations at home, you tap into the same spark that travel gives you without needing to leave the house.

So here are some ways that you can reconnect with the cues that make you feel excited, curious, nostalgic, or inspired again.

Explore Global Cuisines And Travel-Inspired Meals

Recreating travel-inspired meals at home is such an easy way to bring back the flavours and feelings you loved on your trips. it’s incredible how much you can cure wanderlust with food alone because it will bring back instant memories; the tang of street food in Asia, the sweetness of pastries in Europe, the spices of Latin America, or the fresh coastal flavours of the Mediterranean.

Here are a few ideas:

• Cook dishes from your favourite destinations
• Visit a cultural grocery store to explore global cuisine at home
• Try a new tea, pastry, or spice
• Make a themed dinner night for yourself
• Order something you’ve never tried before
• Try a new cuisine from a Country on your travel bucket list

Use Music To Shift Your Travel Mood

Music can transport you anywhere emotionally. So it’s one of the quickest ways to feel like you’re somewhere else.

Create playlists inspired by destinations for different vibes like:

• Italian café mornings (acoustic, soft jazz, piano)
• Tokyo late-night neon vibes (lofi beats, J-pop, ambient electronic)
• Parisian strolls (French indie, café jazz, soft pop)
• Tropical beach sunsets (reggae, bossa nova, chill house)
• European train journey ambience (cinematic, folk, indie instrumental)
• Rodeos and State Fairs (Country, acoustic)
• Destination playlists for future trips

Listen while cooking, journaling, cleaning, or relaxing. You’d be amazed how easily music changes your emotional landscape.

Add Travel-Inspired Scents Around Your Home

Scents are deeply tied to memory and emotion, and can instantly reconnect you with places and experiences you love.

Try candles or essential oils inspired by:

• Candles inspired by ocean air, forest trails, citrus groves, spices, coffee shops, ranches and cowboys (whiskey and tobacco)
• Perfume samples that remind you of a city, country or certain travel memories
• Essential oils inspired by global environments
• Incense used in places you’ve visited
• Aromatic teas that smell like a specific country

Even lighting a candle can make you feel like you’ve stepped into a different atmosphere.

You could also create a “wanderlust scent ritual” while you are journaling or watching travel documentaries.

Surround Yourself With Visual Wanderlust

Visual triggers are incredibly powerful — they remind you of the views, colours, textures, and moods that make travel so addictive.

Surround yourself with visuals like:

• Build Pinterest boards filled with dream destinations
• Travel outfit inspiration
• Hotel and Airbnb moodboards
• Inspiring landscapes
• Café aesthetics
• Global city street scenes
• Beautiful skylines or beach views
• Travel moodboards organised by vibe or season
• Photo wall collages of your travels

Pinterest is especially good for this because you can save, organise, and revisit images as often as you like. It becomes a digital vision board for future trips. This is also another way that you can use the photos from your travels to cure your wanderlust.

Get Creative With Travel-Inspired Projects At Home

Wanderlust isn’t just about exploring the world. It’s also about expressing the part of yourself that loves beauty, creativity, and culture. So if you’re a creative soul, crafting is such a comforting way to soothe wanderlust at home. It gives you something tactile to focus on, allows you to relive your favourite trips, and lets you bring global culture into your space in a hands-on way. Creative projects also help you slow down, romanticise the moment, and reconnect with the part of yourself that feels most alive when you’re exploring.

Here are some fun, cosy, and meaningful travel craft ideas you can try at home.

DIY Travel-Inspired Decor

Bring global inspiration into your living space by creating your own DIY travel-themed decor that will spark joy and curiosity. This is perfect if you want to bring little reminders of your travels into your home in an aesthetic way.

Here are a few creative wanderlust ideas:

• Framed maps of Countries that you’ve visited or want to vist
• Push pin maps or scratch off maps that you can customize
• Travel photo garlands hung above your desk or bed
• Custom quote prints of travel affirmations or your favourite city
• Shadow boxes filled with postcards, metro tickets, matchbooks, charms and keepsakes from your travels
• A wall grid of polaroids, tickets, and small mementos
• Travel-themed shelf styling using books, candles, souvenirs, and prints
• Photo galleries of your adventures
• Decorated mason jars filled with sand, sea glass, or tiny keepsakes from your past trips
• Pressed flowers from previous trips placed in minimalist frames
• A world-travel moodboard with postcards, photos, and colours from past destinations
• Customized furniture using paints, decoupage travel photos, and fabrics.

These projects will make your home feel warm, personal, and full of the energy you miss from being abroad. They will help you keep your travel memories front and centre, turning your home into a space that reminds you of the world you’ve explored.

Creative Ways To Display Travel Mementos

We all have boxes of tickets, receipts, postcards, pressed flowers, and tiny keepsakes from trips. Instead of letting them sit unseen, turn them into something beautiful.

Try displaying them through:

• A floating shelf collection of ceramics, textiles, or handcrafted items
• A postcard garland hung with tiny clips
• A travel memory bowl filled with small items like seashells or coins
• A large corkboard collage of photos, receipts, food labels, wrappers, train tickets,
• A coffee table book of printed photos, journaling, and tiny mementos tucked inside
• A rotating photo display using a small wooden stand or metal clip frame
• A memory jar where you drop small notes or souvenirs
• A travel tray filled with postcards, stones, shells, or matchbooks

These displays will let you revisit your travel memories without scrolling through your camera roll.

Try Crafts From Other Countries And Cultures

You don’t need a plane ticket to explore global creativity. Trying crafts from around the world is a fun and hands-on way to feel connected to different cultures. If your wanderlust is focused on cultural exploration, try hands-on crafts inspired by global traditions.

You’ll learn cultural techniques, explore new aesthetics, and feel immersed in global creativity.

Here are some ideas:

• Scandinavian woven wall hangings
• Italian-inspired clay pottery
• Greek-style mosaic coasters
• French-inspired candle making or perfume blending
• Japanese origami
• Moroccan-inspired mosaic coasters
• Indian block printing or stencilling
• Philippine parol-making (paper lantern stars)
• Scandinavian embroidery or weaving
• Mexican papel picado banners
• African beadwork

You can order kits online or follow tutorials on YouTube, Pinterest, or TikTok. Make it a cosy, slow-evening ritual, something that feels like a cultural experience, not just a craft.

Start A Creative Wanderlust Notebook Or Sketchbook

If you’re artistic, or you want to be, start a sketchbook inspired by travel.

You could fill it with:

• Watercolour landscapes
• Café sketches
• Drawings of travel photos you’ve taken
• Maps of places you’ve visited
• Travel-inspired colour palettes
• Stickers, stamps, and photos
• Doodle pages inspired by destinations

Create Travel-Themed Digital Art

If you prefer digital creativity, try:

• Designing travel quote graphics (great for Pinterest or journaling)
• Creating destination mood-boards
• Making a digital collage of your favourite travel images
• Designing printable wall art inspired by cities you love
• Using Procreate to sketch travel scenes
• Digitizing old travel photos and turning them into postcards or prints

This is also a brilliant way to repurpose your travel photography for Pinterest, your blog, or social media.

This is soothing, relaxing, and a great companion for moments when your mind is craving escape.

Try Travel Photography Challenges At Home

This is one of my favourite creative things to do as it’s a great way to improve your photography skills for future trips.

Try doing some themed photo challenges like:

• “City vibes” in your neighbourhood
• “Café snapshots”
• “Daily life details”
• “Textures of my city”
• “Nature in unexpected places”

Photography helps you see your surroundings like a traveller, not a local — which is a beautiful way to reframe your environment.

Start A Travel Creativity Ritual

If you want to make this a regular part of your routine, try:

• A Sunday evening “travel craft hour.”
• A monthly DIY destination night where you make crafts inspired by a specific country.
• A seasonal travel project, like a spring mood-board, summer scrapbook, or winter shadow box.
• A creative journaling session pairing your crafts with travel quotes or affirmations.

Small creative moments like these help you stay connected to your wanderlust in a really grounding, meaningful way.

Become A Tourist In Your Own City

One of the easiest ways to cure wanderlust when you can’t travel is to treat your own city the way you treat a new destination. When you shift out of “local mode” and into “tourist mode,” everything around you feels different. Streets you normally rush through suddenly become interesting, cafés you’ve ignored start to feel inviting, and neighbourhoods you’ve never explored begin to spark curiosity again.

Exploring your city like a tourist brings back that same sense of discovery you get from travelling, just without the planning, flights, or luggage. It’s such a simple way to add novelty and adventure into your routine, and it’s honestly one of the most enjoyable ways to cure wanderlust close to home.

And as a solo traveller, this is such a lovely way to build confidence, try new experiences, and keep your travel mindset alive. From wandering cultural neighbourhoods to finding global cuisine near me-style restaurants, your city can still give you that feeling of exploration you’re craving.

Here are some fun, cosy, and genuinely wanderlust-satisfying ways to explore your city like a tourist.

Explore Cultural Neighbourhoods

Every city has pockets of culture shaped by global communities, and they are absolute goldmines for satisfying wanderlust.

Spend an afternoon wandering areas filled with:

• Family-owned bakeries
• Speciality grocery stores
• Cultural supermarkets
• Markets with international snacks
• Bookstores with foreign-language titles and travel sections
• Street art inspired by different cultures
• Handmade shops or artisan craft markets
• Neighbourhood festivals and food fairs

Try going with a theme, such as: “Italian afternoon,” “Little India stroll,” “Korean café day,” or “Mediterranean vibes.”. This gives you the feeling of “stepping into another country” for a few hours.

Visit Markets, Galleries, And Global Festivals

Whenever wanderlust kicks in, look for events or spaces that celebrate global perspectives.

Here are some ideas:

• Cultural street festivals
• Food festivals featuring global cuisines
• Art galleries showcasing international artists
• Craft fairs with globally-inspired makers
• Seasonal markets highlighting different regions (Christmas markets, Asian night markets, European-style artisan markets)

These local events often bring the same atmosphere you experience abroad: food stalls, global music, handmade items, and a sense of community.

Visit Local Independent Shops

If you miss browsing markets and small boutique stores abroad, independent shops give you the same sense of discovery.

Look for:

• Tea shops featuring blends from different countries
• Spice stores with imported seasonings and sauces
• Bookshops carrying translated literature or global cookbooks
• Cultural craft stores
• Moleskin-style stationery shops
• Ceramics, woven baskets, or textiles from around the world
• Outdoor markets selling handmade goods

This kind of browsing feels exactly like exploring a small shop in a European town or an artisan stall at a night market. It’s slow, joyful, and full of little treasures.

Go On A Day Trip To Somewhere Nearby

A change of scenery can refresh your mind just as much as a holiday can.

Here’s a few options:

• A small-town or village nearby
• A coastal or lakeside spot
• A mountain viewpoint
• A nature trail or forest walk
• A scenic road-trip route
• An organized group day trip that you can join

This gives your brain that “leaving the city” feeling — even if it’s just for a few hours.

Try Small Independent Café’s And Restaurants With Global Cuisine

If you miss the joy of discovering restaurants on your travels, recreate that feeling by trying new places in your own city. Pick a cuisine you’ve never eaten before or revisit a favourite that reminds you of a place that you love.

Here’s a few ideas to try:

• A cuisine you’ve never tasted
• A spot with authentic, traditional dishes
• A family-run restaurant with recipes passed through generations
• A café with a global menu (Japanese bakery, Nordic pastries, Middle Eastern mezze)

Order something different from your usual go-to.

• Sit by a window.
• People-watch.
• Pretend you’re abroad.
• It feels surprisingly therapeutic.

If dining alone is something you struggle with, check out my post 25 Great Tips For Eating Alone When You Travel Solo where I’m sharing all the ways that I got over my fears of eating out on my own.

Go On A Mini-Adventure

Mini-adventures are tiny doses of travel energy.

Here’s a few ideas for your local adventures:

• Exploring a neighbourhood you’ve never visited
• Taking a different bus line to the end just to see where it goes
• Visiting a gallery or museum you always walk past
• Finding a rooftop viewpoint or a new walking route
• Wandering through a part of the city at sunrise or sunset
• Doing a photo walk with a travel-themed playlist
• Finding a café you’ve never tried and pretending it’s your holiday breakfast spot

These little adventures help you see your city differently, and remind you that you’re still a traveller at heart. The key is simply to explore with curiosity.

Feed Your Wanderlust: Get Inspired By New Destinations

Sometimes wanderlust isn’t about missing the places you’ve been, it’s about craving the places that you haven’t discovered yet. When you can’t travel, seeking out new destinations through stories, visuals, creators, and culture is an amazing way to keep that sense of exploration alive. Think of it as pre-trip inspiration. You’re fuelling that spark and giving yourself something exciting to look forward to.

Here are easy, cosy, and genuinely inspiring ways to explore the world from your sofa.

Watch Travel Documentaries

Travel documentaries are one of the best ways to explore new destinations without leaving home. They’re immersive, beautiful, and full of the sensory moments you crave from travel.

Look for:

• Slow travel series
• Nature-focused documentaries (oceans, forests, wildlife)
• Culture or history-based programs
• Food and street-food series
• Destination deep dives (Japan, Iceland, Italy, Morocco, Bali, etc.)
• Nostalgic travel shows or older BBC programmes

Make it a little ritual. Grab a cosy blanket. Make a themed snack. Dim the lights. Let yourself feel transported.

Watch International Movies

Films set in different countries give you a powerful sense of place, even when you’re curled up on the sofa. They’re perfect when you want the emotional experience of travel — scenery, culture, architecture, atmosphere — without actually going anywhere.

Try checking out:

• European romances, cosy Italian countryside films, or British village dramas
• Korean dramas with gorgeous city shots
• Japanese slice-of-life movies
• Scandinavian thrillers or slow-paced nature films
• Indian films full of colour, music, and food
• Latin American cinema with warmth and personality

Choose a country you miss, or pick somewhere new entirely. Let the film take you somewhere beautiful.

Discover New Travel Vloggers

Find creators who align with your energy — quiet, aesthetic, adventurous, foodie, nature-focused, or city-focused.

Travel vloggers are one of the most personal and comforting ways to experience destinations you haven’t visited yet. You get first-person storytelling, real experiences, realistic budgets, and raw reactions — all from people who travel in ways that feel relatable.

Look for creators who match your travel style:

• Aesthetic and slow travellers
• Solo female travellers
• Food-focused travellers
• Adventure or nature-focused vloggers
• City-explorers who love cafés, bookstores, and hidden gems
• Budget travellers
• Digital nomads documenting day-to-day life abroad

Scroll until you find creators who feel calming, inspiring, or energizing. Save videos for future travel planning.

Read Books Set Around The World

Sometimes the deepest wanderlust satisfaction comes from a book that transports you right inside a city or culture. Books can give you sensory detail and emotional connection that even TV doesn’t always match.

Types of reads to try:

• Travel memoirs
• Books by authors from the country you’re exploring
• Contemporary fiction set abroad
• Historical novels set in destinations you love
• Food memoirs or chef-written travel writing
• Solo female travel memoirs to boost confidence

If you really want to enhance the mood, pair the book with:

• A candle inspired by the destination
• Music from that region
• A snack or drink that fits the vibe

It turns reading into a little travel ritual.

Explore Pinterest Boards

Pinterest is one of the easiest places to get lost in wanderlust in the best possible way. It’s calming, visual, immersive, and full of inspiration from all over the world.

Create boards for:

• Dream destinations
• Bucketlist experiences
• Itinerary’s for future trips
• Boutique hotels
• Aesthetic cafés abroad
• Travel outfits
• Nature views you’d love to see
• Street-food inspiration
• City guides
• Scenic train journeys
• Packing ideas
• Itinerary inspiration
• Walking routes

Let yourself scroll in peace. Pin whatever sparks joy. Use Pinterest as your travel mood board until it’s time to plan the trip for real.

Start Planning Your Next Trip

When wanderlust feels heavy, planning your next trip is one of the most grounding and uplifting things you can do. Even if you have no dates, no budget, and no idea when you’ll realistically go, planning gives your mind something hopeful to hold onto. It reminds you that you will travel again, and when you do, you’ll be ready, organised, inspired, and genuinely excited.

Trip planning isn’t about committing, it’s about dreaming with intention and giving your wanderlust a direction. It’s a gentle way to keep your wanderlust alive while staying connected to the traveller you are becoming. This is always my primary way of managing my wanderlust.

Here are some fun, relaxing, and practical ways to plan your next adventure from home.

Build Your Dream Itineraries

Start with the destinations that have been living rent-free in your head. You don’t need dates, flights, or a budget to begin sketching out ideas. You’re just exploring the possibilities and letting yourself feel excited about the future.

Research things like

• Cultural experiences (museums, festivals, traditional activities)
• Hidden gems recommended by locals
• Seasonal differences — visiting Kyoto in spring vs fall, Vancouver in summer vs winter, etc.
• Day trips, beach towns, small villages, or mountain viewpoints
• Must-eat dishes, cafés, bakeries, night markets, or brunch spots
• Public transport routes and safety tips for solo female travellers
• Scenic walking routes
• Neighbourhoods that match your vibe — artsy, foodie, colourful, historic, nature-filled

Let yourself be curious. Save anything that catches your eye. Your itinerary doesn’t have to be perfect. You’re gathering sparks, not planning an exact schedule.

Make Trip Vision Boards

Creating travel vision boards is one of the most enjoyable ways to channel wanderlust. They help you visualize the atmosphere of a trip and keep the excitement alive long before you book anything.

Try creating:

• A dedicated Pinterest board for each dream destination
• A Google Doc filled with photos, links, and itinerary notes (personally I do a Google doc for each destination)
• A desktop wallpaper collage (your future-trip mood-board)
• A printed vision board on your wall or inside a journal
• A digital collage on Canva for each country you’re dreaming of

Travel vision board ideas to try:

• Landscapes
• Hotels
• Street markets
• Sunrise or sunset views
• Local eateries
• Outfit inspiration
• Architecture
• Cultural spots
• The overall aesthetic of the destination

Vision boards make the dream feel real — and give you clarity about what type of trip you want next.

Start Saving Hotel Ideas

You don’t need to book anything yet — but it’s surprisingly fun to start saving accommodation options.

Look for:

• Boutique hotels
• Eco-retreats
• Cozy B&Bs
• Waterfront cabins
• Beautiful hostels
• Luxury steals during off-season
• Unique stays like treehouses or tiny homes

Make notes about:

• Safety for solo female travellers
• Walkability and location
• Price range
• Vibe (quiet, scenic, social, modern, rustic)
• Nearby cafés, shops, transport routes

You’ll be so glad you did this when you’re ready to book.

Create A “Next 10 Trips” List

This is your future wanderlust roadmap; the places that inspire you, excite you, or simply feel right for your next chapter in life. Write down the top 10 destinations that are calling your name.

Include a mix of:

• Somewhere close to home
• Somewhere far
• A city break
• A nature-heavy destination
• A return trip to somewhere meaningful
• A bucket-list destination
• A budget-friendly weekend trip
• A long-haul dream trip
• A tiny, underrated place you randomly fell in love with online

This list isn’t a commitment — it’s a compass. Let it evolve as you evolve.

Save Ideas For Later

If your camera roll is full of screenshots from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest, you are absolutely not alone. Use Pinterest, notes apps, or Google Drive to sort them. You’ll thank yourself when you start planning for real.

Organize them into:

• Pinterest boards by destination
• Google Drive folders
• Notes app categories
• A “future trips” album on your phone
• A travel planning template in Notion or Google Docs

Use Pinterest, notes apps, or Google Drive. You’ll thank yourself when you start planning for real.

Create Budget And Savings Plans For Your Future Travels

Planning is inspiring, but budgeting makes the dream feel possible. Keep it simple, gentle, and pressure-free.

• Saving a few dollars a week
• Rounding up loose change into a travel jar
• Using a savings challenge (weekly, monthly, or seasonal)
• Tracking flight deals to your top destinations
• Setting a tiny automatic transfer into a “travel fund”
• Creating a rough budget for your dream trip

Even the smallest steps keep you moving forward.
And when the time comes, you’ll already be ahead of the game.

A Wanderlust-Friendly Reminder To Take With You

When wanderlust hits hard, it can feel like you’re waiting for life to begin again.. But you’re still a traveller, even in the seasons when you’re staying close to home, because travel is so much more than movement. It’s curiosity, imagination, noticing beauty, seeking connection, experiencing cultures, and finding little pockets of joy wherever you are.

Everything you do to nurture your wanderlust at home – whether it’s journaling, creative projects, cosy travel documentaries, culinary experiments, dreamy Pinterest boards or exploring locally, it is all part of your journey. These moments keep your spirit curious and open, and they help you grow in ways that will make your future adventures even richer. You’re not waiting for your next trip, you’re preparing for it.

And when the timing is right, you’ll step back into the world more confident, inspired, and ready to explore with clear intention. Until then, let your wanderlust be something gentle and hopeful; a reminder that your love for exploring doesn’t disappear just because you’re in a quieter chapter. Your next adventure is coming and you’ll be so ready for it.

Read More Solo Travel Guides

• Ways To Cure Your Wanderlust When You Can’t Travel
• Empowering Solo Travel Affirmations For Women Travelling Alone
• Best Tips For Traveling Solo For The First Time
• Ultimate Guide To Building The Courage & Confidence To Travel Alone
• Helpful Tips To Stay Safe When You Travel Solo
• 37 Great Ways To Meet People When You Are Solo Traveling
• Solo Travel Fears You’ll Face When Travelling Alone
• 13 Things You Should Know Before Traveling Solo For The First Time
• 25 Great Tips For Eating Alone When You Travel Solo

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Gemma Lawrence

Gemma Lawrence is a British expat, solo female travel blogger, and the creator of This Brit’s Life — a travel and lifestyle blog that helps women explore the world confidently, live abroad independently, and stay informed about global issues.
Born and raised in England, Gemma has been living in British Columbia, Canada since 2016 and has been traveling solo for over a decade. With a background in journalism and over ten years of experience in digital marketing and communications — including leadership roles with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC/BC) — she brings both storytelling and strategy to her writing.
Through her posts, Gemma shares practical solo travel advice, expat insights, and confidence-building resources, while also covering broader topics like women’s rights, democracy, and self-care. Her goal is to inspire independence, awareness, and personal growth — one adventure at a time