11 Ways To Travel At Home That Maximize Expat Life

If you’re an expat living abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more than likely that you’ve canceled at least a couple of trips and hedging your bets on the next one too. While it’s frustrating for an expat living abroad, where travel is at the heart of an expat life experience, the crisis poses a time to find other ways to maximize expat life. So, instead of packing a suitcase, here are 11 ways to travel without leaving home that maximize expat life.

Travel is always at the heart of a traveler and an expat life, but it’s also about experiencing the local culture. In addition to the travel industry taking a beating with the coronavirus pandemic, the local businesses of where we all live are hurting, too. From the High Streets, to the pubs, and all the markets that make a culture unique, it’s frightening to think how businesses will make it through this time of crisis – or at all.

And that puts everyone else in an awkward place, too. Making travel plans during a time of uncertainty is a moving target. For expats, this can be unfortunate because the clock is always ticking – repatriation is always closer than it appears.

If Expat Travel Is On Pause Don’t Do This

For new expats in a new country, it’s hard to imagine the future. For expats that have been living abroad for a while, the guilt of not traveling more when the opportunity was available sets in.

For both new and tenured expats, the idea of not traveling anywhere at all while living abroad can put you in a downright mode of hysteria (not the pretty purple wisteria kind).

But despite the fear of not checking off travel 2020 plans, there are still ways to have a travel experience that can fulfill the travel itch, bucket list, and maximize expat life abroad. So before you throw in the towel that travel is officially over, read on for 11 inspiring ways to travel when you can’t.

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11 Ways To Travel Without Leaving Home That Maximize Expat Life

Let these 11 ways to travel at home inspire you and give you purpose to make the most of expat life while living abroad.

1 – Attend The Theatre

If attending the theatre has always been something you want to do, get ready to check it off your bucket list. The National Theatre in London and theatre all over the world are streaming theatre shows to watch online or even on the telly.

Last Thursday night’s theatre? Phantom of the Opera.

As of April 2nd through May 8th, the National Theatre in London streams a free play every Thursday night and it’s free to watch for a full week. And that’s just what one theatre is doing to provide entertainment and culture without leaving your home.

Ok, seriously. How cool is that? Never did I ever imagine attending the theatre from my sofa, let alone free.

And the best parts?

1 – You don’t have to force your kids to get dressed up for it!
2 – You don’t have to travel anywhere to experience the very best theatre the world has to offer.
3 – Both travel to the theatre and theatre tickets are free.

Enough said.

2 – Take A Photo Of Your Expat Home & Frame It

With spring in the air, flowers are blooming and it’s likely to make the outside of your house look rather pretty, too.

If this is the first time you’ve read one of my blog posts, then I must share that I’m a firm believer of capturing memories everywhere you live. Now is the perfect time to go outside and snap away at the house you call home while being an expat.

For new expats, taking a picture of your house and framing it is a great affordable way to decorate your new home. For expats that have been living abroad for a while, it’s a great time to get that photo and have it framed so that when the day comes to repatriate you’ll have that task complete. A house photo is also a fun keepsake for neighbors and friends to sign. Or take the photo to an artsy level and opt for a watercolor print.

Taking a photo represents the architecture of the country in which you live, the memories you create living there and it’s just a great way to keep a collection of all the places you live if you tend to move a lot.

And if you’re uncertain of your photography skills, Nikon randomly offers free photography lessons.

Although you’re stuck at home, fresh photography skills will make you camera-ready to travel anywhere even while at home. Passport photo anyone?

3 – Buy Something Local That You Can’t Buy In Your Home Country

Always be reminded of your special expat life with something special from your expat town. Purchasing local supports your local business but also gives you an opportunity to have something in your home that reflects your expat experience living abroad.

Forego the big mass retailers or trying to import an item from somewhere else (which will take forever to get delivered anyway). For Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, and other special occasions, shop local. Keep the shops, restaurants, and pubs that you love in your expat location in business. Many local businesses will deliver straight to your door.

It could be a map, mug, poster, pillow, or something bold that clearly sends the message, “I’ve been there”.

4 – Explore Locally And Google Where You Live

Think you know your hometown? We are always seeking somewhere else, that we tend to not consider right where we live. Where we think we know everything there is to know, it’s likely that we don’t.

I certainly thought we’d seen and done everything there is to do in St Albans, but then I googled it. After reading 3 UK Travel blogs about my expat hometown, I realized I missed 3 incredible facts and things to see.

All three things to do were accessible from viewing it outside and historical, too. So rather than stay at home, we turned our 1 form of exercise into a walking loop, incorporating these sights into our journey. The 5-mile sight-seeing walk was the highlight of our weekend. In fact, it’s inspired me to write about it!

Google your hometown and immerse yourself in knowledge or facts you didn’t know. Create a walking tour within your family’s limits and turn it into your 1-form of daily exercise allowed outside.

It’s a win-win-win: travel, exercise, and staying within the government rules.

5 – Make A Travel Photo Book Or Album Of Expat Life Experiences

Okay, so we’ve all done it. Beyond the thousands of photos we take to make sure we capture the moment, we collect tickets, postcards, seashells, and pretty much everything that we just can’t part with when we travel somewhere new.

They get tucked away in a box or uncategorized in photos on our mobile phones, with the idea that we’ll someday make an album.

Now is the day!

Making a travel album or scrapbook is a great way to revisit travel adventures and recall memories to include in the album. 10+ years from now you’ll want those details when you travel down expat memory lane.

In addition to printing photos from travel and including mementos that you collected along the way, it’s a great way to get organized when you have the time at home to do so.

6 – Travel Through A Museum Or Gallery Virtually

Unbeknownst to me prior to the pandemic, I had no idea how easy it was to visit world-renown museums and galleries virtually. And for FREE. If I had only known about this when I was trying to excite my kids about visiting Paris.

A few places that let you experience a virtual tour at home, include:

The British Museum, London
Guggenheim Museum, New York City
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Exploring a museum or gallery virtually is a fun way to travel without leaving home on so many levels:

The kids don’t have to go with you! How often do we choose a travel destination because of the amazing museums or history the travel destination has to offer? If traveling with small children, being able to visit a museum, and actually enjoy yourself doing it is often a tall order.
Being able to tour a gallery or museum virtually and at your own pace is a fab way to travel when you can’t leave home.
And better yet, it leaves more time to experience different places on the bucket list when you can travel again.
Touring a museum, especially if its history, science, or natural (dinosaurs), can double-down as a homeschool thing to do for your kids.
It’s free.
There’s no waiting to get in!

Easily satisfy your desire to travel while at home. Take virtual tours of museums around the world for free.

7 – Try Food You Haven’t Yet

Let’s face it, I’m fairly certain a universal coping method during this world crisis is eating food and drinking fine beverages. And I say, why not?

If cooking is the last thing you really feel like doing, particularly when you’re cooking for the whole family 3 times a day instead of just the typical 1 or 2, try food you haven’t yet from the country you live or somewhere that you want to travel to.

Experiencing different food is a big part of living abroad. In fact, it’s also one of those things that makes it hard to adjust to during the early phases of culture shock. So instead of looking for the familiar, make a list of all the food you’ve wanted to try but haven’t. From main dishes to chocolate and even an exotic cocktail, experiencing food while living abroad, particularly when it’s food that you can’t get in America is a great way to have a travel experience without leaving home.

Many foods to try can be ordered for delivery by local restaurants still trying to keep their business running or can be delivered right to your doorstep by a local grocery store. If you are looking for inspiration, try these 5 British foods under £5 or something a bit more quirky that every American in the UK should try.

There’s no better time than now to tackle that food bucket list while living abroad!

8 – Refresh Or Create A Bucket List

Undoubtedly this strange time has given everyone an opportunity to pause, reflect, and prioritize what matters most. Whether a fair amount of planning went into creating a bucket list or if you haven’t started one, now’s the time to have a fresh look.

For an expat, there may be fewer windows of opportunity to travel so updating a bucket list is really a matter of priority. Where haven’t you been that you will simply be gutted if you don’t? What travel experiences did you mean to sign up for that you haven’t?

If your bucket list isn’t aiming for the stars or doesn’t excite you, find travel inspiration from your favorite travel blogs (check out my UK Travel and Europe Travel itineraries). Either read or watch YouTube videos from inspiring travel vloggers like a Lady In London or HandLuggageOnly to spark excitement for a future travel destination.

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Then refresh, reorganize and make that travel bucket list, so that when you can travel again, you’ll know where to go first!

9 – Learn Local Flora and Fauna

With anywhere you live, there is typically a flower, plant, or tree that either grows unique or makes it an attraction for travelers and the best Instagrammers alike. Oftentimes we (especially me) don’t even know how famous these natural beauties are.

We walk past them, might notice them, but think nothing more. They may go unnoticed or unrecognized at all. But in reality, the local flora or fauna can be an element of expat life that you’ll grow to treasure and remember forever.

With the pandemic keeping everyone inside during the season of spring, now is a great time to really look in your own backyard, take notice on a walk, or stop during a bike ride to discover the plants that you might typically pay, take a train or even fly to go see.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Here are a few flower destinations.

London Wisteria
England Bluebells
Netherlands Tulips
Texas Bluebonnets
France Lavender Fields
Arizona Cactus Blooms
Italy’s Fiorita
China’s Canola Flower Fields
Maine Sunflowers (there’s a really special field that grows in Windsor in the summer)

Find what grows natural outside to where you live, snap a photo leveraging your new Nikon skills, and add to that expat life album you made in #4. This is now one of my favorite travel experiences at home.

Confessions of a traveler who thought expat life was doomed:

I thought I was going to miss out on England’s bluebells this year. But because we’re forced at home, for the first time in nearly 3 years I’ve discovered bluebells growing in my own backyard. And a lot of them!

On top of that, there are fab streets in St Albans with houses draped in wisteria that I typically go to London to see. Who knew I didn’t have to go far to experience the same thing. In fact, my husband just recognized we have wisteria blooming alongside our house this year (I did know this already!) and asked why we didn’t ask our gardener to cultivate it over the years. 😂

Both are perfect examples of finding ways to reap the benefits of travel without traveling at all (well, except for a walk).

10. Learn Your Way Around Europe With Ticket To Ride

My geography isn’t the best and neither are my board game skills. When you get lost or lose, it’s never a good time. But when you mix the two with a Ticket To Ride, it’s a super fun way to travel at home.

I’m not one to push board games but for expats, Ticket To Ride offers great European options, Asia options, USA options, and even a London extension.

If you still think Shoreditch is a ditch along the shore somewhere in England, now’s the time to buy. 🤣

11. Travel At Home With Your Favorite Travel Blogger

While you may think you’ve exhausted all the ways to travel without leaving home, your favorite travel blogger will have more. Even as I write this, I’ve left off at least 6 travel experiences from the comfort of your home that I’m not even mentioning.

Why leave them out?

A travel blogger will offer more fun ways to travel when you’re stuck at home, but my 11 are meant to help you maximize expat life, too.

Final Thoughts On Ways To Travel Without Leaving Home That Help Maximize Expat Life

Once you’ve checked off all 11 ways to travel at home, definitely visit your favorite travel site or have a look at my staycation and travel destinations boards on Pinterest. Get inspired to travel somewhere or how to maximize expat life when you can’t leave home.

Looking for more ways to maximize expat life? Try these.

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