We are all longing for the day that we can travel again to explore new places.

I am no different and am really missing my weekends going to the National Trust, the drives around Wales and of course my cruise holiday that I had to cancel.

But there are a few things that we can all do to get our travel fix, in one way or another.

Here are a few of my latest travel related activities that help me to cope with the lockdown.

WATCHING DOCUMENTARIES AND TRAVEL SHOWS

I started to watch more documentaries about places and wildlife. I learned a great deal and they are really engaging and super interesting.

I also started to watch more travel related programs such as Travel Man or Cruising with Jane Mcdonald.

If I cannot be on a cruise, at least I can watch the ships on telly.

PHOTOGRAPHY

During the past weeks, I started to experiment with photography to be able to take better pictures for my blog posts.

This is great fun and a little project that I look forward to and that keeps me busy. There are no rights and wrongs, which is what I like and the only thing I need is my camera and some creativity.

I know this will also be beneficial to me and give me pleasure when I am able to travel again. So win, win.

ROUTINE AND SELF-CARE

Normally, a few weeks before a holiday, I start to take better care of myself as I want to look the best on holiday. Who does not, right?

It is like a holiday ritual or tradition. But, now that I have no warm weather holiday to look forward to this year, I thought I would not bother taking better care of myself, but I am.

I implemented a morning face cleansing routine, which I am sticking to every single day. I prepare more meals and am trying new recipes. I set time aside for reading books and magazines, I go for nature walks and all of these are activities that I would normally do while on holiday to relax.

So overall, I guess I am trying to replicate some of these rituals and activities that I would normally do while on holiday.

WILDLIFE EXPLORATION AND OBSERVATION

I am lucky to have three big parks full of wildlife and history in my area.

Over the past weeks, I visited those parks frequently and started to research and learn more about them and its inhabitants such as the deer and birds of Bushy Park.

Going out with the mission of finding and taking a picture of the Ring Necked Parakeet was rather fun.  It took me almost one hour to spot one, but once I found one, I had the chance to observe and admire its beautiful bright green feathering.

The Ring Necked Parakeet is part of the parrot family, hence it is an exotic bird and originally not native to the UK.

Seeing this bird made me feel like I was away in some warm and exotic country as I normally see parrots when I am on holiday.

It was nice to go outside with the intention of seeing animals. Parks can almost be like a little zoo, if we pay closer attention to the animals that live there.

PLANNING WHAT I WANT TO DO AFTER LOCKDOWN

Some countries in Europe are slowly easing the lockdown restrictions and some are talking about opening up museums and parks again.

Once we are at that stage here in the UK, I want to make use of my English Heritage membership, which was a lovely and thoughtful leaving present from my colleagues in Hurtigruten.

I just got the membership when the lockdown kicked in, so sadly was not able to us it at all yet.

I received a membership booklet with all the sites that English Heritage cares for and am in the process of going through that booklet to see which sights and gardens are close by to visit.

Often, these sites have timed tickets for seeing the properties to manage the visitor numbers and flow. The gardens are big and wide open spaces and often sites come with woodlands. Overall there is lots of space. Hence, social distancing, I imagine, could be managed on these sites.

PLANNING MY NEXT HOLIDAY

Having something to look forward to always makes me happy and lifts my spirits. I think that goes for all of us.

So, to get over my cancelled cruise holiday, I have started to plan my next holiday that I am hoping to be able to take at the end of this year.

Looking up hotels and things to do and eat is always exciting and improves my mood. It also keeps me busy, which is key right now as I am starting to get bored, a lot.

LOOKING AT OLD HOLIDAY PICTURES

It gives me great joy to go through my pictures from past holidays.

All the memories come back to me and my partner and I start to talk about everything we saw, the ups and downs and our favourite moments.

Bringing back good memories always makes me happy.

BLOGGING

Since I got more time due to working from home, I started to invest more in my blog.

I wanted to increase the number of blog posts from 2 to 3 for a long time and share more travel content, but never had the time, energy and frankly the mindset to do so.

Right now, I am full of energy and am working hard each day on several blog posts. I enjoy looking at some of my old holiday pictures and choosing the right once for my posts. Researching destinations and sights is also fun as I am constantly learning and extending my knowledge.

PICTURE ALBUM

I purchased a picture album a few months ago and printed out holiday snaps.

I want to fill this album with my memories and make some sort of scrap book out of it.

I am a collector of anything holiday related. You name it, entrance tickets, flyers, stickers and all sorts of memorabilia. All of these are part of my trip and memories are attached to every single item.

I want to be able to look at those pictures and memorabilia, when I am old, and think back of all the good times I had and all the great places I saw and visited.

This project will give me pleasure and again I will take a trip back memory lane when I put this together.

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What are you doing to get your travel fix?

Do you have any tips and ideas? If yes, please feel free to share.