Lockdown travel blues
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the entire world to come to a standstill, and everyone is now bound to their homes. No holiday, no travel … or can we?
Here are some tips on how to cure your travel blues during lockdown:
1. Revisit all your old travel photos and videos. We never get the time to look at these – now is a good time to experience it again and even sort them so that you can have them printed in a book after lockdown.
2. Give your family the holiday they deserve. Wake up early one morning and convert your house/yard into a holiday resort. Spend the day outside, play lawn games, braai, swim, have fun. You can even make a sign post with arrows pointing in the correct direction with all your favourite holiday destinations.
3. Home travel videos – Recreate some travel scenes with your family and make it into a funny home video. Mom is working at passport control, dad can stand on the treadmill reading a newspaper, pretending to be on a moving walkway, and the kids can play on the plane as mom is the air hostess, asking beef or chicken. There is lots of fun to be had here. Check out our video link below to see what we mean.
4. Get each family member to do some research and get photos etc. on where they would like to go for their next holiday and then let everyone get together and have a chance to "pitch" their next holiday to the rest of the family.
5. Wait for the grass to grow a little in the backyard and use the lawnmower to cut short minigolf courses. Using a small garden fork, remove a patch of grass the width of a 2l coke bottle and store it in a shady place, as you want to replace this grass again. Cut off the bottom of a 2l coke bottle and use that as the hole. Insert the bottle in the hole you made in your dad’s perfect lawn and there you go – a minigolf course. Use dad’s putter and golf ball and find out who the family minigolf champ is!
6. Do as many activities with your family as you possibly can – exercise together, do arts and crafts, play games, draw on the pavement with chalk, face paint, cook and bake together, have a movie night with popcorn, karaoke … literally anything and everything. As a dad, I've had to endure a make-up session, a full pedi (by my three-year-old daughter) and face paint galore. Do the things you never have the time or courage for.
7. Take photos of all your collectable travel items. I collect model aircraft.
8. Learn a new skill. A great one is to learn photography online. This way, you can improve your holiday photos. You’ve always wanted to do it and you've never had the time! If you don't see this as a great time, then I am sorry to say, but there will never be a better time after this.
9. Take lots of photos and videos and save them on a special flash drive named COVID-19 Lockdown Family Staycation. This is a time in history that you and the rest of the world will never forget. The time all of our lives changed. Keep these precious memories and record this family time to look back on many years from now. Your kids will be able to show their kids how they survived the "World War" of our time.
10. Travel cooking – Let every family member choose their favourite country and find a recipe for a meal that is signature to that country. Prepare the food together as a family and see who can plate the food the prettiest and take photos of everyone’s meals. The winner gets to dish up desert. This is a great way to explore new tastes and to enjoy super fun family time in the kitchen.
I hope that these tips will help you through these (last?) days of lockdown!
Here are two special videos we made to help with the travel blues:
1. https://youtu.be/BqSXigVVM9o
2. https://youtu.be/1AP9kKoWhkk
Stay safe and stay at home.
Eugene Nagel, the Travel Guru. 😊