Here on y travel blog, we are all about the travel. We will always talk about travel and help you travel more.
It is our passion and the thing that drives us to live life on purpose. But we are also aware that not everyone desires to live a life of travel.
Everyone has different hopes and dreams. It doesn’t mean that because your dreams don’t involve travel they are any less than mine or not worthy of talking about.
Any life can be beautiful and any life can involve travel. And I don’t mean travel as in hopping on a bus, train, or plain to arrive at a new or exotic destination. I mean travel as a journey into the unknown.
That unknown can be in your own backyard, or within the depths of your own soul. Travel means to journey, and you can journey anywhere you choose.
Here are some very simple tips on how to travel without travelling.
Try something new
I had a friend who told me the other day she couldn’t come out for a night out because she was starting her first knitting group.
My friend is a chic and trendy art director living in Sydney. She travels, paints, parties, and participates in wild and crazy activities like Adventure racing.
“Knitting? On a Friday night? You? “
“Yes, it is a dying art. I’ve always wanted to learn and I’ve been talking about it for years so I finally decided to do it. I’ve had it planned for weeks. I’ve got friends coming over and we are going to knit together and drink wine.”
Scenes from Gone with the Wind flashed through my mind, even though I don’t think they knitted on the movie, but I could imagine them doing so.
“Well that sounds like great fun!”
As bizarre as that picture of my friend knitting was, she was taking a journey into the unknown. A journey to a place she had never been before but had always wanted to go. My friend was going traveling.
Where is that journey for you? Don”t wait any longer. Call up your friends, bring in the wine and get started.
Live through others
My friend, Kelly, wrote a guest post for us recently on how living vicariously through others grants you the permission to dream big.
This is why I always advocate to never hide the great things about you away. I believe you should really let your light shine, as it is doing so that you unconsciously allow others to do the same.
When you start to live through others you begin to see what is possible for you.
Right now I am drinking a glass of wine, and listening to some music that is setting my soul on fire. I am living through the passion and dreams of others, and it is allowing me to journey into myself and see what is so beautiful about the life I am living.
Yes! It is simple things like this that allow you to travel, to take a journey into a world that is unlike your own.
Our travel podcast will help inspire you to live your travel dreams.
Talk to someone new
Every day you are running into someone new, be it the lady who serves you in the corner store, the man walking the dog down the beach, or the stranger sits next to you on the train.
Don’t be afraid to start a conversation with a new person. I feel as if the teachings of “Stranger Danger” have made us all too paranoid and fearful to extend a smile or a few kind words of friendship.
When you are travelling you are always meeting new people, and you soon discover that talking to strangers is pretty easy and a lot of fun.
Find out about the life of another person, you just might learn something new and enrich your life because of it.
Discover your own backyard
This is our latest travel goal. We are making an effort to take time exploring our own backyard, Australia.
This doesn’t have to involve a long trip around the country or a two week holiday in a new destination, it can be as simple as hopping on a train to a new town to discover what life plays out in their streets, or spending the day at the beach.
Look around your backyard. What new things are their for you to explore and enjoy?
We have been catching the train down to Sydney each week and spending time exploring the nearby lively Terrigal Beach.
Live your purpose
What did you come here for?
It is imperative that you ask this question?
Ask it every day until you find the answer. I believe that if you are not living your purpose then you are off track and your life will reflect that – Shit will happen. Major shit. Shit that is there in order to wake you up.
This is not a dress rehearsal.
You came here for a reason. You came here with something to do.
You are so special that you arrived here with a job to do that no one else is capable of doing. What is it? Ask ask ask. And say yes yes yes! You will soon discover the answers and when you do you will be traveling each day.
Laugh, Laugh, Laugh
The statistics and reasearch is there to prove the benefits that laughter brings into your life.
Laughter is a journey into joy. It is pure uninhibited travel. Laugh every day.
Are you struggling for things to laugh at? Go look at your self in the mirror and pull funny faces. You are so ridiculous isn’t it funny. Sit with someone you feel comfortable with and take it in turns to give your loudest most ridiculous laugh. Pretty soon you will find yourself laughing uncontrollably- for real.
Spend time with Children
This is probably something I never would have spoken about before I became a mother to Kalyra – my wild and pleasant place.
Children transport you. They take you to a place you had long forgotten about.
Life to them is new, it’s interesting, it’s joyous, it’s simple, it’s loving, it’s laughter, it’s pure. And this is travel.
My daughter has me crawling on the ground amazed at bugs, and she has me trying to touch the sky with my toes on a swing. We dance with reckless abandon, we live as princesses and princes in the world of our creating, and we scream out our frustration and in a minute they are gone.
When we look at life through the eyes of a child, it becomes so simple, so easy, so loveable. Children are more connected then we are and they speak wisdom through their eyes and their words:
“Be nice give me chocolate.” (copyright Kalyra Makepeace)
This post is dedicated to my knitting friend who travels whereever she goes. May you always knit the best jumpers.
great post, guys! very inspiring and, whether we travel or not, we should all be trying to live this way everyday. oh, and by the way, i believe knitting is all the rage in the US over the past year or so. it has become totally hip! i actually saw a group of early twenty-something girls sitting around in a pub, knitting. i couldn’t believe my eyes!
That’s funny! Time to buy some knitting needles and give it a go. I really don’t think I’d have the patience for it.
I love it, thanks for this wonderful post!
The world doesn’t have to be a big place, just look around and enjoy. Keep on traveling like this!
Emiel
Thank you for commenting Emiel and appreciating the post. You can travel no matter where you are.
Loved this post. Its always one of the hardest things to do when you get back home from a long stint of traveling as well. We always try to incorporate a number of things that we would do on the road. Like taking a different route to work or like you said, speaking to complete strangers. Great inspiring post guys!
Thanks Anthony! You really have to force yourself to do these things when you get home from travelling. It helps you to get over the doldrums and feel like you are living again. I played touch football for the first time last night and I really loved it. I felt that travel buzz return.
Very inspiring post, Love it! True, Traveling is not just the act of displacing yourself from one place to another; it can also be the physical and mental exploration of what intrigues you and of your surroundings.
I’ve found that randomly talking to people is a good way to explore new things. I’m shy by nature, so sometimes it’s hard for me to start a conversation with a random person, even when I would love to. But, on the other hand, I project myself very approachable, so people tend to talk to me first. I guess I should push myself more to talk to someone new every now and then. Lots of interesting conversations and opportunities have come from this.
Thanks Norbert. I used to be really shy as well, so did Craig actually. I think the more you throw yourself out of your comfort zone the further that stretches and the easier it is to approach people. I think projecting yourself as approachable is so important.
Love when serendipity happens, just started my blog kind of about the same thing, finding ways to still be a traveller when I’m not actually traveling in the traditional sense. One way is to read great travel blogs like yours. Thanks for the reminders.
No worries. Thanks for commenting. Look forward to reading more of your posts.
Everyone has different hopes and dreams. It doesn’t mean that because your dreams don’t involve travel they are any less than mine or not worthy of talking about.
SO nice to read that on a travel blog! I feel like a lot of times the travel community looks down on people who don’t want to travel full time. I have a job that enables me to travel (wedding photographer, we do weddings all over) and I actually LOVE having a home base to come back to. I wouldn’t want it any other way! But sometimes I feel like I am less of an authentic traveler because I do that….
Anyway, great writing, very inspirational!
Travel means different things to different people. I don’t think there is one set definition for it. I certainly understand what you say about the travel community looking down on those who don’t want to travel full-time. It really is not something that is for everyone. Different strokes for different folks as my good Irish friend used to say! Thanks for commenting Kyle.
Great ideas. Not everyone can travel, even if they can afford the time and money as they may be disabled in some way.
I’ve got a really inspiring reader of my blog who has severe arthritis and can only just walk, but loves travelling with me through my writings. So we bloggers are doing it for them , and with them.
That’s right. Bloggers can bring the world to those who can’t travel for whatever reason.
I don’t know about knitting but I learned to crochet, does that count? Great list of self exploration tips though.
Absolutely! If it is new little monkey it sure does count.
This is such a beautiful post. It’s something I think avid travellers really get, though we often need a reminder to remember to ‘travel at home.’ For me, laughter is a very important one. When you’re stuck in one place dealing with the daily grind, it helps to keep a good sense of humour. Every single one of these points resonated with me – fantastic advice!
What a lovely post, guys. Truly inspirational advice, for those of us who aren’t travelling, and those of us who are.
Thanks Camden!
Excellent post! Keep an open mind,cast your eyes so you see things differently, and just let it all happen! Cheers!
Thank you Gillian! an open mind is so important to a happy and peaceful life
FANTASTIC post guys! My friends who are working and/or married with children always tell me that they’re jealous of all the traveling I do and I’m constantly telling them that they can still have adventures in their daily lives that don’t involve traveling! Thanks so much for reinforcing that! I’m going to have them all read this post!
Thanks Connie!! I think I have to get a lot of my friends to read it soon. You can travel wherever you are- it’s an attitude more than an actual event
Great post – and such an important reminder. You don’t need to go to the other side of the world to enjoy your life!
Wonderful post, someone once said that we travel to marvel at the people who we wouldn’t pay attention to at home. Interesting thought about keeping the travel spirit in our daily lives.
That really is interesting. I’m just wondering who from my home was I not marvelling at when I should have been. Something to think about
Great advice! So often we just get stuck in a rut without even realizing it, when our own city has so much to offer, but we’re just too blind to see it.
Absolutely. We are starting to regain our sight.
Wonderful life inspiration as ever. Now I don’t feel so bad for glueing my arse to the sofa!
Laughing and hanging out kids are my favorite ideas on this list. I haven’t been able to travel for a couple years now and have learned to enjoy the undiscovered around me. Great post!
Thank you Joya! There is so much around us to enjoy
I love these kind of posts and the idea of “traveling” when you’re not traveling. Especially discovering your own backyard. People always forget the restaurants, sights, and nearby cities that they can explore. Whenever I move someplace new, I ALWAYS end up doing more things than people who have lived there for years. It’s really sad!
I loved this post! You’re very right about inspiring others….Gary Arndt uses the word “travel porn” when discussing his travel photography because people love to view his photos and in a sense live vicariously since they probably won’t ever get to do the kind of traveling he is doing. I recently read a quote that traveling begins when you step out your door, so I like your suggestion of exploring your own backyard!
Thanks Emily 🙂 I’m so glad you appreciated the post. Photos can be such a powerful source of inspiration. It’s funny how we’ve noticed some talk going on lately around the web that some people think bloggers who post photo essays are taking a cop out- which I think is ridiculous. Most of the time its pictures that inspire us to go somewhere- why wouldn’t you share them?
Love this post! I live in Manhattan and treat my MetroCard as my passport – jumping on the subway and heading to a different neighborhood is just like jumping on a plane and heading to a foreign country – there is so much to discover. You don’t have to cross an ocean to travel just cross your street and observe your surroundings as if you were in a foreign country for the first time! Happy travels!
Absolutely Shannon. We are off to discover a new area not far from us today as well. You can easily keep the travelling spirit no matter where you are. We published a post yesterday with photos along our local coastal walk. It was just as good as any walk I take overseas
Awesome post! When not traveling, we try to live by this philosophy with our two year old. Even something as simple as trying a new playground or setting up a tent in our living room can bring adventure every day.