6 Things You Can Do To Satisfy The Travel Bug
We don’t really have a big vacation coming up for the next few months, besides some fun outings with friends and weekends spent with different family members! But come summer, Bjorn and I are really excited to be traveling to Europe! It’s the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Verdun…so, being married to a history teacher, I won’t be missing out on that one! I visited Europe back in high school but I’m looking forward to exploring different parts of it and really soaking in the information with my fellow lifelong learner and a couple other friends and family members. π
If you’ve followed along here at Just Bee for a while, then you know that my husband and I really enjoy visiting historical sites. We got a bit spoiled when we lived in Virginia for the first few months of our marriage…so much so, that we find ourselves craving more travel in the future! We did get to road trip through Tennessee last summer, which was both educational and exciting.
But what do you do if you find yourself bitten by the travel bug without a trip in the near future? Here are my tips for dealing with that. π
6 Things You Can Do Now To Satisfy TheΒ Travel Bug
(even if a trip isn’t in your near future):
1 //Β Research fun destinations!Β Take the time to look up certain types of vacations or historical sites. Perhaps you and your husband love historic churches…or battlefields…or bustling markets in hidden corners of the world! Just make sure not to let yourself get down while you scroll through travel sites or read bookmarked travel guides – this step is meant just to satisfy that desire to learn about and discover these places!
2 //Β Create albums of enjoyable past trips.Β This is one of my favorite aspects of travel – sifting through and editing the photos afterward! It is such a fun way to relive those emotions and sights and sounds! I love using the site MpixΒ to create beautiful photo books of our past excursions or events.
3 //Β Watch documentaries!Β We’ve really gotten into these recently. There are so many out there – documentaries about popular or well-known destinations, and even documentaries about sites that are off the beaten path! You can always learn something new – even if you don’t necessarily plan on visiting that exact site someday.
4 //Β Check out new restaurants!Β When I returned from studying abroad in Cambodia, I really missed the food! So Bjorn and I found an authentic Cambodian restaurant near our college, which was a blast because it allowed me to share some of the experiences (and tastes!) from my trip! So if you’re finding yourself wishing for a unique, educational experience, why not head to an authentic restaurant for a particular cuisine? So much of a culture can be shared through food!
5 // Read travel blogs! This is a really neat way to experience a vacation practically firsthand! Find bloggers who visit fun destinations…and who document their journey well! A couple of my favorites are travel posts on Simplicity Relished and Gentri Lee.
6 // Begin to realistically budget and plan! This one may not sound all that dreamy or romantic…but, it’s how you get there! A trip can’t become a reality (usually) unless some planning is involved, and the larger vacations do require money set aside intentionally. I used to almost roll my eyes at this kind of planning when I was in high school…but my practical-but-big-dreamer husband has really shown me how planning realistically can actually be exhilarating in itself!
So, friend…may you find yourself excitedly learning about our world and intentionally looking ahead to ways you can explore it in the future!
What do you do when you’re bitten by the travel bug??
I don’t think I have any big trips coming up in the near future… but my siblings and I are hoping to visit some historical spots. We’ve been wanting to go back to Gettysburg and Harper’s Ferry. We love history so these spots are perfect to us! I really like watching documentaries so if you have any favorites that you recommend please let me know! π I get the travel bug every now and then so these tips are great! I should check out some new restaurants… I love trying new things!
It’s so fun that you love historical sites, too, Rebekah!! π I’ve certainly learned to love them more, being married to a history teacher π My husband has been to Gettysburg and Harper’s Ferry, as well as Antietam (which he really recommends) – he’s been to over 27 battlefields and I’ve come along to some of those! π I’ll have to think of some documentaries and I’ll let you know if I can think of our favorite recent ones. I’m really glad you liked these tips. Thanks for reading along and for taking the time to comment! I hope your restaurant-scouting is fun!
I would love to visit Antietam as well… my brothers are big fans of history and love battlefields so that’s how my interest began!
Speaking of restaurants… the last time we went out to eat I tried something new that was slightly ethnic (and new to me)… so I’m already putting some of your tips into practice π
These are great! Sometimes I try to find stuff in our own town that we haven’t done or seen yet, and then make a “day trip” out of it, just to feel a little adventurous!
Yes!! What a good idea! It’s so true that we can even enjoy being a tourist in our own town!
With all the cold weather I’m seriously lusting for somewhere warm! I’ve been blowing up Pinterest dreaming of the beach. Great advice!
Thank you!! I’m glad you enjoyed this post π And I totally agree with you – we’ve had windchills in the negatives for a while now and it’s wearing on us! π
Yes absolutely! We traveled way more than we normally do last year, and oddly enough the travel hunger grows as you travel (kind of like minus stew, but more positive- hah!). One thing I love is watching documentaries about other countries; I also like Anthony Bourdain because he goes places and eats things that the average traveler never gets to. And thanks for sharing my blog! I have more travel posts coming!
“oddly enough the travel hunger grows as you travel.” Wholeheartedly yes my friend!
Yay! I love your travel posts, friend! I’ll have to check out Anthony Bourdain, for sure. It is so wonderful that you and your husband have had the opportunity to travel a good amount recently!! And thanks for sharing your posts so the rest of us can live vicariously through you! π
Yes yes yes! I have a travel itch almost all the time, haha.
Great tips! I’ve recently started a New York pinterest board and thought realistically how I can begin to budget. It does start to create that feeling of, “Okay, this is not impossible.” Which feels so much better than the thought, “It’s so out of reach!”
Yes! That is so wonderful, Kari! It’s great when you hit the tipping point of, “You know, we just may be able to make this work!” Very exciting! π
Great tips! When I get hit by the travel bug I often pull out travel memoirs. My fave author is J. Maarten Troost. I could read his books over and over and over again. π
Neat! I haven’t heard of that author yet – thanks for sharing, Crystal! π
When I am bitten by the travel bug, I have a tendency to read travel memoirs and create itineraries for future travel. I have dozen of itineraries pre-planned and ready to go!
That is so fun, Ericka! I need to read more travel memoirs! Now you are definitely ready to grab-and-go if a trip surfaces in the future – I love hearing about fellow planners like me! π
I love this post! I’m definitely in a phase of life where I will be doing more wanderlusting than planning or going on big trips! I love watching documentaries and reading travel blogs. I also love reading travel books and memoirs to get an interesting side of a place or culture. Thanks for all these tips, Hannah!
Thanks, Gina! I’m so glad you liked the post! Wanderlusting seems to be the name of the game for us at the moment – and it can be so much fun in itself! We’re looking forward to Europe in 6 months, though π I love your point about how travel memoirs can bring us a new perspective and an interesting side of a culture – that is so true! Thanks for reading along, friend!
oh ! I love this list – I spend most of my free time travelling, but I don’t have the time for a trip anytime soon – this list will keep me going till my next trip. I especially love #3 and #4 – can’t wait to try those.
Love this list! I was just telling my husband a few hours ago that we need to save up for a big vacation. First, we have NEVER been on a vacation together….EVER. We never even had a honeymoon lol and second, I’ve never left the country before. So we’re now saying up to do a 2-3 week trip to Italy for Christmas 2018 when he gets out of the Marine Corps π
Great post! Since my first trip to Europe a couple years ago, I’ve had major travel bug! I try to always have a trip in the works whether it be to visit friends/family or a new destination. The problem is there are so many awesome places to go π
Thank you so much for reading my blog and sharing it in your post! <3 this made my day!