Be inspired and fire up your Travel Mojo

Have you ever had a serious case of Travel Envy?  Classic symptoms usually hit when everyone is tripping off to exotic places and you suddenly realise you’re not going anywhere soon. Relax, there are things you can do when your mojo is all fired up and you can’t get away.

There’s something special about exploring somewhere new, trying exotic foods and enjoying the hustle and bustle of a new adventure, but its when day-to-day stuff takes a hold, that’s when I know I have a serious case of travel envy.

Follow these practical tips keep your mojo fired up and keep your travel envy under control.

Take yourself on a culinary adventure

oh la la .. French Crepe Suzette

Consider dining in France, Greece, or Thailand or Sri Lanka or anywhere else that takes your fancy!   Go alfresco, enjoy an Italian coffee and some fresh pastries and soak up the latest Italian café chic.  The adventure is yours to choose.

Do you know of a restaurant that combines a musical experience as part of their cultural experience?  We have a Greek restaurant nearby who has a muso playing traditional Greek music on a mandolin every Friday night.  Close your eyes and imagine that.

Think about your options and immerse yourself in the experience.

Escape to another world

Research

Read any good books lately?

Books are a great opportunity to get lost in the moment.  I have a list of reading that I save for my holidays so that I can truly escape and enjoy, uninterrupted.  What is your reading style?  Travel books, biographies, short stories?  Do you bury yourself in a novel or are you happy to leaf through a magazine?

If you’re trying to decide where to go for your next holiday, now is the time to start planning your itinerary.  There are a ton of great travel guides available so start reading up on your next adventure by picking up their latest destination guide.

Tip of the day:  Set yourself up at the local swimming pool and spend the afternoon with a good book.  That’s true indulgence!

Become a Staycation expert

Staycation at Home

With the rising costs of airfares and holiday accommodation, the ‘stay-at-home’ vacation has become more popular with travellers … or, non travellers, as the case may be.

Life gets busy and sometimes our own home towns are the last places we think to explore. Become a tourist in your own town.  Take a trip to your local information centre and arm yourself with ‘what to see and do’ brochures about the local highlights, free activities and upcoming events in your town.

Read more:  Become a Staycation expert – 20 great tips for the best holiday ever

Binge watch Travel shows

Got a serious case of travel envy?  Curl up in front of the TV and call it research!

Shows like Getaway, Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Unknown Parts’ and Samantha Brown’s travel series get me hooked every time, and if that doesn’t give you serious travel envy, nothing will.

If you’re into wildlife, check out some of David Attenborough’s nature documentaries.  They’re the perfect inspiration for an African safari, or an expedition to Antarctica or the Amazon.  Perhaps something a little closer to home with The Great Outdoors or Places We Go will be enough to set your next travel destination in play.

Take a Tour

Are there some day tours locally that you’ve always wanted to do?  Do a day-trip into the National Park or join a local photography group and take along your camera to capture some of the native wildlife.

Explore your town from a different perspective.  Take a harbour cruise or do a helicopter flight over somewhere quite unique or, for a day of indulgence, why not take a chauffeured winery tour with friends.  Just settle in and enjoy the experience.

Head down to the local tourism centre and pick up the brochures to choose your next experience.

Go on a Picnic

Beautiful Litchfield National ParkPack up the car and head out for a picnic.  Make it special and stop in at the local deli to pick up a delicious antipasto platter for two.

Choices abound.  Explore somewhere you haven’t been before, drive down to your favourite beach to soak up the sunshine or head out into your nearest National Park, switch off your mobile phones and get back to nature.

Read more:  Why you must visit Litchfield National Park

Quell that Travel Envy

It makes me smile when my friends call and ask ‘where on earth are you, now’’?

The reality is, we really don’t take a lot of holidays, but I love that we make the best use of any down-time when we have it.  If we have a trip planned with work or family commitments, we try to extend our time away to take advantage of the different locations and take some down time while we’re there.

We jam-pack our life with as much adventure as we can.

Often our long-weekends away are based around short flights, or a short road-trip.  Our trip to Kakadu National Park was a 3 hour road-trip on a 3 day weekend, and for us, Bali is a short 2+ hour flight from Darwin.  Win-Win!

Read next:  5 Perfect Day Trips for first-time Bali Visitors

My Wish List

I have a list of places and things I want to do in my lifetime, in no particular order of importance.  Destinations on my list are the Galapagos Islands, Giraffe House in Kenya, Broome in Western Australia, the Great Wall of China and something seemingly simple I’ve wanted to do for a very long time is the Oysterfest in Ceduna.  Do you have a Bucket List too?

We tend to start thinking of our next holiday not long after we’re back from our last trip by casually tossing a few destinations up for discussion, and we’ll talk about what we would like to see and do.  We’ll keep the ideas on the radar until we can snare a great travel deal and that’s when the serious travel planning gets into action.

We love to travel within Australia as much as we do overseas.  Australia has so much to see and do and it really is a case of ‘where do we go next’.  We try to share the love!

What do you do to get ready for your next adventure?

I read lots of travel blogs as I love to see where others are going. My favourite go-to bloggers at the moment are:

AccommodationFor us the accommodation factor is a very important part of our trip.  We don’t always stay at posh places, but we do value quality and service.

Staying central is important, we like to be in walking distance to restaurants, cafes and transport.  If we’re staying a while, we’ll take an apartment.

At the Gold Coast we took a modern self contained apartment in Q1 Resort Tower so we could enjoy the views over the beach and the extra space, in San Francisco we stayed in a funky little boutique hotel – the Zephr and recently in Singapore we stayed at the Hotel Fort Canning on our anniversary trip which was an beautiful colonial style hotel of that era.  Each trip comes with different needs and usually is influenced by our travel plans.

Trip Advisor is great for getting reliable information on restaurants, cafes and tours so take a list of places you want to include on your holiday.  Travel bloggers can be a great resource as they often provide sight-seeing suggestions and good tips of where to eat post.

Most destinations will have a number of free or low cost activities, so Google up ‘things to do’ for every place you visit.

There’s a whole lot of fun to be had when trying to beat that serious travel envy so my advice is – actively pursue every moment as if you were on holidays.

Inspired?  Why not pin this for later …

Serious Travel Envy

What do you do when you’re hit with a serious bout of Travel Envy?  How do you survive?

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