The Positives of Local Travel

Borders and restrictions are slowly opening up from the recent events, but leisure travel is still a bit of a question mark for our family. It’s a personal decision as we don’t want to expose our little one to the virus, and don’t want to get sick either. So what is there to do in these times to quell the wanderlust of a travel-loving family? The solution: local travel.

Happiness with New Experiences

A few weeks passed since the original outbreak shut down businesses and travel, my family has been just isolating at home. The only time one of us would venture out was to pick up the essentials like groceries and medicine. After all, if one of us got sick, not only will it hurt our income producing capability, but will also mean a lot more out of pocket.

Since Florida has reopened (like much of the nation), non-essential stores have been opening up again, and with that, parks, beaches, and other tourist areas. We started planning how to venture out slowly while trying to still keep safe. After all, one cannot stay coop up at home all the time.

We have gotten used to keeping ourselves busy at home but getting out in nature and doing new things is making us love the weekends more. We are discovering more of our city, and here are some tips and activities that we offer based on our personal experiences.

Planning more outdoor activities

Being cooped up inside your home, you tend to realize that one can take the outdoors and travel for granted. As soon as they lifted the stay-at-home order, our family went hiking to some nature trails, some of which we have not been in for a few months, even years.

We are re-discovering parks, hiking trails, preserves, and conservation areas as every single weekend is being meticulously planned. We are definitely not going to waste time idling around at home anymore, that can be done during weekdays after work.

We’re not just researching our own city, we’re researching day trips where we can go to a state park or other outdoor attraction we have not been to yet. One tends to overlook their own backyard when it comes to travel and experiences, so why not use this chance to discover more of your city, county, or state? This is one form of local travel where you can just make a list of places you’ve never been to, and just go.

Actively supporting small businesses

Because of the pandemic, we have changed our mindset when it comes to small businesses. As micro-business owners, we know how this pandemic has hit our income, so what more other small business owners?

My husband and I both love to read (here’s some book recommendations), and so we started going to indie bookstores to try and support these small businesses. We buy a few books that are either foreign, out of print, or are not readily available from the local library.

We are going back to shopping and buying ethnic food that we were craving for since we can’t go back home to visit. Most of these ethnic grocery stores are small businesses, so on one very rainy weekend, we spent time going from store to store (Asian and European), picking up stuff we need as ingredients for meals. We might be doing a lot of that in the next few weeks.

We have also done a few takeaway meals (once every 2 weeks or so), of food we miss from our travels (mostly Asian food). We then try to recreate these meals at home. If we fail trying to make it multiple times then we just go buy it again.

We’re discovering new towns and cities

In our state, we are slowly rediscovering new towns and cities and honing in on their various activities and other things to do in the area. We have already planned weekend trips this way. These are places we may have passed on our travels before, but is now a priority.

No stone will be left unturned, and with the help of Google’s trip planner, it is making us become subject matter experts in our own city and surroundings.

Getting Involved in New Projects

Aside from the travel planning and the like, we’re planning big things that we won’t reveal just yet. We’re still on the research phase on most of them, taking various courses, reading books, and discussing how to make these projects work. One of these projects involves local travel and local activities within our area, which we should hopefully launch and reveal soon!

Plan Your Local Travels Now

Now is as good a time to plan your local travels. With international destinations being few and far between, and with restrictions changing almost every day, it is definitely hard to keep up.

Local travel is definitely not going away. No need to worry about cancelling hotel or air travel, all you have to check is if the attraction or restaurant you want to visit is open, get on the car, and go. You still have the comfort of home to come back to in the evening, and you don’t have the hassle of packing as many items you need if you’re going somewhere farther.

Are you planning any local travels now? If so, share where you’re going on the comments below! Happy travels!