Maybe you’re not looking for a big family vacation right now, but you want to experience something out of the ordinary that isn’t really a stay-cation either. Armchair travel doesn’t have to be looking through your old vacation albums. You can create a fun and memorable experience in your own home with a little preparation.
- Pick a destination you want to know more about.
- Find multi sensory experiences that go with that destination
- Get your whole family involved
- Enjoy your immersive armchair travel adventure
First, think about a place you’d like to visit. Or, for an extra adventure, somewhere you’ve never dreamt of traveling to.
Next is the fun part. Finding the multi-sensory experiences that will bring that place to life for you and your family. There are many ways to do this. Your local library is an excellent resource for books, movies, and music on the subject of your chosen destination. Of course, you can also find many excellent resources on the internet.
You may want to start with the local travel website for your destination. The name of your location + travel bureau is a good search to find official information for the place you want to visit. They often provide photos, videos, and more.
You can also use the CIA World Factbook for free, accurate, and up-to-date information about any country in the world.
Browse recipes online or at the library to recreate dishes from your chosen region at home. If you want to get really fancy, there are subscription boxes available online where you can get a box for a specific country and try some of their candies and non-perishable treats. You could also browse the international section of your favorite grocery store, or try a specialty market in your city to help find foods you may not have tried before.
You can also find music from that region to listen to while you enjoy your meal, either from a streaming service or from videos online.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many museums around the world have digitized their collections for people to enjoy from home. Check if your destination has any online tours available.
The whole family can help you plan the trip. Kids can help you select regional recipes and prepare it as a family for a taste of your chosen destination. You can also find printable coloring sheets for the flag of the region you choose, local wildlife, landmarks, etc. You can use these items to decorate your home for your trip.
For your actual trip, you can show a documentary that highlights the region you want to go to, read books together, either fictional stories of characters in that region, or nonfiction.
If you have young children whose attention won’t be held by a long documentary, there’s a wonderful series with episodes available for free on PBS called Families of the World. Each episode is around 30 minutes long and shows the typical daily life of children living in various countries around the world.
If your destination has a different language than your family, try a beginner language lesson online to learn a few greetings and simple phrases that might be handy for a traveler in that region. There are many free apps and library services that offer these self-paced tutorials for all ages.
If you happen to have a friend or colleague who lives in another state or country, you could ask to send a paper version of yourself or your family on a trip. Your paper self can be mailed to your friend and they can photograph it in various unique areas of their location. It’s fun to ask questions about the places your paper-self has traveled to on your behalf and find out more information.
While it still takes some planning to achieve an immersive armchair travel trip, you will have a fun experience for your whole family.
Then, when you’re ready to experience a real life experience to your chosen destination, or anywhere, you can contact me to help you plan the trip of your dreams! Email: sarah@teplanners.com
Sarah Perry is a travel advisor with Travel Ease, LLC. She’s taken many armchair travel trips around the globe with her family as well as in-person trips in the US and the UK. She loves family travel and would love to help you get your family out into the world.