While the pandemic rages on, many countries are in lockdown, again. Even though vaccination has started everwhere, it could take many more weeks for lockdowns to end. No need to get bored though. No need even to stay at home, if regulation permits. There’s a lot to do when in lockdown!
Get Travel Inspiration When In Lockdown
1. Plan Your Next Trip
Don’t you just love exploring new places, feeling amazed at unfamiliar sights and landscapes and making new friends in different places? You can get a taste of that feeling even before going anywhere. All you have to do is start planning your next trip. That’s a great thing to do when in lockdown! What’s the best way to do this?
Pick a country or city you have always wanted to visit. Search photos of the place on Instagram and Google. Bookmark photos and websites that you as a kind of to-do-list for when you get there.
Next, find out how to get there. Which airports are near your destination? And which airports are near you that you can fly from? Is it possible to go by train or car instead? Many countries in have great and fast train connections.
Then decide what kind of accommodation you need. Do you like staying in a fancy hotel to relax a bit during your vacation? Or is a good place to sleep actually enough for you since you will be outside all day anyway? Google your options or use apps or sites like booking.com, kayak.com, trivago.com and others.
There are other things to consider. Once you get to your destination, will you need a rental car? How will you reach your accommodation? Google will help you with all these things. I will be posting some articles on how I find cheap flights and accommodation in My Travel Tips soon. Be sure to check my blog regularly so you won’t miss out!
2. Make That Photo Album
You, or your parents and grandparents, probably have a lot of physical photo albums. It is great to browse through those and it brings back wonderful memories. You have probably taken more photos with your smartphone in the last year then your parents did in a decade. I have tens of thousands of photos on my phone and in my cloud. It makes it impossible to browse through sometimes. So, why not use the lockdown to finally make a real photo album that will look great on your kitchen table or book shelves?
How to do it? Pick a recent vacation. Go to the folder in your gallery with photos of the place and pick 50 photos you really like. No more than 50. Google an online photo album creator and start your album! You’ll love the result once you receive your album in the mail.
3. Check Out Your Travel Books
Did you buy some travel magazines or travel books that you didn’t really read? Now is the time do to it! It will help you find great destinations or simply admire the great trips others have done and the photos they’ve published.
No Need to get Bored When in Lockdown
4. Read a Good Book When in Lockdown
You were expecting this one, weren’t you? Well, it’s kind of obvious that a lockdown is a great opportunity to dust of those books on your shelves and start reading one! Reading has so many benefits. I don’t even know where to begin to list all of them. But here are four of them:
- Reading keeps your brain active and engaged. It stimulates your imagination. Some studies have even shown that regular reading can perhaps even prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
- Reading reduces stress and helps you relax. No matter how stressed you have are at work, in your relationships, or daily life in general – it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story.
- Reading gives you knowledge. You never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you may face.
- Reading improves your vocabulary. The more you read, the more words you learn. And they will make their way into your daily chats. Being articulate and well-spoken is a great help in any profession, can boost your self-esteem and help your career.
5. Explore Your Kitchen
Lockdowns can be an opportunity for making food. If you are not going to do anything else right now, why not ask Google how to make cheesecake or a tasty apple pie and start working on it? Or, make ice cream. Ice cream is always great. Lockdown or not, ice cream is one of the best inventions ever. You should enjoy it every (lockdown) day.
6. Watch Some Great Movies!
You didn’t need me to give you this option. But before you start up Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime, why not make sure that what you are going to watch is not just a way to pass or even waste time? Ask your friends for a really good movie or series recommendation. Make an Instagram story about it and ask your followers what you should watch. That way, it will even help you get connected to others more. Consider watching some documentaries instead of just a movie. There are some mind-blowing options out there.
7. Clear Out Your Wardrobe
Admit it. You know you’ve been postponing this. It’s one of those things that not many of us like to do. But clearing out your wardrobe is actually a good thing to do. In fact, any kind or clearing, cleaning and reorganising is great because it is good for your mind. It helps you get focused. If you didn’t know this, try it out!
Once you have donated the clothes you don’t wear anymore to charity you can wait for the lockdown to end and go shopping for new stuff. Something to look forward to!
8. Play a Fun Board Game
Invite your friends over, if regulations permit. They can’t go out either so what else could they be doing? And instead of following the previous suggestion, get out a board game or card game. You’ll find out that playing a game will be a lot more fun and interaction than watching a movie together. Games I really like playing are Ticket to Ride (I guess it’s my love for traveling popping up there), Settlers, Carcassonne, and even traditional ones like Monopoly and Risk. There are many, many others available though. Ask around which games you should try and pass the lockdown days with some old school fun!
Learn New Skills When In Lockdown
Learning a new skill may be one of the best things to do when in lockdown. It is never a waste of time to learn new skills. It will help you grow personally, it will boost your self-esteem, it will help you in your relationships and in your job, and much more. What could you do?
9. Learn a language for Free With Duolingo
Speaking more than one language will greatly benefit you. It enables you to communicate with a lot more people, have meaningful chats, help you travel to more places and stimulate your brain and learning ability. One easy and practical way to learn a language is using Duolingo. It is an App you can use both on your phone and laptop and enables you to start learning in language in just 10 minutes a day. I am currently learning Spanish this way.
If you want to learn a language, click here to get the App. This is my personal free invitation link for you. Pick a language and start learning today. The App is a really useful tool!
10. Start an Online Course
Learning a language is not the only way to get new skills. There are many dozens of online schools and training sites that offer any number of courses. Google almost anything you want to learn and you will find an online school offering courses in it. How about learning to build websites? What about getting to know all about digital marketing? Or maybe you want to become a better photographer? There is no end to the number of options for online learning and many of them are free.
If you prefer, you can even check if the skill you want to learn is available as a tutorial on YouTube. Wherever you go, always make sure to check the reviews of the courses you are interested in. Not all online educational platforms are the same. There are good ones and bad ones. And if you decide to spend your money on an online education you should check whether it is worth it.
Things to Do Outside When In Lockdown
My 10 suggestions in this article are just some of the many things you can do at home when it’s raining. There is actually a lot to do outside too when in lockdown. That will be the topic of a following article. Be sure to come back to check it out!
Thanks a lot for your time. I hope you like these suggestions of mine. Feel free to share with your friends with the buttons below. It is one way to improve the lockdown days.