Category: the stuck at home traveler

How to survive quarantine

Featured by Mariska, posted in the stuck at home traveler

Howdy strangers! It’s been a while. I’ve been gone for a bit because there wasn’t really all that much to talk about. We’re not in lockdown and everything is open (or at least until 10 p.m.) but I’ve been so swamped with work and weddingplanning that I haven’t had much time (or money) to go traveling. I have some plans coming up and another blogpost is coming about a private spa we went to on my birthday but today I want to share some more tips for my fellow travelers who are in need for travel but aren’t able to do so at the moment.

On the corona page on this blog you’ll find tips on how to survive lockdown, how to have a great staycation and tips for the best books, games, films and tv-shows, and podcasts to make sure you don’t get bored out of you’re mind whilst sitting at home. Here are some additions to that list!

Books

I’ve read some more great books that will transfer the reader to another country or let you follow an adventure. The gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue and the second installment The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy are funny, thrilling young adult adventures that are set in different countries in Europe. The books are amazing rollercoasters and I’d especially recommend listening to them via Storytel, as the storyteller is just hilarious.

For the Dutchies in our midst, the latest book by Carlie van Tongeren is out. Het is hier helemaal (niet) perfect is a book about a girl who wants to backpack in Asia and become an influencer, but the truth is that everything behind Instagram is fake and that life isn’t picture perfect. It’s an amazingly good book. I hope it will get translated soon, so the non-Dutchies reading this will also be able to read it 🙂

Games

Just last week, this awesome new Pokémon game released. Now I’ve been a fan of Pokemon games since as far as I can remember, playing them on my gameboy and I still love to play them now. The latest game is called Pokemon Arceus and it’s available on Nintendo Switch. It’s an open world game where you get to explore the world of Pokemon. It’s a different world to travel to, one that is absolutely gorgeous and filled to the brim with the cutest creatures. The game itself is different from anything we got from Pokemon before and it’s absolutely addictive. I can highly recommend!

If you’re looking for a PC game, try Eastshade, where you’ll be a traveling painting that’s exploring a gorgeous world and trying to capture all of it on your canvas. Another recommendation is Valheim, which you really ought to try, if you haven’t yet.

TV Shows or Films

I haven’t watched that many new shows that will help you satisfy your wanderlust but there is a new season of Emily in Paris available on Netflix. If you want to watch something to binge until the end of times, try Grey’s anatomy, one that I’m currently hooked on. It goes on forever…

I hope you liked these tips! Next week I will be back with some more travel related content. Stay tuned! 🙂

Ten Tips on How to survive this lockdown

by Mariska, posted in Personal, the stuck at home traveler

Hey guys! How are you doing? I hope everyone is well and getting vaccinated soon! I cannot wait until the world opens up again and we can do all the things we love so much: see our friends and family, travel, go to restaurants and museums… For now, we in the Netherlands are still in lockdown, and it’s harder and harder to stay sane and happy. I can imagine I’m not the only one feeling like this, so today I wanted to write on how you can survive this lockdown if it’s getting hard on you.

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How to survive the lockdown: VR for the stuck-at-home traveler

by Mariska, posted in the stuck at home traveler, Wanderlust Wonderland Favourites

Hi guys! How is everyone doing? A lot of us travelers are still stuck at home, still not able to travel. As for myself, our current lockdown continues until at least January 19. All stores are closed, as well as the schools and borders. We can travel in our own country, though maybe it’s not the best idea given the current covid numbers. Also, it’s not a lot of fun if you can’t have dinner somewhere, can’t shop or go to the bathroom anywhere. Daytrips are just no fun right now.

So, time to find other ways to satisfy our wanderlust. I don’t know about you, but my craving to see other worlds is just as strong, maybe even stronger, now that it becomes impossible to do so. Luckily, there are other ways to transport us to new places. In this category, the stuck-at-home traveler, I have shared my tips for books, movies, games, online museums and podcasts. Today I want to add to that category by a post about VR.

Two weeks ago we celebrated Christmas (can you believe it’s already been two weeks?). I was lucky enough to be able to visit my family, though on separate visits, because we’re not allowed to have more than two people over at a time. For my extended family, however, we decided to do things differently. We celebrated Christmas via Zoom, which was actually a lot of fun. We had sent each other boxes with gifts beforehand, and on the day we put the laptop in the kitchen and then all of us cooked the same meal, whilst chatting away. It was so much fun and actually, the first time the entire family was together. For even the uncle from Florida could stream in.

Anyways, between courses, we unwrapped the gifts that we had sent each other. My mother-in-law had sent us a gigantic box filled with presents, and one of those was a present for me (well actually, a lot of them were for me, but I want to focus on one in particular) with a card attached to it. The card told me she knew how difficult the last year had been, and she understood my need for travel. She hoped that the gift she got me would help.

Inside were VR glasses. The card told me to look up “360 video” on youtube, click one of the hits, slide my phone into the glasses and put them on. And then, immediately, I was there. The first video I watched was of the Maldives and suddenly, I was in the Maldives. I sat on the beach, and I could see and hear the waves, I was on a boat and then I was in the water. It was absolutely amazing. I turned it off, because I had to (we were still celebrating Christmas) but after all presents had been unwrapped, all the food eaten, and we had said goodbye, I got myself some playtime.

And it was amazing. I swam with dolphins, I took a balloon ride, then a journey to the edge of space. I’ve seen waterfalls and rode in amusement park rides. I saw the great barrier reef, sat inside a Panda enclosure (okay I did this a couple of times, actually), visited a cat café, saw the Northern Lights, took a stroll through Petra and went skydiving. It was absolutely wonderful and it felt as if I was really there.

There are many, many, many more videos to watch and I would love to view all of them. It really is a beautiful way to explore, within the comfort of your own home (though I did bump into tables a couple of times).

A little sidenote, there are VR glasses that cost 600 euros, that are used for gaming most of the time. You don’t need those. They are super awesome if you’re a gamer, but if you wanna watch 3d videos like you’re actually in them, you can get with by a model like mine, which uses your phone and doesn’t have an onboard computer. The effect is still amazing and breathtaking 🙂

How to survive the lockdown: 3 podcasts you should listen to

by Mariska, posted in the stuck at home traveler, Wanderlust Wonderland Favourites

Hi guys! How are you doing? It’s been a while since I posted – for obvious reasons. We’re in a lockdown again, the numbers are higher than ever and it seems like this is gonna take a while. So I’m doing the smart thing and I’m staying inside. I am looking at doing a detox yoga retreat in january, but more on that later – when I actually decide if I want to go or not.

Today I will focus again on the stuck-at-home traveler. I’m pretty sure all of you are in the same metaphorical boat as I am, wanting to travel but not being able to. Earlier, in the first months of the corona crisis, I shared my ideas for books, movies and series and other tips for fellow wanderlusters. Today I want to focus on podcasts.

Continue reading “How to survive the lockdown: 3 podcasts you should listen to” →

Fleeing the quarantine

by Mariska, posted in Netherlands, Personal, the stuck at home traveler

At times, this quarantine is really getting to me. One week I’m doing great, working and writing posts and feeling productive, but last week was not like that. I had a headache and felt dizzy, spent every day in my pyjama’s watching Netflix and doing nothing at all, until eventually, I was done with it. Banging on the bars of my cell, otherwise known as my windows, crying and screaming to get out.

I felt locked-up, going crazy with need for adventure, for doing something else than spending time at home. I just really need to go. The next day, Boyfriend had searched for a few stops nearby, places where we wouldn’t run into a lot of people, but where I could get some fresh air and a change of scenery, even only for a couple of hours, without the risk of getting sick or contaminating others.

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An alternate anniversary

by Mariska, posted in Europe, Netherlands, the stuck at home traveler

Hi guys! How are you doing? Last week I’ve been kind of mopey because we wanted to celebrate our six year anniversary properly, but couldn’t find a way to do that. Two year ago we had started a little tradition by going away somewhere to celebrate, but for obvious reasons we could not do that this year.

There are a few hotels that are still open and we did look at them, I actually found myself getting excited about visiting the waddeneilanden in the northern parts of the Netherlands, something that would usually get me as excited as going for a trip to Ikea (i.e. not at all). What weird times we live in!

But we decided against it. Even though we had the opportunity, it still felt weird to go. We are urged to stay indoors and as much as my insides are screaming for some time away, we coulnd’t possibly justify going and taking the risk of getting infected, or possibly infect someone else.

So I wasn’t happy at all this last week. I had been doing great, since I decided not to think too much about what we couldn’t do and instead focus on the good things, for instance, the time I now had to learn a new language, practice some songs on my ukulele, or read hundreds of books. But with our upcoming anniversary, I had to face the truth: we were stuck.

The funny thing is, in times like these, you discover how much beauty there is around you. We couldn’t go to Venice as we did two years ago, or Germany, as we did last year, or even The Ardennes, which we had talked about for this year, but we could go somewhere nearby for the day.

We started the day with a homemade English breakfast (who says you have to visit the United Kingdom to have an English breakfast?) and then packed some lunch, packed our instruments and set out for a nearby park. We planned to take the bus but we missed it, so we walked from bus stop to bus stop to see when another one would arrive. It didn’t, but it didn’t really matter, for we had found another park, one that was closer to our home, one that we had never been to before, but what appeared to be another fairytale like park with little brooks, bridges, baby coots and probably a lot less noise than the park we planned on visiting.

So we had our little picnick, played some music and had a lovely time. All within 3 kilometers from our home.

The lesson learnt here is that there is beauty everywhere. Yes, corona still sucks and I still want to go away, but if we had gone, we never would have discovered this beauty.

how to learn a new language

by Mariska, posted in Bucketlist, the stuck at home traveler

Hey guys, how are you doing? I’m still cooped up in my home due to the corona virus, and aside from working, I’ve been searching for things to do. The following weeks I will give you some tips for the stuck-at-home traveler. Books, series and movies and games that fellow wanderlusters might enjoy, because they will transport you to the places you can’t actually visit right now.

When you’re feeling like you’ve read all the books, seen everything there is to see on Netflix and finished playing every game, you might get the feeling: I want to do something productive! Lots of peoples bucketlists are not just endless lists of places they want to visit, but they also include topics such as learning a new skill – or a new language. And what would be a better time to start learning a new language, than when you’re locked up in your own home, bored out of your mind? Time for some tips!

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How to have a great staycation

by Mariska, posted in the stuck at home traveler

Normally I would be on a trip somewhere around this time of year. For years, our student’s association planned trips at the end of april, and later, boyfriend and I started our own little tradition to celebrate our anniversary in the beginning of May by going somewhere. But now, we’re stuck at home thanks to corona.

So how about a vacation at home, better known as staycation. It’s almost time for summer break but a lot of trips have been cancelled. So in this post I will share my tips for a great staycation. Because a vacation at home can also be fun and relaxing!

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How to survive the lockdown: visit an online museum!

by Mariska, posted in the stuck at home traveler, Travel tips

Hey guys, how are you doing? I’m still cooped up in my home due to the corona virus, and aside from working, I’ve been searching for things to do. The following weeks I will give you some tips for the stuck-at-home traveler. Books, series and movies and games that fellow wanderlusters might enjoy, because they will transport you to the places you can’t actually visit right now.

Our ‘intelligent lockdown’ has just been extended, and we’re not sure when our restaurants and museums will open again. So it’s time to look at some online museums, for a lot of them have virtual tours or exhibitions, so you can look at their art from your own home. Here are some of my favourites!

Continue reading “How to survive the lockdown: visit an online museum!” →