Now, don’t get us wrong
Travelling in any form is enjoyable, but would anyone disagree if we said there’s a habit of always doing the same thing, such as lying on a beach or exploring a European city?
These are fun, no doubt, but there are also a million and one other ways to explore the world.
If you’ve had your fair share of same old, same old holidays, read some of our tips below, which outline more than a dozen ways to travel. You might not fancy all of them, but a few will grab your interest.
Throw a Dart
You’ve likely got a long list of destinations you’d like to visit, but the problem with building up these places in your head is that you travel there with expectations. You see the goal through the lens you’ve already created.
Take, say, Berlin. You might know it as the mecca of Hipsterville, filled with cool bars, art, and so on, and if you travelled there, that’s what you’d see.
There’d be confirmation bias. Instead, why not pick a destination you know nothing about?
We’ve hinted at ‘throwing a dart at the map’ in the heading, but you could see where it’d be cheap to travel to and turn up, even if you know nothing about it. You’ll be able to trust your impressions.
Set Yourself Rules
Travelling these days is wonderfully accessible, but you don’t always need to emphasize convenience and ease.
Everything was much more complicated back in the old days, and isn’t there something appealing about that? So if you’re looking for adventure and a challenge, consider setting yourself some rules.
For example, you could say that you’re going to travel from your home to your destination without flying or that you’re going to mix up the usual accommodation you opt for.
If you usually stay in hotels, choose a hostel, or vice versa. It’ll make you rethink what you thought you knew about travelling.
Explore Your Backyard
There’s an idea that travelling means heading to the airport and jetting off to a country that speaks a language different from your own, but this is not the case.
It’d take people days to reach areas we could get to in a couple of hours by train in the olden days. Were they travelling?
Of course, they were. So journeying can be whatever you want it to be. You’ve probably never seen many points of interest within easy driving distance of your house.
The next time you’ve got the travel itch, look across the country – you won’t have to look for too long before you find somewhere worth visiting.
Under the Night Sky
Camping is one of life’s most underrated activities. It’s cheap, challenging, great fun – provided with the right company – and helps reconnect with nature.
While it can get slightly more tricky during autumn and winter, spring and summer, it can provide one of the year’s weekends. If you spend all your time in urban areas, then a trip out to the countryside and spending a night under the stars will boost you as nothing else can.
You don’t always need five-star hotels and convenience at every turn to have a good time.
A Roof Over Your Head
We understand, however, that not everyone fancies spending a night in a tent, sleeping on the floor. But that doesn’t mean you can’t pay for your holiday time in the great outdoors, oh no!
Many options give you a half-camping, half-comfort experience, such as a travel trailer. Invest in the Rockwood Mini 2109s, and you’ll have a comfortable living space that you can tow behind your vehicle.
Then it’s simply a matter of picking your destination, driving there, and then moving inside the trailer for some easy, fun living.
The bonus of this type of travel is that it’s not weather-dependent. Camping can be pretty grim when it’s raining. You can stay warm inside, play games, and watch the rainfall when you have a trailer.
Volunteering Options
We believe a holiday should be about making ourselves happy, or just being as comfortable as possible. There’s another option, though!
You can give back, learn something, and have fun, all by volunteering. Look at websites like Helpx and Workaway, and browse the options.
This is also an affordable way to travel. You’ll be given free accommodation and food in exchange for four to five hours of work, though some hosts in poorer countries ask for a small daily donation.
You could live the sweet outdoor life in the South of France without spending a penny. Nice!
House Swapping
If you own a home, why not swap houses with someone else to learn more about a different culture? Here’s how it works. They get your keys for a set period and move into your house. You get their keys and move into their home. It allows you to
A. get more space and B. experience a destination like a local. If you live in a destination people want to visit, you’ll have no problem temporarily finding someone to exchange with. For more information, check out the film “The Holiday.’
Slow Travel
Have you noticed how everything’s rushed these days? Some people go on holiday and cram in so much that they need to recover when they get back home.
That doesn’t seem like a sensible thing. So let’s slow things down a bit. Instead of doing a whistle-stop tour of, say, Spain, why not spend your entire two-week holiday getting to know just one of its cities, such as Seville?
You’ll be able to glean a much deeper understanding of how the city works if you slow down and immerse yourself in local life for a more extended period.
With a Theme
Travelling to a place and working through the most important attractions is easy. But if you have no interest in art or history, why would you spend your precious free time walking around art and history museums just because a guidebook tells you they’re magnificent?
Instead, do the things you love. This can form the basis of your trip. If you’re a food lover, then a food tour of Italy makes sense.
If you’re a literature fan, following in the footsteps of Hemingway through Paris and Spain might be for you (be warned: this will include drinking in many bars).
Digital Detox
We spend so much of our time connected to the digital world, which rarely lets up when we’re traveling. When everything is so Instagram-worthy, you always want to take pictures! But to break from your everyday life, consider a digital detox.
It can be not very comforting to go without the internet for a week – especially when you need to find how to get somewhere – but it’s nearly always worth it. You’ll find that you push yourself to do more things and discover more by accident just because you didn’t have all the answers right in front of you.
Friends and Family
We usually go travelling with the same old faces. Nothing wrong with that! But it’s worthwhile mixing things up now and again.
For example, if you’re over eighteen, it’s probably been some time since you went on a holiday with your family. Why not pick a destination everyone will love and spend quality time together? It can be challenging to organize sometimes, but it’ll be worth it.
Go, Solo
On the other side of the coin, when was the last time you travelled by yourself? People have a phobia of doing anything without someone by their side, but there are plenty of benefits to branching out and flying solo.
You’ll be out of your comfort zone, for starters – indeed, for the first couple of days, you may wonder why you’ve made this decision.
But good things will come from it. You’ll be able to do all the things you like and will find that you have many more conversations with strangers when you don’t have the crutch of a friend to fall back on.
For a Cultural Event
There are plenty of fascinating things going on worldwide; why not build your travel adventures around one of them?
For example, you could hit up Rio’s carnival, Chinese New Year, or Mardis Gras in New Orleans. You’ll see one of life’s incredible sights and have your itinerary sorted without trying.
Traveling is an adventure! Try one of the different methods of seeing the world above, and you’ll be on your way to seeing the world through a different lens, one that’s just as fun – if not more so – than traditional travel.
