Having the travel bug that I do, I’m always anxious to be in my next destination. Those destinations were supposed to be a return trip to Paris and a new adventure in Morocco, but as I’m currently stuck in my apartment thanks to COVID-19, I’ve been trying to figure out how to travel from home.
Luckily, living in the year that we are, technology has made it easier than ever to travel from home without having to step foot outside.
1. Geoguessr
One of my favorite ways to explore the world, Geoguessr is a geography game that places you in a random spot in the world via Google Street View. You then have to guess where on a map you’re located, and earn points based on accuracy.
Geoguessr is a great way to travel from home and discover places you may have never considered traveling to!
Above: The Musée Rodin in Paris.
Below: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
2. Travel from home by touring a museum
Google Arts & Culture allows you to virtually tour several museums around the world, as well as historical landmarks.
See the art at the legendary Uffizi Gallery in Florence or at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Some of the museums available to tour I didn’t even realize existed, such as the Australian National Surfing Museum and Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
Just because I’m feeling a little homesick today, I’d like to point out that The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art), MoMA, and Guggenheim are all also on Google Arts and Culture.
3. Discover street art to travel from home
Also available on Google Arts and Culture are street view collections of street art and public sculptures you can walk around virtually.
Click here to see 12 murals you can see on street view by the elusive street artist Banksy. Here is a collection of street art from cities around the world to travel to from home.
This collection of art and design street views from Lyon, France, had me feeling wanderlust, as Lyon has been on my France travel list! Another standout collection is these NYC street views, which features art by one of my favorite muralists, Kobra.
If you’ve read my Miami travel guide, you know that one of my favorite art neighborhoods to go to, Wynwood, is there! You can virtually explore Wynwood for yourself, here. After, read my tips on visiting Wynwood for when you’re able to see it in person.
To finish your street art travel from home, check out these murals in London.
Upper Left: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chicago, Illinois.
Upper Right: Musée Louvre in Paris, France.
Bottom Left: The Eiffel Tower from Trocadéro in Paris, France.
Bottom Right: Meiji Jingu Shrine in Harajuku, Shibuya, Tokyo.
4. Go virtual sightseeing to famous landmarks
Want to see the Taj Mahal and other intricately carved Indian stone monuments? Have you been dying to wander through European icons such as Sanssouci in Germany, Stonehenge in England, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy?
See them online using street view!
I never thought I’d see the day that you could travel from home to Tikal or Machu Picchu without the hike. You can now see the Great Pyramids of Giza from the comfort of your air conditioning. Explore a stunning temple in Kyoto, or the Palace of Versailles in France (somewhere I’ve been wanting to get to on one of my trips to Paris)!
For my fellow ballet and theater fans, you can virtually explore the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, the Opéra National de Paris, and the Sydney Opera House.
Above: The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Pompeii Ruins in Pompeii, Italy.
5. Explore a UNESCO World Heritage Site
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are rich in culture and history. Now you can tour them from home!
I honestly wish I had this map of Pompeii when I was there in person, but you can see all the locations virtually as well.
Visit the beautiful Mont-Saint-Michel, or see Petra, Jordan in 360. I’ve been wanting to visit Jordan for a while, so I was particularly excited to discover that.
If you want more information on Machu Picchu than Google Street View provides, check out this virtual tour with voiceover and 360 exploration.
6. Watch a travel movie
Travel-focused films can be some of the best ways to learn about a new culture from home. Several of the following travel movies are available free with Amazon Prime, Netflix, or Hulu:
- Crazy Rich Asians (Singapore)
- The Hundred-Foot Journey (India and France)
- Midnight in Paris (Paris)
- Mamma Mia! / Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Skopelos, Greece)
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Rajasthan, India)
- Eat Pray Love (Italy, India, and Bali, Indonesia)
- La La Land (Los Angeles}
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Oia, Greece; Baja, California; Mexico; South Carolina; and Bethesda, Maryland)
- The Lizzie McGuire Movie – if you know, you know (Rome, Italy)
- Under the Tuscan Sun (Cortona Tuscany, Italy)
- Girls Trip (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- Letters to Juliet (Verona, Italy)
Of course, what travel movie list would be complete without these childhood throwbacks from the Olsen Twins?
7. Adventure travel from home through gripping storytelling
If you’re someone who seeks an adrenaline-filled adventure, such as myself, you’ll love these videos. Some of the travel adventures captured here, I’ll never be able to experience.
The North Face did an amazing job of capturing the first ski descent of Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world, done by Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison here. I’ve watched that video twice now because I can’t get over how incredible that journey was!
This video follows Anders Hofman breaking a record by completing the northernmost triathlon ever in Svalbard, Norway. Hofman has since made history again, completing a full Ironman in Antarctica.
If you enjoy rock climbing, check out this video of James Pearson, Cedar Wright, and Yuji Hirayama, climbing the world’s tallest sea cliff, Cape Enniber, in the Faroe Islands.
I’ve been a huge fan of Yes Theory’s adventures since their early days as all their travel videos are entertaining, but this documentary in particular stands out. The Yes Theory team, with a team of other creatives, journeyed for seven days in the jungle of Guatemala to visit the largest pyramid in the world, in the lost Mayan city of Mirador.
8. Visit a botanical garden
The United States Botanical Garden now has a virtual tour of their collections! I’ve been missing NYC cherry blossom season so much, so I love being able to see the beautiful USBG flowers.
The virtual tour was shot in autumn, so you also get to see the vibrant trees.
Above: NYC’s blossoming trees in Madison Square Park.
xx,
E
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