After weeks of travelling no further than from the couch to the fridge, severe wanderlust is well and truly setting in. Whether you’re staring red-eyed at footage of tropical bike rides, finding yourself absent-mindedly stroking your favourite suitcase, or donning walking boots for a stroll in the park, we’ve found the perfect cure for stay- at-home blues: reliving the best trip you’ve ever taken.
From once-in-a-lifetime adventures to sun-soaked holidays with best friends, the trips that stay with us come in many different forms. Be they cooking up a reminiscent feast, or dancing the night away with a nostalgic playlist, there are myriad ways to let the awesome experiences we’ve had liven up our lives right now. Ready to journey back? Let’s get going!
Set the scene…
1. Put on an outfit you wore on your trip
There’s no way you can feel like you’re back on the trip of a lifetime without dressing the part, and, let’s be honest, we’re all getting a little sick of 24/7 loungewear. Whether a slinky sundress and sandals, jazzy Hawaiian print shirt, or fur-lined jacket and snow boots, digging out that outfit that instantly transports you to another location is the perfect way to start setting the scene for reliving your trip. Plus, the beauty of being stuck inside is that you're in control of the temperature, so you can adjust the thermostat if you feel like you’re about to boil/freeze in your travel garb. Now you’re all dressed up, you just need somewhere to go.
2. Play some destination-appropriate music
Nothing can virtually teleport you to the other side of the world in an instant like music. Wherever your favourite trip’s soundtrack was a tinkling medley of piano keys and soft sax strains, a thrashing, live music extravaganza, or punctuated by your own personal playlist via headphones on an overnight bus ride, selecting the tunes that accompanied your adventures is like pressing play on all the memories. Choosing the perfect songs for travelling back is a very personal matter, but if your musical memoirs are a bit of a non-specific jumble, you’ll find a selection of destination inspired playlists on our own Lonely Planet Spotify – from hip-swinging Havana to happening Hamburg – that’ll get the atmosphere just right.
3. Cook up a cultural feast
So many of the best trips are made legendary by the food and drink enjoyed along the way, and with a country’s cuisine being such a distinctive part of its identity, there’s no better way to relive an adventure than by recreating its feasts. Try to focus on one particular meal or snack you distinctly remember eating, as well as exactly where you were when doing so – what was your view? What could you hear whilst eating? For a bit of recipe inspiration, try our Travel Kitchen and Destination Drinks pages. If you’re a bit of a kitchen-phobe however, fear not; there are many ways to bring back the tastes of a holiday without a wealth of exotic ingredients and hours of prep. If you’re craving Spanish flavours, just reach for the tapas. If it’s a taste of Mexico, grab some tortilla chips and a bowl of fresh salsa.
Get lost in the memories…
4. Gather your photos and videos together in one place
We all return from trips with the best intentions of organising, sorting and preserving our travel snaps and films for generations to come, but, as life returns to normal, such plans can easily go awry. Now is the perfect time to get your trip’s best snaps in order, reliving and reminiscing in the process. How you sort through your photos is entirely up to you – perhaps you’re a digital collage kind of traveller, or maybe you like your prints to be, well, real prints. If you’ve collected video clips, this is a great opportunity to brush up on your editing skills and make a short film to document your trip. However you choose to display and/or store your frames and shots, the mere act of flicking through them all will take you right back.
5. Write about your trip
The urge to channel your inner Hemmingway and put pen to paper about travel experiences is definitely not something that we can all relate to, but the act of committing a travel memory to writing is surprisingly invigorating. If the prospect is a little daunting, don’t worry – you definitely don’t need to pen the next Motorcycle Diaries to discover the joy of travel writing. Simply hone in on one particular day, or even one particular scene of your trip, and jot down everything you remember in diary form. If you’re feeling more creative, you could work your notes into a narrative, or even a poem. You’ll be amazed at how suppressed details and feelings come flooding back as you write, and are now newly captured for whenever you feel like reminiscing again.
6. Talk about your travels with others
If you travelled with others, now is the time to get them involved. Arrange a phone call or video chat with the sole purpose of reminiscing about your trip. If the flow of memories is a little stunted, try starting with the very first day; at the airport, bus station, or wherever your journey began. Try to remember every single person you spoke to on the trip, in chronological order. Although these methods seem a little prescriptive at first, it’s only a matter of time before a memory is jogged and you ramble off on a joyful tangent, resurfacing many hours later. Of course, some of the best trips are undertaken solo – if you were lucky enough to have set off on your best adventures alone, it’s time to connect (or re-connect) with the people you met along the way. You’re sure to end the chat with newly uncovered memories and perspectives to treasure forever.
Take it forward...
7. Upload reviews
Writing reviews is an aspect of travel that we are all guilty of putting off, or, more likely, forgetting to do altogether. However, leaving a few detailed reviews for the accommodation, attractions, restaurants or bars that made your trip the best is not only good for the soul, but also gives a little boost to the businesses that gave you such incredible experiences. Whether you use a general travel forum, or the businesses’ individual social profiles to make your voice heard, in doing so you are giving others the chance to make their trip as epic as yours, and putting your gratitude out into the universe.
8. Plan a trip that’s even better
The beauty of reliving and recreating your best ever trip is that you will now have a really clear idea about what it was that made the trip so good. Perhaps it was the destination, the kind of things you saw or the route you took. Maybe it was simply the people you went with. The reasons that you consider the trip to be the best you’ve ever had will reveal the aspects of travel that you hold most dear, and the things it is most important for you to ensure are present in your future travels. Whatever the key ingredients for your perfect adventure may be, you can now spend your time baking them into the ultimate plan for your next epic trip.
