When you just can't travel

updated October 25, 2020 to reflect the COVID-19 era

No matter how inexpensively you travel, it's still a luxury.

When you need to decide between paying the month's rent and paying for a trip to London, your priorities are clear, or they should be. You can't risk eviction.

When there's a global pandemic that prohibits American passport holders from traveling to much of the world, you stay home, wear a mask if you need to go anywhere (please!) and you cancel your travel.

With a little money, and a lot of international safety (present about all times except during pandemic), we've figured out how to travel efficiently at minimal cost; it was the inspiration for this blog. More people need to travel because it makes this world a better place. That's my upfront bias.

But sometimes travel just doesn't work. Maybe you plan to do it at some point - when the kids are older, for example - but right now it's just impossible, and you know that. Maybe you're in a pandemic category that just makes travel too risky. Maybe it's just too expensive.

Some sites tell you blithely, "Just set aside a few dollars a week, and you'll be there in no time." But what if you don't have a few dollars a week to set aside? For years (decades) we couldn't afford to travel outside the U.S. at all. We could barely afford the fuel for a day trip once a month.

Once our daughters were older and we were more settled in our careers, money still wasn't plentiful - and it still isn't. We've learned how to keep our travel bug fairly affordable anyhow, by hunting down low-priced airfare, staying in hostels, eating on the cheap and more.

Shelving your dreams while you wait for the "perfect" time isn't something I recommend, because the perfect time never arrives. But does postponing your dreams mean that you'll never be able to explore the world?

Of course not.

Even if you can't travel, or if you can't travel right now, you can explore places all around the world for little to no money. Use your time for research, so that when - not if - you travel, you're ready to go.

Here are some fun tips:

• watch videos on YouTube (hint: my YouTube channel has several)

• borrow some books or videos from the library to learn more about the culture, history, economy or geography of the place(s) you'd like to go

• involve the rest of the family if that applies to you. Let your children, spouse or partner join in the fun!

• get a "taste" of the region with a meal or food/drink item that's common there

• watch travel shows on your local public broadcasting network

• set a schedule of destinations you're going to explore remotely; maybe this month it's Germany and next month it's Guatemala

• if you have a little money, take a foreign language class at a nearby university, community college or international organization (my blog post, Watch your language, explains why this is a good idea)

• check out some travel forums or online resources. For train travel, I highly recommend The Man in Seat 61. On YouTube, besides my channel, you may like Wolters World. Don't overlook sites like Fodor's, Lonely Planet and Rick Steves

Happy travel planning!