wander blog

5 things to do while waiting to
get back on the road again

By Wander Team | 6 minutes read

→ Download the Wander app and find someone to join you wherever you go!

Wander Blog - 5 things to do while waiting to get back on the road again

Warming up for the post-Covid travel era

Once upon a time, sweet old days come to our mind when everything travel related was easy to implement and put into effect. Just book an accomodation and flight/bus/train ticket, plan the trip itinerary and here you go. Get a taxi ride to the airport and city center. No fuss, no hustle, no issue. Apart from the fact that today it is no longer possible to do so smoothly. Latest Coronavirus travel restrictions and safety measures have totally disrupted these once uncomplicated processes.

While it is virtually still possible under certain conditions to travel locally and/or abroad and visit other countries, at this stage we strongly recommend to avoid all non-essential travel operations as it might only further worsen the current worldwide health emergency and make it easier for Covid to circulate in the air and infect more and more people.

Hold on! We certainly understand how hard and frustrating it is for us travellers to give up to our yearly bucket list destinations for some time. Especially when people is still being stuck in a foreign country without an option to return to their home country. Chances are in fact, by the end of the year plenty of biopharmaceutical companies will provide us with a potentially resolutive vaccine aimed to contain the virus spread.

Meanwhile, here are a few things you can do that can help you manage stress from Covid in the right way and to help you get things right on the track for the post-Covid travel era.

While it is still not entirely possible to freely travel around the world, a bit of planning goes a long way towards getting ready to get back on the road once we'll be Covid-free.

1. Keep yourself healthy and active

This one might sounds like an obvious point. More and more people though forget or even neglect what is our most important asset, which is a good and functioning human body. In order to achieve this, there are some simple steps we can take to get the most energy and wellness from our daily food intake:

■ Staying hydrated all the time represents one simple move that can often save our day. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day in fact not only is critical for our body vital functions to work properly, but also allows us to replenish minerals and water that are lost by sweating or by doing physical exercise. Always shoot for at least a couple of liters of water a day. Your body and energy levels will thank you in the long run!

■ Eating plenty of vegetables and fruit ensures the body a high intake of vitamin, minerals, water, as well as a myriad of micronutrients that else wouldn't be found in other foods. Few key green veggies which contain the most nutrients such as kale, spinach, carrots, cucumber, salad, are easily found in any supermarket shelves, cheap, and ready to eat. Fruits like bananas, blueberries, apples, kiwis, strawberries help fight against heat-related fatigue symptoms as well as ensuring our muscles, heart and other organs work properly, thanks to high intake of minerals and C vitamin. Omega 3 dry fruits instead are critical for our heart to function properly.

■ Working out 2-3 times a week is just essential for a good and happy life. Do not be afraid to jump out of sofa and have a healthy early morning run in your local park or to hit the gym twice a week! Studies have shown that doing any sort of physical resistance training or weightlifting greatly reduces serious health complications such as stroke, diabetes, heart attacks, as well as increases production of hormones that directly contribute to our good mood by fighting off depression-like symptoms.

While on the road, you can take advantage of a unique opportunity to try some healthy local food which otherwise cannot be found elsewhere.

2. Manage and keep your financial resources at your sight

As we are approaching a new never-seen-before economic downturn, several countries across the globe are experiencing high unemployment rates and loss of jobs. Nevertheless, there are a few tricks you can benefit from that eventually will make you save a ton of money in exchange fees, bad exchange rates, commissions, ATM's withdrawals and so on.

■ Keep an accurate track of your financial activity, especially bank transfers, credit cards transactions, online purchases. Get a rough estimate of how much your monthly spend is, including fees related, and determine how can you best save some money out of them by comparing both public and private money services.

■ If you're planning to visit one or more different countries, opening an international borderless bank account can make the difference by helping you save hundreds of dollars wasted in transaction fees. Online banks such as Transferwise let you open a free international bank account that will make you manage dozens of currencies without the need to exchange money at the local airport, entirely for free.

3. Read books and travel guides

According to some popular sayings, "The more you learn, the more you earn". That's why reading books is a healthy yet constructive experience. It keeps our mind constantly under training and fed with notions that help us grow both spiritually and professionally. In addition to keep you busy during quarantine time, having time to read is a truly unique chance to learn more about your favorite topics, hobbies, or just enrich your cultural baggage. If you love travelling same as we do, don't forget to check out travel itineraries, guides, and/or online platforms. This will allow you to plan your trip beforehand by getting all the essential info about destination you're heading to, cost of life, currency, cultural approach, local life and hangouts, local tourist attractions, and much more, thus to make you save time and money. Popular trip planning and reviews websites as well as accommodation booking include Tripadvisor, Airbnb, and Tripit.

Wander Blog - 5 things to do while waiting to get back on the road again

4. Practice yoga and meditation techniques

Practicing meditation is an optimal stress reliever which might be able to heal most of quarantine and lockdown related stress symptoms. Performed by the human being since more than 5.000 years, it is widely believed that meditation and mind-body exercises such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, and qigong, can greatly affect the overall well-being. Some of the benefits of these healthy practices can be found as:

■ Increased body awareness which translates into better movements coordination;

■ Cronic stress relief which turns useful during critical moments where our bodies and minds are pushed to our boundaries;

■ Improved sleep quality and general optimism towards life; who wouldn't enjoy sleeping like a baby at nights and waking up smiling to the day?

■ Sharpened concentration with increased daily productivity and tasks completion rate.

■ Improved breathing pattern.

5. Learn new skills

Having plenty of free time during quarantine times, now more than ever it is the right chance to learn to do something new. Whatever your task is, be it build your side business, learn to build a rc copter, learn to cook exotic cuisines, or DIY projects, there's plenty of material to study from out there, both online and offline. Watching tutorials and educational videos, enrolling to online courses such as Skillshare and Udemy, getting face-to-face mentoring and teaching sessions, or self-teaching, are just some of the ways you can take adventage from and that will really push you to get benefits during stay at home times. Learn how to watch TV on the sofa is not included in the menu!