Can’t Travel the World? Bring The World to Your Home in This Quarantine Period!

If the current pandemic has forced you to put your travel plans on hold, and you are quarantined with your wanderlust and bucket-lists, we have just the right thing for you!

So what you if you can’t sit on a plane and escape to the beautiful streets of Japan, enjoy a relaxing massage at a spa in Thailand or unwind at the hanging gardens of Bali⁠—the exotic destinations can come to you.

How, you ask? Read On!

1. Lay Out a Classic European Brunch

If you are sulking in bed thinking about all the amazing things you would eat in Europe, we understand you. But hey, who said you need to be in Europe to try some authentic European food! With tons of time in your hands, find your way to the kitchen, put your culinary skills to use and make some easy traditional dishes with products you’ll easily find in your kitchen.

• Begin your party with some steaming hot espresso, just like the Europeans do! If not a fan of espresso, you can customize it with some cream and hazelnut syrup too. 
• First dish on the menu has got to be pancakes! Super easy to make, you can further make it absolutely Insta-worthy by topping it with some dripping peanut butter, chocolate sauce or chopped fruits. 
• Next, you can try making some delicious toast topped with roasted avocados and tomatoes. This is one of the easiest to make and requires basic ingredients such as multi-grain bread, some salad leaves, avocados (optional), some ripe tomatoes and some salad dressing or regular mayo.
• Next and most important, dress up! Ladies, take your oversized hats and vibrant tunic out for the event, and men can put their oversized shirts and floral shorts to use.

2. Bring the Traditional Art of Japan Home

Remember making paper airplanes in your classroom to poke friends and have fun? It’s time to take that skill to another level! Master the traditional Japanese paper folding art of Origami and turn your bedroom into a classic Japanese space. The best part? You use just one piece of paper and turn it into a sculpture without cutting, gluing or taping. To put it in simple words, Origami is just the technique of folding one sheet into different symmetrical designs. Below are some ideas for you to try:

• Switch on the tutorials that fill the web and make origami doves. Make not one but 5-6 and string them together to adorn the sills of your bedroom window.
• Take a larger sheet of paper and use your skilful hands to make an umbrella that opens and closes. Yes, you can do that! Go a bit ahead and write your favourite words on the top of it with a marker, in Japanese!
• Next, make an origami fan. Take some pride in your new skill and roam around your house showing off your talent!

3. Turn your Living Room into a Balinese Space

Day-dreaming about your stay in the Balinese villa that you intended to book for your vacation? Worry not! It takes little efforts to transform your living room with some Balinese style décor; some DIY, a touch here and a touch there and you might just find yourself in Bali. Don’t fret, this isn’t even half as tricky as it sounds.

• Balinese interiors draw inspiration from nature. Subtle earthy colours and shades of white. So step one is to find jute bags (ask your mom, she saves such stuff for times like these).
• Get to work. Take your bed-side lamp and cover it with a layer of jute bag. Use scissors to cut it in the right shape and glue the edges. If you have indoor palm trees, trim its edges for the dried leaves and glue it on the lamp’s edges from the inside. If you don’t have the plant, it’s okay, you can also use white thread as an alternative.
• Take somebody’s help and do the same with your hanging ceiling light. Next, arrange for some floor bedding and turn off all lights except the lamp you just made. Now you can read or watch a movie and pretend that you’re in Bali, because trust us, it’ll be totally believable.

4. Reward Yourself with a Thailand-Style Spa Session

One thing on everyone’s bucket list is a spa or massage in Thailand, since our bucket list is quarantining, how about bringing that Thailand-style spa session at home? Here’s how to do it:

• DIY aromatic diffuser. Add 1/4^th cup of baby oil, or almond, jojoba or olive oil with some vodka or rubbing alcohol mixture, and add about 10 ml of any aromatic essential oil to it further. Take a small glass bottle or vase and put 4-6 wooden skewers in it.
• You can also try some aromatic candles to go with the diffuser.
• Step 2, make some aroma oil, in the same way you made for the diffuser. You can also use coconut oil this time. Warm up the mixture and massage the oil on yourself (even better if you have someone to do it for you).
• Now that you have massaged yourself with aroma oil, place the diffuser in the bathroom. Fill your bath tub and throw in some rose petals. Dim the lights, play some music, draw a mental image of Thailand and relax your senses.

5. Bring the Seychelles Market Home

One thing that everyone absolutely loves about Seychelles, is its vibrant markets. The avenues are full of quirky items such as handbags, craft items, liquor products, jewellery, carved soaps and what not! When you take a stroll in local streets, you come across people working on different products.

It’s time to bring Seychelles’ flea market home and indulge yourself in a new hobby that you may even commercialise by selling on some e-commerce platform, or setting up a small online Instagram shop! Here are some easy and interesting things you can make.

• Carved Soap Items: There are various beginner tutorials on YouTube that teach how to carve soaps with things easily available at home, like kitchen knives. For interesting designs, try soaps of different colours and shapes.
• Jewellery: Gather all the shells and pebbles you collected from your amazing beach trips and begin sewing and stringing them together. If you are facing a creative block, don’t shy away from taking help of the internet!
• Handbags: Try putting designs on your old cloth handbags in a similar manner with which you made your jewellery. Trust us, your mom is going to be proud.

Now that’s how you quarantine and chill the right way!