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Clues on how to travel when you're not!

It has been almost a year since I have set foot in an airport. Too long! I am living that struggling post college year! When I returned from three months in Europe last May I knew I was in for the long hall. A year of finding a job and saving for my next trip. Every traveler has experienced the down time between travel gigs. For wanders like me it hurts! I found several solutions that have helped me survive my year of little travel.

1) Food! Heading to an open air market in the spring, summer and fall to pick up fresh fruits, veggies and flowers would help me recall spending hours wandering around the open air markets in the various cities I visited. The smells and all the people wandering around brought me back to the hustle and bustle the European markets have. I could almost see the nonnas with their wheel bags pushing me out of the way for the freshest loaf of bread or the sweetest cut of fish.

2) more food! Seeking out a new place to eat is a fabulous and yummy way to feed my travel bug. Hunting down restaurants where the staff barely spoke English allowed me, for meal time, to pretend I was somewhere else.

3) Food again. Sharing a table with those who love fresh and local flavors as much as I do always bring a smile to my face. There is nothing better than good conversation over a perfect filet of trout or a cinnamon gelato!

3) Travel Blogs. Reading about other peoples travels helped me stay connected to the travel community. Often reminding me of the people I have met on the road and the places I want to see.

4) Photos. Organizing my photos into scrape books and sharing my photos with people became a fun way to think about my trip.

5) Day Trips. The one thing I could afford was some gas to take short day trips. On my days off I would look for a place close that I had not visited. Local travel was an entertaining way for me to discover what was special about being home! Now I appreciate staying local a little bit more, not enough to stay put but enough to keep me going.

6) Planning. Researching for my next trip became fun and exciting. Exploring the Internet and books was an engaging way to pass the time. It also gave me a goal so I knew all my hard work was going towards something.

7) Reading. Looking for books that where written by non American Authors or those books taking place outside of the US became my obsession.

8) Music. Listening to music by artists from my favorite countries was nostalgic and I could make a strong connection with certain times and place in my travels. A song by Iglu and Hartly brought me back to my train ride form Austria to France on my way to visit my brother!

9) Fashion. Checking out the local fashions from Argentina to Hong Kong to Paris fashion week was a fun way to remember the places I have been and want to go.

10) Old and New Friends. I would often write emails and call those I spent time traveling with who were suffering from the same travel bug I was. It was a chance to reconnect and was a built in support network for me with those who shared my goals.

Those are the things I found that help keep me sane when I am not traveling. What do you do between your travels?