As an avid traveler, having to self-quarantine, maintain social distance, #stayathome, or any of the covid-19 related buzzwords tests us to the core—but there are ways to survive these trying times.
So you’re stuck at home, what now?
Sick of the constant coronavirus updates?
Below are some suggestions of things to do to make the most of staying home that are :
What's Covered in This Article
Ask for a refund
If you’re one of those people who like to have all their ducks in a row before they set foot out of the country, you’d probably already assembled your itineraries for the first couple months of 2020 and had all your flights, accommodation, and excursions booked.
Your best bet under such circumstances is to check with the respective provider’s refund policies and options to see what refunds or other compensations they’re offering in exchange for a canceled trip.
Thankfully, several hotels, airlines and booking websites which are offering free cancellations and rebookings as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, you must also prepare to settle for less since the onus is on the provider to waive fees. But don’t be afraid to politely explain your case and request for a waiver even if the policy says otherwise. Bear in mind that these providers are also humans hit by this pandemic.
Explore virtual reality (VR) tourism
While arm-chair traveling can never take the place of experiencing a destination for yourself, VR technology has made online tours and exhibits possible.
Essentially, VR tourism involves recreating the virtual version of a real – life destination to the extent that it’d render visiting the destination unnecessary.
So, your flight to Amsterdam has been cancelled because of the corona virus shattering your dream of visiting its iconic museums, now what?
Take a virtual tour of Rijks museum and the Van Gogh Museum courtesy of Google 🙂
Corona aside, VR tourism has also been touted as a responsible alternative to overtourism, expensive travel, dangerous travel, and even minimization of carbon footprint.
Curl up with a travel book
“There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away.” – Emily Dickinson
Just like pictures and videos, words too have the power to create the soul of a place or destination.
I have for instance read some travel books and once I put the book down felt the sudden urge to head out to that destination.
So during this period of social distancing and self quarantine you can make yourself comfortable and immerse yourself instantly in the culture and history of a place through the written word.
So if you can’t head to Brazil for the Easter Weekend, to be transported into the country’s history and culture, as well as the gang life in Rio’s favelas, consider tucking into Paulo Lins’ novel, City of God – most famous for it’s film adaptation.
Other books to consider include:
- Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, by Alexandra Fuller about Zimbabwe
- The White Tiger; and Without You There Is No Us, by Suki Kima about North Korea
- In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson about Australia
- Dark Star Safari, by Paul Theroux about overland travel in Africa
Take a free online course
With the coronavirus imploring us to stay at home and self-quarantine, majority suddenly have extra time on our hands that we didn’t have before.
What better way to utilize this time than by taking free online courses on just about any new skill you may interested in learning!
Check out this link for a comprehensive list of 500+ free Ivy League courses to keep you occupied during this corona virus lock down period.
Fitness
Cities world over have shut down gyms, bars, nightclubs, entertainment venues and dine-in restaurant service in an effort to help slow the spread of covid-19.
However, that gyms are closing over coronavirus shouldn’t mark the end of your fitness journey if you’ve already been exercising.
If exercise hasn’t been a part of your daily routine, then this may be the sign you’ve been waiting for to embark on your fitness journey.
Thanks to the internet, you can access endless online workout programs – both free and paid.
Different gyms, fitness instructors, and fitness coaches are also streaming free classes via their individual websites, gym apps, Facebook pages and YouTube channels.
Some gym chains offering their work out exercise classes online for free include:
- Golds Gym is offering free access to its app,Goldsamp, until the end of May. Get started at goldsamp.com/promo, and enter promo code FIT60.
- Peloton, offering new users a 90-day trial on its app. The app is available on iOS and Android.
- Planet Fitness is offering “Home Work-Ins” and streaming live at 7 p.m. ET daily on their Facebook page.
- Core Power Yoga and Down Dog are providing some online yoga classes for free
Start a YouTube Channel
With the covid-19 pandemic comes a general sense of fear, so people are out looking for information — on Google. And YouTube.
On the other hand, I’m not sure about your location, but where I’m at, the only thing on TV in the last couple days has been coronavirus related updates.
And while all these updates are by all means important, it gets tiring after some time.
Thus, most who will be coming online for the first time will start by searching for content on Google or streaming a video on YouTube because it’s free.
This creates two types of ready audiences for you:
- Those looking for corona related information, and
- those running away from corona-related information.
Thus, you can choose to create content either the first group or the second one.
And there’s tons of topics you can consider for each of the groups.
With social distancing comes boredom, and many people (especially those in the second group) will also be looking online for an escape. This is therefore your chance to provide them content that is either entertaining or solving other non-corona related pain points for them.
And what better time to do so than during this lock down period.
You’re at home for extended periods, and have the extra time saved from traffic jams and lengthy commutes to and from work to utilize on creating content for your YouTube channel.
Pray
If you’re a believer, this is the time to exercise your faith and claim all those Bible promises you’ve been putting to memory.
My favorite one is Psalms 91 which I’ve been claiming everyday morning, noon, and night.
And as you pray, make sure to also heed the advise from the health department re: social distancing, washing hands with soap, use of sanitizers, etc.
Write a Book
If you’ve always wanted to ditch the 8 to 5 and become your own boss, set your own working hours and not have to take orders from some boss … then this corona pandemic lockdown may just have come at the right time.
One of the easiest ways to make money online is by writing and selling e-books.
But before you let the idea of “writing a book” scare you off, I would like to remind you that anyone with decent grammar and sentence construction skills can write a book.
And your book doesn’t have to be a thousand pages.
I have seen books with less than 100 pages do so well on Amazon.
As long as you can organize valuable content in a coherent manner that solves at least one problem for a certain sub-set of people, you can write your book.
And the beauty with e-books is that you can write on pretty much any topic.
Think about a topic that you’re already familiar with but most people don’t. Something that different people keep asking you about? Or a topic that you would love to learn?
How about you combine two or more topics you’re interested in or that are currently trending and connect them.
Say you’re a lingala dance fan with an interest in history. Superb! Google some interesting facts about the history of lingala and spend a couple hours spinning it out to 15 or 25 or 45 pages. And voila! Mission accomplished.
You probably have gone through a unique challenges. Retrenchment/Job loss. Divorce. Childlessness or miscarriages. Corona virus? And you survived.
Can I get an amen!
Someone out there is facing the same challenges you did, and wondering if they’ll come out alive. Give them hope with your book! Your book maybe all that’s standing between them and life. Write that book! Not tomorrow. TODAY!
When I was faced with retrenchment 2 years ago, I looked around for books about how to deal with having your job on the chopping block and are faced with entrenchment.
I found plenty of stuff on how to look for another job, how to revamp your CV, etc, but nothing on how to prepare for a soft landing and how to position yourself for that first day as a jobless Kenyan.
I basically ended up writing the book that I would have loved to read then.
Believe you me, I am yet to have a better feeling than when I get the many “Thank you. You saved my life” e-mails and DMs.
In this post here, I have compiled 100+ e-book topics that would compel to a Kenyan audience. Feel free to edit for your specific audience.
Learn a new language
While this might seem far – fetched, it is indeed doable.
With a little effort and determination, you can actually have basic fluency in a new language by the time a vaccine/cure for coronavirus is found and the quarantines are lifted,
In my case for instance, it took me about 3 months to learn basic Kenya Sign Language and translation.
If learning sign language has been on your bucketlist, then I’d urge you to head over to my YouTube channel where I’ve posted an entire playlist to start you off.
Start a blog
The best blog idea to start is one that is in agreement with your core values, takes full advantage of my existing skills and resources, and that in one way or another touches on your passions, whatever that may be.
IF you’re looking for tips on how to: create a blog site, start a blog in Kenya now, start a blog and make money, I got you covered.
If you are ready to start your blog now, click on this link to open the signup page in a new tab, then follow my quick guide on how to start a blog for total newbies.
Like starting a YouTube channel above, there’s no better time to do so than now.
Take advantage of the extra time and use to create content for your blog.
