How I cope with Covid-19 as a travel blogger and how I keep busy in quarantine (video incl.)

Covid-19 or the Corona virus is currently taking over the world. Who would’ve thought this would happen a month ago? Now the second week of isolation has already passed and honestly I am doing quite OK. During the week I work from home, mostly on my sunny terrace because the current weather is extremely nice. During the weekend I try to keep myself busy in my apartment. But I also go for walks in the park with a friend respecting the social distancing rules. For someone like me, who likes to travel, go outside and spend time with friends and family, the isolation and loneliness are hard!

So how do I cope with it? How do I keep myself busy living on my own? What thoughts are currently running through my head? I am sure everyone is going through the same thing and can relate. I hope I can inspire you, but maybe you can also inspire me, so don’t hesitate to share your quarantine activities in the comments!

My thoughts and activities in Covid-19 quarantine

Not being able to do what I love most is the hardest

To me the most difficult part is to deal with the disappointment of having to cancel my travel plans and not knowing which travels will still happen and which ones will not. Because no, to me traveling is not just taking a vacation. I don’t lie by the pool, stay at the beach all day or read a book… I explore, look for adventures… To me traveling is my passion, my outlet, what I live for… Everything I am passionate about and what I do in my spare time is related to travel; exploring new places and cultures, hiking, photography, making videos, editing photos and videos, working on my blog, … and the realization I may not be able to do all these things the coming months/year honestly makes me feel… numb and anxious.

Time to save money

Still I think it is important to keep being positive! Not being able to travel at the moment, going out for drinks or dinner or go out shopping gives me the opportunity to save more money to travel in the future. There is no need for new dresses, since I have too many already and I don’t wear them at home anyway!

More time for (healthy) cooking & baking

Not being able to go to a restaurant and limiting my visits to the supermarket also forces me to think more about what I eat. Unlike my travel planning, I am a terrible planner when it comes to cooking and cleaning. I used to go to the supermarket every two days after work, buying what I wanted to eat the next two days. Resulting in often buying unhealthy prepared meals, since I hated standing in the kitchen too long after work. Now I work from home and I have more time to spend, so I actually don’t mind to cook.

Before I go to the supermarket now, I actually start thinking about what I could make and create a grocery list! Because honestly I don’t like going to the supermarket that much at the moment. Not only because it is a place where I risk to get infected, but also psychologically. The standing in line outside with 1,5 m between people always makes me realize how much the world has changed in such a short time. How limited we became in living our lives at the moment. The constant avoiding of other people in the supermarket is just emotionally and physically exhausting (probably because every time someone passes I tend to hold my breath!).

When the weather is less good I also love to bake. Since you need to follow a recipe it really takes my mind of things and who doesn’t love the smell of vanilla or chocolate in the house?

Video calls

Quarantine / social distancing also means not being able to see family and friends. My dad had to come here to get something important. So I dropped it in the corridor, stepped away from it, so he could take it and then we talked for about 5 minutes at a distance of about 3 m. Not being able to give him a hug felt so awkward and sad…

Also not being able to see my sister, her husband and my little niece and nephew is hard. So now we do video calls. Which is actually pretty funny. Especially when a 2,5 year old is holding the phone so I can see what animals are hiding inside her nostrils! It is currently the only way to see each other!

No more postponing

Now is the time to do stuff I kept postponing! For example I will start with choosing photos from my past trips to finally let them print on canvas and hang on my wall, like I’ve been wanting to do for years. I don’t know how to hang them on my wall, so it makes no sense to order canvasses now (I have no drill or nails, and I honestly have no idea how to use a drill properly either). But that doesn’t mean I can’t start choosing and editing them to print after this whole Covid-19 situation is over and I can ask my dad again for assistance.
I am sure I will find more stuff to do that I kept postponing in the past.

Trying to keep the blog alive

This is probably going to be the hardest part since my blog is a travel blog and I can’t travel at the moment… Luckily I still have some unreleased photo and video footage from passed travels and I am sure I will find some new ways to create content. But this will take the most effort I am sure! Making photographs at home isn’t that easy! So I apologize for the delay in videos (normally I post every Thursday evening), but I am trying to keep my video footage for editing on days with bad weather to keep me sane! I am actually also making a video about my quarantine life, but it will take a while since there is not that much of variety in my current activities!

Dealing with migraine…

First of all; a migraine is not just a headache, it is a neurological disease. Those who don’t suffer from migraine, often have no idea what it’s like. Let me tell you; it is bad, really bad!! It is not just the terrible pain, the sensitivity to light, sound and smells and (sometimes) even the vomiting. Migraines also mean an inability to sleep properly, anxiety, fatigue, depressed feelings, the whole process that comes with it.

This whole Covid-19 quarantine situation really triggered my migraine attacks at the beginning. It made me anxious and I even had nightmares sometimes. Even though I told myself to keep being positive and I didn’t really feel bad or sad, I couldn’t stop the lingering anxiety caused by the uncertainty this situation is bringing, the thought that I am alone the whole time and not being able to travel.

Unfortunately you can’t control migraines and the bad moods that come with it… Migraines also have an impact on your mental state and make you feel extremely tired. So I have to say I have slept a lot as well. I go to bed earlier and try to be relaxed to beat the anxiety so my migraines stay away and I can get creative again!

Creating moods with music and sounds

I am currently creating music playlists to try to feel more relaxed, less stressed and anxious. I have my lounge playlist to relax, my reggaeton / latino playlist to get those Summer feelings in the house and I am planning to create more. My Epidemic Sound subscription offers me tons of music to use for my YouTube videos. But it also contains a lot of sounds like jungle sounds, beach sounds… It can really create moods and take your mind off things!

Working out

I just started to go to the gym again right before the lock down was announced. So the announcement that gyms were going to be closed was a bit disappointing (but totally understandable). Luckily my gym now releases online work outs on YouTube I can do from home. So there is no excuse to not work out! Besides doing these work out sessions, I try to do some walks in the park. I am even considering running, even though most runners in the park actually really freak me out since they don’t respect the 1.5m distance!

Rescheduling my cancelled trips

After my trip to La Palma, I am pretty sure my Scotland trip will be canceled as well since a few B&B’s already contacted me to cancel my stay. So I already booked the same road trip for next year to be sure I will be able to go then (if the virus is dead by then). Not the flight, but I already made hotel/B&B reservations via Booking so I can recreate the road trip I planned for this year! That way I have a little more peace of mind.

Cleaning / Organizing / Decorating

This is also the perfect time to properly clean and organize my kitchen and bathroom. Taking everything out of the closets and kitchen cabinets and really clean everything. I wanted to reorganize my dressing (where I store all my clothes) as well. But since I can’t get rid of all the clothes I don’t want to keep, this is probably not a good idea at the moment. It will make my dressing even more messy.

Instead I am checking web shops that sell decorating items and plants to brighten up my apartment and terrace. Since it looks like we all will spend a lot of time at home! So if I can’t travel, I am going to try to bring the travel into my apartment! I already have a lot of decorating items from my travels, but adding more travel vibes never hurt anyone right? More greens in the house also make the place look more alive. You don’t want to know how many plants I ordered! I can’t wait for them to arrive!

Getting creative

In my case this one is a little related to the previous point, but you can get creative in many ways! I decided to pimp a side table that needed some clean up ever since I moved into my apartment. It had paint stains all over it and it doesn’t match my furniture. So I looked up a YouTube movie, watched it so I would know what I needed and ordered some mosaic stones and grout online. It arrived the next day and I could start with my little “pimp the side table” project! I have to say, I actually succeeded in turning it into something pretty!

I am sure everyone has some creative sparks inside his/her head. Why not let them out right now? Look for inspiration on Pinterest or YouTube. I am sure you will come up with something!

Explore your own neighborhood

I know not everyone is allowed to go outside during this quarantine. But here in Belgium it is not prohibited to go outside for a walk in your own neighborhood as long as you do it alone, with the people you live with in the same house/apartment or with one friend respecting the social distancing rules.

I am sure you have some nature nearby whether it is a small park or when you are lucky a whole forest! Go explore it, enjoy the beauty of its nature. If you haven’t maybe there are some streets you haven’t discovered yet or beautiful houses/buildings… There is always something new to discover, you just need to want to see it!

Watching Netflix

To escape all the programs about the Corona virus, I watch Netflix a LOT! Even though I think it is important to watch the daily news to keep being informed, after that I try to watch other stuff as much as possible. The constant flood of news items and new programs about the Covid-19 topic can be depressing. So I try to limit my daily dose by watching lighter entertaining series and movies.

Spending as much time outside as possible

This may seem weird because being in quarantine means staying at home as much as possible. But in Belgium we are still allowed to go outside as long as it is close to home and we go outside on our own or with one friend respecting the social distancing rules. That doesn’t mean I am doing day trips or take long walks daily though. Whenever the weather is good, I sit outside on my terrace enjoying the sun and I am even already tanning! I can work from my terrace, so I am lucky being able to do that!

Besides sitting on my terrace, I also go out either during lunch break or before dinner to walk in the park. But honestly it scares me a bit as well, since runners don’t always respect the social distancing rules. I am thinking of doing these walks early in the morning, when there is less people around.

So now you know how I deal with the current Corona situation. How about you? Do you have some nice activities to share in the comments?