Satisfy your wanderlust and discover unique experiences

without traveling thousands of miles across the country. You may be struggling with the need to explore and have temporary barriers holding you back from world travel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see your world in a new light. Every day is a new day, and every day new businesses and shops pop up and later take their place on history’s timeline. Feel even more connected to your town, state, neighbourhood or even your own back yard by getting to know its history, daily life and changing landscape.

Take the Bus or Ferry

Use a form of public transit you’ve never used before to see a part of town new to you. Take the bus, and let your eyes window shop the passing stores, restaurants, and businesses. Take the ferry down the river or across the lake and grab a sandwich from the first street vendor you see on your return. Smile at the passengers, guess what their day to day life may be like and ask for advice about where to stop. Once you find a spot that catches your eye, get off and try some amazing Italian, Thai or Food Truck fare. Don’t forget to check the schedule for your return trip. Take photos of the sights you see!

Go on a Haunted Town Tour

Do you know all the spooky spots in your city? Head out of the city, grab some grub at a mom and pop diner and after the sun sets, meet your tour guide to take a lantern-lit walk to the most haunted locations. Every good ghost story has a dash of drama and a lingering mystery to be solved. Can you solve it? Don’t forget to check your camera after the tour for ghostly orbs and other strange phenomena.

Get Back to Nature

Let your inner wild out into the world and get back to nature. Search for a national park or find a nature site nearby you, to explore Mother Nature. Take a walk down a greenway, enjoy a day at a nature preserve or go bird watching. Climb a mountain and get a new perspective from above it all. Traveling to Canada this year? To celebrate that country’s Happy 150th Birthday, Parks Canada is inviting you to enjoy unlimited access to National Parks, National Marine Conservation Areas and National Historic Sites across the country.

Walk a Labyrinth

Walk a labyrinth to connect with your center. You walk inward at a reverent, contemplative and slow pace, and once you reach the center you find your way back again.

For centuries, the mythology surrounding labyrinths links a hero with a quest, to overcome a monster to reach its center. Do you have your own inner monsters, worries or regrets? Walking a labyrinth is a simple and meditative metaphor of getting back to the basics and connecting with your center.

Use the worldwide labyrinth finder to locate a labyrinth close to you. It may a part of a church garden, in a public park, in the middle of the woods or at a shopping center.

Take a Hundred Mile Mini Road Trip

Pull up Google Maps on your device and zoom in on cities within a hundred miles of yours. You’re going to create a custom mini road trip map, complete with specific destinations, gas stops, restaurants and more. If you want to push your adventuring a little farther, choose another city as your focal point.

You’ll use the search bar to find specific destinations and restaurants by zooming in and researching attractions on the web. Add them to your navigation list, and you’re all set for your hundred-mile mini road trip! Bring friends for an epic mini-adventure, and don’t forget the snacks!

Think of these local wanderlust adventures as “sustaynable” vacationing, by focusing on traveling locally and visiting attractions, parks and destinations close to home. These were especially popular during the Great Depression, as attractions like the theater afforded a getaway from more troubling times. By going on a “sustaynable” trip, you see yourself and your community in a whole new light while supporting local businesses and destinations.

Not to mention that you’re saving a great deal of money on airfare, hotels and travel costs! Life is about experience versus expense. So, don’t think you have to miss out on great adventures because you can’t travel far from home. New sights, sounds, tastes and encounters with new people await you to step out onto your front porch and see your world with fresh eyes.

Kacey Bradley is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine, and a frequent contributor to followsummer. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts. You can follow Kacey on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.