Cabin Fever Remedies

Happy 2017, Y’all!

With the new year comes new adventures, new pages to be written, and other new cliches to repeat. Unfortunately mine is a\off to slow start. It's not the cold or flu; I have a terrible case of cabin fever!

Lol, I love that movie. Anyway...

Do you get the blues like I do when you haven’t gone anywhere new in a while? I haven’t been somewhere since our trip to Phoenix last August. Well, I did go to Pittsburgh in January but I was only there for the weekend and hardly left my brother’s house. I am itching to go see some new sites!  It’s hard to get out there and do stuff when Hubs and I work full time and play tennis on the weekends. Routine is nice and all, but it’s been nearly 6 months of what feels like solitary confinement! Too dramatic?

Here are 5 ways I try to remedy my cabin fever.

1. Go for a hike

Hubs and I hike a lot with our pups and we tend to go on the same trails and paths. We do like to mix it up and go to other parks or go on different routes through the park near our house. The dogs love the change of scenery (and smells), too! Even if we are on the same trail it feels new with the changing seasons and various wildlife. We’ve seen deer, owls, hawks, even a very large red-eared slider!

2. Try a New Restaurant

Just today and friend and I went to a restaurant that had recently been redone from a taqueria to a barbecue place. It was delicious! The sides of the restaurant were open and it was a gorgeous day. It reminded me of Quito. Plus, we got to eat mac & cheese, chopped pork, and bacon all on a sandwich bun. Yum! Plus it's fun to find the little places that serve true ethnic food.

3. Read a Book

I finally finished River of Doubt and the writing had me traveling down the Amazon tributary with Roosevelt and crew. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet. Candice Millard truly knows how to make history and geography come alive. I’m starting Egil’s Saga now. It’s one of Iceland’s great viking sagas. I haven’t gotten very far into yet, but Hubs and I got to walk through Egil’s story in a museum in Borgarnes, Iceland. There were even monuments around the city marking where the events of the story happened. Hopefully that helps me while reading the saga. Getting caught up in a great story, or epic saga, is a great way to mentally escape. I also love the authors Philippa Gregory and Jon Krakauer; their writing takes me from the Tudor era to the top of Everest.

4. Camp in Your Backyard

Hubs and I have done this with the pups before. Of course the yard was soaked so we pitched our tent on the screened-in porch. The cement made me wish for the soft earth. Hearing all the night sounds and the wind wind through the trees is very relaxing to us. We only made it to about 6am before we headed into bed due to said cement. It was a nice way to experience the outdoors without having to worry about packing everything up or what to do if we forgot something, like say tent poles (see my "Arizona in August" post). 

5. Delve into planning your next trip!

Our next travel plan doesn’t start until June, but the planning is already in motion! Plus, depending on the length of your trip and whether it’s international or not can make a difference in how much time you’ll need to prepare. For our next trip Hubs and I plan to take the pups with us. That means making sure vaccines are up to date, we have all the things we need to take with us, checking pet policies for our destinations, and more. If you follow me on Instagram (@sarahs.sojourn) then you’ll already know that Hubs and I are planning a road trip this June! Follow #vantriptails2017 to keep up with the trip planning. 



I hope all of you are off to a wonderful start this year! No matter what your plans are stay safe, healthy, and remember that we all share this gorgeous earth so let’s be kind to it.