Categories: Travel

Ideas for A Socially-Distanced Day Trip

Ideas for a socially distanced day trip are great for staying healthy, safe from illnesses, and still being able to experience new things with your friends and family. There are a lot of great day trip ideas you can try so you don’t have to choose between having a good time with new experiences and staying well. Here are some different day trip ideas you can try to keep your spirits and health up, stay active, and have a worry-free time doing it. Make some new memories with these great day trip ideas.

Hiking

One of the best ideas for staying active but safely distanced from others and potential illness is to take the opportunity to spend more time outdoors. You can take more walks, take the opportunity to get more active and in-shape with jogs and runs, but a favorite of mine is to take family and dogs to a new hiking spot. There are many great views and areas to explore no matter where you live. Get out of your usual environments while still being isolated from any risks and spend the day in a new mountain, trail, river, or wooded area near you.

There are so many beautiful places to hike and it allows you to really appreciate your environment and the area you live in new ways. Staying active outdoors has a lot of great benefits past indoor activity. A lot of beneficial Vitamin D can be had outdoors, it’s free to see and experience, and the mental and emotional benefits of being outdoors are endless. You can feel better emotionally and mentally, experience mental clarity, have undistracted bonding moments with the people you love, and likely end up with a more positive outlook on your life and goals going home.

Swimming

Another great way to stay in nature but still stay socially-distanced is to find a new or favorite swimming spot away from too many other people. There are usually a lot of areas where you can find your own little spot to settle in, read a good book, listen to your favorite playlists, podcasts, have great conversation, and maybe even an outdoor picnic. Swimming has the benefits of lowering your stress levels, increasing your heart rate to get your blood and oxygen moving, and burning calories and cholesterol.

Swimming can provide you with similar mental clarity and reflection as running or hiking but can often be more entertaining and recreational. Swimming doesn’t always feel so easily like hard exercise work, but you still reap the benefits later. Explore mental meditation, think about your goals and interests, or take the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with the people around you by asking important questions, sharing some of your big life moments, concerns, ideas, and dreams with each other.

Outdoor Movies

A new idea for a socially distanced day trip you can try is to seek out an area that is playing outdoor movies. You can get the benefits of fresh air and being outside without doing exercise at all! It can also give you the rare opportunity to experience something also seemingly from a past time. It wasn’t too long ago that outdoor movies were way more common and were pretty beloved.

You can also do a really cute outdoor movie date or take someone you want to get to know better. Bring your own snacks, start interesting conversations about your interests. An outdoor movie might even turn into a new favorite hobby depending on availability. Another idea, especially if an outdoor movie isn’t as accessible or feasible is to buy or borrow a low-end projector, take a white sheet and have a backyard or open space movie more on your own. This can also end up more intimate and individual with different opportunities for personalization.

Monuments/Museums

One of the great things about public adaptation to social-distancing procedures and behaviors is that places are restructuring to provide safer activities and engagement. A lot of exhibits and indoor spaces are increasingly providing scheduled touring and viewing for safer health and hygiene of their visitors. Another idea for a socially distanced day trip is to schedule an appointment to visit a monument or museum you are interested in. You can stay safer even indoors because sanitation and distancing have already been put more into place for you.

You can visit these areas depending on levels of comfort and take personal hand sanitizer, your mask, and any other health and safety precautions that would make you most comfortable, worry less, and be more able to enjoy yourself and your experiences. This is an idea for a socially distanced day trip where you can enjoy learning more about a new and/or interesting topic of history, events, and/or people while still staying safe and enjoying time with others outside the home in this way.

Camping/Vacation

Camping and safe vacationing are other great ideas for a socially distanced day trip or for even longer depending on availability and region. There are many great spots to pitch a tent so take advantage of warmer seasons by camping in a socially-distant area. You can go hiking, fishing, play and sing music, read a book, tell stories and experiences, and cook new or favorite food. You can even meditate, do outdoor yoga and exercises, and/or be quiet and more in-tune with nature, self, and your surroundings.

If you choose the vacation route, it can be a great opportunity to visit new, exciting places outdoors that you have always wanted to visit. Revisit your bucket list because now is always the best time to plan out your goals and dreams and make them a reality. Take a trip to a national park or land monument that excites you. Book for safety and social-distancing where relevant and continue experiencing life and growing as a person and with others you care about.