How do restless wanderers fuel their travel lust when not in motion? While between trips recently, here’s where you might have spotted me at home away from home:

At the Opera

Where better than the opera to get your cultural, artistic and aesthetic fix all in one place?

Just give me a passionate, happy-ever-after or heart-wrenching story of love and loss, set to sublime music sung in a foreign language.  Include an exotic location to immediately transport me from the ordinary to the extraordinary – all in one evening. For an opera like Bizet’s Carmen, there’s the double bonus of hearing the music sung in French while enjoying the ambiance of Seville.

Eating at an Ethnic Restaurant

Let’s hear it for one of the great bonuses of global diversity: the chance to savor scrumptious foods at the many available ethnic restaurants in our own backyards. Even in smaller towns across the country, there’s a good chance of finding food fare from Mexico, India or Thailand.

Noodle Delight at Thai Siam in Seattle

Much like my affinity for foreign languages, I have rarely found a foreign food that I wouldn’t give a try at least once. If I want to revisit a country like Brazil in my mind, for example, I have only to enjoy a Brazilian meal of feijoada, topped off with a caipirinha, to evoke my memories of Rio de Janeiro.

Watching a Foreign Film

It’s so easy to travel to a distant land from the comfort of our own homes, not that I recommend it as a long-term travel substitute, of course. In one weekend, I traveled Around the World in 80 Days, then off to Shanghai in the 30’s with The White Countess, and finally the desert with Lawrence of Arabia.

What about you Wanderboomers? How do you fuel your travel lust between trips? Share your stories here.