Expensing travel and home office without Sch C

I have multiple rental properties, report all income/expenses oh individual properties Sch E.

when I tried to deduct default calculated home expense TurboTax took me though the maze of questions on bushiness and since I don't have a business, per say, it determined that my business income is not sufficient it looks like it rely on Sch C, which I don't have.

Question:

1. Do I need to reallocate parts of Schedule E income to Sch C and create a sole proprietorship business? Seems convoluted and creates additional taxation.

2. In the absence of Sch C listed business, how I expense travel expenses for exploring out of state opportunities..none of these expenses are allocatable to the existing Sch E properties