Experience the world - from home!
Travel may currently be at a standstill due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop exploring. Nowadays, you luckily don’t have to go too far to feed your wanderlust. All you need is some good wifi and you can travel across the globe from the comfort of your couch. From virtual tours to special recipes, we’ve consolidated some of our favorite ways to experience the world - all while social distancing.
So keep learning and keep dreaming. Wanderful Journeys will be here for you when the time is right to travel again.
Virtual Explorations
Learning doesn’t have to end when you are stuck at home. That is why our expert partners at Context Travel have created fabulous 90-minute seminars with scholars from across the world. The seminars dive into a range of fascinating subjects covering everything from ‘The History of Portuguese Tiles’, to ‘Harry Potter and the Magic of Historic Edinburgh’ and ‘Prohibition and the Perfect Manhattan: NYC Cocktail History’. You can sign up for live zoom small group sessions, or put together your own crew for a private conversation on the topic of your choice. Either way, prepare for some wonderful dialogue and plenty of fun facts to share after!
Head to the Galapagos, Arctic and even Antarctica! Our partners at Lindblad have created virtual expeditions that will excite your senses! The program is full of incredible & educational videos, curated music, wellness programs, recipes, & much more! Content is updated Monday-Friday so keep checking back and exploring more!
Similarly, Uncruise and G Adventures are offering some great virtual adventures with lectures from their top expedition leaders and tour guides. Visit Glacier Bay National Park, learn about Hawaiian Ocean Animals, or take a virtual tour of Antigua, Guatemala - with more great tours and lectures to come!
Take a trip to Chile with Chile360 - a free app that lets users virtually explore all the best of Chile from the Atacama Desert, down to Torres del Paine National Park, and even across to Easter Island. Even better, if you have a real VR set, download Visit Japan’s app to walk through the bamboo forests and shrines of Kyoto.
Craving to cross a site off your bucket list? Try virtually walking around Machu Picchu or Iguazu Falls. Thanks to Google’s new Heritage on Edge experience, you can digitally visit UNESCO World Heritage sites facing threat of climate change like Edinburgh Castle or Bagerhat, Bangladesh.
Immerse yourself fully in the best of Asia, Africa and South America with &Beyond’s great content filled with the regional songs, books, movies, visuals, games, recipes and so much more!
A Day at the Museum
Technology can be amazing sometimes. Sit back, relax and watch some of the world’s best museums come alive on your screen. Whether you are want to check out the National Museum of Natural History or stroll through galleries of the Guggenheim - the sky is your limit with this new borderless world.
Google Arts & Culture teamed up with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world, plus uploaded street views from hundreds of the world’s best heritage sites, so you can virtually access any exhibition or site across the globe - including famed royal residences like Buckingham Palace and Versailles.
Not sure where to start? Travel & Leisure put together their top 12 favorite tours - take a look and start exploring!
Nature’s Finest
It’s not just the museums that have become virtual! For those animal lovers out there, you can now take a peek into the life of your favorite animals through live cams at the world’s best zoos and aquariums. Marvel at the jelly fish floating through the Monterey Bay Aquarium, hang with koalas at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary or follow tigers and giraffes at the San Diego Zoo.
Until you can get into the wild again, our partners at Natural Habitat are hosting daily webinars for travelers to bring the wonders of nature straight to your home. Browse through past webinars, or watch live during their Daily Dose of Nature Webinar.
Want to go on a safari? Check out Singita’s virtual game drive or watch live daily on their instagram.
How about see the Northern Lights? Stare into the aurora borealis or go dog sledding with these Virtual Aurora Tours from Lights over Lapland.
Or watch the famous brown bears of Alaska catch salmon at Brooks Falls - Katmai National Park.
You can even pretend to work up a sweat with Google’s virtual treks up El Capitan in Yosemite, through Nepal or around Mount Fuji. The National Park Service also has their own virtual adventures across the Grand Canyon, plus dozens of other great national parks.
Whatever you are looking for in the wild - there is no shortage of great footage and live feeds to indulge in.
Mindful Escapes
When you can’t run off on a much needed wellness retreat - bring the spa to you!
Our wonderful partners at Belmond have put together the Belmond Care Package filled with great self-care ideas to help you rejuvenate and brighten up your stay at home routine. From morning rituals, DIY bath scrubs and even poetry selections - Belmond helps you take a deep breathe and relax!
Enjoy a home-made body boosters while learning the top self-massage techniques to de-stress through Aman Wisdom.
Exhale with Miravel’s collection of breathwork and meditation recordings from their in-house specialist. A great in-home escape!
Culture Boosts
“Life would be flat without music; it is the background to all that I do,” Beethoven famously said - so add some classical notes to your at home soundtrack. The Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra is livestreaming shows and released dozens of free concerts to listen to. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is playing together live from home every week, but close your eyes and you can barely tell!
A fan of the opera? The Metropolitan Opera, Berlin State Opera and Royal Opera House are all offering live and recorded programs to enjoy.
Even the famous Russian Mariinsky Theatre is providing access to their ballet and orchestra performances, so there is no shortage of great classical content at your fingertips!
For the fashinistas out there, the University of Glasgow is offering a free online course called A History of Royal Fashion. During the course you will discover the history of royal fashion through the ages with behind-the-scenes access to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection.
Tasty Travels
Half the fun of travel is about the food, right? Just because you can’t have pasta in Italy right now doesn’t mean you can’t bring the flavors of Tuscany to your kitchen. Some of our partners from around the world have shared their favorite recipes for cocktails, entrees, dessert and more! Bon appetit!
A Taste of France - recipes from our partners at We Travel France
A Taste of Greece - recipes from our partners at Electic Greece
A Taste of Italy - recipes from our partners at IC Bellagio
A Taste of Africa and Asia - recipes from our partners at &Beyond
Homemade Global Recipes - from our partners at Hidden Doorways
A Taste of Europe - recipes from our partners at Park Hyatt and Andaz
World Recipes - from our partners at AMA Waterways
Healthy Recipes - from our partners at Canyon Ranch
Of course the most exciting news from quarantine may be that Hilton FINALLY released its infamous secret Doubletree Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe! Letting the flood gates loose for other famous hotel dishes and drinks you can recreate at home.
Young Explorers
It’s never too early for kids to start exploring the world! For the young travelers at home, here are some of our favorite activities:
Paint like a pro with Van Gogh Colouring Pages (plus then ‘walk’ through the Van Gogh Museum together!)
Go on a photo scavenger hunt with the help of the wonderful educational app seek by iNaturalist
Take a virtual expedition to the Galapagos with Linblad Expeditions
Keep learning with Natgeo@Home - filled with lots of quizzes, videos, science experiments and more!
Play some games for the self-distancing traveler through Beyond Times Square
Dive into Six Sense’s Junior Marine Biology program through the Maldives Underwater Initiative team
How have you been experiencing the world from home? We would love to hear <3
When you are ready to start brainstorming your next journey for when it is safe to travel again, contact us and we will be waiting for you!
Until then, keep dreaming…