This is how you can travel the world without boarding a flight

It’s been a good three months since CoViD-19 has taken a toll on the travel industry: border controls, countries under lockdown, grounded flights, you know the drill. 

This according to lifestyleasia.com, has postponed many a holiday plan, leaving most of us homebound and in self-quarantine. Hence, the need to shake this feeling of cabin fever has never been more acute than ever. We’ve compiled lists things you can do while at home and ways to support your local F&B industry, but if your desire to see the world is still not satisfied, maybe the answer could lie in virtual travel. 

While regular travel may be off the cards for the foreseeable future, you can still escape for a little while with these virtual travel options. Just make sure your internet connection’s stable. Read on for more.

Educate yourself on some of America’s national parks 

This is how you can travel the world without boarding a flight

Immerse yourself in the wonders of nature with Google Arts and Culture: they have teamed up with national parks in the US to launch 360-degree interactive virtual tours that include a virtual park ranger explaining the area to you, making it both educational and breathtaking at the same time. It even sounds as though you’re in the location as well — head to the lava caves at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and you can literally hear the echoes of the park ranger’s voice as she speaks. If that’s not an immersive virtual travel experience, we don’t know what is. 

travel; Tour world-famous museums virtually

Besides spending time in national parks, Google Arts and Culture realises you have to feed your artistic side as well. From New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) to Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, they have collaborated with 2500 museums and galleries around the world for an extensive library of virtual tours waiting to be explored. 

Spend some time in The Louvre in Paris

When thinking about museums, you can’t ever leave out the most iconic one in Paris: The Lourve. Even though you cannot physically be at the world’s most visited museum, you can still feel as though you’re right there with their in-house virtual tours. Get up close and personal with Egyptian antiquities, or lose yourself as you discover the remains of the Louvre’s Moat, “walking” around the original perimeter moat and viewing the piers that once supported the drawbridge.

Raise a glass to good living

Has traipsing cross-continent aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express always been a dream vacation for you? While those travels will have to be put on hold for now, Belmond’s luxury locomotive is offering its fans a taste of the good life with a comprehensive digital care package. Whether it’s a sip of something strong on the rocks or a guided meditation that gets you going, Belmond has put its signature stamp on it with a fantastic resource of at-home spa tutorials, cocktail and dinner recipes to replicate at home. You’ll also want to follow the brand on Instagram as they host upcoming live music soirees — recently debuting with a performance by pianist Joe Stilgoe, it’s just the thing to uplift the spirits during these dreary times.

Bring Africa to your doorstep 

One of the world’s leading luxury experiential travel companies, andBeyond, specialises in designing personalised high-end tours, and they’re bringing Africa to your doorstep in these trying times. They’ve come up with a series of digital experiences spanning sights, tastes, sounds and reads that is sure to fuel your wanderlust. They’ve put together a playlist of some of their favourite local music while you head to the kitchen to prep for your meal with the recipes that they’ve come up with, African-inspired of course. Besides that, they’re also highlighting a selection of films and books to educate and excite the senses for your next trip to the safari. 

Spend some quality time with the wildlife 

You might not be able to head to the zoo for some good ol’ fashioned animal watching, but you can still gaze at these magnificent creatures through live streams. Many aquariums, zoos and enclosures have regular broadcast schedules, but we’re featuring some of our favourite ones here. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, has live streams of their giant pandas, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, along with two camera angles for the most optimal panda appreciation experience. Over at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, they’re live streaming soothing views of their jellyfish enclosure as well as virtual look at the open seas’ most colourful sea creatures.

Transport yourself to Thailand with a yoga ‘retreat’

Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort in Phuket is launching a series of daily online fitness classes that will be available twice-daily from 27 March onwards. These classes will be led by Thanyapura coaches and include high energy HIIT sessions, Muay Thai, yoga classes and more. All these classes will be made available via live stream on their Facebook page, and require zero equipment for anyone who wants to participate. If you find it hard to stay motivated with your own workouts at home, this may be the answer to your worries.