Traveling during Covid19 Pandemic? A possibility!

Current situation

When the airports are closed, your vacations canceled and your plans shattered, most of us human beings are realizing how much it is okay to be home, specially those of us blessed with a roof over our heads, food on our table and the basic necessities. 

Internet is a blessing

In the late 80s, we had civil war in my home country. My experience back then of that "lockdown" was basically hiding in a shelter with limited food, no electricity or running water (we had to go fill water from nearby water sources) and our only mode of entertainment was mainly playing cards. So I look around me today and I am quite thankful for what we have and how we can still interact and be there for each other, albeit not physically. Internet is making things much easier than we can ever imagine, from ordering groceries and food online, to being connected to friends and family, and being entertained.

Online Experience

A friend of mine tweeted a couple of weeks ago how's he's going to learn how to make coffee with a Mexican barista, and that he has a meditation session scheduled with a Japanese Buddhist monk. Clearly, I was intrigued. so I asked him about it and he mentioned Airbnb Experiences have gone online. First, I admire airbnb for their agility as a company to find a new source of income, but also still have some people keep their jobs over the world and have attendees and people who were supposed to be traveling, still find ways to be entertained.

I have joined 7 experiences so far:

1) Coffee masterclass with national judge from Mexico

2) Meditation with a Japanese Buddhist monk

3) Follow a plague doctor through Prague

4) Tango concert with Latin grammy Nominee from Buenos Aires

5) The Secret Jazz Club (run from the Netherlands with musicians in different parts of the world) <-- One of my favorite experiences

6) Cello Meditation Concert with The Wong Janice from the Nertherlands

7) Eastern European Pastries from Gramma's recipe with Lenka from Slovakia & New York <-- Since I love baking (a new found love), I really enjoyed this one

Watching a Live Jazz concert from the comfort of my living room

Cello Meditation Concert

Enjoyable to say the least

I found all of them to be interesting in their own way, I actually gave them all 5 stars. There might be some history, personal stories, actual experience, a class or simply enjoying great music. 

It's important to keep in mind that this is relatively a new format and they're finding the best way to keep people engaged, small groups but still receive quality information, audio / visual as well as experience. 

Personally, I am really enjoying this and I have decided to do one experience per week. And I hope that even when we can travel again, we still have this format as honestly it's been such a great atmosphere, and from the comfort of your own sofa, whereas people, not only from different nationalities, but actually currently in different parts of the world, are going through the same experience at the same time. I have always wondered what it would be like to attend a jazz concert in a small club with only a few of us being there, and the Secret Jazz club gave me a very similar experience.  

It felt like a proper physical baking class. Thanks Lenka!

Setup

A quick tip from my side. For the concert online experiences, I have been airplaying them to my TV and sending audio over bluetooth to my surround sound system, which makes the whole thing 10x better.

More online traveling we have seen is Virtual Museum tours worth checking out. 

And don't forget to follow me on Instagram @travelwithfunk