HI friends.
First and foremost, I hope you are healthy.
How are you feeling? If you are anything like me, you’ve been staying as upbeat as possible, craving outdoor time, keeping your family motivated and the mood light around the house. You’ve also likely been housebound – many of you with kids, teens, college kids or even young adults. Lots of family time in close proximity.
You might be wondering how you are going to survive a week of spring break on the heels of the last few weeks.
I know how you feel – I’ve been feeling the same way!
On a daily basis I get lots of emails about places near and far offering virtual ways to learn, connect and distract your mind from the current circumstances. I sift through them all. There are lots of duplicates, some things I’m not interested in and also lots of great nuggets. Like you, I want to encourage my kids (and myself) to be off of screens as much as possible.
I decided this week, I would curate a selection of resources to share with you. Crowdsourcing creativity is important right now! Please enjoy. And if you know of other resources you think travelers like you would love, please share them with me so I can share them with others.
Tortilla class led by Paloma
TORTILLA ESPAÑOLA
Last week’s tortilla española cooking class was a success!
There were at least 25 tortillas made – from LA, Seattle, the Midwest, Upper Valley, Barcelona and Milan. At the end Paloma looked at each one to give feedback about if anything could be done a little differently to make it even more perfect the next time.
HUGE thank you to Paloma!
Stay tuned for the next class coming up – it will be either:
Venezuelan arepas or Mexican street tacos – YUM!
Here’s a upcoming experience I want to share …
Spanish or French cheese tasting from Murray’s
a famous cheese shop in Manhattan
I’ve already signed up for the Spanish one – it will be our date night at home next week. FYI there is a fee which covers the cheeses delivered to your house in advance. If they could just deliver some Mahou (my favorite Spanish beer) along with it, I’d pay double!
Did you know?
Before we move on to resources, I wanted to be sure you are aware of this information about flights you booked before COVID 19. Through rescheduling and cancelling my clients ‘and my own extensive travels I’ve learned from the experts, the best thing to do is:
take a wait and see approach
CREDIT vs REFUND
If the airline ends up cancelling your flight, you will get your money back vs. just a credit. For those of you with credits, it’s also good to know that Delta is leading the way in extending the timeframe to use them until the end of 2021. Some other airlines are following their lead. Details here.
If you are looking for information on the status of COVID 19 in other countries, check out this comprehensive webpage on every country.
On to a selection of resources…
ARTICLES/RESOURCES
NYTimes How to Pass the Time in a Pandemic
Boston Globe 75 Things to do While Coronavirus Has You Stuck at Home
10 Authors And Illustrators Who Are Keeping Kids Busy (And Parents Sane)
4 hour Audi meditative roadtrip
WORKOUT
5 Free Workouts from Home (Boston Globe)
Peloton App – 90 day free trial
BYUV – periodically is streaming free Yin Yoga and meditation classes
COOK
A variety of chefs are offering online demos and classes. Check out this list or look up your favorite chef on social media and see if they are doing one. Also keep an eye out for our upcoming classes.
Like Italian food and culture? Check out one of my partners on Instagram. They are having live classes – cooking and culture every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 3p EST.
WATCH
Watch a movie set somewhere else in the world…
10 Best Food & Wine movies to inspire wanderlust at home
CNN’s list of Best Travel Movies
Watch a documentary from PBS’ list – includes offerings from Frontline, Nova, and the inimitable Ken Burns.
EXPLORE
WithLocals is offering virtual tours and workshops from around the world. This week we are trying out the Historical Drive around Berlin with Miha and the Origin of Democracy: Debate Like Socrates with Vicky from Athens. There is also Cook Like a Roman Grandma with Gabi and Ballet Like a Princess with Christianne from Paris. There is a fee, that varies with each experience.
Experience the natural world in real time with Explore.org’s YouTube channel, which brings you to remote places around the globe via live feed. From eaglets to hummingbirds to rescued kittens, the cuteness and wonder are real.
Explore the world with National Geographic, including Ahhhh moments in the Galapagos, Antarctica, Costa Rica and Alaska.
Context travel is offering 90 minute interactive seminars on a range of topics (nominal fee). Including the Story of Easter in Paintings from the National Gallery.
Take Walks is offering classes ranging from Secrets of the Roman Colosseum to Pasta Making with Roman Chefs. $10/class.
KIDS
Monty Halls‘ adventures around the world. (I watched his first one on Galapagos and it was highly entertaining and informative). His Galapagos show was free, but the next ones will have a nominal 2pound fee that goes to charity (he’s based in the UK). He’ll be exploring all over the world, including with whale sharks, in Australia and in Scotland. I enjoyed the first one so much, I will definitely watch more. I’m waiting for details on how to sign up. Check back at this link for updates if you are interested.
Explorer Classroom – every weekday at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Explorer Classroom’s live video events connect students with National Geographic Explorers across all seven continents to bring exploration to life.
Austin Adventures for kids. Kasey explored Yellowstone in week #1 and Alaska in Week #2. Thousands (literally) of kids joined her for these hour-long adventures. We will continue as long as needed every Thursday at 2:00 PM Eastern. This week, we have something different and a real treat as Kasey will be joined by our good friend and amazing Zoologist Jeff Ewelt, Executive Director of ZooMontana. You never know who (actually what) Jeff will have to share the stage with him.
Check out Postcrossing. It’s a project that allows you to send postcards and receive postcards back from random people around the world. It was written about in this NY Times article.
STORYTIME
Audible is currently free to kids everywhere. Kids can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids.
Betty White delivers a charming rendition of Harry the Dirty Dog. At Story Time from Space, astronauts aboard the International Space Station read books and perform demonstrations. Lack of gravity makes it extra fun.
Storytime with Dolly Parton – GoodNight with Dolly readings, including of The Little Engine That Could
ARTS & CRAFTS
Make your own piñata (try pairing this with a tacos for dinner).
Learn to draw beloved cartoon characters during recorded episodes of “Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems,” starring the wildly popular children’s author from Massachusetts famous for books including Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
LIVESTREAM
ANIMALS
The Smithsonian National Zoo
Live streaming of zoo favorites, giant pandas Tian Tian and Mei Xiang. The two panda cams operate 24 hours around the clock, so guests can observe pandas devouring bamboo, climbing trees and rolling around in their grassy home. Toggle between the two cameras, and keep in mind pandas do like to take their naps so try again later if there’s not a lot of activity when you first log on.
WILDLIFE Sydney Zoo
Join live feeding and cuddle sessions with the zoo staff. In addition to these permanent live cams on the zoo website, join live daily discussions on the zoo Facebook page for interactive chats with zookeepers as they highlight kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles. To enhance the educational factor of these presentations, viewers can download activity sheets or join quizzes hosted by zoo staff.
VIRTUAL TOURS
White House (Travel & Leisure)
Europe Castles (Travel & Leisure)
Best Virtual Travel Experiences (Independent UK)
PHOTOGRAPHY
Free photography lessons by Nikon
VOLUNTEER
Ideas to give back.
GAMES
Play a family trivia game. Create your own or use an existing one like this one to see who in your family knows the most World capitals.
Good luck! Stay healthy!