Stuck at home this Christmas? Who isn’t? Don’t worry, because this year all the best travel experiences can be beamed straight into your home. Whether you’re pining for the slopes, want to give the kids a sprinkle of Christmas magic from Lapland, or you’re desperate for a spa break, virtual activities help keep us connected to the activities we love – with the ones we love.
Browse classic Christmas markets
Many of Europe’s Christmas markets are going digital in 2020. And SoLo Craft Fair’s weekly virtual night markets, where artisanal products are tantalisingly displayed as Instagram Stories every Monday evening at 7pm, is a great way to enjoy the Christmas market experience without setting a foot outside. So make some hot mulled wine, wear your mittens and woolly hats, put on a Christmas Spotify playlist and recreate the enchanting wintry atmosphere from the comfort of your home. Should additional inspiration be needed, watch a 360-degree tour of a Vienna Christmas market on YouTube.
Livestream Christmas theatre
With theatres remaining closed, London’s Old Vic is streaming its annual musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol via Zoom. Andrew Lincoln will play Ebenezer Scrooge during full-length performances from 12 to 24 December. Tickets start at £20 and all ticket prices offer the same view. As well as thrilling over that, you and the kids could also guffaw along to an interactive live panto version of Cinderella (18-24 December), one in which viewers may mischievously trigger studio sounds. Oh, yes, you can! Chris Rankin, Percy Weasley from the Harry Potter franchise, stars, and tickets start from £19.97. Bargain.
Digital Lapland
There’s an entertaining way to bring Lapland indoors for only £85 per family. Replacing its usual package holidays, tour operator Santa’s Lapland is offering 15-minute video calls to Finland, which promise a tour of Santa’s snug cabin and introductions to his reindeer. But the adventure doesn’t have to end there – you can also undertake 360-degree hot air ballooning, dog-sledding, or hunt for the northern lights across forests and lakes with Virtually Visiting or Lights Over Lapland before checking in to the Arctic SnowHotel’s glass-topped igloos. Bring blankets and marshmallow-topped hot chocolates to make the experiences extra snuggly.
A Caribbean Christmas
Christmas is always celebrated with gusto in the Caribbean, and 2020 is no different. OK, it’s slightly different: for instance, St Croix – part of the US Virgin Islands – is holding its renowned Crucian Christmas Festival as a virtual knees-up, one including joyous village music on 25 December and, five days later, a digital version of the calypso and soca-soundtracked J’ouvert dawn street party. At home, further the giggly fun by having everyone don appropriate garb – maybe tropical-print dresses, linen suits and some junior Pirates of the Caribbean – and prepare some family-friendly mocktails. Requested by beauty vlogger Zoella, Jamie Oliver’s drinks channel on YouTube has a video tutorial for non-alcoholic strawberry-and-coconut mojitos. Yum!
Try virtual reality skiing
Using an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset – no small expense at £299, but considerably cheaper and simpler than actual skiing trips – the Alpine Ski VR game enables family members to whoosh down a snowy slope from their living room. Using touch controllers as poles, you can take it in turns to post times in the wiggly slalom category or compare freestyle tricks; why not increase the potential for bonding by preparing some cheese fondue and having everyone don full ski gear? More affordable still are the Google Cardboard goggles, which sync with smartphones and free App Store ski simulation games or videos for just £12.30.
Enjoy a spa treatment
Deprived of your usual festive spa escape? Then transform your home into a salon instead. Across its YouTube and Instagram accounts, British skincare brand Espa is kindly providing facial and makeup video masterclasses that teach easy-to-adopt beauty rituals with only basic kit requirements. As well as being uplifting, they’re heaps of fun to follow. To most convincingly convert your chosen room into a zen treatment cocoon, fire up one of Calmsound’s meditative soundscapes, assemble cushions and candles, put on chunky bathrobes, and dim the lights for the perfect spa experience.
Escape to somewhere exotic
A little imagination, that’s all you’ll need for a sunshine-soaked family beach holiday this Christmas. Having turned the radiators on full blast, get everyone clad in Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops, barbecue some sausages, mix some cocktails and mocktails, and take a 360-degree stroll along Miami’s sandy South Beach for the full effect. Alternatively, learn about lions and elephants courtesy of genuine game-drive videos uploaded weekly by South Africa’s Tanda Tula safari camp, or dive alongside dolphins and massive manta rays amid a narrated Mexican instalment of BBC Earth’s Our Blue Planet VR video series.
New Year’s Eve in New York
Although full details aren’t yet available, Times Square’s famous New Year’s Eve celebration will definitely be a digital party this year. And it requires considerably less effort than dealing with tantrums (yours and your kids’) amid pricey transatlantic flights. Better yet, there are numerous other online Big Apple experiences available via the city’s tourism website, ranging from an observatory audio tour of the Empire State Building to virtual helicopter tours. Provide the hungry explorers with some classic hotdogs or New York cheesecake for joyous sustenance, and finish by gathering everyone for a vintage festive movie. Miracle on 34th Street, anyone?
Vodafone #KeepConnecting
Virtual experiences help keep us connected to the ones we love, and that’s more important than ever at Christmas.
At Vodafone, we’ve built a strong mobile and broadband network that keeps you close to your family and friends … so that we’re still together, even if we are apart.
Find out more about how we’re helping you to keep connecting to the magic this Christmas.
Third-party products mentioned in this article are not Vodafone products and are not associated with Vodafone or endorsed by Vodafone in any way. All prices accurate as of publication on 9 December 2020.
