Here's how this Delhi-based travel company is taking kids on virtual tours to Spain, Italy and more
As a kid, April and May were probably your most favourite months of the year because their arrival meant summer vacations. However, with the pandemic having hit us this March, travel has come to a standstill. After five months of lockdown, parents too are running out of ways to keep their kids engaged at home. While there are several companies/individuals out there doing different things to help parents keep their kids occupied, Bespoke Tailormade Experiences, a travel curation company based in Delhi, has launched India’s first virtual travel experience for kids, taking e-learning during the lockdown to a whole new level.
Founded by Chhavi Chadha in 2015, Bespoke specialises in curating tailormade journeys for their customers. Their brand new Summer Adventure 2020 travel experiences are focused on kids between ages nine and 18 years. The enrolment for the first edition began in late May. What we can only call a fun learning experience, seven exquisite journeys have been curated to take these kids on a trip of their choice to Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan or China. Bespoke's Summer Adventure urges its young audience to "pack your backs, leave your parents at home, and take off!" Kids embark on a cultural, historic and culinary tour of the country of their choice and, the icing on the cake, they also get to learn the language of the country they are travelling to!
Divided into age groups and small batch sizes for a more personalised experience, Young Travel (ages 9-11) and Teen Travel (ages 12-18) help kids take a break from their online schooling schedule to deep-dive into major landmarks, rituals, customs, food and etiquette of the country through eight distinct modules of one hour each. "Summer is a very busy time for travellers, children look forward to vacations. But what could they do this year? They had no choice but to be at home. That's how the idea of virtual tours came about. The aim of this experience is to help kids reconnect with their true nature — with uninhibited energy and an adventurous outlook — while meeting new kids in their age group through these virtual travel experiences," says Chhavi.
The virtual tours are conducted over Zoom and a local from the respective countries are present to conduct the live sessions for a more authentic experience. "We are trying to tell parents what impression an immersive interactive experience with a native can make on young minds. The children have been quite excited to attend the sessions. It is a language learning and cultural experience altogether — like in one of the teen sessions in Spain, they learnt how to make Sangria, then in France, they learnt how to make crepes," says Chhavi. Bespoke has curated itineraries for every tour and the children even get tickets and boarding passes to make it feel more real. The local guides teach the kids the basic of their language, such as basic greetings. Then, according to the itinerary, they showcase video content from famous spots, architecture, cultural performances and so on, and talk about it. "We've curated the video content from tourism sites and to make it more realistic, the facilitator from each country speaks to the children," adds Chhavi.
Children from around the world can sign up for this adventure. Bespoke is conducting eight sessions for each country and they are priced at INR 8,000. Segwaying into Indian travel journeys that aim to have kids connect with their roots, the latest introduction in the series is The Story Behind Indian Festivals that takes them through the stories behind the most celebrated festivals in the country. As for future plans, Chhavi tells us that they would want to evolve this for adults with newer ideas.
