Get creative
Organize your art supplies and get to crafting. Consider painting tulip fields, scenic canals, a replica of The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, or check out Amsterdam’s street art.
Need more inspiration? Check out these virtual tours of famous Rijksmuseum and more.
Pick a film
Watch a movie that relates to your destination. Some ideas for the Netherlands include:
- The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
- The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
- The Little Ark (1972)
Learn some history
Dive deep into the history of specific sites you’ll visit on tour. The Netherlands may be a small country, but it’s packed with world-famous icons. Discover bulb fields, windmills, cheese markets, wooden shoes, the canals of Amsterdam, masterpieces of Old Masters, Delft Blue earthenware, innovative water-management, and millions of bicycles.
Then, explore the Netherlands’ ancient history and modern marvels with this virtual reality tour of the Stedelijk Museum.
Choose a book
Read and discuss a book that takes place in your destination or describes the local culture. Pick from titles like:
- The Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories by Joost Zwagerman
- Why the Dutch are Different by Ben Coates
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Fill up your plate
Arrange a potluck and encourage your friends to bring a traditional dish from your destination. Know a chef? Hold a virtual pannenkoeken cooking class with your travel group, or support a local restaurant that offers delivery/take-out of your destination’s cuisine. Try kaas, Dutch cheese, bitterballen, or stroopwafel.
Learn the language
Call up a friend or set up a group video chat and practice your language skills. It helps to make flashcards with common Dutch phrases to use on the phone or throughout your travels (think about ordering at restaurants, buying souvenirs, and chatting with locals).
Did you know?
The official color of the Netherlands is orange! Orange ya glad it’s Explorica’s color, too?
Meet Your Partner in Travel
After her Explorica tour, Maya spent a summer in the Netherlands, biking around Vondelpark, visiting several art museums, and taking canal tours. She used her spare time to travel extensively around the country and grew to love the food as much as the landscapes and sights that she encountered. Now back in the U.S., Maya maintains her love of all things Dutch by continuing to bike around her city (and she started to grow her own tulips!).