Enjoy a day in Paris from home with Airbnb Online Experiences

The dry season in the Philippines is synonymous with beach and nature escapades with the family and barkada. Summer is one of the most exciting seasons to create new memories with your loved ones, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos will be prioritizing health and safety by staying home. This doesn’t mean that summer has to be any less fun or memorable – Airbnb Online Experiences are here to keep the spirit of travel alive with exciting and unique virtual adventures for all ages.

To create new and meaningful ways for people to travel virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, Airbnb launched Online Experiences a year ago. Introducing an online format for Experiences allowed both in-person and new Hosts to earn income during these unprecedented times, and to share their passions and local culture with guests all over the world through the screens of their smartphones and laptops.

Since then, it has swiftly evolved to become one of guests’ favorite ways to travel while staying home. In 2020 Airbnb revealed that 63 percent of guests booked Online Experiences to be entertained and 56 percent booked to learn about other cultures and lifestyles[1]. Food and Drink has been the most popular category globally and across the Asia Pacific region, accounting for nearly 40 percent of seats booked.

This year as we put our usual trips to the beach and favorite summer spots on hold, these Airbnb Online Experiences may just provide the perfect indoor summer vacay to enjoy with your families and friends.

Embark on urban adventures across the world

Explore the streets and famous attractions of cities you’ve been yearning to visit! Immerse in interesting local stories and folklore from Airbnb Experience Hosts as they bring you into their very own world.

  • Enjoy A Fabulous Day in Paris with Parisians Anto, Peter, Herbert and Tais as they bring you to famous sites in the City of Lights, including the Louvre and the Royal Palace. You’ll be sure to pick up a couple of French words before you bid them au revoir.
  • If you’ve been dreaming of visiting Japan and experiencing its rich anime culture, Yuki the Otaku can take you on a tour around Akihabara, the Otaku capital of Japan to learn more about Tokyo Anime and its Subcultures.
  • Join Host Cinthia on Rio’s Carnival Backstage Live Experience. Learn more about the rich history of the Afro-Brazilian culture and how to play Brazilian drums using items you can find at home.

Plant some summer joy with home horticulture

The pandemic ignited interest in home gardening around the world, as people under lockdown began sprucing up their homes with house plants and enjoying the associated benefits of stress relief and exercise. Whether you’re a budding plant enthusiast or an experienced gardener, you’ll surely find an exciting Online Experience on Airbnb.

  • Still struggling with overwatering or finding the right amount of light for your plants? Fret not as you learn Plant Care Basics with Hilton Carter.
  • For those dreaming of building a mini garden, interior and garden designer Kevin will share several Easy Gardening tips so you can create your personal sanctuary at home.
  • Enjoy this Traditional Healing and Houseplants experience with Host Wynnie, as she brings you through the natural healing properties of plants over a cup of tea.

Explore the culinary world

It’s no secret that Filipinos love to eat and are always raring to explore the newest restaurant or latest food craze. If you have mastered Dalgona coffee and ube pandesal, maybe it’s time to take your kitchen game a notch higher with these Online Experiences.

  • Learn how to make the most authentic and delicious Portuguese sangria on this Sangria and Secrets with Drag Taste experience, while being entertained with live performances by fabulous drag queens. This is a one-of-a-kind, cabaret-style cocktail party you’ll remember for years to come.
  • Make Mexican Street Tacos with a Pro Chef as Host Graciela teaches you how to prepare street tacos from scratch – the perfect snack before your afternoon siesta!
  • Discover the benefits of delicious and Healthy Asian Fusion Recipes with Parisian cook Chris, as he teaches guests how to prepare nutritional yet tasty Asian dishes.

Learning Self Care 101 at home

As Filipinos spend more time at home, prioritizing wellness has taken on a whole new meaning. Here are some rejuvenating Online Experiences that will leave you more grounded and relaxed.

  • Meditate with Japanese Buddhist monk Kuniatsu, who has resided for over 20 years at Shitennoji Temple. Take a break with this 60-minute experience as he walks you through different types of meditation practices.
  • Enjoy this happiness meditation with chocolate experience as Host and holistic coach Ana demonstrates how chocolate can help bring about inner peace, gratitude and lots of happiness
  • Centre your mind and body with this beautiful Cello Meditation Concert hosted by Janice, which encourages guests to experience healing and deep relaxation through music.

Whether discovering a far-flung destination for the first time, trying out a new interest, or revisiting a familiar city, Online Experiences is a safe and easy way for Filipinos to enjoy a virtual summer vacay from home.

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Hacks review: A sharp comedy about making comedy

11/24/2021

If you’re looking for something fresh, unique, and satisfyingly clever to watch, then Hacks is a series you’ll eat right up.

It’s hard to pull off a show about showbiz to begin with but doing one about making comedy is an even harder act to do.

However, with the winner combo that is the brilliant Jean Smart and her booming young stand-up comic co-star Hannah Einbinder, not only do they pull it off, but they also knock it out of the park.

The premise is simple: Smart plays Deborah Vance, a veteran comic with a successful long-running show in Las Vegas who recently is told to give up her weekend slots so that venue owner, Marty, played by Christopher McDonald (Into Thin Air, Happy Gilmore), can book a new singing group to attract a younger demographic.

While Vance acknowledges her show regulars are people “who come up from Florida”, she is livid by having to give up her weekend shows to make way for a lip-synching singing group.

Meanwhile, Einbinder plays young Ava who has recently been canceled by a now very woke LA due to an insensitive tweet and is having difficulty booking writing gigs despite previously having lucrative enough prospects to be able to afford to purchase a townhouse for herself.

Hollywood has now turned its back on her just as the city has and has found herself ostracized from the industry with no one wanting to work with her.

Serendipitously handled by the same agent, Ava is sent to Vance in Las Vegas to work for her as a writer in hopes of freshening up her act to keep her weekend show slots.

Thus, the equally skeptical working relationship begins.

More importantly, the show also tackles the great generational divide between Smart and Einbinder’s characters. Coming from the tail end of the disillusioned Gen X myself, where we are taught that soldiering on in a job you don’t enjoy is just a part of life you need to live with, it’s easy to find Ava’s idealistic take on unemployment very annoying.

She will likely be judged by the viewer initially as an entitled slacker who does not really know what hard work means.

Ava is someone who likes to complain about everything and somehow manages to logically justify it to be a violation of her rights and does a lot of this throughout the show.

That is why it is also equally enjoyable to watch Vance not give any importance to these complaints and oftentimes make her do grunt work fit for a personal assistant than a hired writer who is employed to better your comedy.

As much as it is satisfying to see the entitled Ava disgruntled by donkey tasks, this dynamic does not last as the two eventually find a way to work together through circumstances that present itself when forced to work together.

This is where the show tackles the real essence of the generational divide and where both Smart and Ava open up their characters quite beautifully.

You are immediately drawn by the many layers of Deborah Vance’s character, toughened by years and years of shit-eating she had to do as a pioneering woman in the world of comedy.

Just as we are drawn to it, so is Ava, and her resentment easily turns into admiration as she first realizes that Vance was probably a major player in kicking down the door that opened opportunities for women of her generation today.

But the show also reveals, albeit very subtly, that Ava does have a unique point of view as a writer and is not as entitled as she makes out to be. Rather, she is a smart female in her twenties who has real talent, empowered without hesitations to stand up for what she thinks is rightfully hers for the taking.

As the two characters learn from each other and try to make each other better, it is not hard to root for them.

The show makes you hope that the two can sort out their issues and work together because you almost positively know for sure that when they do, it will be magic. We have yet to find out.

In the meantime, you will find Hacks truly engaging and surprisingly addicting as you find yourself caring deeply about its characters.

It’s not a surprise that the show has bagged a few Emmys just in its first season. It is brilliantly written and the two women who carry the lead roles are astounding in it.

You can catch Hacks on HBO, which has been airing since October 11, 2021.

REVIEWS