Recently an article on TripSided caught my eye. It was about how Amazon is venturing into the travel business. Sort of. They’re currently Beta testing a new hub called Amazon Explore. It offers a variety of private virtual experiences from around the world that “lets you learn and discover different places in real time—right from your computer!”
Virtual experiences include culture and landmarks, learning and creativity, and even what Amazon is most famous for: shopping! Basically, it takes armchair travel to a whole new level!
The experiences are currently only available to people in the United States, but we’re happy to be the guinea pigs for this while they work out the kinks, right?
But what kind of experiences are we talking about?
All kinds! From getting up-close with wild animals in Costa Rica at the Toucan Rescue Ranch to virtually experiencing Taiwan’s religious customs at Taipei’s Longshan Temple.
Yes, there are even spooky experiences!
We’ll get to those, but this is a good time to note that Amazon is one of our affiliates. If you purchase anything after clicking the links or images in this post, we may earn a small commission. (For which the Skeleton Crew says, “Thank you! That helps cover our website maintenance and hosting fees!”)
Let’s take a closer look at how the Amazon Explore experiences work and what kind of spooky ones you can choose from.
How to Book an Amazon Explore Experience
- Find the activity you want.
- Pick your date and time.
- Book it. (Or, in the case of the spooky ones…boo-k it!)
- Show up on your computer and spend an hour or so enriching your life, doing something you’ve never done before, and having fun!
Live Streamed & Interactive
Instead of tour guides, Amazon refers to the people offering the experiences as “hosts.”
Your experience is live-streamed with them. You can see and hear them, but they can’t see you. They can only hear you. That means you can ask questions or ask them to talk more about something in particular, etc.
You’re also free to take photos, which I think is amazing and super cool.
Amazon Explore System Requirements
Experiences are not currently offered on phones or tablets or other devices like TVs. You need a laptop or desktop with a Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox browser.
Amazon Explore Prices
The experiences start at $10 and go up from there. Most seem to fall in the $25-$70 range.
Navigating Experiences
Right now experiences are broken down into categories and regions.
Categories
- Culture & Landmarks
- Learning & Creativity
- Personal Shopping
- $10 Experiences
- Family-Friendly
- Food & Drink
Regions
- North America
- Central America
- South America
- Europe
- Australia
- Asia
However, they also have sections listing Most Popular, New and Under $50 experiences too, making for lots of ways to browse what you might like to explore!
Examples of Spooky Amazon Explore Experiences
Whether you’re a foodie or a history nut, there are some really neat experiences. But my first love is always the macabre so I immediately looked for haunted and true crime. I was ecstatic when I found some!
Here are some examples:
Tarot Card Reading: Ask Any Three Questions
Tarot card reading to maximize your potential
The historical Chicago River ghost tour – $34.30
Haunted History of Chicago: A Virtual Walking Tour – $49
Virtually explore the haunted houses of Madrid – $49
Legends, Myths and Alchemy in Haunted Prague – $56
Mysteries, monsters and magic: explore Edinburgh’s unusual tales – $10
Splendor and horror: Berlin’s most stunning squares and their dark past – $10
For More Info
To search for a virtual experience, visit Amazon’s Explore page.
Check-In
Now comes the hard part: Deciding which experience to try first. Do any of the above appeal to you? Which one(s) would you pick?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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The hubster lived in Germany for most of his childhood, so I’d choose Berlin just to see the places my sweetheart has seen.
Okay, this was such a super sweet reason for your choice. I love it!