To carry us through this wartime of solitude, Ophir PR has compiled a list of the best way to experience all the joys of travel from your own home. The secret? Armchair travel – experiences brought especially to your home to give you that flavour of being abroad. Many benefits of travel that we once took for granted can now be appreciated more than ever with the following offering:
 
Hastings Hotels – Watch Channel 4’s hit show Derry Girls now and travel to the set later with a brand new tour
MarBella Collection, Greece – A graphic designer is creating mindful colouring images of the properties and surroundings for you to paint your perfect travel experience
Quinta Do Lago, Portugal – Keep fit with live stream fitness classes from multi-sports hub, The Campus
Tuscany Now & More – Your very own private chef offering exclusive virtual cooking and wine tasting classes every Sunday
Longevity Wellness Worldwide, Portugal - Plug into wellness whilst working from home with these playlists
Courmayeur – Live stream 360-degree footage of the Italian Alps whilst indulging in a hearty Italian homemade meal

Watch Now Travel Later

Social Distance with the Derry Girls - Prepare for Hastings Hotels' Brand New Tour Packages at the Everglades Hotel, Northern Ireland - Ahead of Upcoming New Season. With season 3 of smash hit Channel 4 show, Derry Girls, on the horizon and predicted to land on our screens by May, now is the perfect time to squeeze in a new series – that you can visit the set of later this year. Hastings Hotels, Northern Ireland, has unleashed a brand new tour package experience devoted to the show, where fans and to-be fans can watch now, travel later. Brush up on your knowledge now, walk in the footsteps of Erin, Michelle, or even the wee English fella later, at key locations from the series such as the Guildhall and Dennis’s Wee Shop.

The Tour

“The walls are nothing short of spectacular”. On this tour you will get to see where key scenes took place during a Walled City Walking Tour where visitors can walk through the life of a true Derry Girl and hear about life in the Bodside during the troubles from an expert local guide.
You’ll also get the chance to visit Dennis’ Wee Shop where you can chance your luck in asking for a free bonbon or simply have your photo taken at this iconic location. You can visit the city’s Pump Street and learn the difference between a cream horn and a cream finger. Next you can explore Long Tower Church where the miracle of Our Lady occurred, followed by the Bishop’s Gate where Toto made a miraculous appearance. The walking tour will also bring visitors to the Guildhall, where President Clinton spoke as portrayed in the second season of the series.
The tour finishes at the famous Derry Girls Mural where guests can take a selfie and be pledged as a Derry Girl, or boy. 

The Be a Derry Girl Package, includes an overnight stay at the Everglades Hotel, Afternoon Tea and cocktail and walking tour from £95 per person sharing. The package is available without the walking tour for £80 per person, while Afternoon Tea alone is £30. For more information see hastingshotels.com. The package can be viewed in detail and booked here.

Get Fit in Quarantine

The Campus offering Live Fitness Classes from Multi-Sports Hub, Quinta do Lago's

As millions of us now sit at home, sequestering ourselves to help stop the spread of coronavirus, we need now more than ever an easy, quick fix, for keeping fit. If you're looking to run away from your desktop disasters or children tantrums you can release tension with Quinta do Lago's brand new virtual classes. Now live streaming, you can experience the same high-performance facilities as top athletes Rio Ferdinand and the entire Irish rugby team who have used The Campus. So jump up, put your indoor trainers on, turn up the heat and imagine you're training at the heart of Portugal. 
 
The Campus is a state of the art sports facility with beginners’ clinics, private professional coaching and sunshine all year round, it is the ideal destination to master a chosen sport. They offer fitness classes and activities which can be done by the whole family. The Campus offers a wide array of fitness classes from Barre Fitness to Express Boxfit and Yogalates.  

Quinta do Lago - Magnolia Hotel (https://themagnoliahotelqdl.com/, (+351) 289 005 300) offers a Standard Room from €98/£86 on a B&B basis. 

Mindfulness Colouring

A creative escape with MarBella Collection Greek hotels 

MarBella Collection is now offering mindfulness colouring-in of images from their two beautiful hotels, MarBella Corfu and MarBella Nido in Corfu - and their surroundings to let your imagination run free without needing to visit the hotels... yet! 

In the current climate, whisking yourself away to your dream location for a spot of yoga on the docks or paddle boarding on the calm sea feels like a distant dream. But with MarBella Collection's new mindfulness colouring, they're bringing these dreams to life and to your own home. Colouring books for adults emerged as a fad early last year and now there are colouring books for practically any interest - and travel shouldn't be left out of that. With a graphic designer brought in by the luxury hotel group you'll be able to take a step away from your home working desktop and into a true travellers dream that's personalised by you with your favourite colours, painting the picturesque surroundings of Corfu and Parga. Explore Greek's top hotel group through the art of colour and allow yourself to paint a picture of your perfect sunset for the perfect mindful escape. 
 
Proud of your work? Post it to Instagram or Twitter with hashtag #mindfulwithmarbella and connect with other like-minded travellers. 
 
MarBella Nido (www.marbellanido.gr, +30 26610 76452) offers rooms from £135/€153 per night on B&B basis. MarBella Corfu (www.marbella.gr; +30 2661 071183) offers rooms from £117/€130 per double room per night.

Live Cooking Classes

Transport Tuscany to Your Kitchen With Live Cooking Classes and Wine Tasting withTuscany Now & More

Learn to cook some cosy Tuscan comfort food and bring a taste of Italy to the table.

The special series will be available through Tuscany Now & More Instagram account @tuscanynowandmore with the first live Tuscan Cooking Class on Sunday 29th March 2020 at 3pm GMT.

Enjoy the magic of Tuscany from afar and be inspired at home to try your hand and some classic Italian recipes #italycomestoyou.
Chef Francesco Maruccelli is Resident Chef at The Estate of Petroio and will The Estate of Petroiobe showcasing the best of Tuscan comfort food from the heart of Italy. A list of ingredients are now available on the Tuscany Now & More Instagram account. 

A Chianti Wine Tasting class will take place live on Sunday 5th April at 5.30pm GMT. The class will be focussed on classic Chianti wines, so be sure to have your bottle ready. 
Tuscany Now & More will continue with classes throughout the Spring and Summer. All classes will be available also in the Tuscany Now & More Instagram stories, for anyone that cannot tune in live.

For further information and bookings, please contact www.tuscanynowandmore.com or call 0207 684 8884.

Wellness Soundtrack for Working from Home

Longevity Wellness Worldwide's Playlist

As most of the UK are now working from home, the normal workday has taken a different form, bringing its own pressures and tensions. As a result, Longevity Wellness Worldwide has introduced a new work from home playlist to help people to destress and relax. A leader in spa, health and integrative wellness services, Longevity Wellness Worldwide is dedicated to providing unique wellness and holiday experiences in the heart of Portugal's Algarve region. Longevity Wellness Worldwide emphasises that it is essential to focus on looking after the immune system, and a major aspect of implementing this is through restorative sleep and relaxation. 

The new Longevity Wellness Worldwide work from home wellness playlist incorporates the very best of Longevity Wellness Worldwide, bringing the holiday and wellness atmosphere of its three wellness hotels in the Algarve into people's homes. Longevity Wellness Worldwide's playlist includes a range of music from relaxing summer songs that recreate the Portuguese holiday experience; to spa relaxation music; and to Portuguese artists, including Bernardo Sassetti, Salvaor Sobral and Luisa Sobral. 

The playlist includes: 
Só Um Beijo - Luisa Sobral and Salvador Sobral
Tick Tock - Tom Misch
Cosmos - Tejal Yann
Obo - William Edessa
All I Want - Kodaline 
She - dodie
It's Always You - Chet Baker
I Cover The Waterfront Bernardo Sassetti

Longevity Health & Wellness Hotel (longevityalvor.com/en/) offers a standard room from £170/€194 per room per night on a B&B basis, based on 2 people sharing.

Live Stream 360 Footage of the Mountains

Bring the Italian Alps In - With panoramic views of the Mountains and a Comforting Alpine Recipe, Traditional to Courmayeur Mont Blanc

We all look forward to that mountain food you are rewarded with after a hard day’s skiing. Courmayeur Mont Blanc in the Italian Alps, has disclosed a number of alpine recipes for the it traditional Italian dishes that are so well appreciated throughout the resort. Tasty, warming and filling - the perfect way to bring a little comfort into your home. 
On top of this, Courmayeur Mont Blanc has granted us all online access to their exclusive webcam available here. We can now see live footage of the resort, our favourite ski slopes and the SkyWay experience from the comfort of the kitchen, whilst cooking up the grain cuisine detailed below - traditional to Northern Italy. 

About Courmayeur Mont Blanc

Courmayeur Mont Blanc is situated on the Italian side of Mont Blanc (the sunnier side!) and is a traditional yet sophisticated resort full of history and charm and surrounded by spectacular scenery. The resort is a veritable playground for families. With its car-free cobbled streets, family-run hotels, charming atmosphere, short transfer times and the superb Ski School Monte Bianco, regarded as one of Italy’s best, it’s no surprise that Courmayeur Mont Blanc is already a firm favourite among mountain-loving families, many of whom return year after year. Only here, to visitors have full access to Skyway Monte Bianco, a 360 degree cable car which transports people up 3,500m up the Mont Blanc. 
 
For more information visit: https://www.courmayeurmontblanc.it/en, call +39 0165 841612 or email info@courmayeurblanc.it.