The Contact Point’s 24 tips for armchair travel

This year, the Contact Point’s Christmas calendar made an armchair trip around the world. We published our Christmas calendar posts on Twitter and Facebook. If you forgot to follow our armchair trip on social media, you can still join in by checking out our 24 tips in order to experience an international atmosphere in the comfort of your home.

Please remember that the Contact Pointis also here to advise you on matters related to cross-border health care in these unusual times. When planning future trips, you can visit our website to find a lot of important information on health services in Finland and elsewhere.

1. Start learning a new language or dig out a dictionary and refresh your vocabulary. What language would you like to learn?
2. Do you have green fingers? Grow your own bonsai tree and fly to Japan on the wings of your imagination.
3. Prepare a foreign dessert, such as the French Bûche de Noël. Do you have any foreign delicacies on your Christmas table?
4. Spend a quiet evening exploring the history and culture of a country that you are not familiar with.
5. Read a book set in a country you have not visited yet.
6. This year, we have all been invited to the President’s Independence Day Reception! Make a toast to Finland and virtually visit the Presidential Palace and different parts of Finland.
7. Customise your old sun hat with summer decorations to wait for your next beach holiday. Where is your favourite beach?
8. Be inspired by music! You can dive into an international atmosphere with Italian opera or Brazilian samba, for example.
9. A giraffe, kangaroo, bunny or frog? Make Christmas gingerbread in the shape of animals from your favourite country and decorate them – your imagination is the only limit!
10. Take a virtual museum tour and explore the art treasures of different countries from the comfort of your home. Dalí today, Guggenheim tomorrow?
11. Would you be interested in a train trip across Europe or a tour of Africa? Spend an evening playing board games and see where the dice take you.
12. Remember when people used to take photos with a camera instead of a smartphone? Compile a photo book from your old travel photos as a gift for yourself or your travelling companion.
13. Glad Lucia! Happy St Lucia’s Day! Did you know that the Lucia tradition came to Finland from Sweden?
14. Admire the nature and animal species of different parts of the world by watching fascinating documentaries.
15. Make a big Christmas stocking to hang on the mantelpiece! It is believed that the stocking tradition was born in Europe centuries ago.
16. Take a break from Christmas preparations and make a long phone call to a friend or relative living abroad.
17. Immerse yourself in the travel spirit by reading travel literature!
18. Close your eyes and develop future travel plans. Where would you like to go when the world situation allows it?Take an armchair trip to Iceland by immersing yourself in sagas, medieval Icelandic stories.
19. Belgian chocolate shops come to you in the form of delicious boxes of chocolates.
20. To celebrate the winter solstice, you can admire the shades of darkness all over the Nordic region.
21. Take a taste trip directly into Lisbon’s Christmas atmosphere by baking the Bolo Rei fruit cake.
22. Learn more about the Christmas traditions of different countries! Did you know that Canadian children can write to Santa Claus and get a reply?
23. Learn more about the Christmas traditions of different countries! Did you know that Canadian children can write to Santa Claus and get a reply?
24. Enjoy the Christmas atmosphere at home in peace and do whatever you want. Or what if you did nothing at all? Merry Christmas!