52 Card Project 2022: Week 3: HeyGo

[pegkerr]

So, I have found the best cure for pandemic lockdown boredom/cabin fever ever. HeyGo.com is a website where you can sign up for free and take video tours in real time, all over the world, following guides who tell you about their home. You are invited to tip the tour guides (you can use Debit/Credit Card, Paypal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay), but it is not required. The possibilities are endless, and tours are going on 24/7. You can book ahead for a tour and get an email reminder, or just check the calendar and see what is going on at the moment and jump on immediately.

I signed up this week, and since then, I have:

• attended a "Janeiros" concert in Porto, Portugal
• watched a Cholitas professional wrestling match between two women in traditional Bolivian garb
• attended a tour about the history of the diamond industry in Amsterdam (this one was particularly cool, because the guide biked around the city with his GoPro camera on his chest, and I got to see what a particularly bikeable city is like)
• ridden a cable car over the Thames in London.
• explored the city of Bath, UK
• virtually walked around the city of Bergen, Norway, learning how the people handle coldness and darkness in January
• hung out in a Japanese Zen Garden in Melbourne, Australia for a meditation session

You can tour an Indian market and watch the guide buy ingredients and then cook a traditional dish. You can visit museums and botanical gardens, in real time. You can go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. You can visit Angkor Wat or go on a safari in Nairobi. You can learn about crime and plague in London. You can kayak down a river in Vietnam. You can learn about the history of morning prayer from a Jewish guide in Jerusalem.

It has all been so much fun. I learned things, both history and interesting cultural tidbits. And I got out of my own headspace and my surroundings to see things and places I may never have a chance to see in person. But I got to learn about them anyway.

You can take "postcard" pictures of what you're seeing on your screen and ask your guide questions in the chat. Here's one I took: part of a poster from La Paz, Bolivia advertising the women available for professional wrestling matches:



I am really looking forward to exploring so much more of the world. Hat tip lydamorehouse. Thank, Lyda!

To make this week's collage, I took maps of four of the locations I explored this week for the background, and over each, I put one of the postcard images I took during the tour. Upper left: Bath, UK/a Bath chair (these were used to transport finely dressed ladies to the Assembly Rooms in the 18th and 19th century). Upper right: La Paz, Bolivia/one of the women doing professional wrestling. Lower left: Bergen, Norway/a city park gazebo. Lower right: the Thames in London/a cable car. In the center is the HeyGo logo. (I'm going to be playing a bit more this year with online tools that allow me to do slightly more sophisticated things when assembling collages. Here, I used the "Blend two images" function on the website Lunapic).

HeyGo



Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.

Click here to see the 2021 gallery.

Comments

[kiwiria]

Ooooh, that's awesome! Thank you for sharing that link!!! Will go check it out immediately!

[pegkerr]

I'm going to be doing a tour of Venice canals this morning. This is perfect for me, because I'm writing the sequel to Emerald House Rising, and I'm setting it in Chulipse, a city of canals based on Venice.

And I'm doing this tour tomorrow: Harry Potter - The Truth Behind The Myths and Legends

Edinburgh is said to be the birth place of Harry Potter and as the city where famous author J.K Rowling lives, it may be true!

On this tour, you will discover some of the truths and myths behind the writing of the Harry Potter books, finding out who inspired some of the names for its famous characters, what other famous schools was the origin of Hogwarts and much more!

It is at 9:00 am Saturday my local time; not sure what time it would be in yours. Maybe you'd like to join, too?

[kiwiria]

*gasp splutter* You're writing a sequel to EHR?!?!?!?!? That's wonderful news!!! I volunteer to beta read! ;-)

Wow, that tour looks amazing! I'd have loved to join, but unfortunately it's at 4pm my time, and we have guests coming over for the afternoon. I visited Edinburgh a few years ago and just completely fell in love with the city, so would have been there with bells on otherwise. I can see it's a very popular tour though, so may be able to join it later.

[pegkerr]

It looks like he repeats the tour periodically, so you will be able to catch it later. Definitely let me know if you get caught up in HeyGo; maybe we will catch up on other tours.

Yes, I started a sequel twenty years ago and stuck it in a drawer after four chapters. Now I have started with a new writing group and have run those chapters all through critiques. And now the acid test: I have to pick up the threads and start writing again after such a long hiatus.

I...may take you up on that beta read offer, if I can choke out another chapter or two, enough to give me confidence that I'll be able to keep on writing. Just forgive me if I get hopelessly stuck again.

[kiwiria]

I will be sure to do so! Obviously I'm immediately checking to see what kind of NZ tours they have 🤣 But it all looks amazing!

I remember you telling me about the sequel way back when I first read Emerald House Rising, but had forgotten you had picked it back up again. I think you mentioned it in passing awhile back, when EHR was being republished (not the right word for it…), but it had slipped my mind with all that has happened since.

I would be delighted if you did, but absolutely no pressure. Just know that it would be my pleasure.

[ndrosen]

I’m hoping to read the sequel to EMERALD HOUSE RISING; if I recall correctly, I gave the copy I bought online to my niece, so maybe I’ll have reason to buy two copies the sequel.

[kiwiria]

I got the chance to try a tour ths morning (Balloon ride in Cambodia). The tour itself was only so-so, but I absolutely love the concept! Will definitely be checking out more of them! They recommend using chrome on a PC for the best experience, but it worked great on my iPad as well.

Thanks again for the recommendation!

[pegkerr]

I'm so glad you tried it, and I hope you'll try it again and find it fun. Thanks for letting me know!

[kiwiria]

I can see the time zone differences is going to be an issue for me X-D I tried an evening stroll around Banff Saturday night, and absolutely LOVED what I could stay awake for... but after 20 minutes, I was too tired and had to give up (it started at 00:30 my time - I'm too old!). I hope to be able to catch it another time.