Travel Trending with Kathy Witt: New ways to experience dream destinations

Not quite ready to travel to insert-name-of-dream-destination just yet? Not a problem. Your dream destination can come to you by way of an irresistible packaged experience, enticing virtual or video tour or at-home activity. Here are several:

‘WE’LL COME TO YOU!’

And they’ll come in a box of hand-picked products. For the past five years, Midgi Moore, founder and CEO of Juneau Food Tours — a USA Today “top 10 best food tours in North America” — has been on a mission to deliver tasty memories to those visiting Alaska’s capital city. Now the forward-thinking foodie is bringing Alaska to your front door with Taste Alaska!, seasonal subscription boxes filled with goodies showcasing the very best of the Last Frontier.

“Our goal is to not only deliver the deliciousness of Alaska, but to share artwork, culture and travel information,” says Moore.

The first box contains such tasty items as smoked salmon, locally sourced tea, spruce tip caramels and wildly popular kelp hot sauce, plus the beautiful photography of award-winning photographer Mark Kelley, recipes and guides for help in planning a trip to Alaska. Future boxes will include Alaska game and sausages, smoked salmon roe, ulus (a traditional tool of Eskimo women) and cultural art pieces.

“Alaska is ready and waiting for visitors to return,” says Moore. “Until that time, Taste Alaska! is a way to enjoy the true Alaska experience from your living room.”

Place your order at juneaufoodtours.com (click on the “Taste Alaska! tab); summer box is shipping now.

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME

At the top of many travel wish lists is Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, which began a phased reopening on June 14.

Until travelers plan an in-person visit, all ages can “Explore from Home” with diverse programming that includes activities, history lessons, behind-the-scenes peeks at select galleries of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.

“We’ve seen a lot of success with what we’ve been doing and the plan is to continue this programming indefinitely,” said Carol Gillam, senior digital marketing manager. “It may be quite a while before people will be comfortable traveling again.”

Live chat with nation builders: Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Clementina Rind, the young printer of the Virginia Gazette, and Gowan Pamphlet, an enslaved tavern worker who secretly preached to fellow African American believers and founded Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church, in operation to this day. Click into a museum collection and find a carved and painted lion carousel figure, floral prints that were an 18th century must-have for gardeners and other items.

How-tos and supply lists for Colonial crafts are offered via videos. Make a recipe for an 18th century dish, like apple pie with a “few tea-spoonsful of rose-water and some cloves” and updated for 21st century cooks.

Programming at colonialwilliamsburg.org website at colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/explore-from-home as well as the site’s social media channels.

NAPA IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

A couple of wineries in Napa Valley are inviting oenophiles to bring wine country into their home. Clos Du Val Winery (closduval.com) offers a “Tasting at Your Table” experience with wines tailored to your tastes and held at your convenience.

Founded in 1972 in the Stags Leap District, Clos Du Val is one of the heavyweights of the legendary winemaking region. Its name is French for “small vineyard estate of a small valley” and is known for its award-winning cabernet sauvignon.

Tasting packs, featuring Clos Du Val limited-edition wines, start at $240. Once the purchase is completed a winery representative is in touch to schedule a one-on-one tasting. Details at closduval.com/wine-shop/virtual-tasting-packages.

Also offering virtual tasting kits is AXR Winery (axrnapavalley.com), a historic estate in the heart of St. Helena featuring fully customizable virtual tastings.

The winery sits on land that has been privy to dramatic chapters in American history, from that of American Indians who hunted it to the pioneers who blazed a trail through it to the woman who in 1886 became the first female vintner of California, one Josephine Marlin Tychson.

The winery promises a tasting experience that takes wine lovers on a journey through the past, present and future of Napa. Contact the winery to get connected with a wine ambassador to plan wine picks. Once selections are made and purchased, tasting notes are shared digitally and buyers are offered a guided virtual 60-minute tasting via Zoom or FaceTime. Visit https//www.axrnapavalley.com/enjoy-the-wines for more information.

CRUISIN’ ON LAND

Holland America Line (hollandamerica.com) brings experiences from the ship to your home with its HAL@HOME series, the link found on its homepage.

The lineup includes programming from the ship’s onboard entertainment staff along with cooking demonstrations, destination features and more that will have to tide cruise lovers over until they can get back onboard Holland’s fleet of 15 ships.

Whip up a pasta dish with Chef Ethan Stowell or a tasty appetizer with Master Chef Rudi Sodamin. Watch “Sea Turtles, The Caribbean’s Living Dinosaurs” from the Exceptional Places video series. Tune into a Lincoln Center Living Room video for a live Lincoln Center Stage performance.

Virtual explorers can also visit HollandAmericaFan’s YouTube page to see an entire library of videos — everything from O, The Oprah Magazine Reading Room, to Culinary Council cooking shows. Tune into www.facebook.com/SethonHAL to join the HAL brand ambassador during Trivia Tuesdays. On Holland America’s own Facebook page, a weeklong Virtual Alaska Cruise program will be kicked off on June 22 with all the fun and excitement of a cruise, on land.