For better or worse, Zoom video calls have taken over our quarantined lives. From work conferences to quarintinis and quizzes with friends, never before have so many prying eyes entered our homes. On the one hand, it’s great because it helps us stay in touch; however, it can feel intrusive. Fortunately, there are ways to distract your audience and yourself by livening things up with a travel-themed background.
From cityscapes to jungle landscapes and high-end holiday homes, we’ve picked a variety of virtual backgrounds to introduce to your next Zoom meeting.
Bali
Those Monday morning Zoom calls will become a lot easier when you dial in from this five-storey bamboo treehouse, courtesy of Airbnb. Sipping coffee while imagining you’re nestled in this terrace overlooking the jungle and sacred Ayung River will add just the right amount of escapism to the meeting. “What’s that Shelia? I can’t hear you over the sound of the macaques.”
San Francisco
This image, provided by San Francisco Travel, showcases the city’s famous Steiner Street and its iconic “Painted Ladies” (that famous row of Victorian houses). It allows us to imagine what life would be like on a street that feels just out of reach. What a view though. Download the background here.
The Long Room, Trinity College, Dublin
Impress those friends who position their laptop cameras in front of bookshelves (containing stacks of books with suspiciously crease-free spines) by showcasing the iconic 16th-century library in Trinity College, one of Ireland’s greatest tourist attractions. While your friend may have a copy of Ulysses on their shelf, you can enjoy the background of the Book of Kells. Download here from Unsplash, an open-source collection of images that can be downloaded for free.
Cuzco, Peru
Your home can become a glass pod perched on the side of a Peruvian cliff, featuring breathtaking views of the Sacred Valley of Cuzco. To reach the Skylodge Adventure Suites from Natura Vive in real life, one would have to hike 400 meters of protected trails and use ziplines. Not for the faint-hearted! In the virtual world, however, you just need to download the above image from Airbnb and you’re there. The sky’s the limit.
Safari
Forget about pop culture references like Joe Exotic; you can now embody the tiger king with this safari-inspired background from Unsplash. Is your 5 PM meeting on Friday moving a bit slowly? Just keep looking over your shoulder to remind your colleagues who the real boss in the room is and then call it a day. It’s quarintini time! Download here.
Note: To add a Virtual Background to Zoom, go to ‘Preferences’, then ‘Virtual Background’ and upload your image.
