Learning to cook and dance around the world

Nearly everywhere you travel, there will be options to learn things while you are there. For example, I gravitate towards learning how to make things. So I’ve signed up for multiple classes working in glass (elephant, Mars), doing batik, and espadrille making in Spain. Normally, the two most frequently offered types of learning are cooking and dancing.

I have, approximately 2.24 left feet (I keep trying to count, but tripping, so that number is an estimate), and never really learned to cook, so I generally don’t do either unless the food is particularly interesting (it would take a lot to voluntarily get me on a dance floor). But I know many other people enjoy both activities.

Cooking classes come in 2 general flavors: making a meal in the local cuisine or making a particular item the region is known for. I, for example, am looking at a class in making Pastel de Nata in Portugal. It’s a creamy egg custard tart in a puff pastry. It sounds like something that would be good to know how to make for bringing to people’s houses for parties, so I may go to that too.

Many places offer dancing classes as well. While you can often get “general” dancing lessons, the main attraction while traveling is the local and regional dances. For example, learning salsa in Cuba or Colombia, or learning Flamenco in Spain. Since the instructors know you are only getting one lesson, they often simplify the options so that you can learn quickly.

There are many places to find these and other types of classes.

In Southeast Asia (often referred to as SEA), I usually check Backstreet Academy. I had such a great time at the elephant and batik classes above, and would love to do more like that.

Around the world, I use TripAdvisor and Viator (this link might get you 10% off or $10 off, not sure). I’ve shown some dancing options below, but you can search by city, type of dancing, type of food, etc, once you go to the sites.