TripAdvisor’s offbeat and quirky travel experiences to book in 2019

Want to make 2019 a more adventurous, intrepid, enriching year than the last? From joyriding on a Go-Kart while dressed up like Super Mario through the streets of Tokyo, to forest bathing in the rain forests of Hawaii, TripAdvisor has a round-up of some of the quirkiest and most offbeat travel experiences to be had this year. Activities are selected from TripAdvisor Experiences, bookable tours and activities from the website. The service takes a page out of Airbnb’s playbook which also offers bookable tourist experiences in cities around the world. Here are a few examples of unique and interesting experiences to be had in 2019, via TripAdvisor: Midnight paddleboarding in Barcelona, Spain: It’s one thing to paddleboard in broad daylight; quite another to set out to sea under the moonlight. During these guided tours, participants are led out on the water on stand-up paddleboards which are outfitted with LED lights to illuminate the way and offer a dramatically different perspective to the moon-lit city. The tour also includes a late dinner after the paddle. Go-Kart racing in the streets of Tokyo: Despite legal proceedings launched by Nintendo a few years back, MariCar is still renting out Go-Karts and superhero costumes that bear striking resemblance to the Super Mario brothers, to the delight of mostly foreign tourists. As long as you have a valid driving license or international driver’s license, you can get behind the wheel, dressed up as either Mario or Luigi, and hit the real streets of Tokyo on a route that zips past landmarks like the Gate Bridge, Odaiba, Tokyo Tower, Roppongi and Shibuya Crossing.