Lara Dutta takes people around the world in 20 minutes

Mumbai: The idea of travelling around the world in just 20 minutes could be implausible for many of us, but not Lara Dutta. The actress took people on a trip around the globe in 20 minutes at the launch of the office of US-based travel website Expedia.

The former beauty queen took media as well as the guests on a walk across the 42,000 sq. ft. property, designed in a way to represent various global destinations like Las Vegas, Rio De Janeiro, Beijing, Moscow, and Fiji among others. "A walk around the place helps one identify with the thought of Expedia. I was brimming with excitement as we went around each zone that represented a travel destination," said Lara at the launch of the `travel themed` workplace of the global website`s India office here. The evening kickstarted with an aerial dance and saw some amazing performances in destination zones including Brazil`s samba dance, China`s Shaolin combat and US` tap dance. The idea behind creating the office like this is to show people what a journey the world is, said Vikram Malhi, country head, Expedia India. "Even if you see the office, the areas are named after different cities across the world. We wanted to show people what a journey the world is and the whole set up is based on that," Malhi told IANS. "Our brand team worked hard on the launch. We wanted to showcase different cultures in different parts of the world," he added. Elaborating on the objective of the company, Malhi said, "We had been thinking about opening an office in India for a long time. We are very committed to India as a market, not only from technology but also from business perspective." IANS