Around the World - Column by Jennifer Merin

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Around The World: Virtual Travel's For In Case You Really Can’t Get There

Jennifer Merin

Travel can be challenging, and sometimes even the most eager of prospective tourists find that their minds are more ready, able and willing to travel than their bodies.

This is true not only for people with handicaps and disabilities, who face a disheartening plethora of problems whenever they venture forth, but also for usually hail and hearty folk who are trapped in adverse financial situations where time and money concerns prohibit trips.

Or, there are those who adore travel and would set off on an adventure in a heartbeat, but their beloved significant others are serious stay-at-homes who consider going across town or a drive to the nearest theme park a major outing and a trip to Arby’s or Pizza Hut an adventure in cuisine. You love them for their other qualities, and may not want to leave home without them.

And then there are those who are preparing to take off on their trip of a lifetime -- the one they’ve dreamed about, carefully planned and created a savings account for -- when they have a mishap and perhaps fall off the ladder they’ve climbed to retrieve their suitcase from the top shelf in the closet and, suitcase handle in hand, tumble to the floor and break their leg.

Hopefully that’s not you. But it does happen. And, more frequently, there are those cases of flu that keep you in bed while your reserved flight is taking off.

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to get past the misfortunes that impede tourism and keep you at home.

Of course, when it comes to travel, nothing beats being there. But if, in reality, you can’t get up and go, don’t attempt to stifle the urge to do so.

Travel is one of humankind’s greatest assets -- it teaches us, both stimulates and satisfies our curiosities, enkindles our imaginations and gives birth to enlightening ideas.

And, throughout history, every phase of our technological progress has provided us with additional and enhanced alternative ways in which we can explore the wide world. And, with the advent of the Internet and digital imaging, the options for virtual travel have never been better or more varied.

As imaginative travelers seeking adventure, digital media can entice you into cyberspace or thrust you into outer space. Or, it can tour you to and through the places on our planet that most interest you. Again, with the caveat that nothing beats actually being there, you can surf the Internet to visit bustling cities and isolated beaches, museums and boutiques, state fairs and theme parks -- or go on safari game drive in jeep through an African game preserve or on a cruise through the ice-y waters of Antarctica.

These virtual adventures may serve as substitute adventures for those of you who cannot -- for whatever reason -- journey too far from home, or they may simply whet your appetite for real life journeys to places you’d not considered visiting. Either way, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. And all you need to turn your armchair into a seat travel portal is a computer that’s powerful enough to stream and is equipped with a DVD player, and hooked up to a monitor that’s as big as your imagination or small enough for you to tuck into your handbag for a secret surfing session at Starbucks. You can set out on your journey solo, or can invite family and friends to join in the trip. Hello virtual world.

Anyone who is remotely resourceful can find Web sites that satisfy. Just search Google for ‘virtual travel’ or ‘virtual tourism.’ You’ll get the usual rash of trash and spate of irritating ads, but there will also be some genuine gems to be scooped up -- and the price is right. They’re free.

One of the sites that pops up at the top of the Google search belongs to the London-based The Armchair Travel Company (www.armchair-travel.com), which features interactive virtual tours of several popular and intriguing destinations, such as the Taj Mahal, Kew Gardens and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The layout features sweeping panoramic views of the landmarks, and you choose take closer looks as you see fit, or to move to the next area of interest. Images are identified so you know what you’re looking at while guiding yourself through the site with ease. There’s no streaming, so the site doesn’t require much power. One shortcoming: there’s no audio, so you don‘t really get the full ambience -- cyber-wise, that is.

Of course, the virtual trip is closer to reality if you’re taking it in real time -- which is exactly what’s done at WildEarth (www.wildearth.com), a site run by a South African game preserve. With cameras fixed to jeeps that bounce over dirt roads, WildEarth streams game drives live. It’s unedited, so a lot of the time you just drive around looking for game, but the finds are frequent. I’ve tracked lions, leopards and lots of antlered creatures with them, and it’s thrilling. Morning drives tend to be liveliest, but the amazing night drives with infrared cameras are quite the armchair safari. WildEarth also gives Twitter updates whenever they spot a particularly interesting animal or situation. I love this site.

Browsing YouTube for travel videos is a little like stepping on to a tour bus with strangers -- some turn out to have interesting points of view,, others are duds. Whether the clips are high quality shorts or roughly shot vacation videos, they still give you a sense of what it was and is like to be at that destination. Of particularly high quality is “Home,“ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IozVfph7I), Luc Besson’s global documentary about planet Earth that’s shot entirely with a birds eye point of view.

Or, turn to Hulu (www.hulu.com), other streaming sites and to DVDs for places and perspectives you might not be able to access, in reality, even if your were ready to get up and go.

DisneyNature’s “Earth,“ (http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/disneynature-earth.html) an environmental adventure newly released on DVD/Blue Ray, takes you to ice-clad Svalbard to observe polar bears, Africa’s wilds to track elephants from airplanes and ocean depths to swim with whales and sharks.

See “At The Edge Of The World” (http://moviewatchlist.com/movie-At_the_Edge_of_the_World) to step aboard Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s volunteer-crewed ships plying Antarctica’s dangerous frozen seas to stop Japanese factory ships from killing whales.

Sure, these are other peoples’ travel adventures, but they become yours, too, in virtual reality. And, by sharing them with your stay-at-home significant other, you may gain a willing travel partner for the future

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COPYRIGHT 2009 JENNIFER MERIN

Copyright 2009 Jennifer Merin

This news arrived on: 08/31/2009

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