Digital Resources for travelers trapped at home
We live in a very different world right now! The Coronavirus showed us that it is powerful enough to change every element of daily life.
Things we took for granted are out of reach and we learn to adopt new ways of working, studying and even “traveling”.
Lucky for us, we live in the age of advanced technology, where we can get in touch with people through video, audio and social media. We are apart and yet are connected. And exploring new places is possible right from our living rooms. Yes it is certainly not the same as seeing beautiful landmarks in person but having an opportunity to “re-visit” places we have already been to or explore the ones we only dreamed of visiting, is worthwhile! Digital exploration makes future possibilities of travel exciting!
Whatever your travel interests are you can find virtual tours, 360 degree views and live cameras of art, technology or history museums, national parks, famous landmarks or even such far away places like Mars, presented by NASA.
I miss the ability to visit new English Heritage sites or plan next road trip to a country we haven’t been to.
But the opportunity to explore places digitally prompts me to create a bucket list of places I would love to see in person once the life returns to normal!
So let’s take a look at some remote ways to explore different destinations.
My most favourite resource right now is Google Arts & Culture website and app.
It is all in one, so to say, and many organisations, including English Heritage, are working together with google to give us a chance to be able to visit the most amazing places without living our homes. Just check the categories and you will find yourself in a museum in a country you always wanted to visit!
You probably heard about Google Earth before, but if you haven’t used it lately then I suggest you check it out as google revamped it and added so much content you hardly will recognize it from what the app used to be. Google Earth has a new category- “Voyager” with many interesting sections such as quizzes and children’s literature sites! So it will get you busy and exploring while you are staying safe at home.
There are so many iconic sites and places you now can not only visit virtually but also learn about with interactive navigation.
Have you been to Stonehenge? Then why not to explore the world’s most famous site and also to learn many fun facts about this mysterious structure?
Check also the Sky above Stonehenge and find yourself right in the middle of the circle (the thing you can only do with a specially booked tours) looking up at the stars!
What about Museums?
With only one press of the button you can visit Louvre in the city of love, or magically transport to Smithsonian in the capital city of USA. There is an abundance of different museums and galleries offering virtual tours. You can explore Vatican in Italy, National Palace Museum in Taipei, admire masterpieces in Picasso Museum in Barcelona. Virtual exploration of London, the cultural center of England full of historical and tourist attractions, will make you want to research such places as The British Museum or learn about thousand years of history of The Tower of London or you can take a virtual tour of The Royal Academy and enjoy the views inside the Tower Bridge
Without taking an airplane you have the power to go to California and stop by Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, or watch incredible sea life in Monterey Bay Aquarium and animals at San Diego Zoo with help of live cameras or check out the views from Coronado Island in San Diego, where famous Coronado hotel is located!
If you visit eyerevolution web site you will find many other places in California worth seeing and get ideas for your list of places to visit in the future! More live cameras can be found on explore.org where different categories will keep you busy exploring different animals in their habitats.
From TajMahal to Great Wall of China, from Machu Picchu to Central Park in New York or sites of Greece , all these places are available for your virtual travel.
Explore Chicago and make notes of the best places in the Windy City.
Even more world destinations can be found on https://www.airpano.com/360video_list.php
Most National Parks in the United States are currently closed but a lot of them created virtual tours or have live cameras. Here is the list of some of my favourite national parks:
1. Yellowstone virtual tour and information
2. Redwoods National Park virtual tour
3. Yosemite National Park live cameras
4. Grand Canyon
5. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/air/webcams.htm?site=dino list of many National Parks with live cameras
If you like castles and palaces like I do, then you will love virtual walks through some of them.
Buckingham Palace, London, U.K.
Windsor Castle in Windsor, U.K.
Holyrood House in Edinburgh, U.K.
Versailles, France
Drottningholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Just to name a few, I am sure there are other places you can find and more historic places will go digital in the near future to keep us wandering in the world of digital travel.
At the moment we are very limited in many freedoms and especially in our travels but we still can explore our beautiful world through digital resources available to everyone.
Ultimately you can do search of a specific place you’re interested in and check if you can find either virtual tour or live cameras. So don’t stop discovering and dreaming of new places to visit. Stay home and stay safe!
Exploring The World Digitally
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4 Curious Adventurers 
Dear Inna, this is an incredible achievement of your’s to create this blog site before and during the corona virus ‘lock down’. It is stuffed full of amazing blogs and links to fascinating destinations in UK and around the world. You are such a talented photographer – mind you I’ve said many times to you! Everyone of all ages will love your blog site and the chance to explore the world digitally with you and your family. I’m now a proud follower of your blog site and really look forward to reading about and watching your next adventure! Brava!
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