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Saturday
March 13, 2010 Since 1922 |
Take virtual vacations when money an option
By Aaron Barbee
Contributor Published September 6, 2009 I read an article about a person vacationing to the Petrified Forest in real life (IRL for us computer nerds), and while he enjoyed it, he decided to take a look back on the same trip online. It turned out he enjoyed the virtual trip much more than visiting it IRL.
Now, the first person I told this to was appalled at the mere idea of trying to enjoy the great outdoors or great indoor destinations from behind a computer monitor. However, the second person I told this to was thrilled at the concept. Of course I figured there would be people on both ends of this spectrum and all point between. My thought is there are a lot of reasons why someone might opt for a virtual vacation over a real one.
With today’s economy it’s even harder to tear yourself away from the daily grind long enough to take a vacation. There are many more reasons why vacationing just isn’t in the cards: just can’t afford it, high gas prices, unable to get out for medical reasons, or just plain don’t have time. One reason that struck me out of the blue was to plan for an IRL vacation. Why not scope the place out before you go?
This article is the first one I actually did research on, and boy it was fun. While I already knew most of the online resources one might use to take a virtual vacation, I didn’t know the amount of sites that already had such systems in place. Visiting the major Web sites of the destinations you’re after will often yield virtual tours or at least a ton of photos and other media. If you’re interested in virtually seeing the Smithsonian Institute, go to www.si.edu and start navigating. I particularly enjoyed the Museum of Natural History virtually at www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas
Other resources you can use to take virtual vacations are: Google Earth (earth.google.com), Google Maps (maps.google.com), YouTube (www.youtube.com), and one called Google Sightseeing (www.googlesightseeing.com - not affiliated with Google).
I particularly like Google Maps because you can turn on options for imbedded pictures and videos of the surrounding area you’re looking at. Choose the satellite option for a much more realistic view of the area. You can zoom in and out, and under the MORE option, you can click on pictures, videos, and other such things. They’ll pop up right on your map.
Along your virtual touring and vacationing, you’ll probably see some pop-ups for wanting to install plug-ins and add-ons to your browser. If you see java, real player, or shockwave, feel free to let those install. They’re needed sometimes for the fancy stuff on Web sites.
Good luck out there in the wild electronic world!
Check out my Web site www.TexasComputerGuru.com for supplemental information and previous articles as well.
Aaron Barbee owns Texas Computer Guru, a local computer services company for on-site business and residential needs. He can be contacted at 281-628-5099. E-mail questions for Aaron to sunnews(at)baytownsun.com.
Contributor Published September 6, 2009 I read an article about a person vacationing to the Petrified Forest in real life (IRL for us computer nerds), and while he enjoyed it, he decided to take a look back on the same trip online. It turned out he enjoyed the virtual trip much more than visiting it IRL.
Now, the first person I told this to was appalled at the mere idea of trying to enjoy the great outdoors or great indoor destinations from behind a computer monitor. However, the second person I told this to was thrilled at the concept. Of course I figured there would be people on both ends of this spectrum and all point between. My thought is there are a lot of reasons why someone might opt for a virtual vacation over a real one.
With today’s economy it’s even harder to tear yourself away from the daily grind long enough to take a vacation. There are many more reasons why vacationing just isn’t in the cards: just can’t afford it, high gas prices, unable to get out for medical reasons, or just plain don’t have time. One reason that struck me out of the blue was to plan for an IRL vacation. Why not scope the place out before you go?
This article is the first one I actually did research on, and boy it was fun. While I already knew most of the online resources one might use to take a virtual vacation, I didn’t know the amount of sites that already had such systems in place. Visiting the major Web sites of the destinations you’re after will often yield virtual tours or at least a ton of photos and other media. If you’re interested in virtually seeing the Smithsonian Institute, go to www.si.edu and start navigating. I particularly enjoyed the Museum of Natural History virtually at www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas
Other resources you can use to take virtual vacations are: Google Earth (earth.google.com), Google Maps (maps.google.com), YouTube (www.youtube.com), and one called Google Sightseeing (www.googlesightseeing.com - not affiliated with Google).
I particularly like Google Maps because you can turn on options for imbedded pictures and videos of the surrounding area you’re looking at. Choose the satellite option for a much more realistic view of the area. You can zoom in and out, and under the MORE option, you can click on pictures, videos, and other such things. They’ll pop up right on your map.
Along your virtual touring and vacationing, you’ll probably see some pop-ups for wanting to install plug-ins and add-ons to your browser. If you see java, real player, or shockwave, feel free to let those install. They’re needed sometimes for the fancy stuff on Web sites.
Good luck out there in the wild electronic world!
Check out my Web site www.TexasComputerGuru.com for supplemental information and previous articles as well.
Aaron Barbee owns Texas Computer Guru, a local computer services company for on-site business and residential needs. He can be contacted at 281-628-5099. E-mail questions for Aaron to sunnews(at)baytownsun.com.