The Joys of Virtual Travel

​Since we are all in a time where we are staying at home and sheltering in place, does it seem an odd time to be discussing travel? I understand why travel is not top of mind for you or anyone else right now. But with the time lots of us have on our hands, I want to spend a few minutes explaining why travel is pretty high on the list of things we might contemplate for a few moments.
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Firstly, some of our best memories are of travel. The vacations we took as children with our parents, the trips we have experienced with our own families and friends.

Humans are pilgrim species. Travel is a part of more than our culture, and it is embedded in our very DNA. Travel requires us to endure some discomfort; it teaches us tolerance, patience, and perseverance.
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There is indeed a spiritual aspect to travel. Though travel is outwardly about transportation, a crossing of borders, lodging and logistics, every journey somehow has an internal component as well, as though some of the borders crossed are interior to our psyche. We long for a horizon that moves one step away from us as quickly as we take a step forward. Yet, when we gaze inward, we find that same horizon there. There is something about travel that involves a defiance of the physical act of travel as though we are participating in a quest for understanding and knowledge as much as accruing mileage.
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Now, as we find ourselves mostly homebound, perhaps it is an excellent time to evaluate the importance of travel to our psyche, to what it has meant to us in the past to what it will mean to us as things normalize. One way to do so is to use travel to distract us a bit from the day to day routines we are lapsing into in the much smaller world of our homes, and using the technologies and media to our advantage to visit the world virtually. So for your digital travel adventures over the next few weeks, let me suggest a few of the best opportunities I have encountered as of late:

• Smithsonian Channel Has Released 68 Free ‘Aerial America’ Episodes - Do some armchair traveling and see the breathtaking vistas of all 50 states while learning about their histories
• 12 Virtual Disneyland Rides That You Can Enjoy At Home Without A FASTPASS - Thanks to the internet, a Disneyland day is closer than you might think.
• Google Arts and Culture - Museums from Around the World
• This Virtual Tour of the Carlsbad Caverns Will Entertain You (and Your Kids) for Hours (Video)
• Tour the Catacombs of Paris on a Virtual Visit
• Wondrous Museums You Can Visit From Your Couch Right Now
  Your living room is the perfect place to see the world.
• Disney, Kennedy Space Center offering free online activities for kids during school closures
  

Virtual Field Trips:

• The Anne Frank House
• Buckingham Palace
• Great Wall of China
• Holy Land Tour
• The Louvre
• Mount Everest
• Mount Vernon
• The Statue of Liberty

​It’s a big world, and we have seen so little of it. Stopping is somehow inconceivable.