Have lockdowns and stay-at-home orders given you itchy feet?
The world is slowly opening up, but with travel restrictions still in place in many countries, most of us can’t reach for our passports just yet.
There are a few things you can do to ease the no-travel pain, though. Teleport your mind around the world and travel the world virtually in 2021.
Experience Virtual Tours of Galleries and Museums
For culture and art lovers, there’s nothing better than wandering around a museum or gallery and getting lost. Thanks to the internet, you can do that without taking off your pajamas — or brushing your hair! These five galleries and museums offer virtual tours online:
- The British Museum – With nearly 5000 items on display, the hardest part is choosing what to look at first.
- The Museum of Modern Art – Visit this Manhattan museum and discover paintings, sculptures, and more.
- Guggenheim – Another New York institution, the Guggenheim has several 360-degree virtual exhibits.
- Rijksmuseum – With 80 galleries and around 8,000 objects to discover, This Amsterdam museum showcases 800 years of Dutch art and history.
- The J. Paul Getty Museum – Paintings, drawings, sculptures, and more, you won’t get bored exploring this LA-based museum.
Download VR Travel Apps
Whether you zoom in on Costa Rican beaches or bustling cities in China, exploring Google Earth on your laptop is a blast. But now you take it one step further by investing in a virtual reality headset and downloading a VR app.
There are many to choose from including Google Earth VR, where you can explore the planet, Discovery VR, which allows you to experience wildlife up close, and NASA VR, which shows you places beyond the planet.
Stream Travel Programs From Around the World
What’s better than cozying up on your couch under a blanket and watching some TV?
If you’ve already watched all the travel programs Netflix has to offer and need new options, you can stream travel content from other countries. That’s right, those internet geniuses have done it again.
Connect to a VPN to change your IP address and make streaming services believe that you’re in another country. By doing this, you skirt geo-location restrictions and can explore a whole world of travel programs. There are many VPNs available, but for the best streaming results, choose the one with a high-quality paid subscription.
Take a Virtual Hotel Tour
We’re not all lucky enough to experience five-star luxury on vacations. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to peek inside fancy hotels and see how the other half live.
Hotels including Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa in South Africa, and The Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego all offer live streams or virtual tours of their plush hotels. Make yourself a piña colada and take a look around.
Take a Virtual City Tour
All travel lovers have an ever-growing list of places they’d love to see, but getting through that list takes time (and open flight paths).
While you wait, open up YouTube and explore famous cities for free from the comfort of your home. Many of these channels offer in-depth information and history about the places you tour too.
To get you started, here are a couple of ideas:
- Free Tours by Foot – These guys have 15.9 thousand subscribers and it’s little wonder given the number of tours on offer.
- Walk With Wilbur – Join Wilbur the dog on his journey around the world. With new videos uploaded every Sunday, you’ll never run out.
Watch Travel Vlogs
Don’t exit YouTube just yet. Another way to satisfy your wanderlust is following others on their adventures. There are many vloggers on YouTube, Instagram, and TokTok sharing their travel stories with the world; watching their adventures can provide inspiration for your next trip.
Check out these guys to start you off:
- ForFunLouis – A traveler from the UK who makes a daily vlog of his adventure-filled life.
- Hey Nadine – Nadine shares tips, hacks, and advice for would-be world travelers.
Whatever your travel style, there’s a virtual experience to suit. Wander narrow streets in Europe’s cities or discover New Zealand’s mountain ranges, thanks to technology, the world really is right at your fingertips.
