For any number of reasons it is not always possible to travel to that desired destination or dream vacation but that does not mean you should never visit a sought after place. Fortunately technology has given us another alternative – a virtual vacation. You can take a few hours or even more and travel the world from the comfort of your own seat and all you need is a computer and a fast internet connection. I’ve taken a couple of virtual vacations which have lasted 3 – 4 hours and give you a mental break from our daily grind without all of the costs and hours of traveling. Don’t get the wrong idea, this is still not a replacement for experiencing someplace new in person but it can be a good substitute until that trip becomes a reality.

Let me take you through a trip I would like to take to Sydney, Australia which I originally wanted to take in 2015 but will have to delay it until a future date. The first thing I do is start Google Earth which is a free program to download and search for my nearest airport. I like Google Earth because it brings you down to street level and then flies up into the sky before landing again at the next destination giving the feel of actually traveling to that destination. Also, there are many places that are now created in 3-D so you can feel like you’re actually going through the streets and sightseeing. It sets the mood pretty well because it starts with a view of the whole globe and then zooms in towards the ground preparing you mentally for travelling.

Once over Sydney, Australia you can zoom into the city and begin to move through the city as if you’re walking or driving and view some of the landmarks. Once you’re close enough to the ground you can enter the street view in some areas and see exactly what you would be seeing if you were actually there. Of course the big attraction in Sydney is the famous Opera House. One of my goals is to be in Sydney during the New Years celebration so in order to take part in that on my virtual vacation I search for photos and videos to watch momentarily transporting me to that event.

Another sight I have on my list of places to see is the Great Barrier Reef. Once again I put that into Google Earth and take a short trip from Sydney to the reef. Another benefit of Google Earth is that people have uploaded pictures taken of many highlights so you can click on those to see actual pictures from that location.

If that is not enough you can search for more photos and videos to submerge yourself in the reef and see amazing sights for your virtual vacation. There are hours worth of videos about the Great Barrier Reef so you can feel like you’ve been there for a whole day.

What about eating? If you want to really feel like you’re on vacation you can search for foods popular in Australia and make them yourself or try to find a restaurant to visit locally and eat as if you were actually on vacation. In addition you can search for images and videos of food and restaurants in Sydney.

If you desire you can end your few hours of a virtual vacation by going back to the airport and flying home although most people dread that portion of their vacation so I usually end before that point. Before I go I always like to catch an amazing sunset where ever I travel and why should this be any different? A search for sunset photographs in Australia provide beautiful images and videos once again. Thanks to all those that have taken the time to create these images and videos and for making them available to all!

That seems like a really good place for me to end my virtual vacation. You can add whatever you want to make a virtual vacation seem as real as possible with so many people carry cameras all the time to help make that possible. Maybe you want to see your hotel room so search for images of hotels. What other sights do you want to see? Look up things to do in Sydney Australia and there will be plenty to look at. Do you like to have a nightcap? I’m sure you can find information about doing that and photos of places to do that at in Sydney. Your virtual vacation can take a couple of hours or most of a day if you like. It all depends how in depth and how much time you want to spend transporting yourself to another location. And you can do it with little cost. Still, actually going on a vacation to Australia would be far superior to this virtual vacation but for now, this will suffice.