Yearning to see the world, but stuck at home? Here's some great places you can visit from your living room anytime you like!
Random street views around the world - Yep, this website does exactly what it says: drops you on a random street somewhere in the world! You can either just let it drop you anywhere in the world, or you can use the search function (left side of page) to choose a country. Once the street image shows, you can use the arrows to travel forward or backwards and explore the neighborhood. NOTE: Most of the world is open space, without people, so odds are you'll see a lot of the world's rural areas, which is wonderful in itself! If you prefer a little more control over your destination, use this MapStreetView.com link and choose a specific destination worldwide (addresses, cities, points of interest), then look around the neighborhood!
Museums? There is a bit of overlap in these suggestions for virtual tours, but the differences they contain make each one worth a look. 14 World-Class Museums Offering Virtual Tours Right From Your Laptop and 10 of the world’s best virtual museum and art gallery tours and 12 World-Class Museums You Can Visit Online and if that doesn't scratch your museum itch, Google has more than 1,000 art museums you can visit vitually!
Spiritual sites? 5 virtual tours of religious sites you can take while you stay home - Christian and Islamic holy sites. The Bahá'í Gardens in Haifa, Israel - Bahá'í holy sites. Kumbh Mela - Hindu religious festival. 8 places around the world for Buddhist pilgrimages - Buddhist sites. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - Indigenous sacred site (Australia). Explore more global sacred sites - hundreds of sacred sites across the globe.
Interactive, real-time map of winds and ocean currents - This is amazing and a bit mesmerizing. Visually observe the current wind and ocean currents, as if you're in space. Click on the word "earth" at the lower left side of the screen, to open a menu. From there you can change the display as you like. For example: Mode | Air – Ocean – Chem – Particulates – Space. Air = wind. Ocean = currents. Chem = chemical pollutants in the atmosphere. Particulates = dust and other particles in the air. You can also change the map projection (the way the map displays) by using: Projection | A – CE – E – O – P – S – WB – W3. Finally, you can click on any point on the map and the data for that particular point will be displayed (in whatever Mode you are using).
Stay tuned. Next week, I'll post some more places you may want to visit without leaving home!