Recently, our family adventures have been confined to walks around our neighborhood or car rides with no destination. To say we have a bit of cabin fever would be an understatement. Do you find yourself feeling the same?
It seems it’s going to be awhile still before we have the opportunity to return to our travel adventures, with no set reopening dates for our favorite tourist destinations like Disney World and Universal in sight. In the meantime, we are enjoying some virtual travel around the world.
Today I thought I would share some of our favorite sites for exploring the world with our kids. Although during these times this may be the only way to travel these are great resources for researching and learning more for potential trips you may want to plan in the future.
Travel the World Virtually
Earthcam.com is a leader in allowing you to explore the world virtually and they are constantly adding new live streaming cameras. With live streaming cameras set up all around the world including top tourist destinations like New York City, the sandy beaches of Ft. Lauderdale, or a visit to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Earthcam.com allows you to see and travel the world in realtime.
My kids really enjoy all of the live streaming animal cameras that are set up around the world. These cameras are set up in places like animal rescues and sanctuaries, aquariums and zoos, and conservations. Of course, there are other cameras placed in the wild so you can observe animals in their natural habitats. Click here to check out the Animal Cams set up by Earthcam.com.
Explore.org is another great resource for traveling the world. They have both live cams as well as some recorded videos called highlights where they have captured amazing footage of animals in their natural habitats. A majority of the streams include Africa, bears, birds, and cat rescues. My favorite cams are the Zen Cams. I love to watch the Pipeline surfing on Ehukai Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.
Go on a Virtual Tour
Virtual Tours are another great way to explore the world from the comfort of your couch.
One of my favorite resources to share with those that are planning a trip to visit our hometown of Orlando is VisitOrlando.com. The site itself contains a wealth of knowledge but my favorite part is the virtual experiences you can have!
Visit Orlando
Visit Orlando offers over 20 virtual experiences in Orlando including theme parks, virtual rides, arts and culture experiences, and more.
One of my favorite places for fun, Icon Park, which I have previously shared about their family-friendly attractions here, is part of the fun virtual tours you can take.
Check out all of the fun virtual tours of Orlando here – https://www.visitorlando.com/en/things-to-do/virtual-tours
Google Earth
I recently read that it would take two months and 14,498 miles to visit all 47 national parks in the contiguous United States according to data scientist Randy Olson’s plan. Well, with the recently launched virtual tours of America’s National Parks via Google Earth, you can now visit 37 National Parks.
Google Earth allows you to explore satellite imagery of hundreds of cities around the world where you can then zoom in for a 360 degrees street view. I have actually used this as a tool to get familiar with the streets of places we have visited prior to our trips.
Google Arts and Culture
Google Arts and Culture gives you the opportunity to explore 2,000 museums and landmarks around the world. Some of these museums and landmarks have virtual tours.
Here is a link to the top 10 museums you can explore right now.
Ride a Theme Park Ride Virtually
With a simple search on Youtube, you can experience theme park rides through the eyes of others.
There are also plenty of sites that offer VR experiences of rides. One of my favorites is on the Visit Orlando site which offers many virtual experiences of rides including Sea World’s Mako. If you like rollercoasters be sure to check it out here.
Check out Zoo and Aquarium Live Feeds
Zoo and aquarium live feeds are a great way to travel the world virtually with kids. Some of our favorites are included here.
Visit the Sandiego Zoo where there are live cameras of penguins, polar bears, koalas, elephants, giraffes, tigers, and more.
A trip over to the Smithsonian National Zoo will allow you to visit elephants, lions, pandas, and mole-rats via their live webcams. They also have a brand new live stream of their cheetah cub.
Monterey Bay Aquarium has live cameras from 10-10 Pacific time. Here you can view penguins, sharks, sea otters, and more.
The Tennessee Aquarium Secret Reef Cam is one of my favorite live cam feeds when it comes to aquariums.
This saltwater exhibit is home to thousands of colorful reef fish, sharks, and a rescued green sea turtle. The exhibit is designed to model the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. You can check it out here.
Create an Immersion Experience
Just like many Americans, our early summer travel plans have been canceled. My kids were looking to an upcoming visit to Washington D.C. which included a tour of the White House.
Since we no longer will get to take our actual vacation, I am currently creating an immersion experience for our family based off of the itinerary that we had originally created for our trip.
So each day we will travel to the places on our itenerary that are available virtually.
Day One – A trip to the White House, no problem thanks to Google Earth. Check it out here.
Oh joy, we can still have our trip to the National Zoo and Aquarium too! Eden was really looking forward to visiting the Lincoln Memorial. We can do that too here.
The only thing I am really missing are souvenirs for the kids! Well, what do you know, The White House has a gift shop online where I can not only get White House specific souvenirs but souvenirs to commemorate our first virtual family vacation to Washington D.C.! Of course, don’t forget Amazon has everything, including souvenirs from practically any place you decide to visit.
I have a friend who did something similar for her family during spring break when they had to decide not to travel to England for an already planned and paid for trip. She did everything from reenacting famous locations like Abby Road to making some of the traditional foods like fish and chips.
This can be a really fun and educational experience for kids, right from the comfort of your very own home. So although travel may be limited for now, with the power of the internet and technology the world is your oyster! Happy Virtual travels!
This is awesome! I never knew this!!