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What could I do as advanced preparation for, or as a less costly alternative to travel? These substitutes must be audiovisual and feature sights and sounds; I refer NOT to books, simply pictures or Google Street View. I'm thinking of online, simulated travel, or simply online narrated tours, but do these exist?

I've tried to Google or find travel videos on Youtube aimlessly/desultorily/haphazardly, but this is overly inefficient. Namely, I am most interested in Canada, UK, then Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia.

  • How about Google Street View. No sound but most big cities and landmarks are available.. – Nean Der Thal Oct 25 '14 at 06:58
  • @MeNoTalk Thank you! I forgot to mention in my OP Street View that I regularly use. –  Oct 25 '14 at 07:07
  • What about movies about people traveling? There are some really great movies, e.g. this one (sorry only in german): http://www.berlin2shanghai.com/?lang=en – RoflcoptrException Oct 25 '14 at 09:10
  • Have you checked the BBC repository of travel documentaries, there's more than 200 of them, and many are on YouTube. The URL to reach the appropriate BBC page depends upon your location. – Gayot Fow Oct 25 '14 at 10:36
  • Do you consider good travel books to be traveling? – Affable Geek Oct 25 '14 at 12:48
  • @AffableGeek Thanks, I do, but not for this question because I hope to be swooned by sights and sounds. –  Oct 25 '14 at 13:07
  • @RoflcoptrException Thanks. I'm interested! How do you find them systematically, instead of Googling? I only lighted upon another (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Week_%282008_film%29) haphazardly. –  Oct 25 '14 at 13:09
  • Does GoogleEarth end up giving you the same information as Google Street View when zoomed in? You might try that, as there are features in GoogleEarth that might be useful. – CGCampbell Oct 25 '14 at 15:04

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For audio, may I recommend podcasts. For example, I'm working my way through the last 9 years of Travelling with Rick Steves - a lot of it is discussing different areas of the world, and interviewing travellers, writers and explorers. Naturally on iTunes or whatever your podcast tool is, there's a travel category and others may take your fancy too.

For video, I've looked at lists of The best travel movies, for example. One of those mentioned is 'A Map for Saturday' which I recommend for anyone considering a backpacking trip - it makes me nostalgic whenever I watch it when I'm not on the road - just want to get back out there!

Travel blogs, instagram accounts (eg for Canada, I follow explorecanada on instagram). Find interesting accounts, blogs or twitter feeds, and follow and engage with them.

You could also consider hosting travellers at your house or meeting them for coffee, often just discussing travel or where they're from (I had a great evening tonight with people from Belgium, India, Australia, South Africa and more with travel conversations) gives you a taste of what's out there.

Basically, in any medium there's stuff to explore, follow and absorb between trips :D

Mark Mayo
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