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The World On An Empty Wallet
By Michelle L. Collie
Expiry Corp. Staff Writer
July, 2002
This
summer, take a road trip across the Information Superhighway.
You’ll be whisked away to destinations both popular
and remote, you will be able to experience some of the world’s
best tourist attractions, purchase souvenirs, and even make
some friends along the way. You can do all this from the comfort
of your own home, and without getting jet lag! You don’t
need an itinerary or even scheduled vacation leave! Just give
yourself a few hours to surf the net and you’ll feel
like you’ve traveled the world.
There
are many ways you can begin your journey. You can think of
all the places you’ve dreamed of visiting (my list includes
Paris, Sierra Leone, Bali, and Thailand) then start at your
favorite search engine (mine is google.com) and start your
superhighway vacation.
Or
you can visit some travel portals:
One
of the more popular travel sites online is Travelocity.com.
At Travelocity, you can plan your “real life”
vacation, learn about feature destinations, and get travel
advise from trip experts and tour guides. There’s even
suggestions about places to go for romance, for family, for
golf, or for adventure.
Airtreks.com is a revolutionary
travel company that specializes in around-the-world, multi-stop
adventures. Their website allows you to select multiple destinations
and then creates you a map and a listing of the best, and
least expensive way to get to all those places you want to
go - - and you get the prices instantly. For those that aren’t
planning a multi-stop trip anytime soon, their technology
aides in the dreaming process. There are even sample trips
and interviews with people who have traveled the world and
have lived the adventure of a lifetime!
Most travelers are familiar with the Lonely Planet television
series and book series, and their website is just as informative!
After a trip to http://www.lonelyplanet.com
you’ll have the travel bug, and you’ll be equipped
with information, travel advisories, and plenty of destinations
to visit (online and offline) when the urge to travel (virtually,
or in reality) arises!
Now that you have visited the all-important travel portals,
it is time to visit the tourist attractions you have always
wanted to see. From the birthplace of Wal-Mart (Bentonville,
AR) to a toilet seat museum (San Antonio, Texas), roadsideamerica.com
has a complete listing and information for both popular and
not-so-popular roadside attractions. If you’re planning
on taking a virtual-vacation in New York, you’ll want
to visit iloveny.com and nytourist.com.
Another way to virtual-tour the world is to visit Virtual
Free Sites. By clicking on the “virtual reality
tours” I was able to visit Belize, London, Sydney Australia,
and Venice… without ever having to board a plane or
stand in line (though wading through the pop-up ads on a site
that isn’t exactly simple to navigate may not be pleasure-travel,
but the sites it links you to are worth it in the long run!).
And for those that want to get away from it all, visit iafrica.com
for a trip to Timbuktu!
And what would be a vacation without purchasing some souvenirs?
On your virtual vacation you’ll have plenty of opportunity
to spend your dollars on gifts and mementos of your journey,
the places you visited online, and the places you’d
love to visit in reality. Shop at souvenirsireland.com to
buy an Irish whistle and a book to help you learn to play.
At belarussouvenirs.com you can purchase unique hand-made
straw ornaments, glass paintings and dolls. If Japanese souvenirs
tempt your pocketbook, try a trip to jun-gifts.com for okobo
clogs, kokeshi dolls, and Japanese fans. And what trip to
New York would be complete without an “I Love NY”
t-shirt?! http://store.nyctourist.com
has a plethora of New York City kitsch and memories, from
NYC skyline snow globes, to fdny calendars, it has it all!
What’s a vacation without making a few friends along
the way? Visit http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com
and sign up for the travel message boards. Pretty soon you’ll
have like-minded travel buddies from around the world. Choose
a destination or a way of mind and discuss whatever suits
your fancy.
The Internet has everything and if you love to travel, want
to travel, or just want to get lost in the beauty of the world
for a moment, you’ll find enough information to last
a lifetime. Take my suggestions above, or visit a search engine
and follow your own map - - but either way, the world is shrinking.
We can get places faster, we can see more of the world - -
and even if you can’t afford a plane ticket to Timbuktu
or even a bus ticket to New York, you can still see the world,
learn about cultures, and buy souvenirs from the comfort of
your own computer.
P.S.
You can even send a Post Card. DominicanRepublic.com
has a beautiful selection of online postcards and even allows
you to add a bit of meringue music.
Copyright
2000 - 2003 Expiry Corporation.
Permission required to use any content.
Email webmaster@expiry.com
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