The world is on your desktop

Welcome, fellow travelers. What if I told you that you could travel without leaving the comfort of your home? What if I told you that you could experience the world’s wonders no matter what kind of disability you might have? As a wheelchair user and avid traveler that kind of flexibility is important to me. I always worry about whether someplace I want to visit will be accessible when I get there - I’m sure you do too. Travel agents don’t usually have information about accessibility for any specific place.

In my last entry I showed you how virtual reality (VR) technology was being used as a travel training tool. Now I want to show you how that same technology can whisk you away to far off and exotic places.

Let’s start off with something relatively simple - finding where you are in the world. Some time ago my brother showed me a new application created by the people who brought you the Google search engine. This program, called Google Earth, literally brings the world to your desktop by allowing your computer to have access to real-time satellite images from around the world. Type a location into the search string and up pops a bird’s eye view of that location. Hit the “zoom in” tool and you can see individual buildings, cars, and trees, whatever. I was amazed when I tried it out myself and found how easy and fun it was. With a few clicks of the mouse I found my neighborhood and then I zoomed in on my house. I could even see my car in the driveway!

Once you’ve seen what Google Earth can show you, it’s time to get a real feel for those different locations. Let’s say, for example, that you’ve always wanted to visit Italy but heard that it didn’t have the most wheelchair-friendly terrain. Not a problem. By logging on the website for Italy Guides you can feel as if you are seeing the sites in Rome, Venice, Pisa and Florence. Want to explore Alaska but can’t get there? I was there a few years ago and I can tell you that there are several websites that bring its beauty to your desktop. One site in particular, Juneaualaska.com, can practically make you feel the cold air biting your nose while you’re visiting Mendenhall Glacier.

Now that you know where you can go in the virtual world, next time I’ll start preparing you to visit places in the real world.