If you could sit at home and see the world, why wouldn't you?

Hurray for virtual reality and Google Maps! Technology can take you travelling at a fraction of the cost, in the comfort of your couch. Best part, to return home, you just have to remove your headsets. So who's in?

It all started with a travel talk I had with a friend recently. "Let's all plan a Roman holiday," I said excitedly. "Nah," he dismissed the notion smugly. "I've seen Rome - all its nooks and crannies, and all its glory."
"OMG! When did you go to Rome? I had no clue."
"Why do I need to go to Rome? This is the age of virtual travel. I've mapped out the city on Google Maps. and guess what? I spent a considerable amount of time at the Trevi fountain - where that incredible scene from Fellini's La Dolce Vita was filmed! Then, I played out the exact same scene on YouTube, and relived it, Anita Ekberg and all."
"Whatever happened to touch and feel?"
"Who needs that? I can always splash Aquafina on my face and imagine it's fountain water."
A few days later, I got a notification on Facebook that another friend's page was getting a lot of traffic. Curious, I "visited" his page and noted he is on a cycling trip in Normandy, France. Some of his other friends, huddled around his post, were saying they too were tracking his entire 'Tour de France'. "Hey, you narrowly missed a pothole," one of them pointed out (in the comments section). "I'm travelling with you on Google Maps and, man, the view is incredible!"
So, there are those inveterate types who map every place virtually before they set out - physically - armed with details even a tourist guide would be hard-pressed to reveal (earlier, they would refer to Rough Guides or Lonely Planet to get a bookish sense; these days, they get a sensory sense). And there are those who don't budge at all - like my friend - and pay virtual visits. It's fulfilling, apparently. "I listened to Andrea Bocelli while taking the 'walking tour' through Rome: tell me, would you be able to do that in real life? It felt amazing!"
I don't agree with most of the stuff he says and does, but this I get. I remember reading, quite a few years ago, the marvellous Benji Lanyado, a piece he did for The Guardian, which got me thinking of virtual travel for the first time in my life. He said he'd "browsed the Trans-Siberian Railway," and loitered on the platform at Yaroslavsky station, "before accelerating into identikit Muscovite suburbs," then glided across the Volga, "raced through the Lower Urals, sped across the Barguzin Mountains, before pulling up in Vladivostok a few minutes later".
His humble steed, as he called it, was a new map-cum-video guide brought out by Google Russia and Russian railways.
Wired.com has a brilliant report titled 'Virtual Reality Lets You Arrive Without Travelling,' that gets into the nitty-gritties of virtual adventure sports - a sector you'd think is impossible to recreate. Check this out.
"Jaunt's Home Turf series transports you to adventure-sport hotspots, with athletes as your guides. Rock-climb in the Needles, kayak a waterfall in Iceland, or slackline across a canyon in Moab."
The best part? "No one will know you're eating chips the whole time."
I'm kinda hooked because, in real life, other than being lazy (and loving chips), I'm also chicken.
This wired.com piece got me so intrigued, that armed with travel dreams, I started researching the matter. I came across a website called freeflyvr.com that has created virtual travel apps. This is their sell - and it's tough not to fall for it: "Have you ever wanted to see the world, discover new things, see wild animals up-close and personal? Well this is now possible in the comfort of your own home with the help of Android market apps! We have created you a list of great applications showing you different places from all around the world. It's up to you where you want to travel. Whether it is to fancy resorts, or deep into the Amazon, enjoy the view!"
As I sat and watched my 2D television one evening, I wondered how much more virtual travel will evolve in the days to come. Once home entertainment becomes ubiquitously 4D, I think even I will opt for travel while sitting in an armchair or plopped down on a bed. I can create my own 'environment': a simulated couchy arrangement (that will vibrate or move, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on the thrills of a roller-coaster ride in Kuala Lumpur) and incorporate a few techniques employed by movie theatres - air jets, water sprays, leg/back ticklers, smoke, rain, lightning, air bubbles. even smell (maybe I'd be able to smell the crisp mountain air when I'm in Salzburg virtually). I'm sure my local cable operator will be offering packages so I won't need to scrounge around malls to identify equipment.
In Move On, one of ABBA's best songs, Agnetha Fältskog sings, "I've travelled every country,/ I've travelled in my mind./ It seems we're on a journey,/ A trip through space and time."
Move On released in the 70s. But ABBA had it spot on back then.
- sushmita@khaleejtimes.com
Sushmita is Editor, Wknd. She has a penchant for analysing human foibles