Celebrate Virtual Vacation Day March 30
March 30 is Virtual Vacation Day
Spring break & Summer are the times many of us look forward to as vacation time. But sometimes you can’t get away for some reason. But that doesn’t mean we can’t escape for a little while anyway! And that’s what Virtual Vacation Day is all about.
Every year on March 30 we find virtual versions of places we’d like to see and take a little “trip.”
No, we won’t try to convince you it’s as good as seeing them in person. But we are pretty sure it’s much better than never seeing them at all!
Terrance Talks Travel created this day in 2016.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial/official holiday.
Celebrating Virtual Vacation Day
Obviously this is a simple one. Take a virtual vacation!
Less simple may be deciding where to “go” and how much time to spend “vacationing.” Of course, the great part about virtual travel is you can visit multiple continents on the same day if you like!
You do have a few options for how to experience your virtual trip too. It depends on what kind of equipment you have.
Virtual Reality Headsets
If you have a virtual reality (VR) headset you can experience a realistic, 3D “trip”.
If that headset happens to be from Oculus, you may want to try one or more of these travel apps. Many are free, and most of the rest are $5.99 or less (as of March 2020 anyway). Much less than a plane ticket!
This list of 7 virtual trips includes visits to natural wonders like the Grand Canyon and Mount Everest. There’s also art to explore & more. Most of these apps appear to work on either the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
On your phone
Not ready to spend hundreds of dollars on a headset? Consider Google Cardboard. Yes, it’s pretty much what it sounds like: A viewer made from cardboard. Many of the options are under $20. A few are under $10. If you scroll down you’ll even find instructions to build your own!
Then head over to Google Play to add the Carboard App to your phone along with whatever travel apps pique your interest.
You can also find other apps that allow you to just view places as regular video, without special headsets or viewers.
Virtual Vacation Day on your computer
Videos
Don’t like watching video on a tiny phone screen? You can find lots of travel videos to watch on your laptop (or even desktop if you have one of those!) too. (Yes, we know, these are also available on your phone!).
YouTube offers tons of 360° videos, including lots of 360° travel videos. If you’ve never watched these types of video before, you can pan around the scene either using the arrows at the top left of the video or by clicking & dragging on the video.
Check out museums around the world with the Google Arts & Culture collections.
Individual museums may also offer virtual tours of their collections on their own websites.
- Here’s a good list of London museums with online collections.
- If art’s more your thing, see what London’s art galleries have to offer.
Webcams
Webcams are pretty low-tech as far as virtual visits go, and they can be kind of hit-or-miss when you’re hoping to see animals being cute or funny or something similar. But sometimes they’re all you need. EarthCam lets you explore animals, museums, beaches, & more around the world right from one site.
If you like animal cams, you have a few options.
- Search “zoo cams” or “animal cams” & see what your favorite zoo has to offer.
- See what you can find on Zoo Cameras Around the World.
- Check out the Animal Cams section of EarthCam.
Pictures
If you’re just as fascinated with still pictures as video, head over to Untraveled Road where you can take “road trips” with “stops” to take in the views. Most of the trips are in the US, although you can also “visit” Canada, England, & Italy.
Step back in time
Want to take a “trip” back in history? You can do that too! Consider:
- Ancient Athens in 3D
- Amsterdam’s history as explored through artifacts discovered in the riverbed of the River Amstel. Some items are quite modern & others quite old.
- EHeritage offers 3D models of ancient churches, along with a statue & tomb. You can even download the models for personal use.
Virtual Vacation Day for the kids
We know your kids probably aren’t into quite the same kinds of virtual vacations you may be contemplating. Lucky for you they can take a completely different trip from you!
Enter Disney rides. Yes, really! The Virtual Disney World channel on YouYube offers experiences from the different Disney parks and even some “extinct attractions.”
These videos can be viewed on a computer or you can set the kids up with a more immersive experience using a Google Cardboard viewer (or another viewer/headset).
When they’re done with the rides, they can go on to explore animals, national parks, US history & more. This list of 30+ kid-friendly ideas is sure to keep them occupied for the day. And beyond!
So, where will you go for Virtual Vacation Day?
[…] National Virtual Vacation Day: This relatively new day encourages us to “travel” virtually when we can’t do it in our real lives. And that’s especially relevant right now. Because most of the world isn’t traveling anywhere for a while. But we can use the internet to discover many places & even museums. If you have a VR headset you have even more realistic options. But that’s not completely necessary. YouTube has tons of 360° videos. And you can also find plenty of regular videos that take you on a walking tour of various locations. […]