How to Take a Google Vacation

Street View Sightseeing

Everyone needs a vacation every now and then, but we don't always have the time to take one when we really need it most. But, if sightseeing is what you like to do for fun, there is no reason why you can't take a vacation from the comfort of your own home.

One bit of fun you can have with Google Maps Street View is to go on a virtual sightseeing tour. Through Street View Sightseeing, you can walk down Broadway in New York, or stare out at the ocean in San Fransisco.

To get you started, I've picked out some neat locations using Google Street View. Just plug in the Google address and take a look for yourself. If you are unfamiliar with Street View, you can learn how to use it by taking a walk down your street.

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Enter Gallery

Street View Sightseeing - The Hollywood Sign	Street View Sightseeing - Golden Gate Bridge	Street View Sightseeing - Radio City Music Hall	Street View Sightseeing - Baha'i House of Worship
Street View Sightseeing - Las Vegas Strip	Street View Sightseeing - The Alamo	Street View Sightseeing - Salt Lake Temple	Street View Sightseeing - Marys Lake

From Another source

August 11, 2009

TRAVELGROVE META SEARCH ENGINE REVIEW

http://www.travel-plan-idea.com/archives/004839.html

The following is a paid review.

When I first heard of Travelgrove I was reminded of Kayak because it was described as "a meta search engine that helps its users find the best deals on airfares, hotel rentals, car rentals, cruise deals and vacation packages."

I don't believe you can search for all that on Kayak so I was looking forward to a more comprehensive travel search engine when I started trying it out. I went to the vacation search engine, which I presumed would include flight + hotel packages and searched for a trip from JFK to Prague Sept. 18-25.

The results were pretty disappointing. There were some unrelated travel deals (for example Flight from Boston (BOS) to New York City (JFK) from $79). There were some hot deals and I thought the first must be related to my search: $219 & up -- Europe on Sale this Fall on Lufthansa. The other hot deals were not really close though. For example one was $625 & up -- Caribbean Iberostar Vacations w/Air, $150 OFF.

There was a button encouraging me to search Travelocity, Hotwire travel-ticker, and Bookingbuddy. But Travelgrove itself gave me no useful results.

I next went to the travel guides section, and figured I'd review the one on South Korea since I think of myself as kind of an expert. I was expecting something more detailed but the information I found was very general in nature. I don't think anyone could begin planning a vacation with this travel guide. They list a few tourist attractions but there's really not much there for travelers to read.

I next went to the community, thinking it would be a message board. They seem to be encouraging travel journals more than forums although the one I clicked on was actually a few sets of pictures (Salzburg and Vienna). I did see a link for forums but I got an error message so I was never able to check them out. Perhaps when they're fixed I can edit this review to include something on the forum community.