The joys of virtual tourism

I didn't mind traveling as a child or young adult, but as I've gotten on into middle age, I have found traveling more and more tiresome. I don't like waiting in lines, I don't like fitting my 6'2" frame into airline seats, I don't like sleeping in strange beds, and I don't like eating strange food, which often gives me mild indigestion. I don't like getting carsick on buses, I don't like having to decide how much to tip, I don't like being jet-lagged or short on sleep, and I really dislike modern airport security.

A notable development of the past 20-odd years is the increasing availability of still pictures and videos of just about any place in the world, easily accessible by search engines. You can see any tourist destination in perfect lighting, including shots from places tourists are not allowed to go. There are no crowds. You can also find videos posted by ordinary people giving some indication of how they live and how they talk. You can see their food and their daily routines. Here's a 2-hour <walkdown the streets of Kolkata> . Care to see Machu Picchu or Mount Everest? High-quality video awaits, including aerial video.

I suppose there are a few things you don't get from images. Smells, and the taste of genuine local food. Perhaps an overall geographic gestalt of a place. You don't get to see how the locals react to you as an individual. But given my tastes, I will happily forgo those opportunities.

One easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to take fewer tourist trips. It surely is a way to save money.

Part of our mindset in recent decades has been that travel is good. "I've always wanted to go to place X" is a common thought. But I wonder if the thought might be outdated. If you think about why you wanted to go to X, you might find that looking at video will serve most of the same function. You could spend the time you would be in transit reading a book on the history of the place, and you will understand it better than by visiting.

Obviously people's reaction to the annoyances of travel varies on a continuum all the way from my strong dislike through indifference to actually enjoying the challenges and minor inconveniences. Perhaps my position on the continuum fits me to have this revelation earlier than some others. Maybe the best form of tourism, more often than not, involves staying home.

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Addendum, 7/10/2019:

I forgot to add the large role in virtual tourism played by Google Maps and street view. I wrote of an in-person visit as a better way to get an overall geographic gestalt, but Google Maps probably allows an even better experience of this. You can zoom to street view in any particular location to see what things look like there. You can get a self-guided tour of the Palace of Versailles.