The Friday Fillip

The news today tells of hundreds — nay, thousands — of flight cancellations because of the volcanic ash still spreading through the atmosphere from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull. Just in case you’re numbered among the disappointed vacationers, or if you’re disappointed because you didn’t even have a vacation planned that could be cancelled, this fillip’s for you. Thanks to the wonders of the internet and the (still wonderful) older miracle of photography, you can do an armchair tour of all sorts of places well under the level at which the ash is spreading.

The particular vehicle I recommend today is 360Cities.net, which features remarkably sharp panoramic shots of hundreds of sites across the globe (except for Canada, but that’s okay, right? , because we’re travelling from here…). If you’ve not played with a 360° panoramic photo, you’ll find it’s a bit disorienting at first: you can swing around the compass and raise and lower your sights gradually or quickly using your cursor in a way that seems, to me at least, a bit counterintuitive, much as in backing up a trailer.

But what views! Here is Budapest from a dozen vantage points, Chinese locales from dozens more — Brazil, Australia, the list goes on. Your touring is guided by a combination of Google map and photo thumbnails, making it a snap to get to where you’d rather be. Once there, give yourself a treat and enter full screen mode. And then take a look at the wonderful accompanying map view (button on the left side) that shows you graphically the sweep of your perspective as you move your gaze. And for fun, right click on the panorama and try out the fisheye or the small world view.

I won’t bang on about it any longer: you’re not the sort of traveller who needs a guide and a busload of over-informed companions. I will show you, though, a different volcano in Iceland, Kerio, just because it seems only right and proper, there being, alas, no panorama of the one currently spewing grit. (Clicking on the image will take you to the 360Cities panorama of it.)

Bon voyage!