Thank You For Flying Google Earth Airlines

With air travel costs going up, it may yet again be a year without a true "vacation" in the traditional sense of going somewhere fun that isn't necessarily "local".

True, I do live in "Vacationland USA" the Orlando area of Florida, and there are a ton of fun things to do, but it's nice to get away as an adventure every once and awhile.

It looks like even repeating my short weekend hop to New Orleans that I took last September, may be outta the question since the costs have increased quite a bit. I'm not broke, I could swing a traveling vacation if I wanted to, but so often I ask myself "Why bother?".

So, I've decided to bring us all today on a little cross-country trip via the oil-dependant-free travel alternative: Google Earth.

You can position yourself as if you were in a plane and then spin the globe in the direction of travel. It seems just like you are flying over the geography of the land "below" you. The 3-D imagery is cool too when you are passing over canyons and mountains.

Best of all, it's free. No piddling nickle and dime fees like paying extra for a soda or each bag of luggage. No airline rep looking me over and wondering "How heavy is he anyway? Double ticket heavy?" (BTW, no, I'm not that heavy...at least they didn't charge me for my extra weight last fall, and I was almost 30 pounds heavier then.)

So without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts, stow away your tray tables and place your seats in an upright position...

(FYI, all these pictures are freely available in Google Earth, uploaded by people from all over the world to enhance your visit to either their local area or a place that they, in RL (real life) have visited. So cool!)

First stop, nearby Daytona Beach, Florida.