So there I was, sitting in my little abode, wondering what to do on another night in SL. Do I go and throw away more money on shopping, hang out at another club that claims to be the greatest thing ever, and yet bores me to sleep with the same old cliches, or maybe go join the next demonstration about an announcement in a Linden blog ("Classifieds restricted to the Classified search? THE HORROR!). So, what do you do when you're bored of the same old same old? You get away from it all. I decided to take a trip! Since the only limitations in SL are often your own imagination, I wondered, is it possible to take a round the world trip, using Second Life as your travel agent? I printed out an atlas, planned my route, and with my trusty backpack on, and the place search acting as my satellite navigation, set off across the virtual globe


Being a Brit, I decided that London, England would be the start and end point of my travels. I set off from Imperial College London - (Click Here To Visit), the SL home of the eponymous college, and a home base for any of it's students working here in the metaverse. It also has some gorgeous recreations of some of the landmarks on the rl campus, such as the Queen's Tower, which can be seen in the picture below.

From there, I hopped across the Channel, into France. And in SL, this meant going to Champs Elysee (Click Here To Visit). This place has a lovely avenue of shops, but it's crowning glory is a beautiful recreation of the Arc De Triumph, which you can go inside, and climb up to the top in. When you get up there, there is, strangely enough, and zip line, which you can jump on and slide your way all the way back to the ground. After enjoying a ride which vertigo would not allow me in real life, I continued on my travels.

From France, I then crossed the south-east border into Italy. I found myself in Venice, or Venice Passion - (Click Here To Visit) to be exact. After the excitement of death slides, I decided to chill out, sitting in front of an Italian cafe, enjoying the sunshine and scenery, and watching couples sailing up the streets on Gondolas. It's a truly beautiful place, and well worth a wander, since at least this Venice is not in any kind of threat from global warming, unless that is the next stage in making SL realistic after Windlight.

Sneaking across the Mediterranean Sea, between Europe and the African Continent, we then skipped across to Greece, the birthplace of Democracy and Philosophy and much more besides. Greece has an official sim (Click Here To Visit) with faithful recreations of some of it's historic landmarks such as the Colosseum and the Parthenon (pictured below). It also has tour guides in attendance often, and myself and my travelling companion who had joined my trip enjoyed a tour, explaining the relevance of the fantastic builds, and educating us in the history of this fine nation.

Continuing to hop across the Mediterranean Sea, my next port of call was Turkey, or rather Turkiye - (Click Here To Visit). In SL, this is an eclectic mix of of beautiful traditional buildings, and a funky beach area with a very snazzy waterslide. My travelling companion did find that she was being mobbed by a swarm of apparently eligible bachelors wanting to steal her away from me and convince her to visit their fine nation, but perhaps this was because she wasn't wearing the free, but not mandatory, head-dress that you can pick up there, and the sight of her unadorned head was driving them crazy. Once they realised she was with me, they backed off, and we made our escape.

From Turkey, we then headed North, entering the biggest country in our trip, Russia, and where else in SL would you go to experience Russia in all it's post-communist glory, than Moscow Island - (Click Here To Visit), where not only can you gasp in wonderment and the fantastic architecture come to life, but you can even go and visit Lenin's tomb, with a representation of the man himself laid out for all to see, inside his glass coffin.

After trekking across miles upon miles of Russia's unforgiving heartland, we then crossed the ocean at it's north-eastern peak, into US territory, or Alaska to be precise. The best representation of Alaska inworld seems to be Alaska Husky City - (Click Here To Visit). This area is basically a promotional shopping area for talented clothes designer "Husky GFX", but to promote their items, they have created an enchanting little Alaskan town, complete with pine trees, snowy mountains, shacks, and even a couple of timber wolves lurking in the wilds.

Having avoided being eaten by wolves, and without loosing a single toe due to frostbite, I found myself crossing into the territories of Canada, which in SL meant going to Maple Grove - (Click Here To Visit), a well constructed area put together by Canada's Postal service to promote themselves, and Canada itself, to the residents of the metaverse. Clean crisp city streets, much as I expect from Canada, lay out before me, under the shadow of an impressive recreation of the Sky Tower, normally found in Toronto when in the real world.

At this point, I was starting to feel a little homesick, so it was time for a hop across the pond, heading back to the British Isles. However, since it was on my way, it would be remiss of me not to pop into the Republic of Ireland as I pass, so I went to Dublin in SL - (Click Here To Visit), a welcome and learning point for any Irish residents, or people who want some of the luck of the Irish to rub off on them. Here, you can see me indulging in something I have done many a time in Ireland in rl... smoking outside a pub.

Aaaaand finally, I am back on English soil, this time in Knightsbridge, London - (Click Here To Visit), surrounded by the familiar sights of Royal Mail vans, Double Decker buses and the unmistakable buildings you only find in Londinium. Ok, I might be romanticising the place a bit, but that's probably because in SL, you get to enjoy the beauty of London, without the stress of having to get around the place.

And I guess that's been the main point of this whole expedition... there are people in SL who go to the same two or three places day in and day out, meeting up with their own little selection of buddies, and they are really missing out. There is a whole brave new virtual world out there, and finding them is only a matter of looking. If you don't go exploring, you are missing out. So why not grab your backpack, and if you're lucky enough, maybe a travelling companion of your own, and go have an adventure. It's out there waiting for you...