A Press Trip in Cyberspace

Technology has uped the ante once again. In a new travel article on GoNOMAD, Associate Editor Steve Hartshorne writes about the world’s first press trip in cyberspace. The trip, which was sponsored by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, was in promotion of the area called “New Holland” in the online game Second Life. Here’s a selection from the article.

I found my way out of the bar and waited with the tour director while her assistants went back into the bar again and again trying to find the wayward journalists.

When we finally got a quorum, they tried to show us how to ride a bicycle, but for most of us that was pretty much out of the question.

I started wandering around New Holland. I saw a lot of great art in the museum, and then went back into the Club Van Gogh to get some more photos.

Some guy named Brink (or rather, his avatar) kept appearing and asking me to teleport to his location, but these teleports began taking longer and longer, so I struck out on my own.

Since I was able to fly, I decided to cross the Channel to England. I was airborne for what seemed like ages with no land in sight, so I decided to cast myself into the sea.

Down and down I plummeted, but I always seemed to end up at the water’s edge…”

Besides being an historic first, the World’s First Press Tour in Cyberspace was a resounding success in my opinion, even though shepherding journalists around in an alternative reality proved more challenging than originally anticipated.

You can read the rest of the article at GoNOMAD.com