What is your favorite way to explore a country? Taking the next plane and leaving for a destination without packing? Watching a show on Discovery channel? Today there's no more need to wait for flying weather or the time they fixed on TV to let you have a look on Tadj Mahal or casinos of Las Vegas. Just set an Internet connection and - off we go!



Not everything is that simple however. Of course, Internet can help you to find information on a country and, if you don't want to stop at that point, to plan your whole journey there. But nowadays Internet is such huge and chaotic a system that normally it takes you a lot of time to hit the point and get THE information you're seeking for (especially if you don't know exactly what it really is). Fortunately, the Web doesn't just continue to be obstructed with information but also tends to a kind of self-organizing. Web-portals, encyclopedias, catalogs and even blogs are just the most expanded examples of multiple ways to organize information in Internet. Starting from my own experience of gathering geographical information on Internet for my work, I'd like to mention here some resources which can help if you need to have a closer look upon a country without wasting time.

The best way to start is to start with the beginning. Of course, basic information on a country can be found at a special Web-portal entirely dedicated to it. Normally, such portals are conceived by governments or tourist instances. In the first case, the information is usually very official. In the second case, you surely will be overwhelmed by ads popping up and flickering from any corner of the site. Besides, you may want to enlarge your knowledge outside the limits of official and commercial information. Then the most reasonable way is to use Wikipedia giving a quick slice of different spheres of country life and, otherwise, referring to other resources which may be useful to learn something more.

As soon as you have got the feel of the place, you probably will need to look at it with your own eyes. The resource you need for that is Google.Earth. Seeing once is better than hearing twice, so go ahead!

Proposing a deeper insight into the place you intend to learn about as well as onto its infrastructure, Google.Earth can seem however as chaotic as Internet itself. If your impressions join mine in this point, then you won't probably say no to http://citycatalogue.com. Probably being at a disadvantage before Google.Earth as for perfection of the idea and visual organization, Citycatalogue somehow offers, at the same level of globality, a clearer ordering system which makes it possible to find any infrastructural object at any point of the globe and get the most detailed information about it. Moreover: the structure of Citycatalogue is perfectly open: you can add your own object to the system by yourself, absolutely for free. Citycatalogue is a very useful recourse for traveling people. For example, if you want to go to the Moscow and you need any information about Moscow you just go to the Citycatalogue and get necessary information.

Your own - but still virtual - impressions from the country are now more or less complete. To have a more objective idea, the best thing to do is to visit some blogs and to read posts and comments by people having already taken a trip to the country of your interest. Blogosphere is well-organized enough to let you find your subject quickly and effectively by keyword search. Wordpress com/tag/travel/, blogcatalog com/directory/travel or vox.com are good departure points for exploring travel-centered blogs.

I hope these few pieces of advice will be helpful for you. And try not to get lost in the Net!