This Browser Extension Lets You Take a Virtual Vacation Every Time You Open a Tab

We all have a million tabs open at once, so why not use them to go places?

Not being able to travel in 2020 has certainly been a struggle for many people out there. Aside from doing virtual experiences and tours of museums, national parks, and other attractions, people are also looking for ways to travel like a local without leaving their house.

Tab With A View, a Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge extension, allows you to travel to the world's most beautiful places from the comfort of home simply by opening a new tab on your browser. The browser extension randomly chooses a beautiful photo or video of a destination, submitted by real people, so you never know where you’ll end up with every tab you open.

If you are one of those people who actually does have a million tabs open all the time, you can easily open just one tab on your browser and use the right or left hand arrows to browse different views. It’s like a quick virtual vacation between tasks.

The extension also shows real-time flight information, real-time statistics for COVID-19, and visa requirements based on your nationality for every “destination” you see on the browser extension. Consider this good inspiration for future travel plans.

There’s a wide range of photos and videos of destinations, including drone photography, every-day views from people’s windows, views from bars, restaurants, or hotels in certain places, and virtual video “walks,” tours, and hiking trips, as well as Google Earth and Google Street View photography.

In addition, anyone can contribute to Tab With a View by uploading an image or video to the platform.

In order to install the browser extension on Chrome, go to the Chrome Web Store and click "Add To Chrome." For Microsoft Edge, visit the Edge Add Ons website.

Andrea Romano is a freelance writer in New York City and currently has 12 tabs open. Follow her on Twitter @theandrearomano.