One of the best parts of publishing Wandering Educators is meeting new people and learning about how they explore - and share - the world. We've recently found the coolest site that teaches about much of the world - with text and gorgeous photos (Virtual Tours) - without leaving your computer! If you're already planning a visit somewhere, this site can help you learn more about your destination. The site? iNeTours.com. Created by Lee Nelson, you can virtually tour London, New York, San Francisco, CA Wine Country, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Yosemite. I love this site and explore it often with our daughter. We were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Lee about his site, travel, travel photography, and more. Here's what he had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your site, iNeTours...

LN: iNeTours is an online only vacation destination travel magazine covering a growing list of exciting locations. The site is organized by destination so that each one, London or New York City for instance, is a cohesive section that could stand on its own. It is not as much a travel guide as other sites might be, though it can certainly augment that process, but is meant to inspire and inform both armchair travelers and those researching and planning a visit.

WE: What was the genesis of your site?

LN: The original plan for the site was much narrower than what has evolved more than eight years later. The combination of an exciting new technology, Quicktime VR™ from Apple Computer, and a chance conversation about building codes in San Francisco provided the spark. Apparently some high-rise developers had satisfied a requirement for providing publicly available open space in their projects with roof top parks. iNeTours.com was originally envisioned as a way to virtually visit San Francisco from the tops of skyscrapers by leaping from building to building and enjoying 360° views. It was to be distributed on CDROM and feature only panoramas. The introduction and rapid growth of the World Wide Web, a climb up a steep learning curve and a couple of complete redesigns got us to the current version of the site.

WE: What can visitors find there?

LN: Photography is probably what most sets iNeTours.com apart. Shooting all the photos for the site myself essentially means a much larger than typical photo budget. A visitor is likely to see as many as a dozen or more photos illustrating an article on my site versus one, two or no photos with another site's coverage of the same subject.

I also try to discover and report any connections between historical events or people in my own articles and those I commission. Staying true to the original concept of the web as hyper-connected information I always include links to external sources for visitors who wish to explore subjects in greater depth. While I try to provide both broad general and specific or unique information about each destination a number of themes are consistently explored including history, architecture, neighborhoods, area attractions and sightseeing tours. Botanic gardens including Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Kew Gardens in London), Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City, and Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park are a favorite subject. Victorian houses such as those in San Francisco, New Orleans Garden District and San Diego's Heritage Park are another frequently explored subject. The list of National Parks and Monuments on the site is growing as are the major destination cities. iNeTours.com is a ongoing learning experience for me. I think of it as organizing information, text and photographs, on subjects I am personally interested in and then presenting it in an attractive manner. Fortunately other people are interested enough in what I'm doing to be able to welcome several hundred thousand visitors to the site each month.

WE: Why is travel photography so important in teaching about the world?

LN: iNeTours.com is a way to explore a destination in advance of, or instead of, an actual visit and so I attempt to make it as rich an experience as possible. Nearly everyone is a visual learner and is attracted to good photography. The images lead visitors into the articles for a greater understanding of what makes a destination or attraction unique. I believe the ideal way to learn about the world is to travel, to get to as many different places as possible and experience them in as much depth as possible. From personal experience I know that a visit to a new destination is immeasurably enhanced by learning about it before arriving and the more I know about a subject the easier, and more enjoyable it is to increase that knowledge.

WE: How are vacation destinations chosen, to be featured on your site?

LN: The first criteria is that it must be somewhere I am personally interested in. Fortunately I find a lot of things interesting and am curious about a lot of subjects. I like to visit each destination on the site frequently, annually or oftener if possible, to gather information, take more pictures and update existing information. Economics is a factor, of course. Often a year or more of research, photography, writing and site development goes into each of the major destinations on iNeTours.com so income potential and ROI is a major consideration. Potential can be measured by the number of people who annually visit a destination coupled with whatever opportunity there is to develop partnerships with revenue producing activity providers whether they be tour companies, accommodations, etc. I am fortunate to live within easy driving distance of many interesting destinations so California cities, parks and coastline are heavily represented on iNeTours.com. As revenue increased the ability to expand to more distant destinations became available. Destinations as far away as New Orleans, New York and London are now included with more national and international destinations in progress.

WE: What sort of tours do you provide?

LN: Sightseeing tours are a complimentary fit with the content on iNeTours.com. The site is essentially a series of online sightseeing tours so it makes sense that many site visitors would be interested in tours once they actually arrive at a destination. I've also found that sightseeing tours are an ideal way to orient myself when visiting a new destination and a good way to maximize photo productivity. An open top double-decker bus often provides a nearly ideal perspective for architectural photography. With many major cities having hop-on, hop-off tours I can combine a guided tour, transportation to multiple destinations and a elevated photo platform all at one affordable price. Once the site began to generate serious traffic, tour operators started contacting me about promoting their tours. iNeTours.com grew along with some early partners and we now feature a wide variety of sightseeing tour options. I am currently updating and redesigning the San Francisco destination (the oldest on the site) for instance. The new SF sightseeing tours pages will have almost 60 options in 11 categories including city tours (double decker bus, antique car, amphibious vehicle, Segway, etc.), culinary walking tours, wine country tours, bay cruises, day trips to Yosemite National Park, Monterey and Muir Woods and more. Helicopter tours are available in New York City and Los Angeles—a great way to get a different photo perspective as well as being fun and exciting. Grand Canyon tours (by air plane, helicopter, bus or van) are popular in Las Vegas.

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

LN: There's a lot that goes into a successful web site like iNeTours.com; overall concept, content production, navigation design, production of hundreds of pages and making sure visitors can find you among the millions of other sites on the Internet. Friends have suggested that what I do is go on vacation, take pictures, post them on the Internet and make money. There is some truth to that description but it would also be accurate to say that I haven't had a vacation in eight years because I'm always working—just ask my wife. It is the best job I've ever had though!

WE: Thanks so much, Lee! I love exploring your site - and your virtual tours of the world!

For more information, please see: http://www.iNeTours.com/

Follow Lee on Twitter @inetours for photo-of-the-day and site updates.

Complete iNeTours.com site and all images copyright © 2001–2009 Lee W. Nelson